Daily Archives: November 17, 2010
Pretty Toes and More Moose . . .
Jan got an early start this morning by heading up the road to Kemah about 9:30 to get a pedicure. She now has pretty blue toes with glitter. I wanted purple with glitter, but they didn’t have it with glitter, so blue it was.
Nick Russell and I got a early start on the phone this morning that went on most of the day. Hopefully we accomplished something.
Jan and I headed out for our walk about 11:30, and it was another beautiful day, mid 70’s, and then mid 40’s tonight.
And of course, coffee was waiting for us when we got back.
About 2 pm we drove up to Kemah for another dose of Hooter’s XXX wing sauce. Not sure why, but it seemed a little hotter this time.
Still great though.
After Hooter’s we stopped off at Wal-Mart for some groceries. Jan’s started stocking up on stuff for our Thanksgiving meal and I’ve already booked a Honeybaked Ham for us.
We’ll be taking the ham and several dishes up to Brandi’s BFF, Shawna’s for Thanksgiving dinner. Over the years its become kind of a tradition with our families. Usually it’s Thanksgiving, occasionally Easter, and even once for Christmas. But no matter it is, we always have a great time.
Finally, we went by Kroger’s to pick up a couple of things that we didn’t find at Wal-Mart. And by the time we got back to the rig, it was almost 5:30.
Sometimes you wonder where the day went.
Thought you might enjoy revisiting our trip thru New Hampshire in 2009.
Climbing Mt. Washington and here a moose, there a moose…
Posted on August 18, 2009
We left Moose River Campground about 11 am and headed up US 2 toward Gorham, NH.
The road wasn’t too bad, a bit curvy, but OK, and we pulled into the Wal-Mart about 12:30 pm and set up house.
Actually, when we Wally-dock, there’s nothing to setup. We don’t lower the jacks, or put out the slide. The only thing we do is just unhook the truck so we can drive around.
We decided to try a place called Crabby Jack’s Mexican Cafe for lunch, since we were hungry for Mexican.
Big Mistake! The service was bad and food wasn’t any better.
After our so-called lunch, we headed down to Gorham’s Visitor’s Information booth to check out the sign that got Jan all giddy.
It said “Moose Tours”
After signing up for the 6:30 pm tour that evening, I noticed a brochure on Mt. Washington. I knew it was in New Hampshire, but I didn’t know it was close by.
Turns out that it’s right down the road. It’s about 8 miles to the base of the mountain, and then about 8 miles to the summit, all 6288 feet of it.
We decided we had plenty of time to do the mountain before our moose tour, so we headed out.
And it is a heck of a climb. During the 8 miles, you climb over 5000 ft. And it seems like it’s straight up at times.
But, although it was a little hazy, the view was spectacular.
The Mt. Washington Auto Road gave birth to the oldest man-made tourist attraction in the US. When it was built in the 1861 (Yes, 1861), it was called the Mt. Washington Carriage Road. And stagecoaches took visitors to the top.
It’s still the same road, and not much improved, it seems.
And then in 1869 they built the Cog Train. It runs on a train track with a cog track in the center that lets the train climb the steep grades like a roller coaster does…clack, clack, clack.
That little yellow dot is the train coming up the mountain. It takes about an hour to come up and an hour to go back down.
It only takes about 20 min in your car.
“I think I can, I think I can…”
This gift shop building dates from 1878. Note that it is chained down!
And here’s why!
231 MPH !!!
I think they need more chains.
The new buildings are built to withstand 300 MPH winds.
And, of course, we got our official bumper sticker for our trip up.
I’ve seen these on cars before, and now I know how they got them.
About 6:30 pm we board our tour bus for our “moose tour”.
And we actually saw moose, 4 of them, to be exact. 2 sets of cows and calves. No bulls, unfortunately.
These pictures were taken about 9:30 pm at night, lighted by spotlight.
These moose were about 30 yards away at the time.
We also saw an osprey, 2 foxes, a deer, and 2 loons.
And some pretty scenery earlier in the evening.
Tomorrow morning we head out to Bangor, ME for a few days before we trek further north to Canada.
More then…
That’s about it for today.
More tomorrow…
Thought for the Day:
The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas – or the republic.
afds
