Okay….
Maybe only people in Maine can actually use this news.
But look…
The guy reporting it helpfully put his foot in the frame for size comparison.
Well…
I beg to differ.
Tag Archives: nature
Museum oddities, death, Pocahantas, a scenic drive and some vultures.
I could bore you to tears with all we saw that day, but let this suffice..
A portrait of an evil cherub who looks like she’s ready to stab Fido with an already bloody knife.
But no.
It’s just a 17th century pacifier. “Your mouth is sore sweetie? Here… suck on this metal and coral pointy thing.”
No wonder she looks pissed off.
“Inveterate dysenterical fluxes”.
Doesn’t that sound like fun?
The museum was filled with artifacts unearthed from the original site.
And things thrown down the communal well.
Naturally, the husband was appalled at the waste of all those perfectly good rusty tools.
The takeaway from most of the history we read?
We might romanticize the idea of the first settlers… opportunity, adventure, a brave new world etc., but in reality? It was starvation, illness and death.
And Pocahantas…. of whom much is written and little is really known.
The only actual image drawn during her lifetime is this English portrait:
A much later Anglicized version of her true self.
Child trading. A fact of which I was heretofore unaware.
So there you have it, historic Jamestown.
Where a t shirt we saw in the gift shop said it all…..
Leaving Jamestown, we got back on the Colonial Parkway…..
And saw some deer.
Some swamps.
And a whole bunch of these strange mounds.
Too small and numerous for beaver.
Any southerners care to weigh in on what constructs them?
The Parkway slides along the James River….
And was a lovely, peaceful, traffic free drive.
Except for the black vultures.
Which are neither lovely nor peaceful….
And often cause their own traffic jams when they discover a fresh kill.
And no, I didn’t include a photo of the canine corpse.
Cape Cod Day 7…. Woods Hole and the aquarium
The tiny village of Woods Hole.
Home to the famous oceanographic institute… where you can visit, but can’t park your car.
Also home to a drawbridge….
And some wonderfully odd ships popping out of nowhere.
Our original plan was to visit the institute but when we realized we’d have to park downtown and walk ( in a 20 degree wind chill, after just hiking the Knob in a 20 degree wind chill) we opted for the aquarium instead.
I’d read it was small and didn’t get my hopes up…
But they actually had a large diversity of marine life….
As well as some fascinating exhibits.
No, not all the fish were pretty.
But it’s the weirdos I like best anyway.
Like this fellow….
And his large friend.
Pardon all the background noise, it was rather crowded the day we went.
Did anyone else realize loggerhead turtles were so freakin’ big?
Here’s someone you don’t want to step on accidentally.
This next guy looks my husband’s grumpy uncle.
Imagine having that stare at you across the Christmas dinner table every year.
Fish scales can be counted like tree rings?
Another thing I didn’t know.
I was beyond thrilled they had Lion Fish.
They’re my favorite!
Okay, yes.
They’re poisonous as hell and would just as soon kill you as look at you…
But aren’t they grand?
I mean come on…
Wouldn’t you risk a little venom…
To sidle up next to one of these beauties?
White Mountains trip… Day 7. The beginning of the end.
On the 7th and final full day of our trip, the husband woke up and said no more hiking, climbing and jumping rocks.
Or rather his back did…
So we did what any (not so) able bodied tourists would do…
We had a long lazy breakfast…
And resort hopped the day away.
Our first stop was a brand new place perched at the bottom of Mount Washington.
While it didn’t look like much from the front, the views out back were wide open.
With a large deck…
Ample seating, and a fire pit to take it all in.
Inside there was a nice dining room..
Filled with old photos…
And history of the area.
But it was the lounge and bar that drew our attention.
(You’re shocked, I know.)
It had my kind of moose head mounted over the mantle…
And a wall of windows…
That made for a damn near perfect spot to drink.
So we drank.
(You’re surprised, I know.)
My Thyme In Mumbai please…
Yes, I believe that tasted like another one.
The bartender/waitress was a hoot and had us sample a new hard cider by North Country called Squashed. I’m not a fan of all that pumpkin spiced crap but this was heavenly. Light, crisp with delicate undertones… I was hooked. Until I researched it and realized you could only buy it by visiting their tasting room.
Future road trip itinerary – check!
Thinking it might be a good idea to have some food to soak up the alcohol, I opted for a crab cake that was the size of a large saucer and pure crab. It was sublime.
Tomato bisque for the husband.
Which was small, but delightfully rich and creamy.
Bacon wrapped pan seared sea scallops for him…
Grilled chicken club wrap for me.
Good bye diet.
We soaked in the wall of windows a little longer…
Then headed out….
To resort #2.
(You’re welcome food people. Breakfast and lunch!)
Diana’s Baths Part 5… rocks, foliage and zombie toes.
Okay… I lied. When we discovered the cairn garden I thought we were at the top, but it turns out we weren’t.
Yes ladies and gentlemen….
There will be more rocks.
And trees.
And trees that hug rocks.
But I promise you…
This time we had found the top.
But standing there, it really does make you wonder where all the water comes from.
The pools are shallow and yet the water keeps flowing… and flowing… and flowing.
Flowing so much in fact..
You knew that was coming, right?
Add another christened outhouse to the list.
Done with the Baths, we back headed down.
Through some lovely paths…
Where sometimes you just have to look up.
And soak in the splendor of autumn.
Naturally, when you look up…. you’re apt to trip over something you would have seen if you were looking down.
Like I did.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees a half buried zombie toe here.
And here.
Overgrown toenails et al.
It’s enough to make a girl shiver…
And crave a fortifying alcoholic beverage.
Which I found here.
At the Black Cap Grille, one of our favorite spots in North Conway.
Happily fortified with cocktails and a yummy grilled Caesar salad (If you’ve never eaten it this way? Start now)
And some succulent crab cakes…
We called it a day.
Diana’s Baths Part 4…. in which the husband builds a cairn.
At the top of Diana’s Baths we found a cairn garden.
Cairns…
Everywhere you looked.
Small cairns, big cairns.
Precariously balanced cairns…
Even one slightly Zen cairn…
Although technically not, as it’s singular.
But I liked it all the same.
Cairn:
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn[ˈkʰaːrˠn̪ˠ] (plural càirn[ˈkʰaːrˠɲ]).[1]
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, from prehistoric times to the present.
In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. However, since prehistory, they have also been built and used as burial monuments; for defense and hunting; for ceremonial purposes, sometimes relating to astronomy; to locate buried items, such as caches of food or objects; and to mark trails, among other purposes.
Of course you know as soon as the husband saw all these constructs…
He was going to have to build one of his own.
And it was going to have to be made with boulders.
Oh… the effort and planning that went into this.
Meticulously searching the shore for the perfect shaped rocks.
The rearranging… the balancing.
Men.
Don’t let them tell you size doesn’t matter.
His cairn.
His very large cairn.
He particularly liked the way the bottom stone looked from this angle.
For his sake, I’m hoping the first high wind doesn’t knock it over.
FYI…. there are no cairn memes that don’t involve cute little dogs.
And when I searched Giphy for “stone cairn” ?
Epic fail.
Diana’s Baths Part 3
After a few hours of happily poking around, we were nearing the top.
A few more rocks.
A little more tip toeing through the tree roots…
And there we were.
The top.
Quiet pools…
The husband, back on the wrong side…
And some big rocks.
Did that rock just wink at me?
Cheeky things, those rocks…
We enjoyed the view and the feeling of accomplishment.
And then…
We saw something a little farther up…
That made us realize we weren’t quite finished with Diana’s Baths yet.
Cairns!
Sorry.. no.
Not that kind.
