Bucket List: Celebrate Friendship

So a while ago I started my bucket list (and started a Pinterest Board for it). On that bucket list were several things to do with my best friend.  This year we just happened to be celebrating our 30th anniversary as best friends.  We wanted to do something special to celebrate this friendship that has lasted through so many years and over so many miles. She decided to come out here (because it is easier for her to get away than it is for me with Munchkin) and we planned a week long getaway.

 

We started out with one item on my Bucket List (and something she enjoys doing to mark big events in her life). It took a little while and some searching online to find exactly what we wanted, something connecting us and a quote about our friendship, especially how we have kept it strong living so far apart.  We settled on the stick figure girls using the old tin can phones and found the perfect quote from Winnie the Pooh: "It seemed they had always been, and would always be, friends. Time could change much, but not that."  We hadn't really decided who would get it on their left shoulder and right shoulder but just picked spontaneously at the shop. Upon looking back over some old pictures at the end of our trip we discovered in a vast majority of our pictures together I am on her left and she is on my right. Our choice of shoulders was perfect!

 

 

 

We then set out on a road trip, our only destination was to see the fall foliage  

throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. 

We drove north through Boston and the tip of New Hampshire, right into Maine. Had lunch with a view in Kittery, Maine. Over the next 4 days we drove all over through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and even western Massachusetts. We would stop at the end of each day and pick where we wanted to end up the next evening and find some scenic routes to drive and sites to visit along the way. Other than moving across the country, this was by far the most spontaneous thing I have ever done and I couldn't have imagined doing it with any one else. We had so much fun driving through those quaint little New England towns, seeing the beautiful vistas, randomly stopping on the side of the road whenever we spotted a little bookstore open, and just enjoying yet another adventure together!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Sign that made us stop and so glad we did! I found a first edition (American) Bambi, and a couple other vintage books and fantasy books I had never scene and she found two beautiful vintage, illustrated Shakespeare plays. This book store was just south of Norway, Maine and the guy running it was the nicest man and fellow book lover.

 

 

 

 

 

The covered bridges were beautiful and scattered everywhere.

This one was built in 1841 near Glen, New Hampshire. You couldn't drive over it but they had a shop built inside and you could walk through it.

 

 

And this one was built in 1844, and still in use, located in Stowe, Vermont.

 

We ate at some fun local diners and had some very delicious food.

 

 

And of course we played tourist, especially in Vermont! We stopped at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory, Cabot Cheese Factory, Braggs Maple Sugary, and Cold Hollow Cider Mill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all it was an amazing vacation, and a wonderful time with my best friend. We celebrated not only the past 30 years of friendship but also many more to come.