New Hampshire for the Fall Colors

9/28/15 -  Monday-We camped in Ashland, NH at a beautiful woodsy campground.  The sun was shining and it was warm (about 68 degrees), so we decided to sit outside with a beer and read a good  book.  It was a great idea, as there is plenty of time here to tour.  Here is Lucky very intently watching Tom washing the windshield.

Lucky watching Tom

9/29/15 - Tuesday -Happy Birthday to KOLE - Hope you have a wonderful day!  Today he is 7, and I hate missing the birthdays.

Mom decided to stay back with the dogs, and Tom and I headed back north in NH to see fall colors and some of the sights.  First stop was Little Squam Lake, where 'On Golden Pond' was filmed (at least that is what the internet said).  Not quite true.  There are actually two Squam Lakes, Little Squam Lake and Big Squam Lake.  The Marina was on Little Squam Lake (here are the actually gas pumps that Henry Fond filled his boat with).  And the right is Little Squam Lake.

Little Squam Lake Marina

Little Squam Lake

The House and 'Pergatory Cove' were on Big Squam Lake.  I spoke with the boatsman of the Squam Lake Boat Cruise and found out that they don't go by the house anymore because the trees have overgrown the house and you cannot see it from the lake.  Also the road into the house is private and does not allow any access.  What a disappointment!   I really wanted to see the house.

Tom and I continued north and found a couple of covered bridges and drove through one.

Squam Lake 1990

Blair Bridge 1870

Driving through Blair Bridge

Further on, we stopped at Indian Head Resort for a bowl of clam chowder.  The resort was big - a little for everybody to do there - and their dining room was a wall of glass overlooking a pond and beautifully landscaping.  

Middle of pond

Right side of pond'

A Canadian Goose that thinks he is a duck

Since we are further north, the colors have changed more. We decided to wait to do our FULL fall color tour tomorrow and go further north. 

On to Canon Mountain and the 'Face of the Old Man' in the mountain.  We got there, but the fog had come in and we couldn't see anything, so we turned back and stopped at a resort for postcards with pictures of the things we could not see.  We found out that the 'Face of the Old Man' was a rock formation in the side of the mountain (discovered in the 1800's), but it collapsed in 2003, so it wasn't even there anymore.  Fog or not, we never would have seen it, so here is a picture of the postcard. 

The Face of the old Man prior to 2003

While we were there, we also got a postcard of the fall colors in in small town, so we had something to look forward to. 

Beautiful Fall Colors

On the way out, I spied this sign.  It seems the UFO abduction of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961 happened right where we were in NH.  

On the way back to the RV, it started to rain.  And boy did it rain - very heavy and all night.   Of course, our roof leaked into the TV cabinet and Tom was bailing water again.  He actually had to get up every hour during the night to empty the bucket.  

9/30/15 -Wednesday.  Tom and I planned to drive north to see the fall colors, but it is still raining very heavy, and we have to stay back and bail out the water.  The news says we got 3 inches from a tropical storm, and Hurricane Joaquin is headed to the NE coast next week.  I guess we better find somebody to fix our roof!!  Oh well, we will stay in today and read.  Maybe the weather will improve.  Later in the afternoon, Tom took this picture of the RV and car in our camp spot. 

Ames Campground -Ashland, NH

10/1/15 - Thursday.  We woke to blue skies and no rain.  Tom and I will do the 'fall colors tour' today.  Mom isn't interested, so she will stay back.  We left and headed north to do the "Kanc" (as the locals call it) or Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountain National Forest.  It is very well known as the place to go to see the turning of the leaves.  Two days ago, when we were up in this area, the trees had just started to turn.  Today was a completely different story.  We saw beautiful colors, from the slightly yellow to brilliant orange and reds, as well as some dark purple.  Here are some pictures along the road.  

And here we are at the top of the pass (at 2800 ft).  The colors behind us are a little hard to see because they are too far away, but the view was great.

 The views in the forest are just as beautiful.

Deep in the Forest


A look at these waterfalls - WOW!!

a babbling brook

Sabadqay Falls

Silver Cascade

As we came down from the "Kanc", we ended up in Conway, NH., a very nice little town.  I spent a little time on the phone with my cousin, while we stopped for lunch.  We decided to take the northerly route around White Mountain before we headed back to the RV, especially since the weather was cooperating.  Oops! I forgot to bring my phone charger, so I will conserve on pictures. 

At the most northerly point, we came upon Bretton Woods, and this resort called the Mount Washington Resort.  It was so big, I had to have a picture.

The Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods

On the way out of the overlook, I saw a sign explaining why this was a famous site.  The Bretton Woods Conference was held there at the ending of WWII among 44 countries, to discuss monetary issues, and establish the International Monetary Fund.   Here is a link if you are interested in the history:  http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwii/98681.htm.

It was a good day, and the weather was perfect.