Lee,  travel

#Schummer14: Day 13-14 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ New Hampshire & Portland, Maine

#Schummer14 New Hampshire
Sunset in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Day 13: Franconia, New Hampshire

We stayed a couple of nights at Gale River Motel in Franconia, which gave us access to many outdoor activities around the White Mountain range. We spent most of our time in the Franconia Notch State Park. I’ve become a fan of driving through the narrow notches in the mountains … well, Lee is driving and I’m taking photos from the car!

The best way to tell you about New Hampshire is to show you what we did while there:

#schummer14 new hampshire
A stop under a covered bridge during the rain while hiking at Flume Gorge.
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A covered bridge in the Flume area.
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Walking into the Flume gorge.
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Main waterfall in the gorge.
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in front of the Avalanche waterfall at the Flume gorge.
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New Hampshire was famous for the Old Man in the Mountain natural rock formation but it crumbled in 2003. They have a cool exhibit where you can stand and look at a profile that shows you what the formation looked like.
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Here’s what the Old Man in the Mountain natural rock formation looked like before it fell, through the profiler.
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Franconia Notch, looking over Profile Lake.
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Cool stuff near our motel along the Gale River in New Hampshire.
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Across from our motel, one of the few remaining iron furnaces still standing that at one time was used in the iron industry here. You can see a bit of an iron bridge then the furnace in the background across the river.
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We hiked a few hours on some paths like this one in the Franconia Notch State Park.
Saw lots of birds, a few chipmunks and this guy ... but no moose :(
Saw lots of birds, a few chipmunks and this guy … but no moose :(
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Lots of Moose Crossing signs in New Hampshire and Maine but no moose sightings.
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The hikes took us to views like this one.
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It was hard to beat the view from our Gale River Motel room — here’s dusk on our last night, with Buddy the mutt on the lawn.

Day 14: Franconia, New Hampshire, to Portland, Maine

We had a hard rain for the drive over to Portland so we didn’t stop anywhere along the way. Once we got to our hotel in downtown Portland, the rain let up so we walked around the waterfront and Commercial Street’s shops and restaurants. We had lunch at a seafood shack, then we relaxed at the hotel for the afternoon (brand new Courtyard by Marriott that has huge rooms with a very cool, modern vibe).

We went to the Portland Sea Dogs minor league baseball game in the evening. They are the AA affiliate for the Boston Red Sox, which explains why the stadium has a big green wall outfield in honor of Fenway’s green monster. We were lucky to see two home runs early in the game; the team celebrates homers with a lighthouse popping up in the center field fence.

There was a rain delay where it poured for about 15 minutes and then the game resumed. Our observations on weather and other New England so far:

  • it can pour for an hour and then be beautiful the rest of the day, you just have to try to NOT be out on a hike during that hour!
  • no accents in Vermont or New Hampshire (will wait until we’ve gone further into Maine to decide on this state)
  • we are still amazed at how quickly we can drive from destination to destination out here. At breakfast we are in Franconia, New Hampshire, and at lunch we are in downtown Portland, Maine.

Some photos from Portland:

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Lunch on the dock at Portland Oyster Company,
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Hadlock Field, home of the Portland Sea Dogs, a AA team for the Boston Red Sox.
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Courtyard Marriott room in downtown Portland, Maine.

~~~

#Schummer14 – Lee & MeLinda Schnyder are turning their home in Wichita, Kan., over to a friend and taking a month-long road trip. They’ll travel from Kansas to Ontario and Quebec, Canada; then through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The trip home will include stops in Ohio and Missouri. Beyond the blog, you can follow #Schummer14 on FacebookInstagram and Twitter.

Writer. Photographer. Lover of travel. Believer that all who wander are not lost. #Mizzou grad living in Wichita, Kansas.

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