Weather turning cool again

Saturday was "tax free day" and we took advantage of it. We did our regular grocery/wal mart shopping plus purchased some clothes, shoes and diesel. Diesel is going up again.

Sunday we attended church and later that day Matt and Christina (park ranger) came over for supper. We had such a nice visit.

Monday was a work day. We worked on lean-tos. We moved to the upper loop to work on two lean-tos that are made of large logs. These took a lot more time, effort and paint to complete. Sanding the floors are hard on Allan. He has learned to only attempt one per day. Apple (the lean-tos are named after trees) has an upper support log sticking out much lower than any of the others. Allan was looking down and ran into it with his head and found himself on the ground. Is that what they call laying down on the job?? He has not had any memory loss and frequent checking of his eyes showed equal and reactive to light thank God. The assistant ranger said the same thing happened to him one day on the same lean-to. The work here at times is very physical and we feel it in our muscles and joints but we love this place. We enjoy our job. Some times we are here in the park and have very few campers. It is very quiet and nice to walk around the campground taking in the sights of the forest and sounds of birds. At other times like Wednesday we have lots of people in the campground. This day there were at least 30 college aged Appalachian Trail hikers. It is good to hear youthful voices having lots of fun.

Our weather has had a turn to cooler temperatures. Highs are in the 60's and lows are 30-40's. It is suppose to warm up in the 70's again soon. We are running our heat at night.

Does anyone want a cat? Katie has been sleeping all day and waking up about the time we go to bed. She wants to play. She runs from one end of the trailer to the other, makes biscuits on us, scratches the mirrored doors and windows and licks plastic loudly to keep us up. We have not been getting much sleep. Today is our day off and Allan informed me that I was in charge of our "wild child" this morning. He wanted to sleep in. We did try to keep her awake most of the time we were home so it must have helped. She slept most of the night with us. I guess we will keep her.

Today I decided to do a thorough cleaning of the trailer and Allan decided to leave for a hike up to Pico Mountain. He drove over to Shelburne Pass which is an elevation of 2150 feet and hiked up to Pico Summit which was 2782 feet. He took a wrong turn on the way back down the mountain. They used the same color markings on different trails. He was trying to get back before the sun went down as he did not have a jacket with him. He got back to the truck about 6 in time for a spaghetti supper. He was a tired puppy. Jeanne cleaned windows and walls and woodwork.

From Pico Mountain trail

From Pico Mountain trail

From Pico Mountain trail

From Pico Mountain trail

Allan got a call from the ranger saying the state police were here looking for one of our campers who was wanted for questioning. He was not found in his campsite. It was the same person that Allan had found sleeping in a lean-to that had been reserved for painting the day before. Allan went with the ranger throughout the park shining the flashlights in every campsite looking for the guy. They did not find him. The ranger was very relieved that Allan was here to assist her. Allan has sure gotten his exercise today.

MOOSEVILLE

We continue to work on the lean-tos. The finished ones are a great improvement. Hope the campers appreciate all that hard work.

We went to Brandon for a corn festival and street dance. Of course, all the food was made from corn so I could not eat it due to allergy, but I had eaten before I went being prepared for that. We walked the streets looking at the neat houses in the town. Most are so big and they all had carriage houses (garages now) in back. We did not bring our camera but will go back and get some pictures next time. They had a pretty good band. Some of us old folks got out on the street and did some dancing. Allan and I had not really danced in about a year. It was steamy hot. We met Mike and Rosie while dancing. He is a dance instructor. We left as soon as the mosquitoes started biting.

Today was a rainy day but we had planned to drive to southern Vermont to visit the Vermont Country Store. This is a huge store with everything you could think of, lots of old things you used to buy including soaps and shampoos. There was lots of free samples of cheese, dips, sausage, jams and jellies. It was pricey. We had lunch there which was tasty. The room we ate in was apparently an old bar. The bar was dark, heavy wood and had big mirrors. Quite interesting.

From there we traveled to the Southern Natural History Museum. A lot of their specimens were from back in the 30's and still in excellent shape. We spent about 2 hours there. They had all kinds of birds and mammals stuffed. There were two live owls, 2 hawks and a keister in their raptor center. They had been injured and were not able to be released back into the wild. There was a storm going on while we were there. We were able to watch the clouds with lightning in the distance. This museum is perched on Hogback Mountain overlook. You can see 100 miles and Massachusetts and New Hampshire on a clear day. Since it was raining we are not sure how far we could see. It was a beautiful overlook. We did not have to pay since we are volunteers at a state park.

As we were heading back home we drove through Bennington, Vt. and were surprised to see so many moose. They were having Moose Fest 2009. All the moose were statues located in front of different businesses. We got pictures of a few of them. Still no picture of a real moose.

Busy Day

Saturday was a busy day. I had my hair cut in Brandon. Gail is a horse lady so it is interesting talking with her. We drove to Ruland for our regular Saturday Wal Mart and grocery shopping, and picked up cat food (Blue Buffalo) for Katie and had lunch at McDonalds. Allan and I rushed home to drop off the groceries and headed for Castleton where we had been invited for a late afternoon meal with Kevin and Terry Burke from church. Their daughter is leaving for Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland, Fl. There were several other couples attending this get together, too. We really enjoyed the fellowship and good food and feel blessed to meet new friends. We learned things about the area and wild life also. One couple was leaving soon for a 24 day trip to Europe.

Allan decided since we were so close we should attend the local pro-rodeo. That was enjoyable seeing the horses. Allan said I got my horse fix.

Today we went to church, came home for lunch (salmon, squash and spinach salad) and took a Sunday afternoon nap. Allan worked on the roof of the RV removing stains, polishing and waxing. We went for our regular campground walk. Yancy helped us get our web cam set up. We got to visit with her and Maggie, our grand dog. I took the computer outside so she could see what our campsite looked like and walked to a lean-to and cabin so she could see that, too. It has been pretty warm here in the mid to high 80's for the last several days. Weatherman predicting the same until mid week when highs will drop about 10 degrees. Still not using the air conditioner.

Alabama looks like Claudette may be visiting you. Stay safe.

Boating and Fishing

Thursday Allan washed the RV and I washed clothes and cleaned the floors.

Today is Friday and we decided to take the day off. We drove to Kent Pond across the road from our campground with intentions of putting our inflatable kayak in the water. The lake access and boat launch is closed to install an new launch area. We walked down to watch the men working. It was a hot day and several were standing in the water while they set concrete slabs. We drove down to Colter Pond which is just a few miles down the road and found no one there, so we had the place to ourselves. We inflated the kayak and tried it out. This is only the second time I had been in it. Last time I felt like it was very tippy, but by the time we finished I was feeling right at home. Allan got the fishing pole and tried it out. We saw several fish jumping and a lot of little fish on the edge but did not catch anything. It was very peaceful there except for a rare yell from a golfer. Maybe he made a hole in one. There is a golf course that runs along part of the pond. We saw a hawk flying overhead and swoop down to catch a fish. We should have had a video camera with me trying to get out of the kayak with my bad knees. At least the bank wasn't full of people.

From Colter Pond

From Colter Pond

From Colter Pond

When we got back to the campground Katie and I sat outside for a while. Then we went for our nightly walk.

Katies new bed

Katie has found an out of the way place to snooze which is under the desk on top of our computer carrier. Now this carrier is black and you know what color Katie is so we decided to correct the problem. We found a pink cushy bed which was in the dog section but Katie doesn't know the difference if you don't tell her. She immediately went to it and started making biscuits. We placed it under the desk and she slept there all night rather than sleeping with us. We even got a picture of her curled up in the bed.

From Katie's new bed

We are painting on the lean-tos. This may take a while as there are 20 in the campground.

Frank and Pat from church invited us over for an afternoon visit and dessert today. We thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and fellowship. They have such a beautiful yard. Frank and Pat have a vegetable garden which is producing a bountiful crop. What great garden skills and God's blessing! They share their vegetables with friends. We are happy to be considered friends as they loaded us down with vegetables, desserts and Italian pasta dish. Thanks Frank and Pat. We took a picture of the one way bridge we had to cross to get to their house. All the other bridges have weight limits below our weight.

From Katie's new bed

As we were heading home we spotted two guys repelling off a rock ledge above the highway. We got pictures of them. This is the same place Allan hiked two weeks ago. (He didn't repel).

From Katie's new bed

The Flume and Basin

Friday we checked out of our cabin and drove to the Flume Gorge which is in Franconia Notch State Park. We had an option of taking the bus the first half mile and walking through the Flume and taking the bus back or walking the whole two miles. We opted for taking the bus in and walking 1 1/2 miles in and out of the gorge. The walk through the lower part of the gorge was mainly on boardwalks and many stairs to the top. What a view! At the lower end we saw Table Rock which the rushing water had smoothed the large slab of granite. As we got deeper into the gorge the walls narrowed on both sides and became 80 to 90 foot in height. They were beautifully covered with moss and fern and the sun filtered through the canopy of trees overhead. The water was rushing through with many cascade waterfalls as we ascended up the many stairs. Avalanche Falls measured 45 feet high. We passed a formation of rock called Bear Cave. We ascended to Ridge Path leading to Liberty Gorge. We continued on to Sentinel Pine Bridge and Pool. The pool measures 40 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter surrounded by cliffs 130 feet high. A little farther on Allan went through Wolf Den which is a narrow one way path that involves crawling on your hands and knees and squeezing up through the rocks (Good thing he is so skinny). Jeanne had better sense and stayed on the main trail. We continued on along the downhill trail through giant glacial boulders.

We left this section of the Flume Gorge and drove to the Basin which is another area where the river flows very swiftly through granite rock. In one area there was a small waterfall which landed on a granite rock forcing the water in a swirling motion and cut a cup in the rock which was 30 foot in diameter and 15 feet deep called the "Basin". There were also many unique and picturesque formations in the large stream.

Leaving this area we returned to Interstate 93 which goes through the valley and over the pass called the Franconia Notch. A portion of this interstate is the only two lane, two way interstate in the US. As we proceeded up to the Notch we passed "The Old Man of the Mountain" which was a famous profile of balancing rock that fell in 2003. New Hampshire lost the symbol of their state. We headed to Vermont to pick up Katie and return to our summer home without seeing a moose.



Saturday Allan helped a group from the church we are attending, split firewood for a member who is recovering from a serious illness. When he returned home I could tell by his walk he was very tired. That was quite a physical workout. He took a power nap and washed the truck and started on the trailer. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary of full time RVing by going out to eat at the "Back Behind Restaurant" that is near our campground. It served excellent ribs.

Today we went to church and did some window shopping and grocery shopping. We met our work crew for a pizza party at the office this afternoon and had a great time.

Mount Washington

Thursday morning we drove to Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It is the tallest mountain in the Northeast at 6288 feet per our map. You have four options of getting to the top of the mountain (driving your personal vehicle, riding the cog train, hiking, or taking a tour van). Since the road is very narrow, they would not allow any vehicle larger than a standard pickup so we opted for the tour van. We had a very knowledgeable and experienced guide. He had been doing this for 25 years. He managed to squeeze by cars coming the opposite direction while we hung to the edge of the mountain. We saw some beautiful views. As we ascended the vegetation changed from deciduous trees, coniferous trees to tundra. It was windy and cold on top (48 degrees with wind chill about 40 degrees). Clouds were coming in while we were there, but we had a very clear view of the Atlantic ocean, Canada and the Green Mountains of Vermont. Due to cloud cover we were not able to see New York. They have a weather station year round on top. In the winter even though it snows the wind blows the snow away but leaves a thick coating of ice on top of the mountain. The weathermen work a 7 day on/off shift and ride a snow cat up and down the mountain. The Appalachian trail goes up and over the mountain. The trails are easy to follow in the lower levels where there are trees growing, but in the tundra particularly in the winter when snow is on the ground the trail is very hard to follow. They have devised a way to mark the trail with stacked stones so the markers won't be blown away. There is an old stone hotel that people used years ago on the top. It is open to view by the public. There were numerous hotels built on top, but they all were blown away. This one is made of stone and still remains. Allan saw the cog train arriving on top which he got pictures on his camera, to be developed later. At the base of the mountain we visited a museum of old transportation vehicles from the past that were used in climbing Mount Washington.

We drove the Kancamagus highway and stopped along the way to see several waterfalls. Sabbaday Falls was an easy walk for me and very pretty. We stopped and watch younger kids play in the Swift River.

We found our cabin that we had rented which was in Lincoln, NH. It was small but very adequate for us. Had a bed, bath, couch, table and chairs, small refrigerator and microwave and TV. What more could you want? We heated a vegetarian lasagna in the microwave that I had prepared the night before. I was looking forward to watching some TV since we don't have it here in our campground, but found I became very bored with each change of the channel. We went for a short ride after dark looking for a moose, but only found one in the campground which we got a picture of. Sorry but no picture of a real moose yet. There was a deck in the back which overlooked a creek. The sound of a babbling brook through the windows lulled us to sleep. More adventures to look forward to in the morning.

Best Kept Secret in Killington

On Sunday afternoon we drove to Thundering Brook Falls which is a few miles from our campground. We have not found much information about these falls in any literature or on the Internet so far. They have built a long board walk over the river and marshy area to the falls. Makes a real nice, easy walk. From the boardwalk it is a very short walk on the trail to the falls. As you near the end of the board walk you can hear the crashing water from the falls. We were pleasantly surprised to see the large falls, a well kept secret.



I got a picture of one of our resident snakes at the office area. I named him Fred. Didn't get a picture of Ethel or Little Ricky. They were in hiding. There has been just too much activity around the office and ranger's house with us painting for them to be posing for a picture.

Katie got to venture outside today. She was on the picnic table watching a chipmunk eating bird seed on the ground. Her eyes got big and her tail was swishing and the feet were dancing. But after she thought about it, the idea of getting down on the ground in the mud changed her mind. She was satisfied to watch from the table.
We packed Katies things for her vacation at the condo. She is being boarded while we go to New Hampshire. This was her first ride in the truck since the first of June and she was not happy. The RV is very quiet with her gone. Hope to have some moose pictures to post.

Keeping busy

Thursday Allan drove to Lebanon, New Hampshire to work on the church. The project this week was mostly trim work while Ed hung lights and did electrical work. He returned home on Friday.

We slept in on Saturday morning. Allan went on a 3 hour hike up the mountain while I cleaned and continued to wash clothes. Saturday evening we drove to Coolidge State Park which is about 30 minutes from here for a raptor seminar. This was very interesting. The lady brought a red tail hawk, great horned owl and an American kestrel. They were beautiful animals. Allan had night rounds. The campground is full.

Today we went to church and did our weekly shopping(we usually do this on Saturday) before the rain started. The grocery store was extremely busy. Maybe most people do their grocery shopping on Sundays around here. We stayed in the rest of the day. Allan has night rounds again tonight.

Katie has decided she likes fresh water from the bathroom lavatory.

From Katie at the watering hole

We plan to visit Mount Washington and northern New Hampshire this Thursday and Friday. Maybe we will see a moose and get pictures.