Tag Archives: animals

Mount Washington and other tidbits

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As I traveled around the White Mountains of New Hampshire I picked up a few tidbits about the Live Free or Die State.

  • New Hampshire received Statehood in 1778. It was the 9th State to join the Union.
  • The Capital of New Hampshire is CONCORD.
  • The state’s nickname is “the Granite State”
  • The State’s motto, as mentioned above, is “Live Free or Die”
  • The State Emblem is the Old Man of the Mountain. *
  • State Song: Old New Hampshire and New Hampshire, My New Hampshire
  • Flower: Purple Lilac
  • Wildflower: Pink Lady’s Slipper
  • Tree: White Birch
  • Gem: Smokey Quartz
  • Rock: Granite
  • Mineral: Beryl
  • Bird: Purple Finch
  • Animal: White Tail Deer
  • Insect: Lady Bug
  • Amphibian: Red Spotted Newt
  • Butterfly: Karner Blue
  • Saltwater Fish: Striped Bass
  • Freshwater Fish: Brook Trout
  • Area: 9,304 square miles
  • Greatest Width: 90 miles
  • Greatest Length: 180 miles
  • Coastline: 17.75 miles
  • Lakes and Ponds: 1,300
  • Miles of streams: 40,000
  • Mountain Peaks over 3,000 ft.: 82
  • Highest Peak: Mount Washington @ 6,288 ft.

*The old Man of the Mountain : Faces in stone are not uncommon around the world. New Hampshire also has the  Indian Head. The Old Man first gained it’s notoriety when Daniel Webster wrote:  “Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men.”

In 1945 The Old Man’s profile became the state emblem. It can be found on license plates, road signs and the State Quarter.

Since the 1920’s the granite outcropping that formed the face was showing signs of weathering. It would have failed long before its actual demise on May 3, 2003 if not for continual intervention by man over the years. Efforts to save the “Old Man” ranged from chains, to concrete, to steel rods and more but nothing could stop the slow erosion caused by weathering the seasons of freezing and thawing of Northern New England. Eventually that weathering, with gravity’s help, caused the famous icon to collapse. Today there is a marker and museum near the site.

Old Man of the Mountain vs Indian Head: When I was riding around on the Moose tour, the Guide pointed out the Indian Head formation.

According to the guide, the profile of the Indian is created as much by shadows as by actual stone. Because of this the Indian Head formation can appear quite different at different times of day and in different light. The Old Man was a true Stone Formation.

Mount Washington Wind speed record: As you know from the previous post about the cog railway, there is a sign at the summit of Mount Washington stating that the highest wind ever recorded by man was recorded on Mount Washington.

That record stood from 1934 to 1996 when a wind speed of 253 mph was recorded on Barrow Island, Australia during a cyclone. It took the World Meteorological Organization until 2010 to recognize the new record. An even greater wind of 316 mph was recorded in Moore, OK in 1999 during a F5 tornado but that was not recorded at ground level so was disqualified.

That’s more information than I have about my own state! It’s probably more than any of us wanted to know.

New Hampshire also seems to have tons of covered bridges. I haven’t found an actual count of them but they all seem to have a number assigned. So I saw one bridge that was #64 or #65 so I am guessing there are at least that many.

                    

There be Moose in them woods

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It turned into a very late night!

It was supposed to rain all day so I didn’t make any plans. I figured I’d just be lazy, maybe use the laundry room to run a few things through, maybe work on some of the entries for this blog or edit some of the pictures. Instead the sun came out. Since the sun was out and the clouds seemed to be dispersing, I changed my mind and headed up to Lincoln.

I hate to waste a day so I thought I’d check out the Hobo Train and then maybe head up to Franconia Notch to see the Flume Gorge. I’d wait on the tramway as it was still cloudy and I didn’t want to waste my ride on poor visibility.

Anyway, I did go on the train and I’ll tell you about that in another post.

 Right now I just want to let you know that the moose population of northern New Hampshire is well and thriving. I can attest to that with my own eyes.

Let me explain. On the train ride I shared a booth with another lady who told me about some discount passes she got at the Visitor Center just down the street from the train station. I like discounts so after we got back into the station I made the Visitor Center my next stop.

A very nice lady went over the discounts but as I was just one person there was no real savings, but she did tell me that the Moose tours were doing a booming business. I told her that on the Hobo train the conductor had said that there weren’t any moose in the area this time of year. She laughed and said the tours were reporting 100% sightings for the season. She suggested I go talk to them. Their little kiosk was right across the street from the Hobo Railway.

I’d been planning to call them but since I was right there it seemed easier to stop in as soon as I completed my photo-op with Kodak the bear

 and Max the Moose. With those pictures secure I headed over to the Moose Tour Office.

I explained what the conductor said and was quickly set straight. I was challenged to join them on a tour. The cost was $28.00 and the tour was about 3 hours. There was no guarantee but so far they’d seen moose on every tour this season.  Their success rate for the 13 years they’d been in operation is 97%. I’ll take a chance on those odds.

I reserved a spot for the next evening at 7:30 pm and headed off to explore some more. Within 15 minutes I got a call back from them asking if I wanted to go tonight instead. They had just got a cancellation that had opened up a single seat on the tour tonight. So why not. I was already in the area anyway so I said sure and agreed to be at the Kiosk by 6:45 pm.

It was a sold out tour with a second tour going out at 11:00 pm when our tour got back. That one was sold out too. They loaded us on a good-sized bus that looked more like an oversized van. The seats were comfortable. The windows large. Thunderstorms were periodically dumping showers on us but it wasn’t torrential rain by any means.

Larry our driver

We set off on time with our driver, Larry and our guide, Steve. They told us that once we saw the moose we had to be quiet so as not to scare them away. There were a lot of children on the tour so the being quiet part was really emphasized.

We hadn’t gone far when Larry said he had a text from a motel owner that A bull moose had just crossed the river behind his property, climbed the bank and was now on the motel’s front lawn. Larry took the first exit off the highway and headed for the motel. There was a moose all right.

Not a one of us had expected that! Fun!

With that out of the way we headed back out to the highway. We were heading out to the same area I’d spent two days exploring. At the time I thought it looked like moose habitat but I didn’t see any. Of course I was there early..around 5pm. We were going to be there around 8pm. Big difference.

To pass the time while we drove and looked, Steve instructed us on moose habits and passed around “Moose parts”. He had an antler, a lower jawbone, and a hoof. He also tossed out sandwich bags of malted milk balls telling us they were “Moose Poop”. Both Steve and Larry had a multitude of very bad jokes and a CD of Moose Tunes that had the kids giggling and the adults smiling.

Steve asked for a volunteer and picked one of the little girls in the front seats. He made her the good luck moose and put a moose hat on her. That was a cute gimmick and everyone played along. The catch was that she had to wear the hat the whole trip to bring us luck. She did a good job.

All these antics carried us to our first stop. We saw a rainbow right near the Mount Washington Hotel. We stopped there for a quick photo-op and then we were back on our way.

As the sun set splashing deep orange and reds over the mountains we spotted our first moose. It was a young bull and he wasn’t about to stay around long. Everybody yelled and pointed so that could have had something to do with his quick retreat. So much for being quiet. The adults were worse than the kids! I got a glimpse of dark hindquarters disappearing into the woods.

The 2nd moose was just as skittish. But we’d learned from our mistake. There was barely a whisper, just a lot of pointing and hand waving. I didn’t see this one. Then we saw a couple of deer and another moose. This one was a female. She slipped into the woods but stopped and turned back to check us out. I was on the wrong side of the bus to get a picture plus it was quite dark at this point. The bus had spotlights they were using to illuminate the area but I doubt I could have gotten a clear picture under those conditions. Next time I will take a seat on the right side of the bus…not the left. All of the sightings were on the right side!

At about 9:30 we took a quick break at the Twin Mountain Trading Post. Our good luck girl still had on her moose hat.

We cruised through the hots spots a couple of times more but it didn’t seem that any more moose wanted to come out to play tonight so it was time to wrap up the tour. On the way back to the shop they played a beautiful movie about moose. By now a lot of the younger kids had conked out.

So I saw a moose, 2 actually. I don’t have any proof to share…this time. And the 100% success rate for the Moose Tours continues! Good tour.

Cat Trees and other headaches

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The bank gave me my wake-up call. It seems that someone tried to put through a charge of  $85.00. It was a company that is marked on the bank’s security rolls as a fraudulent company. These people had tried to put through the charge 8 times and so far the bank had blocked it.

The security officer said that sooner or later it would slip through. Since I had never heard of the company and hadn’t ordered anything for $80 anywhere recently, they will have to cancel my card.

Why do things like this aways happen right before vacation?

Well the bank officer had a solution. She said she would Fedex my new card to my local branch and I could pick it up there. She said it should be there Wednesday.

So the bottom line is that it does not appear that I was “targeted” nor is there any relation to my blog. It’s all just a big coincidence.

I expect the bulk of my day will be taken up with more errands and housework although I have one project that I’ve been delaying that I want to to complete. The restoration of the CAT TREE.

Cat trees used to be fairly inexpensive but not anymore. A small one is easily in the $100-$200 range and can go up from there. My cats have a pretty good-sized cat tree that I got a few years ago for $45.00. The problem is that it’s been shredded to pieces. In many places it’s been scratched right down to the frame.

I have spent a couple of months looking for a replacement both in stores and online but anything in the $50.00 range is either way to fragile for my scratching fiend or very small.

 My solution is that I’m going to try to restore the cat tree. In theory it shouldn’t be a big job. In actuality I’ve found excuse after excuse to  avoid tackling the project but I think I  have everything  here just waiting so the time has come.

Well I just spent an hour trying to wrap the scratching post in sisal rope. I managed to get 1 post done..a small post. The staple gun won’t go through to the wood so I ended up strategically placing screws. I don’t want to use too many screws as that might hurt the cat. So I think I’ll wait and see if they use it and if so, will my amateur efforts hold up to kitty abuse.

I really don’t have time to spend another hour right now so that will have to do for starters. I need to run down to a local insurance agent to get an insurance stamp for the DMV so I can renew my auto registration. Of course the agency is charging a $15.00 administrative fee for the 2 minutes it will take to stamp the registration form. No such thing as Professional Courtesy anymore. It doesn’t matter that I am insured with a company they represent. I didn’t buy the policy through them so that gives them the right to charge a fee for doing nothing. Makes me think of that Southwest Airlines commercial where the SW employees are  jurors and another airline is “on trial” for charging administrative fees to change a ticket.  Oh well, I guess that’s the world we live in today. I’m becoming very cynical. It just seems that everything you do today has “hidden fees”. We’re being nickel and  dimed to death.

It probably wouldn’t bother me except that I’m trying to hang onto my funds so I can have a little extra cash for vacation and it feels like everything is conspiring against that goal. It also bothered me because the other agency that I have used in the past wouldn’t take a fee even when I offered. I didn’t go there because this new one was much closer. Next time I may go back to driving to RI for my insurance stamp.

Well that about wraps up the day. Heading off to visit some friends for dinner. Until tomorrow, have a good day!

Canoeing down the Potomac

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My friend and co-worker, Jay, went on a terrific  vacation in April. It’s his annual “male -bonding” canoe trip with some of his buddies.  This year was a little different because he was about to become a dad so there was some debate as to whether he should go or not. Finally after getting the doctor and his significant other to sign off on the trip, he headed off to rough it for a week.

From the beginning we planned to share his experience with everyone right here on Aroundustyroads but life and a stork intervened. Before I had time to sit down with Jay and get his stories he became a proud First- Time Papa to a bouncing baby boy.

“AJ”  or Jay’s mini-me, of course took center stage and rightly so. The birth of a child is a wonderful event and eclipses anything else that may have come before even more so when it’s the first. I’m happy to report that the whole family is doing well; Mom, little AJ and Papa Jay.

The consequence of the happy arrival was, however, that writing Jay’s vacation story slipped to the back burner. It’s now been almost 2 months since little AJ came into this world and Jay is settling into his role as Dad. He’s now ready to share his Virginia/West Virginia odyssey and raft trip. So without more ado, Heeeere’s Jay!

DR: So Jay, tell me about this rafting trip you took. As I understand it this is an annual trip. Is it always the same guys?

Jay: Before we get started I just want to mention that we’re not on rafts. We use canoes. It’s the same group of guys but not everyone can make it every year. We’ve been going on these man trips for 11 years. The most that have gone was 12 , the fewest, 4. This trip there was 8 of us. Most of us served together in the military or are friends of one of us.

DR: How long is the trip?

Jay: The trip lasts 4 days. We all met up on Thursday night in PawPaw West Virginia. The canoes are arranged for through an outfitter, 2 men to a canoe so this year we had 4 canoes. We put into the river Friday morning. We float along spending about 6 hours a day on the river. We usually try to camp on the islands in the river so as not to disturb the wildlife. This year because of the height of the water we camped on the Maryland side of the river. We’re very careful to take out any trash. We believe in packing everything out. Leave only footprints. 🙂

Whenever you tell people  you’re going canoeing on the Potomac they think of Washington D.C. but the Potomac is a long river. It winds through the Shenandoah Valley. It travels through a state park and is part of the National Parks system. It’s pretty rugged and remote. We take guns with us for protection from animals. There’s black bear and coyotes and one trip we even saw a mountain lion. I think they call them catamount in that area.

The wildlife is a big part of the trip. On the trip 2 years ago we saw two deer swim the river and climb a bank that was more cliff than bank. I ‘d estimate the incline was 80 degrees! That’s how steep it was and they climbed it! When they jumped into the river they practically landed in our canoe. We had to back paddle in a hurry. We’ve seen hawks and bald eagles too.

We make a stop at Little Orleans to pick up supplies. You may have heard of it.  It’s located on the Maryland side of the river and it’s home to a  motorcycle  rally. That annual rally is called the “Sturgis of the East”. Any way we pick up our supplies and have a quick burger then it’s back on the river. We’ve been coming  here for so many years that they always remember us.

DR: Speaking of supplies, what do you guys eat while your on your trip? Do you use camp stoves or do you use a campfire?

Jay. We eat pretty good. We cook over the campfire but we don’t skimp on supplies. We have steaks or chicken. We make instant mashed potatoes. This year one of the wives sent a pasta dish along. We put that in a pot over the fire to heat it up. We aren’t angels though. It is a “man-trip” so we have beer and maybe a shot or two but we don’t drink on the river. We keep our heads about us. Mostly we use the shots to toast special events in our lives. This year a lot of it was toasting “Jay Dawg” and his new “little pup”. 🙂

Over time we’ve accumulated more gear. When we first started out we had a tent and sleeping bags. Now we have cots and so on. After all, we’re getting older…or the ground is getting harder.

Over the years we’ve canoed the upper Potomac and the lower and some of the tributaries. We’ve made the trip anytime from the first weekend in April to as late as the 3rd weekend in May so we’ve seen the river in snow, rain, flood stage and drought. We’ve been hot and we’ve been cold but no matter what it’s been a great experience.

Just before we reach Hancock, West Virginia there’s a short stretch of rapids. I’d say they are probably around a class 3 depending on how high the river is. Then we reach Hancock and that’s where we pull out. The end of the line.

DR: How do you get back to your vehicles in Pawpaw?

Jay: The outfitter we hired meets us, packs up the canoes and brings us back.

DR: In the pictures you showed me you were in a tunnel. What was that all about?

Jay: That’s a tunnel over  the old canal. It actually runs under a mountain. It’s the Chesapeake & Ohio canal sometimes known as the “Grand Old Ditch”. We’d seen that tunnel every year but we had never explored it. This year we decided to walk it when we all got together on Thursday night. The tunnel is 3118 feet and we walked the whole thing that night.

The canal itself runs for around 184 miles starting in the Washington D.C. area. George Washington was a big advocate of using waterways to connect the eastern seaboard. John Quincy Adams presided over the ground breaking ceremony on July 4, 1828!

DR: Wow that’s really historic.

Jay: There’s a lot of history in the area. It seems it’s played a big part in the country’s history from colonial times through the Civil War and now it preserves some beautiful, un-touched wilderness.

DR: I can see why you make it an annual event. It sounds like something that would be hard to miss.

Jay: I try not to miss it. Once the little guy is big enough to go, I’ll take him along too.

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DR: Jay, I want to thank you for sharing your story with us and your great pictures. It makes me want to go on a trip like that. It’s been years since I’ve gone camping or canoeing. Good times!

Franklin Park Zoo the finale

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When we left our heroine, she was..oh sorry wrong story.

I believe I had just recognized the other entrance as the one that I had taken the first time I explored the Franklin Park Zoo. Since I had arrived from the right side I followed the path to the left to circle back around to the start at the Zebra entrance. This took me by the hyenas enclosure but I didn’t see any. It was getting very warm and a little humid so maybe they were sleeping. I moved on.

Next up was a Baird’s tapir. This was larger than I expected. I guess since they are related I was expecting something more along the size of the little javalina’s like I saw in Arizona back in ’08. This was much bigger than that! It was just patrolling the perimeter fence.

At the top of the hill was another snack bar area but it was closed. Seems to me it was closed when I last visited too.

Turning the corner I passed the camels in the same place I remembered them from before.

A bit farther on was the lion enclosure.

 I searched around that exhibit for quite a while before I finally spotted “Christopher”, the African Lion. He was stretched out in the shade in a corner of his enclosure. I wanted to get a picture but the only angle was through the glass window and there were loads of other Zoo Visitors in the way. I commented that he was alone and one of the other visitors said that a couple of years ago they introduced a female lion and he killed it. Then they had another male lion in there for a while. No one seemed to know what happened with that but Christopher was back being alone and that’s the way he seems to like it.

Around the corner from the Lion’s Den was the tiger enclosure. These big cats were also hiding in the shady areas out of camera range. I spotted 2, one was a white tiger and the other was an orange cat. The only reason I saw the white tiger was because his huge tail kept flipping up and back down almost like it was in rhythm. The rest of him was hidden in the underbrush.

And then I was back at the Carousel with the giraffe on my right and the Serengeti Crossing on my left. Somehow I missed the gorillas, the lemurs and the new  Giant Anteater Exhibit. The zoo was closing at 5pm and rush hour was well underway so I felt that it was more prudent to wrap up for the day than to go looking for the missed exhibits. After all, I can always come back for another visit.

I had a great time anyway. I really loved the Aussie Aviary with the Budgies aka parakeets. I could spend my whole day there.