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

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:

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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#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 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.