Tuesday, 13 October 2009

• Anniversary Trip Day 3

  Another photo from the past...

  

  Thursday morning we drove south again, through the Franconia Notch. After stopping for gas in the little town of Lincoln, Tim asked the attendant there for a recommendation for a good place to eat. So she told us about this place,

  

  Flapjack's Pancake House. They truly did have some of the best pancakes we had ever eaten. What made it even more special was the owner was our waiter, so got to talking with him about the area, and how he had ended up there, as he was from Boston. He said that he and his wife had gone there on their honeymoon and liked it so much they kept going back. So eventually they ended up moving there and starting this restaurant.

  After leaving there we kept driving on Route 112, also called the Kancamagus Highway, which would eventually take us in a loop over Loon Mountain, through Conway, and through the Crawford Notch. We stopped quite often to take in the beautiful views.

  

  

  On the east side of our route we stopped at this old homestead.

  

  Built by Thomas Russell in 1831, it is now called the Russell-Colbath House. It is one of the oldest preserved houses in the area. Tim was quite intrigued by a 24 inch floorboard in the house. Here the curator is showing us a carving technique the early settlers used. After we toured the house and the cemetery nearby, we took a short hike that looped around the back of the house along the river.
  Continuing on our drive east, we drove through the town of Conway. Then Tim humoured me and drove 10 miles further so I could step foot inside the state of Maine, a state I had never been in.

  

  Well, now I have.

  From there we turned north, driving up Route 16 toward the Mount Washington Auto Road. We stopped at Wildcat Mountain and took a gondola ride up to the summit of the mountain. The view was beautiful, but I hated the ride for some odd reason.

  

  That's Mount Washinton in the background. And yes, it was cold up there.
  
  Driving the Mount Washington Auto Road was something we had hoped to do, but in the gift shop they told us that the road was closed partway up due to snow, so we gave it up. So this is twice we've been to New Hampshire and couldn't go up Mount Washington because of snow. I guess next time we'll have to go earlier in the year.

  Leaving Wildcat Mountain we drove south, connecting to Route 302 which would take us west through the Crawford Notch. This was probably our favorite notch, as far as scenery goes.

  Of course you can't go to New England without taking a picture of a covered bridge.

  

  We stopped again and took a short hike to this waterfall.

  

  We also hiked to a place called The Basin, and it was easy to see why it was named that.

  

  The Mount Washington Hotel is along this route. It was built in 1902, and is one of the few impressive buildings like this still standing. Many of them burned down and were never rebuilt.

  

  Many times along the way we saw warnings to slow down because of moose. The signs would say, "hundreds of collisions." We thought it would be so neat to see a moose. After we were past the hotel all of a sudden Tim was yelling for me to get the camera. I didn't know what was going on, but when I looked up a moose was crossing the road in front of us. We did manage to get this picture.

  

  A little farther down the road there was a cow and calf standing back by some buildings, but they moved on quickly and we couldn't get a picture.
  Soon after that we left the main road and took the road that leads up to the Cog Railway which goes up Mt. Washington. We were driving slowly, just taking in the scenery. I was looking down to find something when all of a sudden Tim exclaimed "Oh no!" and was slamming on the brakes. The tires were squealing and I looked up to see a moose rump fly past the windshield. We very nearly hit it, and it probably would have totaled our car and who knows what it would have done to us. We had mud splattered on the windshield and the hood and there's a scratch along the front of the car that we think may have come from it's hoof. We couldn't react fast enough to get a picture, but we are now firm believers in the moose collision signs.
  We finished up our route by stopping at a general store. By then it was evening and time for supper, so after eating we decided to call it a day.

  To be continued...

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