We saw this covered bridge and Flume today while driving. We decided to drive down to North Conway and when we got there we went to the RV park Richard and Karen were staying at.....their RV wasn't in the park, so guess they have left the area. I called them and left a message and then we headed back to St. Johnsbury, VT. A little bit later Karen called and I told her we had come by to see if they were still in NH and she said "No, we're in your campground". They had been there since about 1:30 wondering when we were going to show up.....we didn't get back until around 7:00 pm.....they had paid for a couple nights so we'll spend tomorrow sightseeing together.

White Mountain Resort

This was a beautiful resort set in the lush valley surroundings. It was built in 1902 and in the earlier part of the century serviced as many as 57 trains a day bring people here.

Looking back at Mt. Washington you can see the railway on the left going up the mountain.

We saw some pretty colors on the mountain...this tree just had the tips showing red...really pretty (but it's hard to see it in the picture).

They had displays of the cog rail in the museum. The second picture is what they called the Devil's Shingle....it was used by railroad employees from 1870-1920 to descend from the summit to the base....a distance of 3.5 miles that took 3 minutes......I can't imagine riding down this after seeing how steep the railway is.

This was a view of our coach going down the mountain.

There is a year around weather station here. In 1934, the station recorded a wind gust of 231 mph -- the highest wind ever recorded in the northern and western hemispheres. Even though it was a nice day for us the wind was still blowing.

We didn't have near long enough time at the top before we had to catch our coach for the trip down. They say on a clear day the view covers four states, the province of Quebec, and the Atlantic Ocean. We one of the few nice days, they say they have on the top....usually your in the clouds.

The summit

The view was really pretty from the summit and we couldn't believe all the people that had hiked up. There is also a auto road that you can take from the other side of the mountain, however you have to pay $25.00 to drive your car up.

Jacob's Ladder

This is the Jacob's Ladder area. You begin to leave the treeline and enter the steepest part of the railway with a grade of 37-41% and as you can see in the second picture you can't see where the railway goes at the turn.

Water tank area

This is the Waumbek tank, at 3800'. If you are on the first train of the day your train takes on water here and continues on to the summit. The two gentlemen were inspectors checking the rails. There is a side track in this area to keep the trains going up and coming down at the same time. You can see the railway going on up the mountain in these first pictures.

Base station

The base station and starting up the mountain....we ended up getting to set in the front row going up the mountain.....so we could get some good pictures (without people in them)!

Cog Train coming down

We watched this cog train coming down before boarding our coach.

9/26/11 - Day trip to Mt. Washington, NH

The Mount Washington Cog Railway is the first mountain-climbing cog railway in the world. The building of the railway began in 1866, with the first excursion to the top on July 3, 1869. Sylvester Marsh of Littleton, NH was laughed at and scorned by the New Hampshire Legislature, however Marsh was reluctantly allowed to build his "Railway to the Moon." Unlike most trains, these locomotives push the coaches up the mountain and hold the coaches back on the return trip back down. There is a cog rail in the center of the tracks that allows the trains to go up steeper grades. These pictures are at the Marshfield Base Station, Elevation of 2700'.

9/25/11

I wasn't feeling good today....I stayed in bed until noon. I got up and finished Michelle's job and then went outside and sat by the river for a couple hours doing absolutely nothing....it felt great. Yesterday I didn't feel good on the trip up to Vermont.....don't know what's going on.

Addie & Cody

Needless to say Addie and Cody had a ball here running and chasing one another. The didn't want anything to do with the pond or playing with other dogs.

Dog Chapel

The Dog Chapel walls are filled with messages of love for dogs that have been in our lives. Naturally we left messages for all the special guys that have touched our life. There really was no open space to attach your message other than overlapping another message.

Dog Mountain

Dog Mountain is 150 acres on a mountaintop built for people and their dogs to have the most fun possible. Stephen Huneck and his wife built the park and his whimical art gallery and a dog chapel are on the grounds as well. They cleared hiking trails, built ponds for the dogs to swim in and in the winter you can snowshoe with your dog. They encourage people to not have their dogs on leashes...just let them run free and play with other dogs. They have many special events here throughout the year and the park is visited by people from all over the world.