Friday, June 7, 2013

12 Days in New England - Day 9 - Saturday, May 25

Woke up to RAIN.  And not a warm rain, either.  This was not a good thing.  When faced with two choices:  sit around in your tiny camper with little entertainment (we did bring computer with some movies on it) or go out and see things as best we could, we went out and saw things as best we could.

Headed down the Kancamagus Highway, highly recommended as a scenic drive in the White Mountains.  It would be an awesome ride on the motorcycle, and very beautiful in good weather.  We did get to see some very nice sights.  Which would have been better in good weather.  Made several stops at waterfalls and gorges.  Max stayed in the car for those as we were close by.  We got to Sabbaday Falls, which required a .2 mile hike to see, and decided to take Max as it would be a longer stop.  It was raining during that walk, and while we were protected with umbrellas poor Max was pretty wet by the time we got back to the car.  The picture you see of him in the car on my FB page is after that hike.  Not sure he'll ever forgive us for that!  The falls were beautiful even in the rain, and I found a cache as well as completed an earthcache for the falls.

We soon were passing some hairpin curves and up through a mountain pass.  Pretty views though foggy/misty.  We soon found ourselves in Lincoln at the other end of the Kanc (as the locals call it.)
We stopped at the local McDonald's for wifi to check the weather and something warm to drink.  Ate sandwiches and drank our McD's hot chocolate with wifi still being received in the car.  The weather didn't show any signs of letting up, unfortunately.

We decided to look for a souvenir shop for Steve and found a complex called Clark's Trading Post.  It was not only a hokey gift shop but a bear show, railroad ride, and other touristy entertainment, all at a charge except for the gift shop.  Steve went in to shop while Max and I walked across the road and grabbed a cache.  Then I went in, and was in maple heaven.  Walked out of there with Maple Cotton Candy (which I'd always wanted to try) and several types of maple candy.  Wish I'd bought more for souvenirs but I anticipated getting some in Canada so didn't. 

We decided to drive around in a big circle and see what we could, ending up back at the campground.  We saw some pretty views but nothing much we could stop at that didn't come with a hefty admission charge.  We discussed the Mount Washington Auto Road, the highest mountain in the area, one of the highest in the east.  The cost for us and the car would have been $32, which Steve was balking at.  Was a bit high, I'll admit.  But the decision was taken out of our hands as the auto road was closed due to icing conditions. 

Stopped at the Pinkham Notch Visitors Center, not really much but an Appalachian Trail service area for hikers.  There was a cache there, though...

Got into one of the Conways and we stopped at a grocery store for some fresh food.  Well ok sorta fresh anyway.  Ended up deciding on shrimp scampi, which came frozen but could be cooked on the stove.  Paired that with a Caesar salad and had one of the better meals of the trip, even in the weather. 

A cold night coming.  Not looking forward to sleeping through it.



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