Drive Through New Hampshire

This post is actually for Oct. 5. It was too late last night for me to get it done, and there is no wifi in the room.

Wow, what a day. We started from the Nootka Lodge in Woodsville, NH and headed almost due east until we got to Lincoln, which is the starting point of the Kancamagus Highway (112). This is the southern road of a loop through the White Mountain National Forest.


We stopped at a number of view points to take pictures, but it was obvious that the heavy rains last week had done damage and the leaves were past their peak in many areas and some trees didn't even have leaves left on them. There were always patches of brilliant color, however.

The weather had been forecasted to be raining all day today, but instead it was a beautiful day with white whispy clouds that made the sky very interesting.

We also stopped at a number of water falls. Some were very close to the road and for some we had a nice hike which was a great way to stretch our legs.


When we had not made very much progress along the planned route because of all the stops, we decided to take the short-cut which eliminated about 1/4 of the drive, and head straight north to the Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods for lunch. This was a memorable place for the Warrens because they used to go there for bridge tournaments when he was in graduate school at Harvard. That was about forty years ago. It is still a grand hotel and we enjoyed crab, clam and lobster sliders for lunch.

There was one more major stop before heading directly south to Boston. That was at the Flume Gorge where there is a narrow canyon through which flows a lot of water in the form of many cascading waterfalls. They had built a wooden staircase and path along one side of the slot canyon. I stopped going up when the mist was coating my lens.

On the short bus ride to the entrance to the canyon there is a classic covered bridge painted red. The driver let us off on the way back so we could take pictures "from the spot where the pros take them."

It was getting obvious that we were not going to make the 6:00 car return time, but with a call learned we could turn it in by 10:00. This allowed us time to relax and pull off the freeway to have dinner at a little seafood restaurant. As we walked in we noticed that they had "Twin Lobsters" for $16.99. This was a deal we could not pass. We rolled up our sleeves, put on the bibs and dug in, enjoying every bite.

The drive on into Boston wasn't a fun one for Ira because it was raining and dark. Just a block from the hotel there was an extended curb which wasn't seen and the left driver side wheel hit it as we turned the corner. The tire was immediately flat. The good thing was that we were close enough to just park and take our things in. AAA came and changed the tire but not in time for the 10:00 turn in, so Ira just parked it and took it in this morning.

It is raining hard this morning, and probably will all day so we plan to do the Kennedy Library and some other inside things. The rest of the week looks clear and sunny.

That's it for now. Grace and Paul