Oct 4 - The Flume Gorge, in Franconica Notch State Park, NH

   What a great day.  We had a 3 pm reservation for entry into the Flume Gorge.  It was over an hour to get there, and we arrived a bit early.  They let us in anyways.  This 2 mile loop was extremely well set up and maintained.  It was a self-guided route, past a 300 ton boulder, deposited by the glaciers, across the Pemigewasset River on a scenic covered bridge built in 1886.  You then walk by Table Rock, a section of Conway granite, that is like a series of huge rock shelves in the river.  

  Next, you walk uphill on a well-made boardwalk, along the narrow Flume Gorge.  It extends 800 feet, and the sides of the gorge go straight up 70-90 feet.  The walk up is really incredible, the rock wall amazing.  I imagine the amount of water in the gorge is really different in the spring, but even now, at its lowest, the sound and the views are really delightful.

  At the top, is Avalanche Falls, a 45 foot waterfall that cascades down into the gorge.

  Continuing on the mountain path, there is a turnout that walks down to a platform that overlooks Liberty Gorge, a beautiful cascading mountain stream that flows through a narrow valley.  

  A half mile through the woods further on is the Sentinel Pine Bridge and Pool.  The Pool is a deep basin formed at the end of the Ice Age.  It is surrounded by high cliffs, and water cascades over granite rock fragments that have fallen from the cliffs above.  A covered bridge, built in 1939, spans a portion of the river.  You can walk 3/4 around the rim of this really beautiful basin.  Very striking.

  The last segment of the loop took us through a Glacial Boulder strewn area.  During the last Ice Age, a mile thick ice sheet moved through the area, moving boulders, huge and small, and dropping them in this area.  

  On the trip back to the RV through the White Mountains on US-93, I remembered how incredibly beautiful are the various mountain vistas.  The mountains are all tree-covered, and they are currently turning into fall colors everywhere.  

Table Rock and Covered Bridge photos:

The Flume Gorge and Avalanche Falls photos:

Liberty Gorge and Scenic vista photos:

Sentinal Pine Bridge and Pool photos:

Glacial Boulder photo:

Oct 3 - Scenic highways in New Hampshire drive

   We left fairly early today as we knew our route was mostly scenic viewing of mountains, rivers, lakes and colorful trees.  We went through little towns and by several picturesque lakes, including Lake Winnipesauke.  We took this longer route up to the Kancamagus Scenic highway (aka Rt 112), which is a 30 mile route from Conway, NH over to Lincoln, NH.  It has numerous scenic viewing spots and trails all along the way.  It is a National Forest-run park, that is heavily travelled and nicely documented on trail maps and brochure handouts at the first stop.  Thank goodness, again, for our Senior National Park pass, which allowed us free parking at all of the stops.  

  Our first stop was at the Lower Falls, at the 6.8 mile marker.  This was a nice walk along the rock-strewn Swift River, with a viewing platform of the small water falls flowing along.  Since it is late fall, there is not a lot of water flowing, so there are a lot of rocks all over, that many people were climbing on.  In the spring, it is totally full.  Nice little walk, pretty views, nice colorful tree-lined river.

  The next stop was the River Gorge and Lovequist Loop/Falls Pond, at the 9.0 mile marker.  It is a deep flume (gorge) created long ago by glacial activity.  There is a bridge right over the falls/gorge.  Very crowded, but everyone was wearing masks.  After crossing the bridge, the Lovequist Loop is a mile-long trail that circles the Falls Pond.  It does go up and down through the woods, so there are many beautiful views overlooking the pond.  Not many people did the loop walk--just us and we passed two others.  

  The next stop was the Sabbaday Falls, at the 15.4 mile marker.  This spot has a .6 mile round trip trail along a sweet little rocky river through the woods, leading to the Falls.  The gorge was created long ago by a fault line and glacial activity.  Another bridge spans the gorge, and and leads to the upper level of the river.  Very nicely done.  Delightful area.  

  Sugar Hill Overlook, at the 17.3 mile marker, and the CL Graham Overlook, at the 21.7 mile marker.  These were beautiful vistas at roadside pull outs, overlooking the various mountains in the White Mountain range. 

  By this time, it was late afternoon, so we decided to head on back, travelling the remaining 11 miles over to US-93 without any more stops.  Unfortunately, there was so much traffic, that it took 3 and 1/4 hours to travel the 11 miles!  I have NEVER been in a traffic jam like this one.  We would sit stock-still for 10 minutes, then travel slowly for 10 car lengths.  Then sit for 5 minutes, and travel .2 miles, then sit for another 10 - 15 minutes.  I couldn't believe there wasn't an accident or road construction, but there wasn't.  It took us from 5 pm to 8:15 pm to travel 11 miles.  With no side roads to choose alternate routes.  WOW.  So, I read my Kindle, listened to music, no internet or cell coverage so that was limited.  But, I can now check "STUCK in TRAFFIC JAM for 3 Hours" off my bucket list of life's experiences.

Lower Falls photos:

River Gorge & Lovequist Loop/Falls Pond photos:

Sabbaday Falls photos:

Sugarhill Overlook photos:

Oct 2 - Rain day at Sandy Beach Campground, Hopkinton, NH

   It rained all day today, so we decided to just enjoy our time in the RV.  I did make a quick run to the local grocery store to buy gallons of drinking water, as the filter in my filtered water jug was not working up to snuff.  I should have replaced the filter before we left.  Oh well. 

  It stopped raining just before dinner, so we walked the loop around the fairly extensive campgrounds, passing by the lake and beach again.  Then, we had a nice cozy dinner (actually, I nuked the frozen dinner I had prepared last week, and made a salad).  Then, we watched a movie on Amazon Prime.  Fortunately, the internet access on our phone's hotspots was sufficient.  

It's nice spending time in the RV again, and being out in the woods.

Our Sandy Beach campsite photos:

October 1 - Hopkinton, NH camping trip

   Back on the road again!  Short 5 night trip up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  Fairly easy 2 hour drive to our Thousand Trails campground, Sandy Beach, sort of close to Concord, NH.  It is on a small lake, all in the woods.  We had assigned sites, due to Covid, and our is a strange shape, with all of the hookups in the back, with an unlevel area in front.  It took us some time setting up due to the layout of the site.  We tried to get in the most level area, only to find out that our 3 lengths of sewer hoses weren't long enough.  So we needed to remove the leveling blocks and move closer to the back of the site.  Fortunately, we had extra electric cords and water hoses to reach.  Finally, we got everything hooked up and leveled.  When we pulled out the clean sheets in order to  make the bed, we discovered that the window shade in the bedroom had fallen off.  Two short screws in the section that holds it up on both sides had come out.  We couldn't figure out how to reattach it, so let's hear it for duct tape.  We taped up some plastic trash bags over the window, and voila.  Fortunately, we have an appointment next week upon our return at the RV dealer to winterize the RV, and they will reattach the shade.  Not sure why they use such short screws, on something that gets so much pull-down stress.

  We walked around the campground, over to the lake, and around the many campground loops.  There were many seasonal permanent sites, and a fair number of other RV's, but certainly not too crowded.   I'm sure it would have been full during the summer months.

  It does feel nice to be back in the RV and out in nature again, seeing beautiful parts of the country.  The fall colors are just starting, so there's lots of colors.

Sandy Beach RV Campground photos:

Sept 19 - Sept 29, More at home

   On Sat, Sept 19th, I helped Claire and Ian move more stuff to their new home in Orion's house.  Lots of boxes, but it's starting to come together.  And, they are spending their first night living there.  It's a nice space, that they will be making their own.

  On the way home, I stopped at the Salvation Army donation drop off site, to finally drop off bags of stuff we had accumulated while cleaning out Orion's house.   Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to go home on the scenic Route 9 instead of jumping onto the MA Pike.  I stopped for a hike at the Quabin Reservoir Dam.  Walking across the Dam and a little beyond and back turned out to be about 1.5 miles.  Nice walk, nice day.  I forgot how pretty the Quabin area is.  

  The next weekend, Anica and kids came again for a visit.  They want to come as often as they can before Quinn starts the hybrid school method, where she actually goes into the school 2 days a week.  Once that happens in mid-October, we all feel less comfortable actually getting together in person.  Also, Claire and Ian came back out and stayed the night, so they could take Ian's car to the Toyota dealer for servicing, and pick up all of their plants.  Final trip taking the rest of their "stuff".  

  Quinn and I went for a walk searching for golf balls again.  This time only finding one, but the search was exciting.  After lunch, Anica, Quinn, Owen and I went for a walk down to the "pond" at the end of our road.  This we quite the adventure for them.  They threw acorns and stick into the water, mucked around with long sticks into the mud, and just did regular kid stuff.  Quinn wants to come back for an "adventure summer camp" at Grandma's next summer.

I also thought I'd post a photo of our daily walk around the block.  It's quite pleasant--tree-lined, little traffic, spaced out houses, and, of course, the "pond" bordering the golf course.  And, I finally planted some fall flowers in my small garden. 

Quabin Reservoir photos:

Our daily walk photos:

Fall flowers in the garden photos:

Claire taking all her plants to their new home photo:

Anica, Quinn & Owen's visit photos: