New Hampshire's White Mountains, Part I

Yesterday we'd planned to drive over to Northwood, NH, to do some antiquing at the shops in "Antique Alley," which is a section of Route 4 dotted with antique shops.

When I went online, however, to check to make sure the Northwood shops are open in March, I stumbled across an antique shop with multiple dealers (this term always makes my heart race) in Northumberland, NH.

I asked Ken if he knew where Northumberland, NH, is located. He didn't. We got out our travel atlas, found Northumberland, and before we knew it, our planned one-hour drive had been swapped for a 2 1/2-hour drive up through the White Mountains to within a mile or so of the Vermont border.

It was a beautiful day for seeing the White Mountains; even the summit of Mt. Washington was crystal-clear, which it hadn't been when we've gone to NH in recent months.

Here is a photo of Mt. Washington, taken at Intervale, NH, which is just beyond North Conway. If you double-click on the photo, you should see the Mt. Washington Weather Observatory.

Several years ago we took the auto road to the summit of Mt. Washington. It was a warm autumn day but, not surprisingly, very cold up there. The view, though, was spectacular. Ken says it's hard on a car to drive it to the summit of the mountain, so that's why we've taken the drive only once.

As we drove up through the mountains, we kept coming to areas where dozens of cars were parked by the roadside. These cars had brought winter hikers, snow boarders, Nordic skiers and Alpine skiers for a day in the fresh air and sunshine. We wished we'd brought along our cross-country skis, but we wouldn't have had time for skiing and a visit at the antique shop.

If you double-click on this photo, you'll notice the "Brake for Moose" sign on the right.

We didn't see any moose yesterday, though.

As we travelled across the height of land, the snow was quite deep. Once we arrived on the west side of the White Mountains, near the Vermont border, we noticed only patches of snow, much like we have in Maine right now.

Onward we drove, passing Six-gun City and Santa's Village. Both were closed for the winter months.

Before going to the antique shop, we decided to stop to have lunch at a little settlement between Jefferson and Lancaster. We spotted a small diner/convenience store, so in we went to order an omelet (Ken) and a small meatball sandwich (me.) It wasn't long before we realized everyone in this village knows everyone else.

A man looking to be in his 50's walked in and was immediately greeted by the lady behind the deli counter. "Bill!" she shouted, "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Bill asked.

"You've cleaned up," she replied. Bill chuckled.

Sure enough, Bill was clean-shaven and sporting what looked to be a recent haircut.

My guess is that Bill had a date last night. My other guess is that Bill doesn't usually shave or get his hair cut during the winter months, except for "special occasions."

A couple of men sitting at the table behind us were telling stories of Niagara Falls. One of the men had lived "within sight of the mist from the falls." He started telling funny stories of folks who'd attempted to go over the falls, some succeeding, some failing. He told of one lady decided to go over the falls in a barrel...with her cat. Being in a barrel with a cat would be asking for trouble; going over the Falls with the cat would be sure death, I would think, either by crashing and drowning or by cat claws. I'm not sure which would be worse. Apparently both survived, though, because if you go here, you'll see a photo of the lady, Annie Taylor, her cat, and their barrel.

So that's where I'll leave my travelogue for today. I have more photos and stories saved for the next installment....