10-4-2025 Lebanon, NH

I thought I could get away with no t-log from Lebanon, but there are a few stories to tell and I can’t help myself..  The locals say that the drought is responsible for the lack of vibrant colors of the leaves this year.  The temperature here has been 30 degrees warmer than the norm and that complicates the situation even more.  The trees are so thirsty that they have given up now that Summer is over.  They are dropping their leaves and going into hibernation mode early.  It certainly looked that way to us in some areas.  Mile after mile, the trees are barren skeletons.  In other places, the trees are fluffy and colorful.  If they aren’t as incredible as usual, you couldn’t prove it by us. 

 

In addition to the warm temperatures affecting the trees, there’s another problem.  I didn’t pack correctly.  Rob is in shorts and sandals.  I have long-sleeve shirts, warm coats, long pants and warm socks.  I keep hoping for snow!  I even brought mittens!  Even so, the big old rock fireplace in the Fireside Inn had logs burning and it was lofty, cozy and comfortable. 

Lounging by the fire.

The Fireside Inn dining room and bar

 

Fireside Inn patio

One reason I was going to pass on Lebanon is because our first day was an administrative day.  The inn has a laundry facility so yeah, what else?  It was also banking day.  Time to check in and balance the books.  But on day 2, Rob (my travel consultant) found an interesting drive around Mascoma Lake.  Any body of water is a good body of water for us.  Along this route first were Enfield, Lower Shaker Village and then Upper Shaker Village.  Curious.  The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing was a sect that originated in Britain in the early 1700s.  A group of them immigrated to this soil and the shores of Mascoma Lake in 1761.  Besides their religious beliefs, they practiced racial and sexual equality, communal ownership of property, pacifism and celibacy.  Their doctrine said that marriage and sex were sins (which they are, of course, if you do it right).  The congregation relied upon converts and adopted orphans.  I guess that would explain why the sect died and we found nobody on the soccer field.  Oh, and one other thing.  When they had their religious meetings, if they suddenly became inspired or something, they would get catatonic and fall on the floor and flail and shake around like snakes on a hibachi.

 

There are a few buildings left behind by the Shakers but now mostly it’s big expensive lake front homes.  They like their great big houses, here!  While they are beautiful to look at, I can’t say I envy them.  All those stairs and windows (to clean and climb)?  No.  We did stay at one B & B in Boston and of course, old homes do not have elevators.  Hauling luggage up 2 flights of stairs gets old for the old.

They love their big ol' houses!

 

There was one other strange thing in Enfield.  Every few hundred feet, there is a doll that looks a bit like a scarecrow tied with ribbons or beads to a pole or tree.  Each one is dressed differently.  I thought it might have something to do with the Shakers.  Not so.  It is just a whimsy in the little town created by a local artist to add a bit of individualistic character to the ambience.  Some folks love it.  Some think it is weird and creepy and want the dolls removed.  I’m not sure what’s, “creepy,” about a pretty doll;  some people just have to have something to protest, I guess.  So far, the dolls live on and we fall down on the side of liking them and think they are unusual, cute and flavorful.

 

The drive to our next stop, Stowe, VT, was short, 70 miles on the freeway.  The back roads added 30 miles to the trip.  There has been a 2-year long drought in the northeast and for a while, the hills were covered with parched, thirsty, barren trees that had given up and dropped their leaves.  Eventually, we came upon beautiful red, golden, yellow and orange hills.  It was a deliberately slow drive:  3 ½ hours to drive 100 miles.  Absolutely perfect!

Do the mooses know
this is where they
should cross?

Another little covered bridge.

10-2-2025 East Burke, VT

Some of you sticklers out there are going to demand a data qualifier.  To be clear, the wind speed at the acme of Mt. Washington, 231 mph, is the highest in recorded world history NOT including tornadoes, typhoons and hurricanes.  By the way, as far as the high winds are concerned, the older buildings at the tippy top of Mt. Washington are anchored to planet Earth by huge chains.  The newer buildings are designed and built to withstand 300 mph winds.

 

Like Madison County, there are many covered bridges up here.  The reasoning at the time was that the roof protects the timbers from the rain and snow thus retaining their strength.  The old Albany Bridge was constructed in 1858 and was purposed to cut travel time to the marketplace by hours.  The men who built it were woodworkers and craftsmen using axes, adzes, augers and hammers.  No Craftsman power tools in 1858.  The fasteners are treenails, pronounced trunnels, and resemble sections of dowel, made from wood that swells when moistened to provide a tight, strong fit.  There are 2,592 trunnels holding the Albany Bridge together.

The Albany Bridge, now known as
the White Mountain National
Forest Bridge

Beautiful, sturdy construction!

 

East Burke, population 141, is a tiny rural community of friends and family.  Everybody knows everybody.  This time of year, there are squash, pumpkins, cornstalks, wreaths made of colorful leaves and cones and broomsticks on every porch and walk.  It is made extra pretty by the breeze that swirls the leaves about like so many yellow and red snowflakes.  The mountains ablaze with color are the backdrop.  In town at the little café where breakfast is served, there are pumpkin pies, cinnamon cakes and hot spiced apple cider.  The delicious aroma of Fall is in the air.

The view of the ski lift from
our deck.  They were just 
installing the chairs on the
lift.  Snow is on the way.

For those of you who still ski, 
this is what our lodge looks like
in the Winter.

 

The Entertainment Committee (Rob) contrived a 44-mile loop that we could drive to view the colors.  Lake Willoughby was a way point on the route.  It is the prettiest place.  The water is deep blue and the wind created white caps.  All around it is a sea of colors, yellow, gold, orange, red, maroon and purple, all under a canopy of royal blue sky dotted with white, fluffy clouds.  The water gets to 350 feet deep and as it is a glacier lake the temperature doesn’t tempt me, to be sure, but there were a few polar bears out there in kayaks and the occasional swimmer.  Swim?  That’s funny!  I packed a down coat but seem to have forgotten my swim suit!  We drove the length of the lake, 6 miles, and on the north end we found a long sandy beach.  Not expansive by California standards and you won’t find a palm tree for a thousand miles, of course, but pretty and the locals love it.

South side of Lake Willoughby

Sugar Hill, a lookout along the way

Mother Nature's paintbrush

 

There are pretty little churches
by the hundreds.  The headstones
in the little cemeteries date back
to the early 1800s.

North end of Lake Willoughby

The point was to view the colorful foliage and our cups runneth over.  The mountains, trees and bushes seem to compete with each other to see which one can wear the prettiest, most colorful gown.  We lollygagged along and took over 4 hours to drive 44 miles all the while gasping, “Oh my God!” and “Holy buckets!” and “Look at this!  Look at that!”  Our “Leaf-Peeping” trip is a success in spades.  We hit the jackpot and we have two weeks to go!

"Look at this
pretty yellow dress!"

"Gold is better, just
ask DJT."

"Nope.  Maroon
is best."

"I like gold, too,
but I'm prettier!"

"Are you guys kidding?!
Hold my beer and watch this!"

9-30-2025 Conway, NH

On the last evening before we left Boston, Rob found the nicest little restaurant, D’Parma, tucked away in the tight, stacked neighborhood in Winthrop.  What a little diamond in the rough.  This is Italian on the hoof.  There are about 15 tables and there were maybe 7 people in all who spoke English.  The chefs didn’t speak English, either, and the food and wine were perfectly squisito!  A very nice way to say, “Arrivederci, Boston.”

 

Lindy on the patio

Rob sips a toonie in the sunset
on the patio of the Scenic Inn

We settled in Conway, NH at the lovely Scenic Inn.  On our first night in the little town, we had dinner on the outdoor patio at the Almost There Saloon where our waitress told us about the drive up to Mount Washington.  She advised, “Oh, you don’t want to drive up there.  It is so steep!  It’s like straight up!  People come back down with their cars smoking.  You can drive part way up and then ride the cog train the rest of the way to the top.  But the wind!  Be ready for the cold wind!”  Well!  The hook was set!

 

Yesterday, we drove the road up to the gate where the man collecting money (Yes, bring money.  God’s wonders are not free.) said we were on the wrong side of the mountain to ride the cog train.  That was more than an hour away from where we were.  This road is called the, “Auto Road.”  The man showed Rob how to get the Jeep into Manual 1 gear for the trip back down and told us to stay in that one or our brakes would be smokin.’  And we were off like a prom dress.  Hey, we’re in a Jeep, we can do this!

 

Well!  The drive up the mountain is not for the timid.  Rob did all of the driving.  I’d like to say I was navigator if there is such a thing on a road just slightly wider than the Jeep but what I was really doing was planning my memorial service.  Even Rob showed a modicum of emotion:  Fright.  It was not just narrow with no shoulder dropping off to nowhere but the winds were gusty and blowing the Jeep around.  Vehicles coming down only complicated these issues.  Frankly, we were scared shitless. 

The arrow points out the lower
part of the road up.  Shadow of
Rob hanging on to my britches.
Fingers are mine with a death-grip
on my camera.  Stay back from the ledge!

 

For the record, the highest wind ever recorded since they started recording wind speed occurs on this mountain.  The highest wind ever recorded in the whole world (not kidding) is 231 mph on this exact mountain!  We were hoping not to experience that.  After a harrowing drive, we arrived at the top of the mountain, ostensibly to view the red leaves on the horizon (Isn’t that what this trip is all about?!).  It was cold!  Out with the heavy jackets and cameras!  I couldn’t set up a selfie because the wind would have blown my camera away.  It was a lower wind speed today, 35 mph with 58 mph gusts.  When I disembarked the Jeep, I hung on to anything I could grip.  I wanted to take a picture of the view of the squiggly road we had just driven and Rob grabbed onto my britches to keep me from blowing away.  I had a death grip on my camera.  There is a scientific observatory and visitor’s center at the very tippy top where there is a vending machine for toilet paper and throw-up bags.  There is an underwear store and a brakes and tranny repair shop.  (Just kidding about all that but seriously, folks…)  Bottom line:  It was beautiful and scary.  Chalk up another, “Never again,” road.

The view of the red mountains.  Pictures
don't really do justice.  We're backed up
against a big rock.  "The wind can't blow
us over this one, can it, Rob?"

A drop-off up ahead.  Gulp.

So cold and windy it took my breath away.

A death-grip on the Jeep.

 

Today is September 30^th.  We are at the Burke Mountain Ski Resort in Burke, VT surrounded by… wait for it…. red leaves.  Our wonderful patio looks out on the ski lifts.  In Boston, people were in shorts and flip flops.  Now, it’s blue jeans and flannel shirts.  I brought my down jacket and I wasn’t far off the mark!  Time to wind down, have a toonie, then head down to the restaurant.

9-28-2025 Boston, MA Part II

 Trolley rides and harbor cruises are available in the city to give one an overview of the highlights.  We did both adventures.  Boston, as you can expect, is rife with history, dating back to pre-USA days.  The first Puritans to colonize the Boston area did so in 1630.  They came here to escape persecution by their mother country and live where they could enjoy their right to religious liberty.  (Mary Dyer was excluded from that one.)

 

Among the more recent (1700s) historic sites is The Old North Church.  The Sons of Liberty decided on a plan to alert the colonists of the arrival of British troops by raising a lantern into the bell tower:  One (lantern) if by land, two (lanterns) if by sea.  When Paul Revere saw the lanterns, that is when he went on his midnight ride.  “The British are coming!  The British are coming!”  Paul Revere’s home is near the Old North Church.  (Aside:  Paul Revere had 2 wives.  Each one gifted him with 8 kids, then died.  I don’t blame them!)

The Old North Church
and Paul Revere's statue

 

The Old State House is also an historic monument.  The balcony on the front of the hall is where the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to the citizens for the first time by Col. Thomas Crafts.  The tradition continues to this day.

Side view of The Old
State House.  

The Old State House.  The
little white balcony is where
The Declaration of Independence
was read out loud for the
first time in 1776.

 

T

The harbor cruise was so pleasant.  It was warm and sunny and we sailed right under Logan International Airport’s final approach pattern.  How cool was that?!  The tour guide provided many details about the harbor and its history.  Boston as we know it today was originally about 75% under water.  There were 3 foothills locally and the citizens gradually leveled one or two of them and dragged in tons of landfill and created Boston and Boston Harbor as we know it today.  Even the airport is constructed on landfill.

Ah, the sound of
jet engines overhead!

Happily cruisin.'

Rob enjoying the sun and breeze.

 

The USS Constitution sits quietly moored at one of the piers.  Her hull is constructed of 26” thick hard oak.  The Constitution played a major role in the War of 1812. (That’s the one where the British decided to take one more shot at taming those unruly, rural bumpkin colonists and bring them back into the fold.)  During the naval conflict, cannonballs were fired at our ships, including the Constitution.  They fairly bounced off her hull causing one of the British warriors to shout and call her, “Old Ironsides!”  Old Ironsides is still seaworthy but in order to retain this certification, she must sail a minimum of 1 nautical mile/year.  So the tugs pull her out and she sails out to Castle Island on Independence Day.  There she fires off a 21-gun salute, then sails back to her nest at the harbor, facing the opposite direction so that she will be weathered evenly on all sides.  In her military history, she fought in more than 40 naval battles and never lost one.  She is lovingly cared for and doted upon by her babysitters.

Old Ironsides, saving the republic
one war at a time.  She's a
national treasure.

 

In the present, Boston is a hornet’s nest to us country desert rats.  The traffic is insane, even on Sunday.  Impatient people drive in the oncoming lanes, pass other cars and then turn right.  If every parking space is taken up along the curbs, which is the usual case, they simply stop their cars in the moving lanes, park them and start a new row.  It took us an hour each way to drive into Boston from Winthrop (4 miles or so).  The three and four story houses are stacked up tight-pack mile after mile along the narrow streets, one driveway’s width between them.  We were horrified and bewildered by the apparent nonchalance of the crowds of people who seem to think that this insanity is quite normal.  They even seem to enjoy it.  With all its historic beauty and majesty, we are not sorry to depart Boston.  On to Conway, NH.  Smaller, quainter and user-friendly.

How they live.... miles of this.

These are some of the highest end
"homes," in the city.  No, thanks anyway.

9-26-2025 Boston, MA

 Boston, MA, you gasp?!  What the Hell…?!  Let me explain.  I have a bucket list, same like many others.  About 40 years ago or more, a McDonnell Douglas friend Hal Beemer recommended that we go to see the fall colors in the east.  They call it, “leaf-peeping.”  I call it, “looking at red leaves.”  All that said, I mentally put it on my bucket list.  Another adventure to check off!  So here we are, decades later, traveling across the country to look at red leaves.

 

But first, there was the airport.  We were easily early for our departure.  Then came the announcement:  Very bad weather in Boston, our departure time is delayed by an hour.  Fair enough.  If the pilot doesn’t want to fly, neither do I!  Then came another announcement.  Very, very bad weather…. Another hour delay.  This went on and on.  Delta began to suggest that if we wanted to change our flight plans, they would reimburse our charges.  Why would we change our flight plans?  If one plane isn't flying into BOS, are any of the others?  And who would fly on it?!  Furthermore, where were our bags?!  So we sat.  Then Mother Nature bought our dinner courtesy of Delta Airlines.  No fair to Delta but PR is what it is.  Obviously, all other planes destined for BOS were delayed as well and so it was mayhem when we finally arrived after a 4 ½ hour delay and a 5 ½ hour flight.  At 1AM, the rental car desks were a sea of tired, crabby people and screaming babies.  At 3:30 AM, we finally lay our heads down at our B & B, a little cross-eyed and whooped.

A typical home in the
neighborhood.  One question:
Who cleans it?!

Our B & B, Chateau sur Mer

 

Nevertheless, time to rise and shine and get on with the show!  Beantown was established in 1630 by the pilgrims;  a bunch of rugged, stubborn individuals ferociously protective of their freedoms.  The Crown still owned and controlled the colony as long as it stayed out of the colonists’ hair.  But in 1773, an armada of 40 tons of tea sailed into the Boston harbor with a $2M tax (in today’s dollars) payable to the Crown attached.  The Sons of Liberty, headed up by a hothead named Sam Adams, said enough is enough.  No taxation without representation!  They stormed down to the shore and threw the whole shiteree into the deep blue in a move that is now known as the Boston Tea Party.  Good Ol’ Sam Adams was good for more than just a good lager!  This event was a pivotal event that led to the dissolution of the colony’s ties to England.  The revolutionary war was imminent.

Three ships like this replica, The
Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver,
sailed into this harbor hauling a
total of 40 tons of tea.

Our hero, Sam Adams, at the
entrance to the Tea Party
Museum

Cargo ships like this one
sailed into Boston Harbor
on a regular basis.

 

Religion was a big deal back in the 1600s.  The Puritans were too strict for some women who weren’t allowed to even pray aloud in church.  Mary Dyer had had enough.  She moved away and became a Quaker.  Then, in a brash move, she moved back to Boston.  The Puritan people banished her and she left but came back.  This happened 3 times.  The final time she came back, they warned her that if she didn’t leave, she’d be hanged in the big central park.  She hanged.  This all happened before freedom of religion became fashionable.

Dinner at The Wharf
If you go hungry in Boston,
it's on you!  There are
a million restaurants!

Bronze of Mary Dyer
on the grounds of the
MA capitol bldg, also
called the State House.

Lunch on the cobblestone streets.

 

The New State House in Boston had a big concrete dome.  Paul Revere, a coppersmith, thought it should be copper plated.  After that, it was decided to cover the copper with gold leaf.  But when WWII happened, the gold leaf was painted gray for camouflage.  How they got all that gray paint off of the gold leaf is beyond me but the dome is now back to its gleaming gold beauty.

-To be continued-

There are miles and miles
of tunnels under Boston.

The MA State House