New Hampshire has a bit of coastline sandwiched between Maine and Massachusetts. And beautiful coastline it is. There is a scenic route that runs along the coast, 1A, that we traveled for maybe 20 miles or so. We discovered that the scenic routes marked on the road maps are worth traveling. Some were more beautiful than others and definitely not as quick as interstate, but worth the extra time they take.

1A was no exception. We really wanted a fish meal on our way through there (on our way to Maine) but a few places we stopped the lobster rolls were pretty expensive. This is the side of a store beside the one restaurant we checked out.

Imagine RVing with this view of the ocean!

There were many beautiful houses along the way and we were happily picking out our retirement homes. 🙂

Our second entry into N.H. was heading out from the Boston airport, and heading NW toward the White Mtns. We first stopped in Canterbury to visit a Shaker village, which was very interesting.

Most of the buildings were tourable, but as with most museums, no photos were supposed to be taken inside. Once my camera “went off”.

This building is their meeting house aka church house. There are 2 doors, the one on the left for the men to enter and the one on the right for the ladies. The tour guide made us enter the same way, and have segregated seating as well.

The term “shaker” comes from shaking Quaker, because of their unusual “dance” during worship. Their official name was United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. They had their own unique theology that included worship of God but with some interesting twists. Mother Ann, the founder of the Shakers, had a strong leadership role and it seems that no one ever questioned her authority. She was seen as the female version of God, whom they believed to be sexually dual. They believed in complete celibacy, which is one reason the movement eventually died out.

They did their best to stay secluded in their own village and avoided business with outsiders as much as possible, although they were very welcome to people visiting them. After the museum was opened, there were only a few ladies remaining. One lady continued living there, doing all her outside work before 10 am, when the village was open to the public. They took in and raised orphans and other children whose parents couldn’t care for them.

They were extremely ingenious, pioneers in machinery and other inventions. One simple invention by one of their members is the flat straw broom. Prior to that, all straw brooms were round.

The School

Their laundry room was amazing, with several different machines that they had invented. I so badly wanted to take pictures of that. They lived “all things in common” so all laundry was done in one building, dining in another, sleeping in another, etc. They had their own infirmary.

They truly believed in living simply and that was evidenced in their buildings, their clothing, the furniture and other things they made. The song Simple Gifts is a Shaker song.

Our second day in N.H. we awoke to brilliant blue skies and balmy weather.

Perfect for time spent in the White Mtns. We stopped at Franconia Notch State Park and hiked the 2 mile trip that included 2 covered bridges, 3 water falls and a view of what use to be the Man of the Mountain.

If you find a N.H. quarter, you will see the Man of the Mountain pictured there but the rocks making up the face came down several years ago. This is what’s left.

The notch itself is a narrow gap between rock walls and a waterfall crashes down through it, roaring its way down. The walkway is built into the side and follows it up and then crosses over the falls at the top.

The falls before and after were beautiful.

I failed to get a picture of the prettiest covered bridge, a bright red one, thinking the return hike came past it and I was hoping to catch it when there weren’t fifty-leven tourists hovering around it.

Here is a pine bridge that is all but camouflaged.

Sometimes you had to look down for color:

Check out these roots:

Before I got started with my hike (Carol and Lois had already left on the hike) I was sitting there waiting on the shuttle and a number of Asians were waiting as well. There was a family with a pre-teen daughter and a teen son and the son asked if I would take a picture with his sister. I obliged and chatted a little with them. His English was the best between all of them but still hard to understand. I wasn’t sure if they wanted the picture because I was American or because I look unusual. 🙂

We headed out on the interstate again and at one place it narrows down to 2 lanes.

We then took the scenic route listed on the map and at one point we took the wrong direction and ended up on the northern scenic route. We drove through Gorham which had the most brilliant reds that I had seen on the whole trip. We didn’t stop to take pictures though.

As in Maine we saw lots of Moose Crossing signs but never did get a glimpse of one.

In Bartlett we stopped at a covered bridge that has a store built into the center of it.

The view upriver of the bridge:

We didn’t have enough time to take a train or make the drive up to Mt. Washington, which we’ve heard is very interesting! We did stop at a covered bridge trestle near where our motel was. The morning sun was fierce bright and if this next one looks edited to death, it’s because it nearly was.

Here is a logging “tractor”.

These former cabooses have been turned into small apartments. They didn’t appear to be for tourists but possibly local workers.

We did drive by Mt. Washington Hotel which is now an Omni Hotel. It was built in the early 1900s for bigwigs to spend their vacations, which were often a month or two in length. In 2010, rates per night range from $200 – $800 per night.

Like chess? Have a great big yard? Maybe you want a chess set like the one in front of the hotel?

 

 

Part 3 coming up some sweet day …..