Fall is about over here

My grandmother's family had their start in Connecticut and the family farm still exists. Seemed like a natural to go visit them. Even better since they had a corn maze and pumpkin festival. This is the first corn maze we have ever done and it was a very exciting thing to complete as a family. There were so many fun activities for children that it would be hard to say what was enjoyed the most, but both Rose and Chris said they liked rolling around in the culvert pipe best. The weather again was still very nice. We weren't the only ones still wearing shorts in October. Anyone could see that it was a good play day by how dirty two children were that night.

A second trip through New York state has us camping on the eastern part in the Catskill Mountains. When we pulled in we noticed there is a lot more color here than up north, but the first night we were hit with a storm. The weather report said that 11 inches of rain was dumped on this area in a 24-hour period. They said something about flash flooding in NYC. The next day the mountains had skeleton trees to view. This isn't a good year for color.

Did you know that all the trees always have colored leaves? The reason that we see green leaves is because the tree is sucking up water and making chlorophyll (which is green). When the temperature drops and the nights are longer the trees chemistry changes and the chlorophyll is restricted from going to the leaves. Then the true colors of the trees can be seen. We are learning a lot. Some of the trees are lacking that chemical that blocks the chlorophyll, and they just keep sucking (so to speak).

There is a lot of evidence that Rip Van Winkle truly did exist, but we are a bit skeptical. Just to be sure, we spent a day hiking in the woods--there are some terrific waterfalls to see and they have a bit of fall color around them. Kaaterskill Falls is a beautiful short hike. The signs all say that it is the highest water fall in New York, but it isn't true. We are discovering that you can't believe everything printed on signs. (More reason not to believe ol' Rip lived.) Even so, it is a peaceful place to go and quite impressive. An artist had set-up her easel at the pool and we got to watch her work. An exciting experience for our little artist. After viewing the falls from below we drove up the mountain and hiked to the top of the falls (second water shot). There was a rough trail up the canyon on the side of the falls we could have climbed, but it looked a bit risky since the wet leaves were piled on the rocks. A couple of hardy young men were doing it while we were there and managed it nicely.

We are satisfied with the fall color and now would like to go south so we can keep wearing shorts. It is starting to get cold here. They are talking frost in various places. We went to wal-mart yesterday and were the only ones with legs showing. Some folks even were wearing heavy winter coats. hmmm...we didn't even bring anything as heavy as they were wearing. I pulled out some jeans for Chris and he looked at me like I was crazy. He got his shorts out instead, he will change when he gets cold.

Until next time....

Working our way south

Our last big event in New Hampshire was a bonus for Jerry. We read in a local flyer about a tree on Robert Frost's property that was to be cut down due to age/disease. The wood was going to be sold and/or given to those that made a reservation. Unfortunately the dead-line for the reservation was the day before we read the article. Jerry can sound pathetic when he wants, so he called and asked if they couldn't please make an exception. The lady took his name and number and added him to her list. She said not to expect the rule to be bent "just because you are from---where did you say you were from?" (truth is I don't know what he said or she said. It just sounds like a good story.)

No one called him that night and the next morning was the event. We drove there anyway. Jerry spoke with the distant cousin that was in charge of the wood dispersal. Like all good wood-turners they spent a lot of time yukking it up and eventually Jerry not only got several chunks of the tree, but also some other special wood. A letter of authenticity will be sent so Jerry has a real treasure. Needless to say he was floating on clouds for days. Seems that the tree holds significance as it was probably the one that inspired Robert Frost to write the poem "The tree from my window". Correct the name of the poem as I have never read it. I like another poem he wrote about the road less traveled. Seems to be the theme of our "big field trip", it has made all the difference. (Picture of Jerry on the stump of THE tree.)

While in Massachusetts we visited both Boston and Salem. We went to Boston to get a sense about the start of the Revolutionary War. The tour through the North End was easy since they have a red stripe that you walk along. It saves all of us from reading a map and getting lost anyway. The walk includes the home of Paul Revere and the Old North Church. It also took us over the river to the USS Constitution and up to Bunker Hill...which isn't really Bunker Hill--it is just called that because that is where the battle was suppose to be. It seems that the order was given to fight the British on Bunker Hill, but was disobeyed and fought on a smaller hill with a better view. To cover the foul-up, they called it Bunker Hill. There is a tower built there as a memorial of the battle. Rose and Chris felt like they needed to climb to the top. Jerry felt like he should rest. So--it is a total of just under 600 steps. There aren't any short cuts. The pain afterwards only last three days (unless you are in shape. Which I was not). There is a picture of Rose and Chris sitting on the top three steps where short people can go to look out the peep-hole.

Hearing about the witch trials in Salem and being so close, it seemed like a natural excursion. Besides that I found a pirate museum was located there as well. The pirate museum wasn't a museum. Think along the lines of a wax museum only with department store dummies dressed as pirates. There were some interesting stories told by a totally ungifted speaker. In other words, buy a book....or read about pirates on the Internet. It did have a lot of potential. Children under 12 will find it enjoyable. Parents will feel ripped-off as there is little value to any of it other than the knowledge that piracy still exists and they just got took.

In fact, Salem was a bust. Funny thing is that we enjoyed our day there more than Boston. The whole witch trials thing, didn't happen in Salem. They happened in the village next to what is now called Salem. That village at one time was called Salem Village. When the furor of the witch hunt and hangings subsided (probably 100 years later) and the good citizenry realized how far wrong they were, they became embarrassed. To keep the world from pointing a finger at them, they changed the name of their town. Then the attention shifted to Salem Harbor (present day Salem). These good folk realized they could cash in on the whole thing by making the world believe it happened there. That is just what they did, they dropped the Harbor part of their name and became Salem. Witchery is VERY much in vogue there. The whole month of October is a celebration. Think Mardi Gras in New Orleans. There is a lot of that sort of craziness there. We left before the evening really got started as it just isn't our thing. Strange people are there. Get the book instead--unless you really want to "get down and dirty".

We did go to the harbor and see the ship Friendship. Very picturesque. Also saw the home of Nathenial Hawthorne; House of Seven Gables fame. Saw that house as well. We didn't go through it...just a walking tour through the town. They did the same red-line trick to keep tourists from going astray. Very nice of them I'd say.

Our campground was close enough that we could visit other states besides Massachusetts. So while the weather was good we went to Rhode Island and found that it was over 80 degrees at the beach there. We spent part of our day and Rose accidentally learned how to body surf. She was all over it from then on. Chris even enjoyed the gentler surf and got wet clear up to his shorts. The day was a record breaker; 20 degrees above normal. Very nice.

The goal for our trip to Rhode Island was Providence for the WaterFire art show. A few years ago when the city center was dying, an artist decided to make a display using the canal that goes right through downtown. He started with a few urns which were piled with wood and fired them up at dark. Not sure just how often he did his art, but it has now grown to (I think) a thousand urns and he fires them every other Saturday from spring until sometime in October. Down town is now revitalized, the show is worth seeing. The lighting started at 6:30 and when we left an hour later they were still traveling the canal restocking the urns. The whole experience is wonderful as the wood is snapping dry and the flames make each of my pyromaniacs very pleased. Music is piped throughout the city during the evening from several stages. The urns stretched five or six city blocks long, maybe more. Very very good. To add to the ambience, the temperature was hovering around 78.

Just want you folks to know that we do miss you and it is sure nice to hear how things are going at home. We watch the weather just to see if we can see the west coast. Pretty thrilling when they mention anything about Oregon.

New Hampshire has waterfalls

There are so many Kodak moments that I really am having a hard time limiting
myself to six pictures...

The Kancamagus Highway through New Hampshire is rated as one of the top ten
most scenic roads in the country. I would like the job of the person making
that decision. This 100-mile loop through the mountains and notches, along
rivers and lakes, is a wonderful auto touring experience. However, to
really appreciate what is here the car must be parked and the feet put in
gear. Someone must have thought the same thing since there are ample
turn-outs as well as parking lots. We couldn't stop at each one (there are
over 100 waterfalls), but the ones at which we did stop was a sensory reward
After a few waterfalls you would think that we would be calloused, but
that just didn't happen. Every waterfall is different and wonderful.
Turning corners on the trails reveal more wonderful sights. Even without
the leaves changing it would be a grand experience, but we are blessed with
the addition of the fall colors to the beauty of the trails.

Some of you may recognize the names of the sites from your own journeys. It
will be a pleasant memory when you hear them. Names like Sabbaday Falls,
The Basin, Crawford Notch, Franconia Notch, White Mountain.

A lot of the trails we hiked were on pavement. There were a few that are
rails-to-trails. One was a bit better than just blazing our own trail
through the mountains as the trees are marked (kept us from wandering).
Chris and Rose liked the rough trail the best. They really love climbing
over rocks and walking through the streams and spotting the trail markers.
Now that they both have water sandals they love crossing streams.

What an unexpected delight to find that our camping site was next to one of
the scenic rivers. We spent hours lolling along the shore (also known as
fishing), as well as trying our hand at painting. Neither activity produced
record breakers or masterpieces, but we are sure willing to try again..
until we get it right. The picture of Chris relaxing on the log over the
water should give you an idea of just how much effort we are giving to this
activity.

The fall colors are promising, but we haven't gotten to the peak yet. Each day we expect to be overwhelmed by red, orange and yellow hillsides. The locals say the season is over by Columbus Day. That is the date a lot of them close shop and head south. Having two residences in separate states isn't unusual back here for anyone. Even some campers rent their sites for months (or years) commuting between home and camp.