Talk about your out of the way tourist attraction.
Damn.
I kept directing the husband to drive and he kept thinking I was nuts. This place was in the back of beyond, on a dead end road, past a bunch of men with rifles taking target practice in their front yards.
Banjo music? A distinct possibility…
But once we found it, I was glad we persisted.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME ROCKS? *she sings in her best Hank Williams Jr. voice, which admittedly… is pretty lame*
Rocks!
To be more specific… glacial melt water sculpted rocks.
And what fabulous rocks they were.
Seriously… these rocks rocked.
The forms, the shapes…
Can you imagine the force it took to do this to solid rock?
These were impressive rocks.
“Sculptured Rocks Natural Area, which spans 272 acres, is a unique example of nature’s powerful yet delicate artistry. The Cockermouth River carved a narrow canyon in bedrock on its way to Newfound Lake, beginning as the last ice age drew to a close. Nature used grains of sand suspended in the current to carve the walls of the canyon into curious shapes and create potholes in the bedrock.”We spent a good bit of time here.Climbing up, over and across the wonderful rocks.“
As so often happens in life, we came to a fork in the road.
Mind you, by this time we’d climbed 6,492,745 steps…. so the fact that the sign to the left said difficult route? Did not fill me with joy.
But ever the supportive wife, I let the husband decide which path we’d take. Thankfully his aching back and residual sciatica made him veer right, although the name Devil’s Turnpike didn’t inspire a lot of confidence as to it’s ease of use.
Husband explored more caves.
I photographed more trees and rocks.
And climbed more steps.
And then even more steps.
And then thought about all the steps I’d have to climb down when we were through.
Did I mention there were a lot of steps?
There were a lot of steps.
Okay, back to the rocks.
Why is there never a pogo stick around when you need one?
We walked past rocks, over rocks, through rocks….
And occasionally under rocks.
While praying silently for the ground to be earthquake free.
Yeah, thanks for that helpful factoid.
As the husband climbed the Devil’s Turnpike…..
And entered the next cave…
I took the path that had my name written all over it.
All day long baby…
I do give him credit though.
He’s still pretty limber for his age…
One final cave to go… and it was called the Lemon Squeeze.
Yours truly?
Yup. Every party has a pooper… and that day, it was me.
Oddly enough the Squeeze was the husband’s downfall. He couldn’t do it. Too small, too tight.
And you know if he got stuck? He was staying there…. because I wasn’t going in after him.
They were tiny, cramped, straight down and seriously dark.
So yours truly let the husband crawl through them while I took the bypasses above ground.
I know, a post about caves from above the caves doesn’t sound very satisfying….
But does that look at all comfortable?
I still got to walk through rocks…
And without all the bumps, bruises and scrapes the husband amassed that day.
Although there were some dead ends.
I’m not sure who named the caves…
But there certainly were a lot of them.
And some of the exits were awesome.
Damn!
That’s a lot of rock.
Husband was happy as a clam. He used to go caving as a kid and it probably brought back some good memories. You know, like terror… and claustrophobia.
He kept trying to talk me into going down there with him, but when I peered down into the blackness?
I looked something like this….
Just….
No.
I think he was a little nervous after reading the name of this one …
But he shimmied through quite well.
Then turned around and asked for my extra camera. (Pardon his language. Sh*t is a favorite word lately)
I left him happily exploring and snapping pictures in the dark… (which I won’t share with you because he can’t take a photo to save his life. They’re either blurry… or solid black) …and made my way around another bypass.
My appreciation for the people who built these boardwalks growing with each step.
Clearly no rock was harmed during the construction process.
I had to laugh yesterday when I checked my stat page and saw that something called The Cape Cod Daily News was listed as a referrer.
Since we just got back from a trip to the Cape, (and yes, we tend to be talkers and meet a lot of people) I was wondering which one had found me.
Not to mention how.
Because while I am a girl, it may surprise you to learn that my real name is not actually River.
Shocking, I know.
And it’s not like I start conversations with strange people by saying, “You really should check out my blog at WordPress. There’s plenty of woodchuck drivel for everyone.”
So I perused the Cape Cod Daily News site and found this:
Now I can only imagine the reaction of the poor native Cape Codders who clicked on it and found me channeling Khaled. That couldn’t have been pleasant.
And while I won’t tag Cape Cod this time… because let’s face it, I’m basically making fun of what they consider news…. the coastal cities residents are going to rue the day when Cape Cod Daily puts that action to work when I start my latest vacation series photo blitz.
The Polar Caves in Rumney, NH was one of the few tourist destinations on my list. While we usually prefer natural wild places, I’d read good reviews on this multi generational family run spot and figured we should check it out.
Happily we showed up on the last day of the year that they’re open and didn’t have to fight the crowds.
I knew I was going to like it when we saw a large oak tree in the parking lot with this sign underneath…
You have to appreciate that kind of thoughtfulness, if not their spelling.
I had my doubts after buying tickets in the ticky tacky gift shop and walking outside to find the usual giant Adirondak chair.
And when we saw the creepy anorexic polar bears?
I figured I’d made a mistake.
But the small petting zoo charmed me…
With it’s precious European fallow deer…
That we had to feed…
And pet.
I mean really…. could you resist that face?
They make the funniest noise when they vocalize, almost a squeak.
And after having his say, this guy almost fell asleep.
Look how small they are. I told the husband I could easily fit a couple in the barn, but he wasn’t amused.
There were also some gorgeous Chinese pheasants.
Although they were hard to photograph due to the cages and a moat around the outside that keeps pesky children’s fingers away.
We woke up on the morning of our third day to a bit of chilly weather.
And a whole lotta windshield frost.
You can tell by the husband’s face he was not pleased with the little girlie scraper I keep in my car. But heck, he shouldn’t grumble. It beat his credit card.
There were more trees, and more fall foliage.
And of course, skulls.
And skeletal ATV passengers.
Which we saw at a local gas station.
Off roading is a huge industry in the mountains and these things are everywhere. Some towns even allow them to run the main roads. Rental places are abundant, with guides plotting out trips and trails for novices.
We even drove past an ATV Halloween parade. Bizarre doesn’t begin to describe it…. but no matter how loudly I squealed for the husband to stop so I could photograph it…. he flew right past.
Day 3 had us cruising down Route 2 through Gilead, Maine.
Blink and you’ll miss the town.
But it’s always one of my favorite scenic rides in the area.
A little farther down the road the mountains held on to some fog.
And it can be a surreal sight.
Hanging there, still and quiet….
Ethereal.
We were heading to the Polar caves in Rumney, New Hampshire and drove past numerous ski areas….
As well as Franconia Notch where there wasn’t much foliage at all.
So I hope you’ve been enjoying my White Mountain vacation series. I know I tend to go a little overboard with the pictures, but what can I say?
I’ll have you know it took me an entire week to wade through the 1704 shots I’d taken and distill it down to a reasonable essence.
Alright… yes.
The essence is going to run halfway through December, but just think how long it would have gone on if I hadn’t distilled.
Sorry, that was harsh.
Khaled had me feeling a little street.
Anyhoo… the reason for this post?
Remember when I told you we were going to have to cram a few vacations in before the end of the year because the husband wasn’t retiring? Well, good news! We just finished vacation week number two and are probably on the road returning from Cape Cod as you read this.
Yup.
That means another tsunami of photographs from our coastal Massachusetts adventures.
Nope.
Sorry, I can’t.
Hard to believe that in all the years I’ve lived in New England, I’ve never visited that region…. and though we’re going off season, I’m sure we had a blast. My plan was to hop the car ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard as well but we’ll play that by ear as I don’t know their winter schedule.
So sit back and enjoy the (virtual) ride.
Because you followed me, silly.
Now pay the price and enjoy the modern version of your 1950’s neighbor’s slide show.
Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 