Quote of the Week

Brynna and I went for a quick grocery run last night. She held onto the list and helped me find all the items, including a case of Long Trail Ale for Alex.

As the bagger loaded up the cart, Brynna grinned at him, pointed at the case, and in her best outdoor voice, said "That is beer! For Dada!"

Trip Report: Mount Jefferson

As most of you know, Alex and I love hiking. We've actually been hiking together since the night we met, during our first year at Dartmouth.

So we were really hoping to be able to hike together this weekend, preferably up above treeline in the Presidentials. After some investigation, we settled on Mount Jefferson, which fulfilled some important criteria: a yet-to-be-checked-off entry on Alex's 4000-footer list, highly unsuitable for a toddler so would take advantage of our adults-only status, and accessible via a short enough trail to get us home at a reasonable hour.

The Sunday "High Summits" forecast was promising, billing the peaks as in the clear through most of the day.

So we suited up and headed for Crawford Notch. It was a chilly, late-fall, gray day—though we did spy the top of Mount Washington through the clouds a couple of times on our drive.

As mentioned above, our time constraints necessitated the shortest approach: the Caps Ridge Trail, reached from a back road that took us from Crawford Notch up to Jefferson Notch.

Now, you might think that starting out at 3009 feet, from "the highest elevation reached by a public highway in New Hampshire," is cheating. But we thought that the trail's gain of 2700 feet in 2.4 miles would pretty much make up for that.

It was looking a lot more like wintertime up there. And still cloudy.

Here's Alex at the trailhead:

Some beautiful hoarfrost crystals en route:

Up, up, up towards treeline, where the rock scrambling started:

Then up above treeline, but still in the clouds:

Hey! The Observatory people were right! The summits were in the clear!

This is Alex half a mile below the summit of Jefferson, looking out toward Mount Washington in the distance.

Then at the summit, braced against the wind:

Me at the summit! More Mt. Washington in the background.

We were on top of Jefferson for only seconds, just long enough to take the above photos, because boy was the wind flying in from the north. Then we hunkered down about fifteen feet below and had a quick bite to eat while we tried to identify the other mountains peeking through the clouds. That's Franconia Ridge over on the right, with what we think is the Moosilauke massif in the middle. Not sure about the peaks on the left.

Here's Alex as we headed off the summit:

And me, just above the cloud deck:

There was so much slippery scrambling that the hike out took just as long as the climb up. Including some terribly graceful sliding on our rear ends. But we eventually arrived—safe and sound, sore and content—back at the car. All in all, a complete success.

Weekend Escape

Drumroll, please...

This weekend, Alex and I went away together. Just the two of us! For the first time since Brynna was born!

My wonderful parents not only gave us this weekend as an anniversary present, they also came up and took care of Brynna while we were away.

We went to The Farm By The River in North Conway. Close to the mountains, with a fireplace in the room, and horses! It was very quiet (this is what happens when you schedule your mini-break for in between fall foliage and the first big snowfall), and we had a lovely relaxing time.

On Saturday, we went for a carriage ride. Here's a photo looking back at the Farm, with Cathedral Ledge in the background.


And here we are with Barney the carriage horse:


Then we headed out for a short walk to Diana's Bath:




Then into North Conway, with a stop at International Mountain Equipment for some maps. And the purchase of an amazing chocolate mint mountain cupcake at the White Mountain Cupcakery.


Followed by a spectacular wood-fired pizza at Flatbread. And then caffeine at a coffee house down the street.

So, that was Saturday, our lounging day. Today was hiking day...but that is another post. Stay tuned!

Quote of the Week

Saturday morning, we went downtown to the farmers' market, coffee shop, and bagel place. As we were sitting in front of the coffee shop, Brynna kept leaning across the table to grab bits of our breakfast.



Alex: B, sit down on your bum and we'll hand you some food.

Brynna: no, I have poopy diaper. I want sit on my knees.

How can you argue with that logic?

Thinking Out of the...Basket?

Penguins!

Last weekend we teamed up with our neighbors down the street for a toddler trip to the New England Aquarium in Boston.

Here's Brynna checking out the penguins:


Playing in the touch tank:


Posing with Deen:


Brynna's favorite things were the penguins and the big turtles in the ocean tank. A lovely time was had by all, we will definitely be back!

Porch Rebuilding, continued

Here's to spending lots of money stimulating the local building industry! It is money well spent. You may recall from two weeks ago my adventures in getting replicas of our porch railing balusters custom turned. The results are quite nice:




If anyone is in need of some wood turning 'round these parts, I can wholeheartedly recommend this guy. Quick turnaround and obviously skilled. He also has plenty of knowledge on proper construction of things like railings that should ensure these last for another 100 years of New Hampshire weather.

Today my carpenter started tearing things apart. Good riddance to the old railings - may they meet a quick end in a properly maintained and scrubbed incinerator. He also started stripping the paint on the posts, which will be restored in place. He is using a chemical stripper that sets up overnight and gradually turns the paint to goo:


We are aiming to restore the dark green color that existed before someone thought it a good idea to slather purple overtop. Makes for an interesting pattern at least.

The cheap lattice covering the underside also disappeared today. It allows one a nice closeup look at the brilliance of venting the clothes drier directly under the porch:



Notice also how all the joists have had sisters bolted to them to support their crumbling strength. And what is that? 4x4s of pressure-treated sitting on cinderblocks!

We are deeply looking forward to this project being finished. The process is not painful at all so far (much less than, say, a kitchen renovation), we're just hoping to have a chance to enjoy it for a brief time before it is covered in snow.

Happy Halloween, Little Firefighter!

Brynna had a marvelous time last night. She's been looking forward to Halloween all week, since she made some special cupcakes with Deen last weekend:


Yesterday afternoon we went to Family Swim at the Y and then zoomed back home to get ready for the Main Event. B spent the whole afternoon asking "where Trick or Treat?" After a brief pause for all of us to eat some real food, we suited up. Here we are getting ready to go outside:


The evening got off to a great start when B's friend C arrived on our doorstep as we were heading out. Already a Halloween veteran, C explained what to say when arriving at the target doorstep, and what the bag was for. Here we are doing some planning:


And then it was off down the street:


B was totally unconcerned by the dozens of oddly-dressed children wandering around her street. (We have a quiet street in the city, so a trick-or-treating mecca.) Maybe she isn't old enough to know that the scary costumes are supposed to be scary? The only costume she really paid any attention to was a giant banana.

It was a chilly night, so I kept asking her whether she wanted to go home or keep going. Brynna kept saying, "let's try another house!" Everyone thought her firefighter costume was adorable.



Brynna was a little too shy to say "Trick or Treat," but she always said "thank you" when she was given candy, and eventually warmed up enough to say "Happy Halloween!" as she was heading back down the walk.



When Brynna woke up this morning and I asked her what she wanted to do, she gave me a big grin and said, "Let's eat candy!"

So she's certainly grasped the central concept of the thing.

Jasper, unfortunately, is quite certain that Halloween is the worst night of the year.