Just wanted to share my observations on the color status from earlier this week.
Sorry for the delay in my report. I hope this is still useful to folks who want to make plans for the next few days.
NEK: past peak as has already been mentioned in various reports and spotty, but there are still some places around Lyndon holding on to some color! (you will find a mixture of lemon-green to yellow leaves with some small pockets of orange thrown in for good measure)
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CT river byway (near NH border) is very nice. Franconia Notch State Park further south (~20-30mins) in NH was still building up color early this week and should be in good condition by now. Plenty of yellow & Green leaves. Little leaf drop.
There is a viewing point off I93 just north of this park where you can see several mountain slopes in good color. Especially nice during sunset!!
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Peacham was still nice as on Tuesday (7/10) and the drive from Peacham - Barre is nice. Lots of color pockets near Barre. Several should still be good this weekend.
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Stowe Area: 108 north out of Stowe had pockets of good color as of Wednesday (10/8). Toll road was still good and had plenty of leaves still hanging on the trees + quite a few that were still green/pale yellow, so some sections on this road should be good. Smugglers Notch is well past peak with significant leaf drop.
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I89 South from Stowe all the way down to the state border was very good on Wednesday. It had everything from pockets of good color to places with good views of mountain slopes (which were predominantly yellow with some oranges thrown in).
I intended to cover some of the western portions of the state near Lake Chamberlain but unfortunately I couldn't go there. Per the other posters here, things may be developing nicely over there.
Misc Notes:
a) A lot of places have lovely grass covered rolling hills which look awesome! So it is not an exaggeration to say that it is still lovely even if everything was 'only' green!
b)Piecasso near Stowe had amazing Pizza and I ate probably the best Blueberry coconut parfait ever!
c)Maple Creamee @ Morse Sugar Farm was very good! Got tons of maple syrup based goodies for ourselves (+ family). In my excitement, I completely forgot to sample the apple cider donuts! Oh well, maybe next time
d)Lake Champlain Chocolates. Had probably my best Mocha Latte here + some incredible truffles and orange-chocolate combos! Nice place to stop by if you like coffee and chocolate!
We missed peak by about a week but we still had a great time @ both Lyndon & Stowe.
I must say that I have a huge spot for VT , but even within that, I have a softer corner for the NEK in particular. Incredible place! There was some rolling hills and meadows, we saw belted cows of all colors, horses and a place where they had put this wooden bench and titled it "Heaven's bench". I couldn't have agreed with the title more.
Several moments where we were all moved and rendered speechless by the sheer beauty of the place! We were sad to leave at the end of our trip and we are already hoping that we can be back there in 2015!! The 2015 season can't come soon enough!
I will post pictures later (probably in the coming week or so) but they don't do justice to the place
!Thank you all once again for your helpful advice in planning my trip!
regards
abhi