NH, VT

Tuesday, Wednesday September 17, 18

Woke about 7:00  to temps in the 30’s.   Headed northeast, through Binghamton and towards  the Vermont border.  Tried to stop at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Onenata, NY, only to find , after getting directions from two people including a state trooper, that it no longer exists.  We did find the spot where it used to be!

Next stop was the Iriquois Indian Museum  (Eric, I still can’t believe you aren’t part Indian!) which DID still exist.  Learned much about the history of this first “United Nations”, as six different tribes formed the Iriquois Nation.  Displays included both old and new tools, crafts and clothing.  Also an exhibit about tattoos, as the Iriquois had many facial and body tattoos before the white man convinced them that it was bad.

Entered Vermont near Bennington.  Almost every town we are passing has a quaint white church surrounded by green – right out of Currier and Ives.  Many beautiful old homes, mostly white or blue. More than a few of the towns we have been passing were established before the Revolutionary War.  We passed many lakes, too, and many Moose Crossing signs, but no moose.  Certainly the state is aptly named as we saw plenty of both green and mountains.

 

Bennington, VT

 

Traveled on to a campground near Concord, New Hampshire. Keyton Pond Campground.  Mostly permanent campers, a little on the shabby side,  but they did have showers and wi-fi, so we plugged in for the night and filled our water tanks.

Wednesday morning was 37 degrees, brrr, but sunny with blue skies and eventually hit 70 degrees.  We had plotted a course last night, so, after a hot bowl of oatmeal we started out.  We headed mostly north and first stop was Endicott Rock by Lake Winnepesaukee.  This is a rock with initials from the surveyors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, along with then governor Endicott, dated 1652.  It marked the headwaters of the Merrimack River.  The rock was unimpressive, but the history remarkable.

Next stop in Weir Beach was the Lake Winnepesaukee Museum which had a collection of artifacts and printed material about the lake, including a section on children’s camps from the area which was fun.

 Lots of information on boats, the hurricane of 1938, waterskiing, ads and other memorabilia.   It was interesting to see establishments like Jilly’s Café, Smokin’ Joe’s, Mike’s Auto, Delmonte Ristorante,  and Case & Bottle Convenience store instead of the insidious Subway, Starbucks, Meinke, Olive Garden, etc.  The docent, Linda, recommended a place called “Castle in the Clouds” which was about 20  minutes out of town in the direction we were going.  It turned out to be a very good stop.

The “Castle” of Castle in the Clouds is a large, luxurious at the time, home built in 1914 atop a mountain.  The owner was Thomas someone who made millions from a shoe factory in Massachusetts.  It had its own hydroelectric power, refrigeration, plumbing – with showers – and all the modern conveniences not yet available to most.  The estate also included over 5,000 acres of land,  much of it wooded with streams, waterfalls, ponds and several miles of shoreland of Lake Winnepesaukee!

Today there are many trails throughout, and we tried a few of them.  There are also the expected stables and carriage house.  Not as large or extravagant as the Biltmore, but impressive nonetheless.

Castle in the Clouds

After this we headed toward Maine, with one more stop at what was called the Madison Boulder and is National Natural Landmark.   Described as one of the world’s largest glacial erratics, we thought it sounded impressive.  After a bouncing, jouncing ride down a road that would rival the worst we saw in Alaska, we came to Madison Boulder which was one extremely large rock carried here by glacier.  It is 87’ long , 37 feet wide and 36 feet high.   Still, to me it was just a big rock.  Oh well.

Madison Boulder

  

We stopped at the Maine Welcome center and spoke with some pleasant women who, among MANY other things, mentioned a truck/rv stop near Bangor with a noted Restaurant called Dysart’s.   We decided to push for that, and arrived there about 7:30 for a so-so dinner with a fabulous strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Along the way, we passed an incredible number of lakes with towns like Naples and Bridgton.  Boats are everywhere and we aren’t even near the coast yet.  Many of the lakesides feature gorgeous homes, condos, golf courses, marinas and Summer resorts. 

Lake Winnepesauke

A little early color