Sunday: We packed everything up to leave, and went to Bible class by 8:30 at the Stowe Community Church with the high white spire at the bottom end of the bike trail. The Bible class was interesting — it was a shared time discussing the 3 Scriptures that would be the basis of the church service. People shared openly and honestly — one older Jewish-sounding lady told of a phone call from Samuel Von Trapp, in which he expressed concern about Elizabeth (Von Trappe?) wanting to share the stage with him at the 50th Anniversary celebration in Austria this weekend. Evidently she was able to encourage him and all went well. The church service was liturgical, artistic, and personal.
Monday: Well, we did it again! After buying groceries at a Super Wal-mart at Conway, we decided to drive the Kancamagus Highway and the Bear Notch Road back to Attatish Village. We stopped at a ranger station and enjoyed visiting with volunteer Bruce Miller, who gave us tips on trails to walk and bike. We drove on and stopped at the Albany covered bridge parking area. We walked across it and noticed the arch-type construction inside and the granite bulwark underneath.
The Boulder Loop Hiking Trail went out from there — and this is where we “did it again.” It was .2 mile to the start of the Loop which was easy and lovely. Then we decided to continue on the 1.3 mile loop to the “Ledges.” This went up and up but was relatively easy technically until we approached the Ledges. However, the sun was getting lower in the western sky and we had walked a very long way and were getting worried about getting back to our car in daylight, and the trail was too hard to find if it should get dark with us still far from the car. We began to doubt whether the trail was actually a loop, and Verle felt strongly that we should turn back, so we did. Almost immediately, we met Phil and Dena Blank from Kentucky coming the same way we had come.
They said that the trail was indeed a loop, so we decided to continue through the Ledges with them to get back to the trailhead. A REAL hiker came through and confirmed that the trail was indeed a loop, so we continued ahead. There were big boulders everywhere, and as we went through the Ledges, the trail became more technical, at some places as difficult as the Stowe hike. Phil gave me a hand at those spots, and we enjoyed the continued hike. Phil and Dena were gems (Verle called them our angels). We had a number of chats as we continued on to the end of the hike. We found out afterwards that the trail was rated “moderate,” was 3.5 miles long, and the cumulative elevation gain was 900 feet. The mountains are called the Moat Range. We were exhausted and glad to continue driving the Kancamagus Trail and then the Bear Notch Road back to Attitash Mtn, Resort. There were some great scenic views along the way, so we decided to come back another morning when the sun would be shining on the colorful trees across the way. We continue to enjoy the trees — so VERY beautiful here – still.
Tuesday: I’ve been enjoying using the infusion cooking unit for most of our cooking on this vacation. The Eureka Springs cross magnet works well to see which of the resort pans will work on the unit. Most of them work here, so I could make taco soup using their dutch oven pan. I’m expanding my list of temperatures to use to cook various items, which is helpful. This morning we had sausage links, fried eggs with cheese, and French toast. We ate at the bar so I could continue frying subsequent slices of French toast while we ate. We’ve also conquered the sticking problem on the enameled cast iron grill by cleaning it more completely with a soft green scratcher.
Verle called the Toyota people at Berlin and made an appointment to have our van’s regular service done today. It was a pretty drive up there with continued gorgeous fall colors. The mountains are quite tall here and the area is so lovely. The Toyoto technicians found a couple of things that needed fixing, so the service job took most of the afternoon. I had a really good, long visit with a Sharon Jaye(?) She is a strong Christian and conservative — she expressed real appreciation for our visit; she doesn’t often get such an opportunity, and we had much of the afternoon to share (after being pretty careful at the start knowing the reputation of the New England states and not wanting to offend her.) Verle also had a long conversation with a fellow, and then both of us had a good long conversation with a liberal who calls himself a socialist — a school psychiatrist who thinks we should just go back to the primitive untouched days like early in our country. He had all sorts of weird views about fracking; but he was fun to talk to. It was good to have the car washed and ready for the rest of our planned driving on this trip.
Wednesday: We drove back over to the Bear Notch Road to see the views from the other overlooks. Verle had me ride my bike downhill from the Notch — such fun! We hiked the Rob Brook Road in from the south end of the Bear Notch Road as far as the point where two longer trails branched off — easy and lovely.
We drove the Kancamagus Road the rest of the way into Lincoln and back to Fryeberg. The mountain views were lovely all along the way. Just east of Lincoln was a suspension walking bridge, and we walked across it for a ways. We crossed over into Maine at Fryeberg, and rode the Mountain Division Trail that paralleled an abandoned railroad track for 4.2 miles (to an information center) and back. It was another great day of enjoying the outdoors in this area. The fall foliage is still colorful here, and seems to remain prime at our resort — beautiful. We can’t believe that we’ve had 3 weeks of these beautiful views.
Thursday: We haven’t been to the hot tub here yet, so we decided to go first thing this morning. Two couples from New Brunswick were in the pool, and one of the men visited with us for a long time — very interesting. There is also a hot tub outside — great! Verle beat me at Boggle again, but by only 2 points. We rode bikes around the resort and the tunnel and the ski lift area on the other side of the highway. We watched “Old Yeller,” one of the videos that we brought along.
Friday: I beat Verle 100-75 at Boggle–unbelievable. We used the indoor hot tub and then went out and used the outdoor tub. It is really vigorous! In the afternoon we followed Bruce Smith, volunteer at the ranger’s station’s suggestion and went to Diana’s Bath and Cathedral Ledge. The leaves remain gorgeous, and the two sites were so lovely. The .6 mile walk to Diana’s Bath was beautiful and the falls were great.
Saturday: We woke up late and went to the outdoor hot tub again first thing. We really feel stimulated after spending time in the strong bursts of water there! We played a couple more games of Boggle and watched the NU / Northwestern football game — NU played quite poorly and lost.