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Scenes
of New Hampshire
In the fall of 1998, Spaz and I went on vacation back to his
home, New England, New Hampshire in particular. I'd never been there,
but for some reason had an image of the people to be very uptight,
possibly rude and brash, or perhaps way to the extreme, something
like over the edge Ben Franklin Conservative. I never stopped to
think that Spaz is cool, so they must be okay, too. And they were
more than okay. I was delighted to find that I was so totally wrong
about these people. They are quick to laugh and smile, easy to talk
to, and just overall very cool.
The first place we went to in New Hampshire was Weirs Beach ("the
Weirs") on Lake Winnipausakee. Most of the great little shops
along the Boardwalk and narrow streets were closed, but we had no
crowds or traffic to deal with. The lake is 70 miles across. We
took a speedboat out and got lost. There were waves not unlike small
ocean waves. Being trapped on a 16 foot speedboat, surrounded by
hundreds of feet of water, around and under you, and everywhere
you look it's the same was terrifying for me. At one point I told
Spaz, "It's okay, I'll just go over to that house and ask them
where we...." Then I remembered where I was. Man, it was scary,
everything looks the same, no landmarks, no other boats. If it hadn't
been for one of those big tourist ferries returning to the Weirs,
I don't know where we would have ended up.
Along the shores of the lake are islands which are not connected
to the shores. These islands go up for sale and houses are built
on them. One of the island houses that we passed was just about
as big as the island it was on! The only way these people get mail
is a little mailboat that goes around the lake delivering.
I'd never seen a working covered bridge before, so while we were
on our way to see the natural rock formation of the Old Man on the
Mountain, Spaz detoured to Albany, New Hampshire. The bridge is
an amazing piece of history. The picture makes it look as though
the bridge is very short, when actually it is very long and runs
over a wide stream.
One of the most beautiful places had to be Loon Mountain, a big
ski resort. We went up on the ski-tram hundreds of feet and could
see forever.
It was seeing that foliage, though, that really blew me away. Almost
too much to take in at one time as being real. If you've never seen
a real fall, with all of the brilliance, it is quite an experience,
probably like seeing the ocean for the very first time. Sometimes
it was like we had this awesome place all to ourselves. It was an
absolutely fantastic time, almost too much to take. |