Mt. Washington

The valley at entrance to auto road

67 mile an hour wind today

Sunday, October 10th we ventured to Mt. Washington.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day and we throughly enjoyed the drive and views on the way.  The most stunning view was the entrance to the auto road.  We came around a turn in the road and saw the most beautiful valley all aglow with gorgeous fall colors.  The 8 mile drive up was not too stressful compared to Pikes Peak but Mark is a great driver and we had no problems.  A few interesting facts.  The Mt. Washington Auto Road first opened in 1861, it was a carriage road, the union was made up of 34 states and Abraham Lincoln was President.  On the road's 15th bday, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.  Three years later, when the road turned 18, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.  Jump ahead, when the internet was developed, the road was 129 years old.The winds were at 67 miles per hour at the summit and when Stefan went to open his door the wind pulled him out.  Needless to say, he was a bit aprehensive to continue walking out of the parking lot.  We enjoyed letting the wind move us on the deck.  It's an incredulous feeling to be controlled by a constant stream of wind.  At the bottom, we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the valley.  Janae and Stefan found a beautiful rock in the stream that we will put in our garden.  It was a balmy 75 maybe 80 today and it was a    
treat to bask in the sun.  We enjoyed a leisurely drive  home and visiting the quaint town of Jackson.  Sipping rootbeer on the porch of this cute store.  It was fun to see all the pumpkin people that all the businesses and schools displayed in celebration of fall.

love this quote-very true

10 Mile Hiking Day

Stefan excited to find beaver ponds

Summit of Sugar Loaf

A grove of Mt. Ash

Today is Saturday October 8th and we decided to hike Mt. Zealand which is just at the end of the road by our camp ground road.  The hike started in thick evergreen trees and a special memory is when Stefan took both Mark and my hands and said, "Janae is kind of independent (she was hiking ahead) but I want to live with you and daddy forever."  About 1/2 way up, Stefan wasn't feeling well so Janae and I went on.  It was a beautiful hike once we got in the sun and deciduous trees.  The summit was at a hiking lodge, with falls overlooking the valley.  I loved the birch and mt. ash trees on the way down.  I can see why birch are NH state tree.  Janae and I had lovely conversations and she shared that what she really wants to do when she grows up is to help mentally disabled people and it was when she was in Explorers that she became drawn to this field.  Half  way down  we started hiking with a family from Nantucket who stopped at Miss Jim B for a visit afterwards.  Stefan and Mark in their waiting had a lot of fun discovering beaver ponds.  After a brief rest, I bribed and cohearsed Janae to hike SugarLoaf with me.  We were both a bit tired from hiking 6 miles but it was such a glorious day that I wanted to go again since I heard that it was such a great  hike.  This hike was 4 miles and was steadily steep and a kind of rugged trail.  The summit was absolutely breath taking.  A 360 degree view of the whole area, including Mt. Washington.  The sun was beginning to set and it was spectacular.

On top of Mt. Zealand

Official Leaf Peepers

picnic in Sugar Hill

nWe cannot get enough of the fall beauty and we set off today to immerse ourselves in the red maples.  We ended up at Sugar Hill which is an exclusive hillside community and ski resort area near Fraconia Notch.   The views of open green fields against the mountains were stunning and the reds were popping.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch in a beautiful meadow across the street from Polly Pancakes and had a  nice talk with the ownder as he was feeding his horse.  We enjoyed stopping and getting some delicious NH MacIntosh apples, and some jelly that was homemade in NH.  We also saw Robert Frost's home and can understand why this place was such an inspiration to him.  We had a wonderful hike up bald mt. that had great panoramic views of Fraconia Notch.  The leaves had just started to peak.  Stefan twisted  his ankle on the way down so after stopping and seeing a beautiful lake surrounded by foilage, we headed down the western border of NH.  It was a beautiful, sunlight evening and we enjoyed seeing the quintessential New England towns of Orford, Lyme and Hanover.  We drove through Dartmouth which is a hopping place before driving 91-N on border oof Vt back into NH.  We had a lovely dinner at a great Thai restaurant in Littleton where we met an engaging couple that we enjoyed learning about NH and tips on Washington, D.C..  The downside was the restaurant was really busy so we didn't eat until about 8:30 and then didn't get  home until about 10.  Invigorating day though.

The Kanc Day and Six week mark

Today, Thursday, October 6th, marks the 6th week of our journey.  We started our day driving on the Kancamangus (love this word) Highway, affectionately called the Kanc.  This 30 mile drive through the heart of the White Mts. is considered one of the best for fall foliage in New England.  It is beautiful and we loved seeing all the colors It was a sunny, cool day when we set off.  The leaves were so beautiful, that we wanted to hike in them.  We pulled off and did a short hike up on a sunny ridge with beautiful leaves.  We found out that though the leaves are colorful on the outside, in the woods, they are  mainly green and yellow.

Silver Cascade Falls

Once back on the road, we soon stopped to explore Sabbaday Falls which got its name from many people coming on the Sabbath to enjoy their beauty.  We had lunch at the top of the falls and Janae and Stefan enjoyed sitting out on the rocks in the stream.  Our next stop was the Albany covered bridge.  Janae and Stefan had never seen one before so this was fun for them.  They especially liked dancing and the accousticson the inside.  It was late afternoon at this point and it was so nice, warm and sunny down by the little beach below the bridge.  A short while later, we drove through N. Conway and stopped at the Observatory for weather and Mt. Washington.  It was fascinating and had a lot of hands on activities.  Janae and Stefan's favorite was steering the sailboats with the wind machine they had.  On the drive home on Rt. 302, we enjoyed more incredible scenary as the sun began to set.  We found a covered bridge store which was pretty awesome.  Mark got everyone a moose sucker and as we were eating them, we saw a young moose who so effortlessly was stopping traffic, along the road.  Stefan was so taken with the irony of eating a  moose sumer and getting to see one live that this was what he wrote about in his journal.  Lastly, we stopped at Crawford Notch and had this picture taken.  The colors and scene was so beautiful.  A few miles down the road, was this stunning waterfall, called the Silver Cascade.  Our senses are on overload from such beauty. A very rewarding and refreshing day.

Vermont's Northeast Kingdom

We drove on Wednesday October 5th to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom .  We did a loop that the lady at the visitor center had recommended.  The leaves weren't quite peaking but it was interesting to experience this less populated region of Vermont.  Big  open rangelands and mountains.  Kind of reminded of us of a cross between Wyoming and Wisconsin.  It wasn't the quintessential green valley farmland that I had pictured for Vermont.  The day was very sunny but very cold and windy.  A special memory was finding an antique/consignment store right along the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.  It was kind of like a museum of the area as the woman has been in business for 30 years and it looked like she had had some of the items that long.  Janae was thrilled to find this beautiful dress, brand new that was just her size and the shopkeeper through in some books Janae wanted. Mark was thrilled to find a history book and Stefan chose a pocket hymn/scripture book.  While in the store, we mentioned we were looking for a place to hike with leaves and one of the customers invited us to hike on her land/home which was a couple miles across the street.  It was a beautiful spot and we loved exploring and eating some apples right
 off the tree.

Moving Day

On Monday, October 3rd, we left Acadia and drove on route 2 over to White National Forest in New Hampshire.  It was bittersweet leaving but were soon enthralled with the beautiful new scenery.  The foilage had begun changing so we were excited.  I drove the car while Mark drove Miss JimB.  Janae and Stefan took turns doing school with me in the backseat while the other road with Mark.  Stefan  had a very successful math day and it was so cute when we were driving through this cute town, he piped up from the backseat and said, "I love you mama."  Later when we got settled into our new campsight, I found a truck picture and an I love you  mom picture on my pillow.  Janae and Stefan have both blessed Mark and I these past few weeks with little notes and pictures on our pillows which we will cherish forever.

Our new campsight was beautiful in New Hampshire.  We stayed at SugarLoaf I and to get there, we had to cross a bridge over this awesome river.  No one was at the campground.  We had it all to ourselves.  We cold camped here for a week (no electricity or water).  We used our generator and filled up our water every few days.

Janae and Stefan immediately found a path in the woods behind our  site and we walked through the woods to the river.  They were so excited to find this spot.

When we woke up on Tuesday, the weather was icky, rainy and cold.  We did school in the morning and then tried to do a hike in the afternoon but it was too wet so we drove in Vermont to check how the leaves looked there since they hadn't peaked in New Hampshire.

River we crossed everyday to get to our campground

A special memory tonight was when the children and I were romping in the camper.  Janae said, "this is the most fun."  She also said, "Mom you better linger in  your time with me because I'm 1/2 way to 18 and then I'll be gone."  Yes, how I know this is true and yes, in spite of the  ups and downs of this trip, this is what we're trying to do with you and Stefan is... linger.

Last Days in Acadia

We are all not wanting to leave but we want to get to NH and VT for the fall foilage.  It rained and was foggy our last couple days.  In fact 1/2 our time here of 10 days looked like this.  In the Acadia weekly flyer,  an author who traveled to Acadia in the late 1800's remarked that the fog moves in faster, stays longer and leaves faster than anywhere else in the world. We can attest to this.  But when the fog leaves, Acadia is glorious.  Even with the fog and rain, you can still have fun.  We met our new friends at a soup fundraiser and then Scott was kind enough to take us out kayaking. Janae and I enjoyed watching a harbor seal pop his head up close by to check us out. Scott also had some surprise star fish and clams to share with Janae and Stefan.  We ended our time by meeting Scott and family to go contra dancing, (like square dancing).  Ruth was playing violin in the band.  We had a lot of fun.  The dance was at the College of the Atlantic and it wasn't really geared for kids so the boys and Janae and Stefan had fun watching and goofing around.  Janae and Stefan got their Jr. Ranger badges for Acadia.