Month: July 2022

Hike in Mount Washington National Forest

Amy Kline
  • The beginning and end of the trail was a covered bridge. The purpose of having a roof on the bridge was to extend the life of the wood floor and support beams.
  • This is the only place where were was wooden steps on the trail. Otherwise, it was rocks and tree roots that you would use as a step.
  • The trail was called Boulder for good reason. Huge boulders were all over and look like they fell down the mountain at some point in the distant past.
  • You can see all the tree roots sticking up, just waiting to trip us up!
  • A bird apparently fought for their life in this spot. Brilliant blue and dark gray feathers in an area where we stopped to catch our breath.
  • Carson and Spencer got way ahead of us, but they would stop and wait for us to catch up sometimes.
  • They loved to mock us for our slowness. My defense is that since I am now the shortest person in the family, I am taking 1.5 steps compared to everyone else’s single step!
  • Trees start growing here with just a little dirt and a little sun. This forest is not primary growth, but it has been managed for a long time, so there seems to be a lot of tree and plant diversity in the area.
  • Isn’t this view amazing?
  • I made it to the top and still had a smile on my face!
  • Zoomed as far in as possible with my phone to a rock wall in the distance.
  • Tree silouette
  • It can get very windy at the tops of the mountains, as you can see from the way the branches grew on this tree.
  • Jeff contemplating life as he looks out over the area we just climbed.
  • On the return part of the trail, stones were strategically placed to make stairs. My knee was very thankful!
  • Lots of tall,very straight trees
  • The covered bridge goes over this river bed. In the spring, the river is rushing and much higher as the snow melts in the higher elevations.
  • This fern had the coolest coloring. The edges were a much lighter green than the rest of the leaves.
  • Carosn and I made smores after we got back. We usually don’t bother with making a fire during our roadtrips, but a neighboring camper gave us their leftovers when they were leaving, so we bought some smore ingredients at the campground store.
  • I am a Master Marshmellow Maker. Perfectly toasted!
  • We were at a campsite which was perfect for people watching as it was right off the main driveway so we could see everyone coming and going.
  • Jeff made delicious omelettes and hashbrowns to fill us up before the hike!
  • Trail selfie!
  • Jeff loved this hike so much. He said it was one of his top favorite hikes we have ever done. I agree!
  • There was an Llbean outlet right at the edge of town. Jeff bought these hiking shoes on a whim and said they were comfy the whole time.
  • This view!
  • This is called a blaze and it is the way that hikers can stay on the trail when hiking on remote trails that are not paved or laid with pea gravel. Carson was great at spotting the blazes.

The day was beautiful so we had a nice breakfast and then went for a hike in Mount Washington National Forest. We had come to this area back during spring break 2005 and vowed to go hiking here some day because it was so beautiful. Well, today was that day!

It was a 3.5 mile loop hike that went 1000 feet up and then 1000 feet back down. It was called Boulder Loop Trail and it truly lived up to it’s name. Our legs were on fire as we hiked over all the boulders and exposed roots along the trail. We definitely used the hiking poles! The boys frequently got way ahead of us with their young legs, talking the whole way. I don’t think they looked around much to appreciate the nature around them, but they didn’t complain about lack of cell phone service even once!

When we got to the half way point (also the highest elevation of the trail), the vista was awe inspiring, breathtaking, amazing and every other wonderful adjective that you can think of. So many layers of tree-covered mountains, huge rock faces, blue skies and big puffy clouds. Words and pictures just can not convey how awesome it was! Jeff said it was his most favorite hike he has ever taken and I completely agree.

The hike had to come to an end at some point, unfortunately, so we headed back to the campsite where Jeff made steak, and then Carson made some smores. The next day we packed up and headed to Kennebunkport, Maine to begin the Kline family vacation leg of our roadtrip, so I won’t be posting quite as much.

Last long driving day-Utica, NY to North Conway, New Hampshire

Amy Kline
  • A gorgous day, and the scenery got more and more beautiful (gas mileage went down as we went into the mountains though)
  • We stopped for Lunch at Crowne Point State Park. This bridge crosses from New York to New Vermont.
  • At the state park we walked around and learned about the French and British Forts that were here back when waterways were the highways, so strategically Crown Point was an important place to control.
  • The ruins you see are the officer’s quarters. As you can tell, the boys were really impressed.
  • The other building was the soldier’s barracks where it was once a two story structure.
  • Fortifications in case soldiers invaded.
  • Before the British defeated them, the French had a fort here too. Parts of the wall outline was all that is left.
  • This bridge is pretty new. They took down the original bridge (first highway to connect New York with New England) in 2009 when it was deemed structurally unsafe. They built the new one to resemble the first bridge.
  • We even ended up on a dirt road at one point. Love our high clearance camper!
  • Ben & Jerry’s had a big display about John Lewis and his March graphic novels and the importance of voting.
  • Selfie time! It was hot outside waiting to order ice cream.
  • Obligatory Carson selfie to send to his friends. I am the advisor of their Destination Imagination group and still on their group chat and they asked for updates since they probably won’t read the blog.
  • Definitely not as treacherous as the Rockies, but still some steep roads that required Jeff to shift in a lower gear.
  • At the campground, there were pretty decent shower facilties.
  • Some places charge for showers and some are free. This one is not free.
  • The beach area of the campground. It is sandy with a lot of pebbles in it.
  • Close up of an especially pebbly area.
  • Sunset at the beach. Saco River is very shallow here and is a place to put in for tubing and kayaking.
  • We stopped at the Conway Train Depot. Here is the working round house. Brings me back to Thomas the Train memories!
  • Lots of people at this time because they were loading for
  • Ice cream selfie!
  • They had RV and camper parking. Nice!
  • Getting the campsite set up.
  • Jeff enjoyed talking to the guys who made this layout.
  • The details in the scenery were impressive!
  • Train selfie!
  • There was a little musuem in the train depot.
  • I got a selfie with Carson yesterday, now it’s Spencer’s turn.
  • Josiah Bartlett was the second person to sign the Declaration of Independence. We also know him as the main character in “West Wing TV series. Jeff had to get a selfie when we passed by this elementary named after the founding father.
  • Instead of getting fast food all the time on our driving days, we are trying to just stop and eat sandwiches, with a side of sausage and cheese and sometimes fruit.

This was our last big driving day for a while. We mostly took state highways so while our gas mileage was a lot less, the roads were absolutely beautiful. We drove through the Adirondacks, and the Green Mountains. Amazing! Each turn was more breathtaking that the previous view. We really do live in a gorgeous country.

It was getting time to stop for lunch when we happened to drive by Crowne Point State Historic Site, where there are ruins of forts from the French and the British from colonial times. The museum was closed, but it was a great stretch break to walk around the area and read the info on the signs (and google things to fill in the blanks).

Our next stop was Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. Unfortunately, they were sold of out tours for the day (when we went in 2005, it was March so didn’t have to worry about that). But the ice cream was delicious and it was a nice stretch break.

We arrived at the campground and got all set up for the next couple days. It caters to a swimming/tubing/kayaking family crowd, so there are lots of activities in the campground that are available and a rocky sand beach to do all of those things.

Thursday was a relaxing day. It was supposed to rain and storm, so we mostly hung out in the campground and read, swim, and play board games. In the afternoon, we went exploring in the truck and found Hart’s Location, one of the two boting precincts in New Hampshire where everyone comes to vote at midnight. We also went to the Conway Scenic Railway Depot and walked around looking at all the train cars and the roundhouse. There was a small Ben & Jerry’s there so of course we got more ice cream.

Here are pictures with descriptions. Enjoy!

Driving Day-Niagara Falls pitstop

Amy Kline
  • We crossed into Canada at Port Huron/Sarnia. This bridge is called the Blue Water Bridge.
  • The Border Patrol guy took his job very seriously. No smiles or words of welcome, just asked us to declare specific items if we had them.
  • We didn’t pass right away because we didn’t have the app filled out, so had to go park uner the roof in the distance to get the ArriveCAN app downloaded and the COVID info entered.
  • Most of the driving in the morning looked like this.
  • Carson loves, loves, loves Tim Hortons, so we had to stop so he could get his donuts. He has been waiting for Tim Hortons since our last trip to Canada in 2019.
  • We couldn’t find a parking spot, so at first, this was the only view we thought we would get.
  • This is the view if you turn your back on the Falls near the American falls end of the block.
  • We walked to the bus as it pulled up and let some workers off. The driver waved us back to where we were standing, even though no one else was around. Awkward!
  • The falls is gorgeous and the color of the water amazing.
  • Carson’s friends wanted him to send a selfie, so here ya go Destination Imagination kids!
  • We didn’t take the time to take the boat tour, or walk behind the falls. There were long lines for everything here.
  • Is it Wall Drug? No! Just racks and racks of magnets and keychains with all the names on them.
  • From inside the main building, which is mostly restaurants and lines for all the paid activities that were available.
  • The American Falls. Not nearly as impressive compared to Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.
  • A cool speckled gull at our bus stop.
  • Back to the eerily empy parking lot to make some sandwiches for lunch.
  • Can’t you just see a zombie apocolypse moview being made here? Parking lot after parking lot with just a car in random spots. No people and nothing else a park would normally have available. So creepy!
  • Heading back into the US-much faster than leaving it.
  • The boys may not be little anymore, but they still made up a game with the jelly packets while we waited for our food.
  • We finally found parking at the very last bus stop on this route.
  • Family selfie!

After the hotel breakfast, we were on our way. Our first adventure of the day was getting into Canada. After the usualy questions about firearms and fruit (we didn’t have either), the very serious border agent wanted to scan the app with all of our COVID vaccine info on it. There is an app? Apparently it is called ArriveCAN and it is required in order to enter Canada. We had all our vaccine cards but had no idea there was an app that we had to upload all of that info to, so the guy had us park to the side after we got over the bridge, download the app and then fill out all of the info it wanted for each one of us. It took forever, until we realized the reason that our phone signals were not strong enough was because they had us park under a huge metal roof. Once I got out of the truck and walked about 10 ft from the roof, things uploaded much faster, and we received the barcode that the border agents scanned and then we were finally on our way.

Our next adventure was Niagara Falls. It took a while to find a place to park because we were pulling the camper and normal parking spots aren’t long enough. We finally found a place in Parking Lot C (in case you needed to know), which looked like an abandoned park full of empty parking lots. Seriously, it would make a great backdrop for an apocolyse movie! But, the shuttle bus did come and pick us up and take us to the Table Rock stop, where we walked around amongst the hordes of people, took some photos of the Falls, and some selfies. Then we took the shuttle bus back to the truck, made some sandwiches, and headed back into the US.

We continued to drive to Utica, NY where we stopped for the night. Tomorrow we are heading through the Green Mountains in Vermont, stopping at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory, and then into the White Mountains in New Hampshire for a few nights of camping. We are looking forward to less roads and people, and more nature in the coming days!