This morning, Chloe and I took a nice long walk up around Magic Mountain, just reveling in the serenity of the locale.  Also, I decided to take my time leaving as I wanted to watch the happenings in Helsinki.  By 9:30 though, I realized that everything was running late and figured I’d get the highlights later on.  So, we loaded up the car and hopped back on Route 11 on our way to New Hampshire, one of the two states that was the original purpose of this trip.  New Hampshire and Maine are two of the six states I have never been to so, after this trip, I will only have Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, and Alaska left!

We drove through a beautiful and quaint little town, Chester, where many of the homes are very old, stately, and built of local granite, with glorious flower boxes adding spectacular color.  There seemed to be quite a few antique shops and art galleries.  Downtown was very inviting.

Before I even realized it, I crossed a bridge over the Connecticut River and I was in Claremont, New Hampshire.  Clean, tidy, and vibrant, Claremont has some beautiful churches and a neat bridge over a walking trail.  The highest point in the city is the summit of Green Mountain, at 2,018 feet above sea level in the northeastern part of the city.

Blithely driving along, I started noticing wildflowers of every possible color which was in stark contrast to Vermont’s greenery where even their flowers seemed to be shades of green.  It made me wonder why and no, I do not have an answer.  The roadways started winding and twisting up the White Mountains and the scenery spread out in front of me was majestic.  It seemed to me that more homes and towns exist in both Vermont and New Hampshire Mountains than do in the southern Appalachians.  Log cabins (the newer kind) effortlessly blend into the landscape, hidden driveways abound.

I kept seeing signs to watch for moose and I started wishing I was driving behind an eighteen wheeler since some of the roads crested with no sight line until reaching the top or curved up and around.  At one point, I think I may have seen a moose in the distance but am not positive.  The only time I was absolutely sure I’d seen animals bigger than those that scuttle along the ground was in Maryland when, right along side the road, two baby deer were grazing.  Never saw Mom and Dad.  Wonder where they were.

By the way, New Hampshire does not have a seat belt law for adults; instead their signs say “Buckle up if under 18.”  There is no state sales tax and their income tax is 5% on dividends and interest but no income tax on earned income. I saw mail being delivered by a guy driving a camouflage jeep.  Despite the steep hills, I passed many bikers but this time I mean bicyclists.  At one point, I heard several gunshots which scared me just a bit but then I was driving in the forest.  Also, I have seen many sushi places in the mountains in New York, Vermont, and now New Hampshire which, frankly surprised me.

New Hampshire’s state motto is “Live Free or Die.”  Well, that sounds like a good motto…I guess they are all libertarians.

Driving along, we reached a stunning area surrounding Squam Lake. We had to stop to wander around for a little bit.  There are at least thirty islands in this lake.  I found out that the 1981 film On Golden Pond was filmed in the town of Center Harbor on Squam Lake.

We arrived at our hotel in North Conway and it is SO cute!  We have our own little cabin which is completely paneled and has its own fireplace.  I doubt I will need it but it is awfully charming.

Finally, I had to find out why this range within New Hampshire is called “White Mountains”.  They offer rugged wilderness areas and is still home to the world’s worst weather high atop Mt. Washington in the Presidential Range. The White Mountains were once called the “Crystal Hills” by the early settlers due to their granite faces that reflected sunlight in the valley below.