Dartmouth, Family, and Points West

Roger here... 

Dartmouth...

 I don't know why, but of all the Ivy League Colleges I have always been most fascinated by Dartmouth.  Actually, my interest in the college probably stems from its ties to the movie, "Animal House."  Back in the day I thought that movie was hilarious.  Animal House was actually filmed at the University of Oregon, but the movie was based on the screenwriter's actual fraternity experiences at Dartmouth.  Enough of that.

During our last full day in Vermont, we decided to take a short drive back into New Hampshire to the town of Hanover, which is pretty much a part of  the Dartmouth campus.

This decorative bridge greeted us at the state line --- a mile later we were looking for a parking place in Hanover, near the campus.

The campus matched my expectations.  Buildings of classic architecture surrounded a large green quadrangle.  The building in the opening picture with the clock tower (which chimes every hour) anchored one end of the large rectangle of grass.  

Notice the 1784 date on this building.

The stonework in this church is interesting.

Most of the buildings that surround the quadrangle have artwork.  We liked this one, as it resembled a cairn.  During freshman orientation, the students are asked to look through the window at the top of the sculpture.  It frames the grassy quadrangle where they will graduate in four years.  Kinda cool.

Family....

In the last post I briefly talked about my grandfather's apple orchard and my cousins that we met there every Sunday for dinner with the Norris family.  While we were in Vermont, one of those cousins (Dennis --- the older brother I never had,  and in many ways a mentor) contacted us.  (In our youth he led us into quite a bit of mischief on grandpa's farm.)  Dennis was an usher in our wedding.  His sister, Beth, was the sister I never had.  Dennis and Joan live in Connecticut.  We figured out a way to meet for lunch in Hanover at a campus village restaurant, Molly's.  We have been close to Dennis and his wife, Joan, for decades, but had not seen them for many years.  This was an unexpected highlight of our trip.

L to R... Dennis, Roger Dianne, Joan

The waitress was extremely patient with us as we lingered before ordering, after ordering, and after eating.  We spent a great deal of time reliving old memories and catching up with the lives of our kids.  It was a special time that will not be forgotten.

We promised not to let so much time pass before getting together again.

Points West...

Reluctantly, it was time to pull ourselves away from New England.  We were headed toward the midwest.  

Our first day of travel was probably very scenic, but all we saw was rain, fog, and roadways --- not a fun drive.  Our expensive RV site (Herkimer, NY) for the night was nothing more than a 3 inch mud puddle.  We requested another site which was granted, but it was not our best camping night.  

It takes a long time to cross some states.  New York is one of those.  Our second night was also in that state, but oh, what a difference.  The Lake Erie KOA in Westfield was a haven after two long days of driving.  This family-owned RV park, across the street from Lake Erie, had all the things we craved after a long day --- full hookups, easy access, friendly staff, good connections, woodland views, and quiet time in the forest.

It also had a hiking trail that we (two people, two dogs) relished in the late afternoon.

We crossed a newly constructed bridge over a small stream that led to a large isolated fishing pond and....

Bandido says, "There goes mom.  Always in the lead."

... an extension of the path that edged a vineyard.

At the end of the trail we had the option of crossing the road and entering a quiet city park that was directly on Lake Erie.

The early evening views were amazing!

When we returned to the Airstream, I walked to the office to order dinner from the food trailer.  Dinner was delivered to our site.  We do not often eat pizza, so this was a treat.

No these are not grapes!  They are delicious small pepperonis.

Dianne's Teensy-Weensy Trailer Tip:

With no pantry and just one small cabinet for food storage --

-- I needed to rethink the pantry staples like oils, vinegars, and spices that I use.  I found a solution on Amazon by buying two sets of plastic jars; one set of 8 ounce, and one set of 12 ounce.  I typed labels and taped them onto the jars.

I also had small plastic containers that I think were intended for beads or something (no idea where they came from), but they were useful for bringing along very small amounts of spices that I might need, but would not need routinely.  Old mint containers were the right size to bring salt.

I have actually reused one of the bottles already.  We purchased some Vermont salsa at the apple cider mill.   It came in a heavy glass jar.  I waited until we used some for a meal, then put the remainder (12 ounces were left) into the tall bottle we had already emptied from the salsa from home.  These bottles weigh nothing by themselves, and their square sides are a good use of space.   The uniformly-shaped jars pack much better than a mis-match of heavy store packaging would be.

  In fact, in my very tiny dorm-size refrigerator, they sit two deep in the door shelves, for those items requiring refrigeration:  




Pet Picture of the Day...

I hate and love this picture.  I hate it because it accentuates the natural frown that aging has plastered onto my face when I am resting.  It makes me look like I am in a bad mood.  I am not!

I love it because it proves that Dianne's dog loves me, too --- when she is not around.

The Railroads of New Hampshire

Atul, Robyn, Dianne, Roger

Roger here...  More adventures awaited us in the White Mountains in the beautiful state of New Hampshire. 

Atul, Robyn, Dianne

Our daughter, Robyn, and son-in-law, Atul, rented a car in New York City (where Robyn's show #DateMe - an OK Cupid Experiment is running off Broadway) and drove up to meet us.  Warm feelings.  The first part of this post shows our adventures on the Mount Washington Cog Railway. 

When Atul told me when they would be coming, I asked about doing this trip.  I thought they might like it.  When I knew for sure when they would arrive,  I booked the tickets.  Such an unique experience and so much fun!

The train that will push us  up the mountain

We arrived early (of course), picked up our tickets, toured the displays and boarded our train.  The cog railway has been running for 150 years!

 Our ride up was to be one scenic hour.  

We sat on comfortable wooden benches and enjoyed the mountain air.  The conductor provided continuous commentary.

The first picture I took during the ride was of a ramp that was being constructed for a television event.  Evidently, mountain bikers will be jumping over the train!  Not for me.

The photo below gives a different perspective of the ramp.  Look just to the right of the U.S. flag.

I was able to walk to the front of the car to take this picture of the train ascending the mountain.  The conductor - brakeman is in the picture.  Walking back to my seat on a 25% grade was a little dicey.

After leaving the tree-line, the views became panoramic.

It was intriguing to watch the clouds drift up and down along the mountain slopes --- continual movement.

Two hiking trails climb to the summit ---  the Crawford Path and the Appalachian Trail.  Cairns mark the path.  They are spaced closely together for the hikers to navigate during the frequent heavy fog or snowy conditions.  Unfortunately, there have been many hiker deaths on Mount Washington --- mostly due to rapid weather changes and hypothermia.  The latest was just a month ago.

The hikers below were on the Appalachian Trail.

The young lady below was hiking up right next to the train.

The clouds dominated the views when we reached the top.

As you can tell, the temperature was a bit chilly, but not too bad.  It was also windy, as it always is at the summit of Mt. Washington.  In fact, the largest wind speed ever recorded on the planet occurred here on April 12, 1934 --- 231 mph!  Dianne held her hood closely around her neck.

Below is a great picture of Robyn and Atul.

The weather station was definitely reporting cloudy on that day :-).

We walked through a replica of the Tip Top House Hotel that was built in 1853 for hikers.  

Rows of bunk beds lined the sleeping area.











In the photo below, Robyn is preparing a home-cooked meal :-).

"Betty Crocker"

I took a couple of pictures of the track at the top.  This shows the initial descent.  The actual place where the cogs engage the track is in the center.  There is never a time that the train is not physically held on the track.  Good to know.

After an hour at the top, a new train arrived to take us back down.

Back at North Conway, Robyn and Atul bought us a delicious lunch.  We went back to the campground for a couple of hours to walk the dogs and rest up.  It started to rain before we made our way back to Robyn and Atul's hotel.  We were not really hungry, so we stopped at a Ben and Jerry's for ice cream.

The rains grew into a downpour, so we went back to the hotel lobby and played a rousing game of "Send 'em Back Home, Baby!"  Dianne and I knew this game as Aggravation.  We had a blast.  Unfortunately, Robyn and Atul won.  

Such a good idea Atul had!   We really had fun playing this game on a rainy evening.

Dianne and I spent a worrisome night back at the Airstream.  It literally poured all night.  When we returned to our camp site, we waded through a pond to get into our trailer --- wet shoes, wet feet.  Dianne put on boots to walk the dogs.  We listened to the weather channel and worried about flash flooding since we were just a few steps from the Saco River.  It all ended well, but the river was certainly high the next morning, and no longer clear.

We met Robyn and Atul for breakfast before they began their trip to see Atul's family in Ohio.  We spent that day reading and blogging.

The sun returned the following day, so we decided to take a different kind of train ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad.

The historic train depot

The railway station was just down the street from our campground.  However, in the busy North Conway traffic, it took 20 minutes to get there and find parking.

We had ordered tickets for the 5-hour "notch" trip after confirming that our dogs were welcome in the coach class.

We were to arrive 45 minutes before departure.  So, after picking up the tickets, we found a shady spot to wait.  As you can see, Dianne dressed the dogs up for the trip.  

We were a little concerned about "chicken boy Bandido" on the train.  We really had nothing to worry about.

All Aboard!!!!!!  The pooches had a  nice big place to chill out during the trip....

... that is, until Poquita decided to claim her reserved spot on Dianne's lap.

Don't feel sorry for Bandido.  The young man in the photo below loved my dog.  He visited often, frequently sitting on the floor next to Bandido.  Bandido rewarded the boy with licks on the face 
:-).

When he was not being fawned over by passengers, he slept on the floor.  










Enough about the dogs for a while!  We picked seats that were great for the dogs, but not the best for the scenery.  Until we reached the mountains, this was our typical view.

This shot of "floaters" on the Saco River was fun...

... as was this promising photo of scenery to come in the distant mountains.

Since we were free to move about the train car,  we often walked to the other side of the car as we entered the mountains.  

We snapped some interesting photos as we approached the half-way point at Crawford Station in Crawford Notch State Park.

Dianne took this picture of the train entering what looked to be a tunnel, but was actually...

... a very narrow rock wall.















We had a one-hour layover at the state park while the engine was repositioned for the return trip.  This was a scenic place to spend an hour.

Saco Lake --- the source of the Saco River

We thought we would take a 20-minute walk around Saco Lake, but the recent rain turned the beginning of the trail into mud.
No thanks.

So, we took a couple of pictures and headed back to the train to eat lunch and claim better seats for the return trip.

The "open" car had bench seats positioned to look out the side of the train.  We gave up the comfy seats for the wooden bench seats.  This time, for the return trip, we picked our seats on the scenic side.

Dianne had packed a picnic lunch.

Bandido soon made friends with the lady who sat next to us.  He was having a good day.  The "open" car was just that.  There was a railing, but not windows to obstruct the views.  The continual breeze was welcome on the warm day.

Dianne took another good photo as we approached the "fake" tunnel.

The open views allowed us to take better pictures.

Notice the people hanging out on the rock.

Sleepy Eyes....

Poquita again enjoyed Dianne's lap; that is, until....

... she fell asleep on her shoulder.  It was a long day for puppy dogs.

Dianne's Teensy-Weensy Trailer Tip:

I gave up my linen closet when we sold the motor home.   To save weight and space and drying time at the laundromat, I researched and found these nifty replacements for the queen-size bed sheets we had been using in the motor home:

These nifty zippered Vumos sheets dry very quickly, weigh literally nothing, and are surprisingly warm.  I unzip one side and sleep between it like a sleeping bag.  They fold up into a tiny pouch (which I don't use).

Dianne's Bed a/k/a Dinette - I love my big window open!

On a Costco run before we left Texas, we discovered the amazingly lightweight comforter shown on the far left of the photo.   It also weighs literally nothing, yet is extremely warm.  Large enough for one person (we bought two of them -- more on that later).  We brought along an extra blanket each -- the old-fashioned, heavy kind -- thinking we might need them in Maine, that these new comforters couldn't possibly be warm enough by themselves.   We haven't used them yet, and they have been relegated to the "I didn't need to bring this" stash in the SUV.

On our first trial run camping trip in the new trailer, we slept in the bed like we did in the motor home.  After one night of crawling over the sleeping person for a bathroom run, plus two dogs trying to squeeze in there with us, we decided after  47 years in one bed that it wouldn't kill us to split up on vacation.   The dinette makes into a bed, so the second night on that trial run I moved my little sheet and comforter and slept there.   Hmmmm.....the ultra leather cushions felt pretty firm (translation:  way too hard).   What to do?

I decided to cut-to-size the memory foam topper we had used in the motor home.  I was too cheap to buy a duvet cover to fit the smaller size, so I repurposed our old queen-size one and enclosed the memory foam in that. 
   

During the day, the memory foam topper fits on top of Roger's bed in the rear of the trailer.   After supper, when we convert the dinette, we lug it over and place it on top of the dinette cushions.   Then I simply unfold my sheet, unzip, crawl in, and if I need it, pull up the comforter.  There are conveniently placed USB ports to charge my phone, iPad, and Kindle right above the dinette.  It works for us!   Next time I'll show you Roger's little "man cave" nook at the rear of the trailer.   

We spent a week in New Hampshire.  Our next post will be from Vermont where we will spend another week.

Pet Picture of the Day....

Bandido and Poquita stretched out on the floor of the train.

Our well-behaved fur kids