We decided that we would skip some of the places we planned to visit. We’ve seem so much already and have so many new places to see, that missing one or two won’t spoil our trip. The weather was clearing by the time we left the local Wal-Mart after buying supplies.
We Mount Washington is one of the tallest mountains in east. You can drive to the top, for a fee, if your vehicle meets certain restrictions. Of course, our Roadtrek is why outside their limits. A tour van to the top is available for the trip but it does not spend much time on top of the mountain and you have to return in the same van. Given the weather, we decided not to make the trip up.
A weather monitoring station at the top of Mt. Washington is connected to the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, NH. You can see reading for temperature, wind good decision not to go to the top. Static and interactive displays about weather are available within the center. I liked the wind canon. It looks like a drum and when tapped, would shoot a “ball of air” at a target of reflective tags.
The wild flowers are in full bloom in Crawford Notch. We didn’t know the names for any of them but they were certainly beautiful.
The ranger at the visitors’ center this morning said we had to see the Willey House site in Crawford Notch. She said this place is the reason the expression “Having the Willey’s” came into being. We came, we saw, we still, we didn’t get the “Willey’s”. A nice pond, including ducks that keep begging for food, and a short hiking trail are across the street.
The Cog Railway runs between Crawford Notch and the top of Mt. Washington, near the Mt. Washington Hotel. This is the opposite side of the mountain that the Auto Road is on. It is coal fired steam engine and pushes one car up the mountain. We were luck enough to watch as the little engine chugged out of the station on its way up the mountain. I took a couple of movies that are on the Picasa site.
The “old man of the mountain” is a rock outcropping in the Franconia Notch State Park that once appeared to be the profile of an old man. It may have at one time but it’s just an outcropping now.
We are staying tonight and tomorrow night at the Lafayette Campground in Franconia Notch State Park. We haven’t had many more bug bite. The black fly bites we each got yesterday are sufficient to remind us to be vigilant.
