EAST COAST | TOURS & CRUISES
New England: Cue the autumn hues
From Boston, leaf peepers set out on a bus trip to see the region at its glorious best. The colors are on a roll; the tour hits a few bumps.
TWO pumpkins and a jolly scarecrow decorated the front porch of the house, a white clapboard Colonial in Farmington, Maine. A sugar maple tree in the frontyard had started to lose its leaves, and two boys were turning somersaults underneath it into a pile of scarlet and gold, a Dalmatian puppy yapping noisily as it tried to join in the fun.
A scene from a Norman Rockwell painting? No, a scene from a bus window as it rolled through town on a weeklong Trafalgar tour called Autumn Colors.
Several million people descend upon the rural back roads of New England every year in search of fall. They find it in small towns like Farmington, on shady trails through New York's Adirondack and New Hampshire's White mountains, along Maine's rugged coastline and in farming communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. They find it in a reflection of brilliantly colored trees in a quiet pond, in the scent of apples in an orchard, in a momentary glance at boys rolling in a hill of leaves.
I had joined the Trafalgar group to sample one of the company's tours, traveling anonymously as a consumer scout on an itinerary that covered 1,340 miles, from Boston to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and back to Massachusetts. Trafalgar, which calls itself "the world's favorite tour company," is one of the world's largest, moving about 90,000 travelers each year. Its rates are moderate — my trip cost $1,535 per person, double occupancy, including most meals (air fare was an extra $357) — and the company prides itself on offering first-class accommodations.
I planned to evaluate the trip, but I also wanted to take my first look at a New England fall. Would it — and the tour — meet expectations?
Disappearing whales
I could smell the ocean before I saw it. Salt and the tangy scent of seaweed drifted on the wind. We had left Boston around 8 a.m., driving north about 70 miles to York Beach, Maine. Clapboard houses and shops, a wide beach, a silvery sheet of sea glistening in the morning light. There were no trees in sight, but no one cared. The day was glorious.
"We're going to park, so everyone can get out and take a picture," said tour guide Beverly LaFlamboy. "We're going to stop and do this extra thing."
I smiled. I've been on bus tours where there were no photo stops, regardless of the wow factor of the scenery.
The driver pulled the bus to the side of the road and many of the tour's 51 participants clambered off, cameras at the ready. My fellow travelers hailed from North America and Australia; most were over 60 and from the Midwest.
"Ten minutes," LaFlamboy shouted as we piled out, "or as long as it takes you to take a picture or two."
We were back in the bus in a flash and off to our next stop, the Nubble Lighthouse at Cape Neddick Point, one of the most photographed on the East Coast. The sun was playing tag behind clouds, and we lingered on the cliffs overlooking the lighthouse, shooting pictures.
As LaFlamboy walked nearby, I stopped her to ask a few questions about our itinerary.
According to the Trafalgar brochure, the following day we would visit Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, Maine, and then have leisure time to take an optional whale-watching cruise. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss the whales, I told her.
"Well, that doesn't really work," she answered. "We wish they'd change the brochure. There's not enough time for that."
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