On the Road Again & Again & Again: October 2021

Friday, October 8, 2021

Our Last Day in this Beautiful City... yet we are ready to go home!

Decided we wanted to just wander the city with no agenda and that's just what we did. Explored another area and I got caught up taking pics of different Corbels (those brackets hold up a porch overhang. Fall is certainly in the air and the wind was picking up as the day went on... not bad, just a bit chillier. Oh, and we also saw gorgeous and huge cathedral with a chapel that was as big as an average church.

We thought it would be fun to go up in the Signal Observatory. Tours are limited and led by docents we found out; bought our tickets and came back at the allotted time. The interior has 7 flights of stairs and, of course, masking was required. It still has most of the original timbers but also some reinforcements. They actually took it totally apart when inspections revealed serious moisture damage and an infestation of powder-post beetles (to the tune of over a million dollars) and sent it to a mill for repair and then put it all back together. Was a fun way to spend the afternoon! Stopped at a local beer spot and had a cool one before we headed back to the hotel.

This was the type of telescope that was on the top of the tower which watched for the ships, communicated with flags, contacted the ships owners who were in Portland... Pretty cool!

Colors and the Seasons and Covered Bridges... What a Wonderful Day to Explore Mother Nature's Paintbrush!

We left this morning, hoping to see the famous 'Colors of the Northeast"... The further inland we went, we found out we were not going to be disappointed! Another item on our list (well, to be honest, on Jean's list) was a covered bridge or two. We scored on all accounts!

Our first two stops were at a couple bridges. Only one is still used today, while the other is just a short distance from the brand new bridge they built to replace So, on this outing we got THREE Bridge Pictures: Babbs Covered Bridge over the Presumscot River, originally built 1843 then rebuilt after a fire and still in use; the Parsonfield-Porter Bridge, over the Ossipee River, originally built 1859 (which the fancy sign gives a different date so who knows) also restored but now is closed to traffic as a new, rather plain bridge was built to replace it! The weather was clear and the wind was still, so we were able to get many 'reflection' pictures on the rivers they crossed.

We continued our journey and headed for the Mt Washington area in New Hampshire. As we traveled further west, well, that's where God's paintbrush really came into play. The hillsides (they don't really have mountains like we do) were bathed in color... while the Evergreens remained their stately green. We eventually arrived in Bretton Woods, at the Omni Mt Washington Resort... A stately old hotel that is photo perfect. Golfing, Hiking, that sort of stuff nearby, which was good, because nothing else is nearby!

Began our return trip home and got back to our digs about 6ish. Gave us time to rest and clean up a bit before we had a great, albeit late, dinner!

Babbs Bridge

Still in use!

Bridge is no longer in use... was restored and has a fancy sign now. We found a geocache within the bridge, so that was fun...

The new bridge... so modern and a bit dull!

Headed back on the road up to the Mt Washington area

The colors are starting to show

This guy was on the window when we got back in the car after a photo op. His shadow was something else... now for the rest of the story... I opened my window five miles down the road when we stopped for another pic, and the creep came floating down, right next to me... bad words flew out of my mouth as I tried to move far, far away, yet trying to get him out of the car. I used my phone, smacked him down, and alas, squished him with my shoe on the floor board...RIP

That is Mt Washington in the distance.

Silver Falls

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Take a Peek at Peaks Island!

Took a ferry over to Peaks Island and what a special place that is! We ended up walking about 5 1/2 miles as we explored the place (they had bike rentals and golf cart rentals available too by the way). We didn't even get to see all of it! Some very gorgeous homes, just a few of the pictures posted here. Each home had a name... some were fun, some were beachy and some weren't even bothering with making a sign for their name... still, it is a cute idea.

We walked along the shore for quite a bit of time, at one point, found some unique rock stacking, again with the weird rock here. We then headed inland cuz we had read there was an old Battery there... called 'Battery Steele"! We originally were finding our way there through a bog... stopped when the boards were as soggy as the soupy ground. Backtracked and using GPS found a much better path. It was so big... biggest one I've ever seen and I've seen many on our travels. We entered into one of the two big pass through's and even ventured down the one dark tunnel connecting them (using the phone flashlight was the only way to see). Graffiti abounded but still, pretty cool! They never had to defend the area, but gosh darn, they were ready!

Headed back to the ferry a couple hours later and after we enjoyed a light snack and drink. Ferry crossing was quite cooling (today temp was 70ish) and the views cool. The one picture with the arrow shows that signal tower we saw the other day and it is obvious how they could use it for communicating with ships coming in.

Walked home via the Standard Baking Company store (and bought a couple yummies for brekky tomorrow), a couple shops and hit our hotel's bar, Inkwell, for a couple beers before we went up to our room. Restaurants, by the way, around here are also having staffing issues. Many (but not all) are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays which seems to help them provide good service to their customers while having appropriate staff.

Once we got to our room, rested a bit and decided another trip to 'Inkwell' for a light dinner of scrumptious roasted Brussel Sprouts with walnuts and lemon aioli (num num num) and homemade chips with a thick house made onion dip. A couple great G & T's and we were satiated! So, with that, I'll say good night!