Another_Voice_MDF (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} anothervoicemdf) wrote,@ 2008-09-29 10:56:00 |
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Wedding/Honeymoon Post #7: New Hampshire, for the win
We had a pretty ambitious plan, and in the end we wound up hitting New Hampshire and just staying there, because we loved it so much.
We had a pretty ambitious plan, and in the end we wound up hitting New Hampshire and just staying there, because we loved it so much.
Everyday since Wednesday, we would start out with a rough idea of what we wanted to do, and then find 3 other things that caught our interest along the way, pushing some of our original plans back, and making us decide to stay one more day. It wound up being the perfect mix of everything we had talked about, and easily been the best part of this week.
While in New Hampshire we have:
Hiked every day.. Some have been planned hikes that were recommended, others where we just pulled off by the side of the road, noticed a sign indicating a well worn trail and decided to take it. With my leg we’ve not taken on the more challenging trails, but just being able to go a half mile or a mile, and at times go more then 1000 feet higher in elevation, I was pretty pleased. And the scenery has been breathtaking. We’ve hiked to waterfalls, hiked to and then into caves, hiked down into gorges and seen how rivers have cut paths into the rock over hundreds of thousands of years. We’ve seen things that literally took our breath away, made all the more powerful by the effort it took to get to them. It’s one thing to see something beautiful by driving up to it, but there is something magical about feeling the burn in your legs fade when you come up over the ridge and see the waterfall that inspired your hike.
One of our first hikes was a trail that followed a mountain stream back up to its source. We would keep finding places where the trees would part and from the trail we could walk right up to the rocks that the stream had cut its way through, with little waterfalls and polls along the way. About a third of a mile along the way we wound a place where the rocks sloped upward but were relatively flat and we decided to go up the rocks themselves. We went that way for a while, climbing on all fours a few times to get up to the next rock, and coming to a place where the water was running fast with a little drop into a pool. Nature’s own water slide! We’d worn bathing suits under our hiking gear for just such an occasion and while it was pretty cold, we loved getting to slide down and play in the falls.
On another hike we saw a bear! We had been warned to be careful of bears and moose, but also that we were unlikely to see them, especially in the more populated areas. Since neither of us was up to the more intense hiking that would be involved in getting to the more out of the way trails and areas, we resigned ourselves to not seeing much wildlife.
So we were both pretty shocked on Thursday when we were coming back along the trail after having hiked to a place called Sabbaday falls, almost back to the start of the trail and our car when Meg suddenly grabbed my hand and pointed. The trail curved up ahead and through the trees we could see a small moving bit of black fur. It disappeared quickly and we wondered if we were just seeing things but then we turned the curve and up ahead was what could be nothing but a bear cub, maybe 70 feet ahead. We both stopped- as much out of shock and just wanting to watch as much as knowing that it was clearly a cub, and mama must be nearby and so we didn’t want to do anything that could be seen as threatening. We watched for about 10 seconds as it slowly made its way across the trail and into the woods, and then we continued back up the trail, amazed we’d gotten to see that.
The whole experience of hiking was particularly incredible for me as someone with a mobility disability. If you had told me 7 years ago that my honeymoon would have involved numerous hikes, cave exploring, climbing up rocks and around or through small falls, I’d have told you that you were nuts. I am so grateful, and so lucky to have had, first friends in California, especially Blair who helped encourage me to re-discover that, and now to have a partner in Meg who has really helped me to become comfortable doing as much as I can and no more, but not letting that ever hold us back. There was so much goodness on this trip, but the hiking was probably one of the real high points.
Along with the hiking, some of the other things we have done in New Hampshire included:
Climbing Mount Washington. My cousins, Eddie and Katie, went to Kilimanjaro on their honeymoon. Our claim is a little less mighty- particularly since we climbed Mt. Washington in a car! But it was still pretty amazing, to drive all the way up the Mt. Washington Auto Road, the last few miles of which we were driving literally in the clouds. From the summit, on a clear day the view I’m sure is amazing, and while the weather deprived us of scenic views, simply walking atop the summit of a mountain, in the clouds, feeling the wind whipping around you at a stop believed to have some of the worst weather on earth, is pretty mind-blowing. I’m also pretty proud of my dinky little Toyota Echo for getting all the way up, and I will proudly display the “This car climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker.
Camping and Cooking Outdoors. Our plan was to stay in hotels or bed and breakfasts at least the first and last nights, and camp out other nights when we felt like it, and find places to stay the rest as weather or our energy level dictated. It was nice having that freedom, and wound up working out quite nicely. Our first night in New Hampshire was quite cold and so we got ourselves room at a small little mountain lodge-inn in the Franconia Notch area where we planned to do a good deal of sightseeing. The place was wonderful, and as we realized we’d be staying for a while in that area, rather then having to pack up in the morning and find a nearby campground we decided to just stay another night. Even better, the place had out door cooking facilities, picnic tables and camping style grills, so we got to cook our own dinner the second night and eat out under the stars, one of my favorite parts of camping.
The next night, our third in New Hampshire, we got a spot and set up our tent at Camp Passaconaway, along the Kancamagus, a beautiful route through the mountains in the middle of White Mountain National Forrest. We wound up reserving for two nights, and in the morning drove off for Mt. Washington, fully intending to return to camp that night. But this was when the weather, which had held perfect all through the wedding and into most of our honeymoon turned bad on us. About half way up Mount Washington the rains started in earnest, which actually made the drive all the more exciting. But by the time we got back down the mountain, the pouring rain mixed with us both suddenly feeling how much the last few days had taken out of us, and so when we passed the Swiss Chalet Village Inn, offering individual cabins complete with hot tub, we knew it was time to spoil ourselves. That’s where we spent Friday night; the camp site was so cheap that we had no worries leaving the tent up on the site we’d already paid for and going back to get it in the morning.
All told, two nights of camping, with one more of cooking outside was just about right. We may not go again this season as its getting cold fast, but we’re already planning camping trips for next spring.
Food. New England, it should be said, is not world famous for its cuisine, and as the main staple is seafood and lobster and the like and we spent most of the week a few hundred miles from the coast, so we didn’t expect our dining to be the high point of the trip. That being said we did find a few gems, in particular Polly’s Pancake Parlor which has been open since the 1930’s and served one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. I normally don’t like sweet tasting meat, but fresh sausage made with just a hint of farm fresh maple syrup was pretty wonderful. Other then that the highlight of our meals was probably the steak and champagne dinner in the woods that I mentioned in an earlier post, though there was also fair food and other small things we got along the way that was pretty wonderful. Back at the Big E fair at the start of our trip we’d picked up a good deal of home made beef jerky that we munched on off and on throughout our driving, and proved to be quite yummy.
New Hampshire/New England tourist clichés. I’m proud to report that the entire time we were in New Hampshire, heck even the entire time we were in New England, we did not visit a single antique shop! We did look at leaves, and enjoy their beauty, which was pretty amazing, but I continue to maintain that though we viewed leaves, we did not “peep” at them. (I did on one or two occasions, as we passed a particularly beautiful set of leaves point at one and say “peep” but Meg understood I was being ironic.).
Scenic drives. While the best scenery was what we found with our feet, it would have been hard NOT to find a pretty view as we drove along for most of our trip, especially since we mostly avoided highways. The last few days especially, as the weather turned rainy, driving through mist and clouds through hills and mountains was breathtaking. When we were finally ready to head home, we started off by heading south, down through New Hampshire’s lakes region which was equally beautiful.
We never made it to Maine, and I hope we do eventually. And we had fun on the parts of our trip that took us to Vermont, New York and Massachusetts. But its New Hampshire we will definitely be returning to.
We had a pretty ambitious plan, and in the end we wound up hitting New Hampshire and just staying there, because we loved it so much.
We had a pretty ambitious plan, and in the end we wound up hitting New Hampshire and just staying there, because we loved it so much.
Everyday since Wednesday, we would start out with a rough idea of what we wanted to do, and then find 3 other things that caught our interest along the way, pushing some of our original plans back, and making us decide to stay one more day. It wound up being the perfect mix of everything we had talked about, and easily been the best part of this week.
While in New Hampshire we have:
Hiked every day.. Some have been planned hikes that were recommended, others where we just pulled off by the side of the road, noticed a sign indicating a well worn trail and decided to take it. With my leg we’ve not taken on the more challenging trails, but just being able to go a half mile or a mile, and at times go more then 1000 feet higher in elevation, I was pretty pleased. And the scenery has been breathtaking. We’ve hiked to waterfalls, hiked to and then into caves, hiked down into gorges and seen how rivers have cut paths into the rock over hundreds of thousands of years. We’ve seen things that literally took our breath away, made all the more powerful by the effort it took to get to them. It’s one thing to see something beautiful by driving up to it, but there is something magical about feeling the burn in your legs fade when you come up over the ridge and see the waterfall that inspired your hike.
One of our first hikes was a trail that followed a mountain stream back up to its source. We would keep finding places where the trees would part and from the trail we could walk right up to the rocks that the stream had cut its way through, with little waterfalls and polls along the way. About a third of a mile along the way we wound a place where the rocks sloped upward but were relatively flat and we decided to go up the rocks themselves. We went that way for a while, climbing on all fours a few times to get up to the next rock, and coming to a place where the water was running fast with a little drop into a pool. Nature’s own water slide! We’d worn bathing suits under our hiking gear for just such an occasion and while it was pretty cold, we loved getting to slide down and play in the falls.
On another hike we saw a bear! We had been warned to be careful of bears and moose, but also that we were unlikely to see them, especially in the more populated areas. Since neither of us was up to the more intense hiking that would be involved in getting to the more out of the way trails and areas, we resigned ourselves to not seeing much wildlife.
So we were both pretty shocked on Thursday when we were coming back along the trail after having hiked to a place called Sabbaday falls, almost back to the start of the trail and our car when Meg suddenly grabbed my hand and pointed. The trail curved up ahead and through the trees we could see a small moving bit of black fur. It disappeared quickly and we wondered if we were just seeing things but then we turned the curve and up ahead was what could be nothing but a bear cub, maybe 70 feet ahead. We both stopped- as much out of shock and just wanting to watch as much as knowing that it was clearly a cub, and mama must be nearby and so we didn’t want to do anything that could be seen as threatening. We watched for about 10 seconds as it slowly made its way across the trail and into the woods, and then we continued back up the trail, amazed we’d gotten to see that.
The whole experience of hiking was particularly incredible for me as someone with a mobility disability. If you had told me 7 years ago that my honeymoon would have involved numerous hikes, cave exploring, climbing up rocks and around or through small falls, I’d have told you that you were nuts. I am so grateful, and so lucky to have had, first friends in California, especially Blair who helped encourage me to re-discover that, and now to have a partner in Meg who has really helped me to become comfortable doing as much as I can and no more, but not letting that ever hold us back. There was so much goodness on this trip, but the hiking was probably one of the real high points.
Along with the hiking, some of the other things we have done in New Hampshire included:
Climbing Mount Washington. My cousins, Eddie and Katie, went to Kilimanjaro on their honeymoon. Our claim is a little less mighty- particularly since we climbed Mt. Washington in a car! But it was still pretty amazing, to drive all the way up the Mt. Washington Auto Road, the last few miles of which we were driving literally in the clouds. From the summit, on a clear day the view I’m sure is amazing, and while the weather deprived us of scenic views, simply walking atop the summit of a mountain, in the clouds, feeling the wind whipping around you at a stop believed to have some of the worst weather on earth, is pretty mind-blowing. I’m also pretty proud of my dinky little Toyota Echo for getting all the way up, and I will proudly display the “This car climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker.
Camping and Cooking Outdoors. Our plan was to stay in hotels or bed and breakfasts at least the first and last nights, and camp out other nights when we felt like it, and find places to stay the rest as weather or our energy level dictated. It was nice having that freedom, and wound up working out quite nicely. Our first night in New Hampshire was quite cold and so we got ourselves room at a small little mountain lodge-inn in the Franconia Notch area where we planned to do a good deal of sightseeing. The place was wonderful, and as we realized we’d be staying for a while in that area, rather then having to pack up in the morning and find a nearby campground we decided to just stay another night. Even better, the place had out door cooking facilities, picnic tables and camping style grills, so we got to cook our own dinner the second night and eat out under the stars, one of my favorite parts of camping.
The next night, our third in New Hampshire, we got a spot and set up our tent at Camp Passaconaway, along the Kancamagus, a beautiful route through the mountains in the middle of White Mountain National Forrest. We wound up reserving for two nights, and in the morning drove off for Mt. Washington, fully intending to return to camp that night. But this was when the weather, which had held perfect all through the wedding and into most of our honeymoon turned bad on us. About half way up Mount Washington the rains started in earnest, which actually made the drive all the more exciting. But by the time we got back down the mountain, the pouring rain mixed with us both suddenly feeling how much the last few days had taken out of us, and so when we passed the Swiss Chalet Village Inn, offering individual cabins complete with hot tub, we knew it was time to spoil ourselves. That’s where we spent Friday night; the camp site was so cheap that we had no worries leaving the tent up on the site we’d already paid for and going back to get it in the morning.
All told, two nights of camping, with one more of cooking outside was just about right. We may not go again this season as its getting cold fast, but we’re already planning camping trips for next spring.
Food. New England, it should be said, is not world famous for its cuisine, and as the main staple is seafood and lobster and the like and we spent most of the week a few hundred miles from the coast, so we didn’t expect our dining to be the high point of the trip. That being said we did find a few gems, in particular Polly’s Pancake Parlor which has been open since the 1930’s and served one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. I normally don’t like sweet tasting meat, but fresh sausage made with just a hint of farm fresh maple syrup was pretty wonderful. Other then that the highlight of our meals was probably the steak and champagne dinner in the woods that I mentioned in an earlier post, though there was also fair food and other small things we got along the way that was pretty wonderful. Back at the Big E fair at the start of our trip we’d picked up a good deal of home made beef jerky that we munched on off and on throughout our driving, and proved to be quite yummy.
New Hampshire/New England tourist clichés. I’m proud to report that the entire time we were in New Hampshire, heck even the entire time we were in New England, we did not visit a single antique shop! We did look at leaves, and enjoy their beauty, which was pretty amazing, but I continue to maintain that though we viewed leaves, we did not “peep” at them. (I did on one or two occasions, as we passed a particularly beautiful set of leaves point at one and say “peep” but Meg understood I was being ironic.).
Scenic drives. While the best scenery was what we found with our feet, it would have been hard NOT to find a pretty view as we drove along for most of our trip, especially since we mostly avoided highways. The last few days especially, as the weather turned rainy, driving through mist and clouds through hills and mountains was breathtaking. When we were finally ready to head home, we started off by heading south, down through New Hampshire’s lakes region which was equally beautiful.
We never made it to Maine, and I hope we do eventually. And we had fun on the parts of our trip that took us to Vermont, New York and Massachusetts. But its New Hampshire we will definitely be returning to.
