A foliage ride on the Cannon Mountain tram

 

 (Warning!  Many photos ahead!)

Back near the end of September, my hubby and I decided to take the aerial tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain.  I wrote a brief post about it and readers may recall that the visibility that day was zero.  We still had so much fun, but we decided that we would go up again in October (NH senior citizens ride the tram free Monday-Friday) and try to pick a good day when the foliage would be near peak.

Well, the other afternoon my hubby came to the realization that our October calendar was already so full that if we were to ride the tram in foliage season, it would have to be the very next day!  We quickly made a reservation and proceeded with our plan.  We took the first tram to the top of the mountain (9 am) and, after fueling up with coffee and a muffin, headed out to explore.

The above photo was taken next to the tram building at the top of the mountain. 

The above photo and the next few were taken along the Rim Trail at the top of the mountain.

The winding ribbon you see is I-93.

At the left of the photo above is one of the little trails leading down from the Rim Trail to scenic vantage points.  My hubby clambered down nearly every one.  The video is one that my hubby took of the second tram car approaching the tower.

The photo below was taken, I think, from the observation tower.  I didn't go all the way up, so I'm not sure.  There is a 360º degree view from the observation deck and on a clear day one can see peaks in Vermont, Maine, Canada, and New York as well as New Hampshire.

The photos below were taken from one of the decks off the cafe area at the top of the mountain.  It was a bit hazy, but you can see the glory of the foliage.

 

The next two photos were taken as we were going down the mountain in the tram car, thus the hand and camera of another visitor got into our photo.  What a beautiful vista!  One can literally see into Vermont and likely Maine from this vantage point.  The lake in the photo is Echo Lake.

 

And this very last photo was taken from the parking lot!  Still plenty of beauty to behold down below.

Hope you've enjoyed this peek at our aerial adventure!

Misty morning on a mountaintop

 

My hubby and I decided we would like to celebrate our anniversary with a little trip to the top of Cannon Mountain via the tram.  It's free midweek for seniors, so we made a reservation and took full advantage.

It was raining as we traveled through Franconia Notch (the weather was fine at home, but the Notch seems to be its own ecosystem) and was overcast and misty at the tramway, even more so at the top.  Still, we hiked around the Rim Trail when we got there.

As you can see, the visibility was very limited.  There should be distant mountains and great views beyond those twisted trees.

Still, we enjoyed our hike and found some of the moss on the trees to be very interesting.  It lent a bit of an enchanted forest look which we enjoyed. 

 
After our hike we were ready for some nice hot coffee and some pastries to share.  That cinnamon roll was as amazing as it looks.  The plate it is on is pretty much a full size paper plate.  The muffin was cranberry nut and it was also delicious.

 

We'll plan to take advantage of the free senior tram trips again soon.  Maybe on a pretty fall day.  But today was beautiful in its own way!

Monday musings

I didn't get here for a Friday five, and on Saturday I posted a recipe, so I guess this afternoon it will be a brief Monday musings post.  This time we are currently living through feels surreal, doesn't it?  My days feel fairly normal until I remember the crisis our world is in.  I am just so thankful that God is in control.  This is no surprise to Him, and this situation has not been out of His control even for a moment.  I can trust His good purposes in this even when I don't understand much of anything else about it.  Getting out into His creation and seeing His handiwork is such a spirit lifter!

Let's see, what to share about the past week?  The photo at top is from Thursday afternoon, when Mr. T and I took a drive up into the White Mountains for some perspective.  The day was beautiful and we had thought of going for a walk in Franconia Notch, but there was too much snow and we hadn't brought boots.  There were a few cars in trailhead parking lots, so some people were out hiking.  We stopped for a bit in the tram parking lot, and Mr. T snapped a photo looking southeast.  I should know what these mountains/ledges are, but sadly, I don't. 

Interestingly, apparently some skiers are hiking up Cannon Mountain and then skiing down, even though the mountain and lifts are closed.  We saw one of these skiers, but did not take his photo.  We're just glad that he made it down safely!

Here are a few more photos from our drive that day.  We turned around and headed back south and did a bit more exploring.  We covered a lot of territory!  It was just good to be out and about in such beauty, even if the time was mostly spent in the car.

Northbound on I-93

Southbound, Franconia Notch Parkway

Not sure where this was

Lake Waukewan

We've been continuing to clean out my childhood home.  Perfectly safe and socially distant since we are the only ones there.  Here are a couple of fun photos from my mother's childhood.   She is the plump little girl in the buffalo checked jacket, which I believe my grandmother had made by cutting down a jacket or wool shirt of my grandfather's. 

In other news, Mr. T decided to display a few of his vintage acquisitions on the front of our garage.   I think they look pretty good there, and it is a lot better than just stashing them here and there inside the garage.

 The items are three antique saws found at my dad's place and a telephone pole crossbar complete with insulators, a gift from a friend who recently downsized and couldn't take it with him. 

I'll leave you with the the pretty illustration below.  It's from a book jacket on a book titled

One Thousand Beautiful Things.  Another find from the vast number of books at my childhood home.

Isn't it lovely?  The artist is simply named Georgi and the title of the painting is The Stream Flows On.  A wonderful reminder for us today.

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  ~ Genesis 8:22

Friday five

Dahlia in a garden in Elko, NV, last August

Okay, today I'm trying my hand at posting about five things on Friday -- something I have seen many other bloggers do.  I've thought of doing this before, but found it hard to gather my thoughts to come up with five things.  This month, I've intentionally taken time each night before bed to jot down a blessing from the day.  So that has made it easier.  Here goes:

1.  Time with a cousin I seldom see.  She was staying at the beautiful property our extended family owns on a somewhat remote pond.  We spent several hours there enjoying lunch and a lot of visiting.  She's younger than I am, with college age kids, and was always more my sister's friend than mine, but we're at a similar place in life as far as our parents and siblings having died, and having houses full of belongings to dispose of.  Lots to chat about, and in such a beautiful setting!

The binoculars are always nearby on the camp porch.  Ready for wildlife viewing!

2.  Fellowship with friends visiting from out of state.  They invited us to their rental cabin for supper one evening this week.  How I wish I had a photo of the sunset we saw over the lake that night!  It was simply glorious.  But I must say the fellowship was even more of a blessing than the sunset.

I took along the Alfresco Bean Salad below.  It's a favorite of ours and very healthy.

3.  Time at the lake with my daughter, grandchildren, and friends.  While there, I also had time chatting with a dear friend, time working on my grocery list and time to embroider.  As you can see, it was a glorious day.  It was also the hottest, most uncomfortable day this week, but there's always a breeze at the lake, so I was grateful for the opportunity to spend the day there.

4.  Getting out early yesterday to grocery shop and keeping the cost under $100.  Whenever that happens, I'm encouraged!

5.  Cooler temperatures and lower humidity today!  I don't handle heat and humidity well at all.

There you have my Friday five!  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Marvelous mini vacation

So last weekend we decided to take an overnight mini vacation.  We went to a region of our state where we've never really visited much before.  Although our kids went to high school in the Monadnock region, and we've camped and gone to retreats there, we've never explored the area much.  This was a unique opportunity to do so just a little bit.

A friend at The Wilds of New England had told us about this inn.  He suggested we might want to check out The Inn at Crotched Mountain as a possible place to stay for the couples' retreat at TWNE.  On looking it over online, we decided that we would like to try this inn, but not for the couples' retreat, as we would prefer to spend more time at the inn than the retreat schedule would allow for.

Mid-August found us in need of a break, so we called the inn and found they had a room available that would meet our needs. We are so busy at church right now that it's tough to be gone on a Sunday, so we were able to go for Friday night only.  Even though it wasn't a lengthy getaway, we did see God provide in many wonderful ways to make it even nicer.

So last Friday evening we set off on this adventure to the Monadnock region.  The Inn is only about 15 minutes from TWNE, so we dropped some friends there for a young adult retreat, then headed for our lodging.

What a beautiful place!  The skies were overcast and rain threatened at any minute, but that could not diminish the beauty of this lovely old inn.

It took a few moments to locate the entrance where we were to check in.  See the brick building to the left in the photo at top?  The little red-painted area just adjacent to it, behind a bush, is the little vestibule where one enters.  The bush is actually more of a tree, and the flowers are more purply than they appear in thse photos.  When I asked about it, the innkeeper said it was a Rose of Sharon.  There are incredibly beautiful plantings everywhere one looks around the Inn.

After the checking us in and helping to carry our bags to our room, the innkeeper offered to bring us some raspberry iced tea.  That sounded so good and when it arrived, on a little tray, there was a large sprig of freshly cut mint in each glass!  So refreshing!

We had brought along a picnic supper, hoping to find a bench or other seating somewhere on the grounds where we could eat it ... and also hoping that the rain would hold off until we finished.  Sure enough, there were picnic tables out by the swimming pool.  Perfect! We took our iced tea out to the picnic table along with our food.

You can just see a corner of a red-painted picnic table in the photo above.  And that gorgeous view!  You can just imagine how beautiful it would be without all the clouds.  And just as we finished our wrap sandwiches, potato chips, and cherries, the thunder began to rumble.  We clearly saw God answer our prayer to hold the rain off for our picnic.

The view on the other side of the picnic tables

View of the back on the Inn from the picnic tables

 Our room was very cozy and comfortable, with a huge adjoining bathroom.  After stowing our picnic things in the car, we settled in the room for a cozy night, with the comfortable sound of falling rain and the very lively sounds of thunder!

You can't tell in this blurry Kindle pic, but that picture above the bed, a pretty winter scene, is actually a framed jigsaw puzzle!

We'd brought plenty of reading material and of course, I brought plenty of needlework.

The comfy chairs above were the perfect place to settle in for reading and embroidery. I chose the chair by the window.  The lamps shed wonderful light on our work.  You can't see it, but there is also a small old-fashioned type of ceiling light just over that chair which also gave good lighting.

I got out my needlework and then realized I had forgotten to bring my glasses.  I thought it would probably be okay; I would just embroider rather than cross-stitch.  I often do wear my bifocals when doing any kind of needlework at night, though.  However!  God had provided for that too.  As I got settled in my chair, I noticed something oddly out of place next to the cushion.  Any guesses?  Yes!  It was a pair of [zebra-patterned!] dollar store readers, undoubtedly left there by a former guest.  I polished them up and they worked just fine!

We slept very well and enjoyed early-bird coffee being served in the living room.  Mr. T brought it back to our room.  It was not raining and I took this photo of the mug on my windowsill where I placed it in between delicious sips as I worked on a Bible study.  Yes, the early bird coffee was served in these pretty green mugs. 

Breakfast was served in the dining room from 8 to 9.  There was actually a small menu with several breakfast options to choose from.  We both had scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and a grilled English muffin along with juice and coffee.  The plate was delightfully garnished with a wedge of watermelon and an edible orange flower -- a nasturtium, I believe.  Homemade strawberry rhubarb jam was served with the English muffin.

I really wish I had brought a camera to the breakfast table, but neither of us thought of it.  Outside the window we were seated by, there was a pretty garden area with bird feeders.  Goldfinches were flitting everywhere, adding even more color to the scene!

After breakfast I enjoyed more quiet time while Mr. T went out and about and took a few more photos.  

The other end of this long set of buildings.  Think the owners may live in this part.

It rained heavily in the night (enough to wash away part of the road, further down).  This little stream beside the parking lot was really flowing.

Pretty hedge on the property

This little living room was in the part of the inn where our rooms were located. 

By the time we checked out, it was raining again.   We decided to just drive around and look at the area and then, when we found a likely-looking market, we would stop and purchase picnic supplies for lunch, which we hoped to eat here: Greenfield State Park.  We followed our plan and it worked well; as we approached the park we saw more and more blue sky.

It was drizzling when we arrived, and we had to walk through water to find a picnic table, but we managed to enjoy our lunch anyway.

After lunch Mr. T did a bit of scouting around and found what seemed to be a nicer beach with no people at it.  I guess, though, that when the rain stopped, the people in the campground all decided to go out in boats (there are rentals at the park).  We had no sooner got our camping chairs in place and settled, than hordes of people arrived and began taking the boats out.  It was their perfect right to do so, of course.  But steady streams of people passing to and fro in front of our chairs on a narrow strip of beach seemed like a bit much.

There again, though, God provided -- this time with distractions from all the foot and boat traffic.  Mr. T had brought a riveting book about local history and kept reading me snippets of it.  I could embroider on my blueberry tea towel and concentrate on that and his funny readings, and all the people seemed to fade into the background.

Thankfully, after a couple of hours all the people left ... probably heading back to their campsites to start supper.  Mr. T remarked that even the ducks seemed to be enjoying the peace and quiet!  (This really is a very nice state park and the campground looks good.  If we take up tent camping again, something we would love to do, we would definitely like to try staying here.  Many NH state parks have nice campgrounds, and we've enjoyed state park camping in Maine as well.)

 In a little while it was time to locate some supper for ourselves and then head back to TWNE to pick up our friends.  This photo was taken on the porch of Cool Beans, the coffee shop, while we waited for them.  That's the Sweet Shoppe across the way.

What a blissfully relaxing weekend it had been!  It seemed as if we had been away far longer than 24 hours!  Most importantly, God showed us that even when circumstances seem less than ideal -- think rain and thunderstorms, hordes of people, and even forgotten glasses! -- He will still turn the time into a blessing if we will trust Him to work in the situation.