. Mt. Washington Hotel

Thu, Aug 23

Twin Mountain, NH: Up this morning and Mike had a fire. Pretty chilly. Decided we’d go to the Mount Washington Hotel today and have lunch. Arrived there and at the gate we were told we would have to go to the Bretton ski area and park there and take the shuttle back to the hotel because of the construction going on. So we did that and had a pretty good lunch. The hotel is very big and wonderful little nooks and crannies everywhere. After lunch we drove through the Franconia Notch and stopped at “The Flume” and hiked up to the gorge. This thing was discovered by a 93 year old woman who was fishing in the stream. 93!!! They didn’t believe her at first. This is a very rugged area—steep with lots of boulders. I can’t imagine a 93 year old woman climbing around there. Anyway, it was a very pretty gorge and the return trail to the visitor’s center was littered with glacial erratics—some huge—with trees’ roots twined all around them seeking some soil. Very pretty trail. Back to the campsite. Mike played on the computer for a while and I finished my book.

Our Pretty Campsite

Glacial Erratic in our Site

Wed, Aug 22

Twin Mountain, NH: We left Jigger Johnson National Forest Campground this morning at 11:00 and arrived at Sugarloaf NF Campground outside Twin Mountain, NH, and were set up by 12:20. What a beautiful little campground! Still no hook-ups, but a beautiful campsite with our own glacial erratic right in our site and a beautiful trail leading right out of our campsite down to the river. We’re surrounded by beautiful birch trees. And it’s actually pretty warm! Looking good! Outlook is for warmer weather, but more clouds. Rain by Saturday. That’s okay, at least it will be warm. After we got set up we drove around the area. The mountains up here are very rugged and craggy and we have lots of exploring to do. Had subs at the country store/gas station/restaurant in Twin Mountain. There’s a beautiful old hotel at the base of Mt. Washington that’s been there since the 1900s. We need to check that out. Back to our pretty campsite and read outside for a while. Then went inside and played Trivial Pursuit for a while. Mike won (again). Tonight should be the last cold night.

Tue, Aug 21

Conway, NH: Cold again this morning, but not as cold as yesterday. Going to do the laundry this morning and then go on a hike this afternoon. After the laundry we walked across the street and had lunch at Chinook Café. Clouding up a little. I had started “Husband” by Dean Koontz this morning and it’s hard to put down. After we finished all our chores we didn’t really feel like going on a big hike, so we checked out the CCC Interpretive Trail at the Blackberry Crossing Campground. It used to be a huge CCC camp before they turned in into a campground. Some of the fireplaces and foundations are still there. Came back to our campsite and continued with my book. We leave here tomorrow for a campground about 30 miles north of here. It’s supposed to warm up though.

Mon, Aug 20

Conway, NH: COLD this morning—upper 30s! Had a fire all morning. Then we drove up north some to Berlin, NH. Had lunch in a dumpy diner there, but they had good pizza. There were signs around that Berlin is the gateway to the north woods. I thought we were already in the north woods! We passed the auto road to Mount Washington. I suggested maybe we should drive up there today since it is so clear. But Mike wants to take the cog railway up there. Jeeze, I don’t know. Came back through No. Conway and bought some groceries. Back to our campsite and ran the generator for a little while. Then decided to go back to that cute little movie theatre in Conway. “Once” was playing. Hadn’t a clue what it was about—just wanted to go again. I had my usual popcorn but Mike ordered a small dinner and they brought it out on a little tray that fit into the cup holder. So different! The movie was okay. I thought the music was beautiful. At least Mike didn’t fall asleep.

Sun, Aug 19

Conway, NH: This morning it was just plain cold. Probably went down into the low 40s. It’s August for God’s sake! I am so ready to leave New England. We had a fire all morning and sat in front of it reading our books. When we ran out of wood we went inside and I curled up on the couch with the throw Michele gave us and continued reading. Mike had to go get more wood and fill one of the propane tanks. I begged off—I was so comfortable and cozy all curled up with my book. Mike left and I continued reading for a while. The sun came out in earnest so I threw on a jacket and walked the beautiful little trail down to the Swift River. Felt good to get out and get some fresh air among the huge pines. Interestingly, in the Colonial days the British were always looking for “mast pines”—used as masts in their war ships. These “mast pines” had to be at least 24 inches in circumference chest high be free of branches for at least 80 feet. The British would go around marking these desirable trees with a large, broad arrow and the Colonists were forbidden to cut them. In direct defiance of this order, they would cut them anyway and trim them to 23 inches. Ya gotta love it! They then cut them into planks for wide plank flooring. The historic homestead has wide pine flooring. Anyway, after the “mast trees” are very carefully felled, they were strapped to huge wheels and hauled to Portsmouth, NH, on “mast roads” using 88 oxen. Wow! This road must have been pretty straight since it would be impossible to make a turn hauling a 100 foot tree. Mike pulled in just as I was finishing my walk. He wanted to walk down there too so I went back with him. Had leftovers for dinner which is a bit tricky without a microwave (the only thing I miss when not on electric). I just put everything in a frying pan with a little water, cover it and let it steam slowly for a few minutes. Works, but not as good as a microwave.

Sat, Aug 18

Conway, NH: The wind was really soughing through the trees last night. Great sleeping! In fact, I didn’t even get up until 9:30. Had a fire most of the morning and filled the water tank. Then went inside and played Trivial Pursuit for a while. Trying to decide if we want to go see another movie at that cute little theater in Conway. Looks to be an iffy day—sprinkling off and on. Decided to stay, so I put a pork roast in the oven and we continued playing Trivial Pursuit. Mike won (barely). Had dinner of roast pork, stuffing (ala Stove Top) and snap peas. Really good. Then played Backgammon (I won 2 out of 3) and then rummy (I won both games). Really getting chilly now. Had the heat on for a while. Tomorrow is supposed to be mostly sunny but really cool. Mike wants to go to the top of Mount Washington before we leave the area. I have no desire to go up there. It’s a big mound of granite up there anyway. Today it was foggy up there, 34 degrees and winds gusting to 75 miles an hour. Oh yeah, sounds like fun to me.

Post Office on Bear Island

Our Ship

Fri, Aug 17

Conway, NH: This morning was nice and partly cloudy. We walked the trail down to the Swift River through a forest of old growth pines and birches. Beautiful! And the river down there is very nice with a gravel bottom and no big boulders. A good place to get in the water and splash around—if the water weren’t so damn cold. After our walk we decided it would probably be the last chance to take the Lake Winnipesaukee cruise since the next few days are supposed to be quite chilly. So we headed down toward Weirs Beach, stopping at Dunkin Donuts for donut holes for Mike and a blueberry bagel for me. Got to what we thought was Weirs Beach and waited for the Mount Washington ship to pull in. When this much smaller boat pulled in I went and asked one of the crew where the Mount Washington was and he said “at Weirs Beach”. I said I thought we were at Weirs Beach. He said…”no, you’re at Meridith Beach”. Great. It’s now 3:00 and the Mount leaves at 3:15. But Mike was adamant he wanted to go on the very historic Mount Washington, so off we head—me thinking we’d never make the Mount and should have gone out on the smaller boat. But we made it (finally) to Weirs Beach and just caught the Mount. A huge boat—and it’s been running on Lake Winnipesaukee for 135 years! Turned into a beautiful afternoon and our two-hour cruise was well worth it. It’s a beautiful lake and we’re told the water is so clean the people who have homes on the lake use it for drinking water. Same at Squam Lake. I’m not so sure I’d want to drink it—maybe with some scotch in it. After our cruise we headed down the pier to a restaurant overlooking the lake with beautiful views of the mountains in the distance. A nice little beach town with lots to do and not too many people. I bought a NY Yankees tee shirt at one of the shops on the strip. Mike not too happy about that.