In Lincoln to be precise
Day 1 – to Lincoln via Franconia Notch
Well we have certainly had a change in temperature ! Into minus numbers overnight and Vermont woke to its first frost of Fall ! Still plenty of sunshine though as we set off to New Hampshire.
And on the way out we found the spot where all the Instagram shots of the Stowe church were taken to get the fall colour behind the white church – early enough in the morning that only a loan photographer was setting his tripod to get his shot also.
So mainly another driving day today, quite short really but with a couple things planned which would fill in the day.
We crossed the border and first stop was the town of Littleton. A pretty little town and we had actually planned to stay there in our original plan for our postponed 2020 tour. In town is Chutters Candy Store which is said to have the longest candy counter in the country.
Adrienne filled her lolly bag sufficiently from the huge selection on offer.
Next stop was Cannon Mountain, a place we had stopped on our 2008 tour. We stopped then however the lines for the cable car to the top were snaked into the car park and we didn’t have the time to wait so we pushed on. This time however we were able to get straight on and take the trip to the top. There is a rim walk at the top and there are great views in all directions, especially through the valley below known as Franconia Notch where the roadway snakes along the valley floor.
Back down the cable car after our walk at the top, not far along through Franconia Notch is Flume Gorge. It is a 4 mile loop walk into the river gorge carved through the granite mountain millions of years ago . The boardwalk clings to the granite wall in some parts as the water rushes below.
Even away from the river on the rest of the loop track, creeks wander through timbered valleys and create very deep water pools in some locations. The scenery with the changing colours was just beautiful – photos never do justice to the true picture !
We arrived in Lincoln late afternoon and our accommodation for the 2 nights was the Innseason Resort. A nice big room with full kitchen and balcony it gave us the chance look after ourselves for dinner for a couple of nights. A quick trip to the local supermarket and we settled on our balcony to finish our day.
Day 2 – To Mount Washington (and how I nearly became an illegal alien in the United States !)
Another nearby landmark of the area is Mount Washington. It is the tallest mountain in the Northeast United States at 6,288 feet and the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. To put it in perspective, the Beartooth Mountains in Montana we’ve driven over (part of the Rocky Mountain ranges in the west) are nearly 13,000 feet high.
Mount Washington is a bit unique in that it it has access from a toll road on one side and on the other you can take a cog railway to the summit. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather but we had a perfect day for our visit. The top of the mountain still holds the record for the highest recorded wind speed not associated with a tornado or cyclone – back in 1934 winds of 231 miles per hour were recorded.
The road is pretty hairy !. It starts through the trees in the lower section however further up it quickly becomes a treeless alpine landscape. Gradients average nearly 12%. The road is fairly narrow with no safety rails and even the fact that there had only been 3 deaths since it opened in 1861 didn’t seem to calm Adrienne’s nerves in places as the only view out the passenger window was a sheer drop !
Between the intrepid drivers and the cog railway passengers there is a reasonable crowd at the top – and quite a queue to take the essential “Mt Washington Summit” photo. As you will see from the photo below, one of the earlier buildings is chained to the top of the mountain so it won’t blow away in high winds !
Having taken in the Visitor centre, museum and the shop we started back to the car. It was about here that I was putting my phone back in my pocket that I registered something missing from that pocket – my passport !
As we had decided not to bring our big cameras on this trip I have obvioulsy been using my phone to take photos. So my phone can be regularly in and out of my pocket. Earlier in the trip when I had been wearing shorts I had our passports in a buttoned back pocket. My jeans don’t have a buttoned pocket so I had them in the front pocket – with my phone.
The night we went to the Cowboys NFL game a couple of our paper train tickets came out of my pocket unseen with my phone but I hadn’t expected something as big as a passport to be capable of the same – WRONG !
We started to retrace our steps – luckily we were in a fairly limited size place overall and not with huge numbers of people. It was just that the rocky crevices could easily swallow something swiftly. As I started off in one direction, Adrienne went to the information centre to enquire if anything had been handed in.
I hadn’t had to cover much ground when I looked up and saw Adrienne heading in my direction holding the passport aloft. Always wonderful when I see my darling wife but she holds up a lost passport so well 😂😂 The blue air above my head now disappeared.
We started off back down the road again (not before checking again that there were 2 passports in my pocket) and the precipitous edges to the side seemed to have lost all significance 😂😂
Safely down to earth, we started our drive back to Lincoln. We took a different route back via a town called North Conway where we had stayed on our 2008 tour. And as New Hampshire is a tax free state we found an outlet centre to wander around a bit on our way past.
We drove along the Kancamagus Highway which is a beautiful scenic drive we had also done during our 2008 tour. We made one last stop at a spot called Lower Falls where the river cuts through the granite creating many small waterfalls along the way. Again, with the beautiful foliage, it is a picturesque location.
But to add to my “dropsy” day, although I had swapped pockets where I was keeping my phone after my passport dramas, this time I managed to drop our hotel keycards ! Luckily we walked back over them where they had fallen out and quickly recognised they were ours .
Definitely beer o’clock !
Despite my dramas, we have really enjoyed the beauty of New Hampshire – definitely worth a visit at this time of year as the colours are just spectacular.
