Across the Gorge

Posted on January 17, 2017January 17, 2017 by Dusty Roads

As you have probably figured out from my recent posts, things are a bit slow around here. I think even the new stations are having a tough time. Today the lead story was a fire in Seattle, 3000 miles away!

Around here the weather is unseasonably warm and any precipitation has been rain. In fact our f00t & 1/2 snow storm has all melted away. The landscape now is brown and drab. Not very inspiring for photos.

With no new photos to edit I took the time to start working through more of the pictures from Hawaii. Although I took a lot (according to the picture count on the camera over 600), not all are anything I want to share. When we took the trip on the Road to Hana many of the pictures had to be taken while our tour bus was moving and often someone from the other side of the bus would pop up and get in the frame so they could get a picture with their cell phones. There wasn’t much consideration.

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Sometimes the only shots were directly into the sun so exposure was a problem, not to mention that they were taken through the bus windows. I know it sounds like excuses and I still value those shots for the memories but they are not what I would share if I want to “Show off”.

But I did run across one that I really like even if it has some issues. So here it is.

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I like this one because you can see a tour bus pulled over near the bridge. That’s a one lane bridge. We had just crossed the bridge and the road made a hairpin turn setting us up to be able to look back at where we had just come from. Without that bus to give a sense of scale, this would just be another roadside waterfall.

Jackson NH

Posted on January 10, 2017January 10, 2017 by Dusty Roads

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I had a vision of horses running through the snow and pulling a sleigh. Now I really didn’t care if it was a one horse, 2 horse or a whole team but to get this “vision” captured in a photo I had to go in search of snow and snow with horse drawn sleighs. christmassleighride1920x1200

I did a google search and came up with a few places but the one that caught my eye was the Jingle Bell Chocolate tour in Jackson, NH.

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This is a Holiday event in the elegant resort town of Jackson, NH.

For a small fee you are driven in a sleigh drawn by a team of Austrian draft horses around Jackson to different inns and locations. Some mentioned are the Wentworth, the Snowflake Inn, The Riverwood Inn and Flossie’s General Store.

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At each stop you get to sample a chocolate treat. You also receive a holiday bag for leftovers and a jingle bell.

The catch is that you have to be staying at one of the Inns. The sleigh rides start and end at Nestlenook Farms.

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I figured I might as well drive up because the photo I wanted wouldn’t be from in a sleigh anyway.

It was a 4 hour drive but it was a beautiful day. When I left Taunton it was sunny and the sky was blue however as I approached Jackson the weather began to change. It started to get really cold and clouds began to roll in. It even started to spit a little snow. I was also getting a little discouraged as I passed through North Conway. There was absolutely no snow on the ground! How would I ever get the picture I wanted?

Jackson and North Conway are in the White Mountains and the White Mountain National Forest so you can imagine how scenic the ride was.

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Arriving in Jackson you drive over a one lane covered bridge, (Covered Bridge #51) also known as the Honeymoon Bridge. Originally built in 1876 it has had improvements and upgrades over the years. The name “Honeymoon Bridge” comes from a tradition of lovers kissing under it for good luck.

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In the end I did not get my “vision”. It will have to wait for another day and different conditions but I enjoyed my explorations, Jackson Falls, The Honey Moon Bridge and the horse drawn sleighs on wheels.

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If any of my readers are from the New England area and know of winter sleigh rides, please leave me a comment. I’m still looking for someplace to get that photo and now we have SNOW!

Photo #8

Posted on January 6, 2017January 6, 2017 by Dusty Roads

Photo of the Week ~ 13

Posted on April 2, 2014April 2, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Wow this picture represents the end of the first quarter. 1/4 of the challenge down 3/4 to go. It’s been a hard challenge so far with so much bad weather. Snow pictures get boring after awhile and all look alike and rain.. well rain is just gray, cold and nasty this time of year. It doesn’t even have the advantage of looking pretty (like snow) when it first comes down.

The week 13 tallies are in. The Photo of the Week with the most hits, likes, shares and/or comments is Water Over the Dam with a total of 33 points.

To order Prints click here: http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/p161572686/h260a0977#h260a0977

Mendenhall Glacier

Posted on June 5, 2013June 5, 2013 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Mendenhall Glacier is part of our tour package but for those who aren’t on a tour and wish to check it out there are regular shuttles that leave from Franklin Square by the Mount Roberts tramway station.

Meanwhile back on our tour bus, Phil handed out Nature Valley Bars and bottled water as a snack before our hike to the glacier. The Mendenhall Glacier is one of 37 glaciers that flow down from the 1500 square mile ice field. The glacier stretches approximately 13.5 miles from the ice field right into the valley finally ending in Mendenhall Lake.

The Glacier once covered the whole valley reaching it’s fullest extent around 300 years ago. Since then it has been in retreat. When Sandy and I planned out trip we joked we wanted to get to Alaska before the glaciers all melted. Scientists predict that Mendenhall Glacier won’t be visible from the Visitor Center in another 40 years if it continues it’s current rate of retreat. Maybe our joke wasn’t such a joke after all.

Meanwhile the retreating glacier often spawns large icebergs that drift across the lake.

The area is known for it’s wildlife sightings as well as the glacier but today at mid-day we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife.

At the edge of Mendenhall Lake is a beaver lodge but even the beaver were missing, maybe taking a siesta?

We started our hike to the lake on an easy trail through more of the rain forest. Phil stopped often to point out different mosses and lichen.

The trail opened out into more open, dryer land. Phil explained that the type of soil didn’t retain the water as well as the topsoil in the rainforest which resulted in the more sandy, open area. We could see a waterfall churning it’s way down the mountains. At this time of year, spring, waterfalls are everywhere as the snow melt makes it’s way into the valleys. By summer these torrents will be little more than a trickle if they exist at all.

While we waited for stragglers to catch up and enjoyed the sunshine, Phil told us the story of Romeo, the Glacier Wolf. I’ll share that with you in another post.

With everyone together again, we started downhill to the shore of the lake and the glacier views we’d been looking for.

Sure enough. the lake was filled with ice bergs.

The glacier glowed blue in the shade of the mountain side.

I am so glad the sun decided to come out today. They say the glacier is pretty in the rain but I find it hard to imagine it could be any prettier than it was today with the sun shining and the icebergs floating on the cold lake.