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Part two of Mother Nature’s amazing foliage display along the Kancamagus Highway.
No narrative required.
( And if you’ve never experienced autumn in New England? What the hell are you waiting for! )
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Now tell me your blood pressure didn’t just drop.
😉
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I’m going to post a collection of photos today. I took them this weekend as we were driving the Kancamagus in New Hampshire.
The Kanc is a 36 mile swath of highway cut right through the White Mountains… and this time of year? It’s beyond stunning.
The pictures speak for themselves, so I’ll be quiet and let you enjoy the splendor that is autumn in New England.
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A side note – We weren’t the only ones enjoying peak foliage season that day. And in all my years of peeping leaves in this area? I’ve never seen so many people line the roads to gawk. At times traffic was at a dead stop.
All Hail Mother Nature!
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And now, experience it in real time.
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To be continued..
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I highly recommend you visit the Tamworth Distillery.
http://tamworthdistilling.com/
The husband and I discovered it a few years ago and were instantly hooked.
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It’s a lovely place where they grow herbs and wildflowers…
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And has a fabulous tasting room, cafe, bakery and apothecary type gift shop.
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But what I really go there for?
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The infused gin. Like this bottle of plum the husband brought back for me when he was in the area last week.
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It’s fabulous…. though not exactly cheap.
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While I usually have it with just tonic, yesterday I was in the mood for a proper Tom Collins. The plum turned it pink… and I admit I was tickled the very same color.
👍
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Last on our list of resorts that day was an old and well known establishment.
New England is full of quirky places like this.
With a nice big porch…
And a nice big view…
It was a pleasant spot to end the day.
Charming…
Cozy…
And full of antiques….
It was instantly welcoming.
I can’t say it any better than that.
The bar.
Oh, stuff it Dorothy.
You know us better by now.
But amusing sign aside…
The mushroom risotto cake appetizer left a lot to be desired, as did the cranberry gin fizz.
A definite meh.
We only stayed for one round and then headed into the gift shop… where I saw a wine tag that made me laugh.
As well as…
Are you ready for this?
A bucket of ducks!
Christ on a cracker….enough with the rubber ducks.
This was getting creepy.
Bidding farewell to the hotel, and the ducks….
It took all I could do to convince the husband he could not go rummage in the establishment’s old slate roofed barn.
The mere thought of not being able to gather up all the unloved tools and rusted treasures that must be stored in there? Practically ruined his night…
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!)
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.
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.
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.
What?
You thought we were done with the rocks?
Uh, no.
There were stacked rocks…
Rocks with roots…
Rocks with husbands…
Videos of rocks…
And rocks with bloggers taking selfies.
Baby got rocks!
There were big rocks.
Rocks with water.
And rocks with husbands who had to climb on the opposite side from their wives because they thought it was a better path….
Then couldn’t figure out how to get back across…
And had to turn around and go back the way the wife did.
I love those kinds of rocks.
And no matter how high we climbed?
There were always more rocks!
Doing our good deed and making a donation, we entered .
Took a leisurely stroll…
Down into the woods…
Past some type of fairy installation….
And a tree who clearly loves his rock….
Across a bridge…
Alongside a stream…
And found the bottom of the Baths.
Not usually the best part of a bath but…
These are a different type of bath entirely.
Not much is left of the old sawmill.
But if you look carefully…
You can find it.
We happily spent the whole afternoon exploring this place.
Hiking the trails and climbing the rocks …
And there were plenty of rocks to climb.
The water levels in the autumn are quite low…
And it gently cascades down a section here…
And there.
But in the spring it’s dangerously high from the snow melt.
(Required selfie)
In the summer the pools fill, and it’s a favorite spot to beat the heat.
