From Maine to New Hampshire's white mountains, then Canada

Ok, this is the last post on the vacation I promise!!!



We left Maine a drove cross state to New Hampshire once again running into downpours of rain. It seemed the pattern was rain extremely hard one day and brighten up a be sunny the next. Fortunately for us the day we went up to Mt. Washington it was 80 degrees but once at the summit it was 48 degrees. Nothing is without cost as you can see one car $22.00 plus an additional $8.00 for each passenger.















They do give you a narrated CD to listen to as you ascend the mountain which has lots of info and explains alot about the history. Most of the road was paved but very narrow just wide enough for two cars to pass if necessary but no guard rails anywhere.


The Auto road as it is called was first known as the Carriage road, began in 1854, it actually took several attempts to get it completed but by 1861, it was passable for carriages, horses and walking. The first car to ascent was in 1899. From then on it became a popular place for tourists to visit. Since 1932 the non profit Mt. Washington observatory has monitored the notorious extremes of weather from the legendary summit station. They continuously collect data on the conditions and it is used nationwide for forecasting models, local and regional weather reports, severe weather research projects and unique educational programs.

Its the tallest peak in the northeast reputed as the "Home of the World's worse weather" bitter cold, dense fog, heavy snow and record winds all combine to make 6,288 ft Mt. Washington one of the most extreme places on the planet. It the picture of the summit stage house (now a small store) you can see chains secured into the ground, they are there for a reason at one time the wind speed was recorded at 231 mph, and buildings were lost.






The tip top house is still in the original state but has been reinforced several times, no longer used as it was intended, as a sort of safe house from the weather but very impressive in the sturdiness of the structure

The cog railway is another way you can get to the top, it was conceived in 1852, and completion of the Cog RR marked a historic and amazing accomplishment considering the adverse conditions during the Civil war times. Materials were hauled over 30 miles by teams of oxen over difficult terrain to reach the work sites. Its not cheap to take this little train either round trip per person was $57.00, one way $45.00

Spectacular views of 360 degrees from the top are amazing when the weather is clear, you can over look five states, Canada and the Atlantic Ocean.

Here you see some of the trails that are marked with stone cairns that help keep hikers on the right paths. We walked on few of these but didn't venture to far down, there was that slight problem of coming back up and it was almost straight up.

We traveled up into Quebec Canada because that was the route our GPS took us on to get back home the fastest. Quebec was very interesting to say the least. It is totally French and we Americans are not to well accepted there in some places. I now know what it feels like to be in a foreign Country, not being able to read the road signs, restaurant menus, or to figure out motels. Thank goodness the GPS didn't miraculously convert to French when we crossed the border.

I tried to teach myself French a couple of years ago but gave up, now I wish I would have pursued it a little longer. A few of the words were familiar but for the most part I was lost. Most of the Canadians living near the borders can speak and understand English, so we did get by ok. Further north we would have been in deep dodo. After crossing into Ontario it was back to all English and we took deep breaths of thanks and felt more at ease.



This picture was taken with the self timer but we were on a floating dock that kept moving, I was surprised it turned out as good as it did. To funny old people.

As we were leaving Canada we came across this old shipwreck, so stopped to take a look. We never did find out the story but it appeared to have been there for a long time and looked like it just went aground in the harbors shallow waters and left there.

We noticed many birds had taken up homes in any little crevice or hiding place of the ship.
I'm done now with the vacation posts hopefully you didn't get to bored. We made it home in time to see my number 2 daughter off on her first missions trip to Guatemala and that made me happy to be able to send her off in person.