Up North with the Family

As you may remember a few weeks ago we took the girls up north for the day. I have a few pictures that I didn't post so I thought I would do that now.

We took Route 16 north which brings you up to the well known vacation area of Conway and North Conway. Most of the way it's fairly boring, until you reach this point ...

Yes, you better watch out for Moose! Though we have seldom seen them ourselves, there have been many collisions and deaths from people hitting a Moose with their cars. Usually at night though.

Suddenly after driving for an hour or so you realize that you are almost there! I have always loved this view. Look at all those telephone poles! Holy Cow!

We were all hungry so we stopped at the Yankee Smokehouse first thing, just like Brent and I did last fall, thinking the girls might like it as much as we did. Boy were we wrong! It was a lot of guys in flannel and snowmobile suits. At the time Andria still had multi-colored hair so she looked rather out of place. Everyone was staring. She put her hood on and refused to take it off until after we left. Elise didn't mind it so much but she was hoping we would go to McDonalds across the street instead. lol!

There were snowmobiles everywhere! At the restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, and running down the sides of the roads. I grew up riding snowmobiles and we actually had one until last year, but due to a hectic life there was no time to use it anymore so we sold it. These days the girls would rather go shopping or to a friends house anyway when they have free time.

A beautiful old barn we saw on a back road. High snowbanks made it quite difficult to take pictures of most anything.

Including scenery . . .

On our way home we made a quick stop at Mt. Chocoroa. These pictures were taken from a little park and bridge at the end of Chocoroa lake. A place that would be nice to have a picnic on a warm summer day at one of the many picnic tables. On this day all I did was roll down the window because of the 16 degree temp outside.

At 3,490 ft, it's a bit of a hike, but almost 20 years ago I did just that with a friend and my dog, Norton (what a name, huh?).

It was a hike I wasn't prepared for, neither was Norton. Both of us were exhausted and pretty lame for the next few days. One thing I remember is that there were quite a few dogs at the top. I also remember the view being very scary. Wish I had more pictures to show you because in some places you could look down and it was a straight drop for hundreds of feet. Somehow I doubt I'll ever make that climb again.

Norton passed away in July of '93 at the age of 11 from Cancer. He was a great, great dog and it was a tough loss for our family, but we were so fortunate to have him as long as we did. Looking at these pictures helps me remember his gentle soul and loving nature.