Day Thirteen … towns, mountains and autumn leaves

What a wonderful day we have had … oops, I’m ahead of myself! 

Today we said goodbye to Boston and managed to navigate our way out of the city, only missing one exit because the navigator (that would be me) was on a video call with Kim back in Australia! We have loved Boston but I think Ian was very grateful to be able to leave behind the manic road networks that make up a major city.

We headed north with the intention of visiting several small towns  … some to see an unusual sight, some to do an Ad Lab in, and some purely because they took us from our starting point to our final destination. We began by visiting Kittery in Maine (another new state for us … but I can’t remember now how many we are up to … Ian will no doubt know … IP It’s 13 and counting) to visit the big chair. Crazy I know … but the chair was big!

We then headed on to York to visit the Nubble Lighthouse. This was not on our original itinerary but my friend Pam told us that we must go there if we could as it is a lovely lighthouse and one of her favourite places. So to York we went and boy were we glad. Not only was the lighthouse magnificent, perched on an island and only accessible (lighthouse keepers only) via a pulley system, but the entire York area was fabulous. Beautiful houses perched on the edge of the point overlooking the ocean … which I am sure are not cheap! The lighthouse was built in 1879 and still operates today (although it is now automated). Thank you Pam for telling us about this beautiful place. We loved it.

We then continued to head northward, driving through the towns of Cider Hill, Berwick, Lebanon (our second Lebanon for this trip), Ossipee, Chocorua, Conway, North Conway and Jackson where we stopped for lunch. Along the way we stopped at 4 beautiful covered bridges, two that we could drive across (the other two we could walk across) … at West Ossipee, two at Conway and one at Jackson. The autumn leaves are magnificent in this area and with the rivers below the bridges it was very easy to take some amazing photos.

Our lunch, was purchased from Shaw’s Grocery Store in Redstone, where we had stopped for a quick restroom visit, cost us only $8.99 (US $) but is going to feed us for the next 3 days! I have never seen a sub that large! It was/is filled with salad, cheese, and Italian meats. It was and will continue to be … delicious! Whilst in Shaw’s we also found the pumpkins on sale for your Halloween displays!

Heading on from Jackson where we had stopped for lunch (which is also home to the Pumpkin People festival which is now in its 38th year). Whilst we didn’t have time to follow the trail to find all 32 “people” we did get to see the Pumpkin Spice Girls and the elaborate display at Flossie’s. We travelled to the much anticipated Mt Washington Auto Road. In our original itinerary (Version 1 created back in about 2020/21) we had planned to travel on the Cog Railway to the top of Mt Washington however it does not operate after October 14 so we had to amend our plans and decided we would instead drive the auto road.

This road is 7.6 miles long (12.2 km) and climbs 4,618 ft (1,408 m) from an altitude of 1,527 ft (465 m) at the bottom to 6,145 ft (1,873 m) at the top, an average gradient of 11.6%. The road was completed and opened to the public in 1861. It is a challenging drive and before we left for this trip Ian had watched a YouTube clip of someone driving it - so he knew what to expect. However, what we had not anticipated was that the road would be only partially accessible due to the fact that it is autumn and when we arrived at the toll booth the operator told us that we could only drive to the tree line as after that the road was covered in ice and snow. We weren’t bothered and decided part way was better than no way … so off we went. 

The road was indeed tricky but Ian was a driving champion. We wound our way up the steep gradient, taking in the incredible scenery as we went, and moving over carefully when we met a car coming towards us. The road is wide enough for two cars … but only just! We drove through rain, autumn foliage, past massive granite rocks covered in lichen and moss, into low lying cloud and foliage transitioning to a coniferous forest, to trees stunted in their growth due to the altitude and climate and eventually to no flora at all. And at this point we were met by a barricaded road and were required to turn around and begin our descent.

The descent was tougher than going up as you had to ride the brakes the whole way, but due to the steep decline you couldn’t sit on the brakes the whole way as they would burn out. There were plenty of “pull over” spots on the descent to allow you to stop and cool the brakes. It was an incredible journey and we are glad we did it. We were only a little disappointed that we couldn’t get to the top but 4 miles out of the 7.2 isn’t bad … and to be honest we wouldn’t have seen anything at the summit anyway due to being in the clouds!

Back down at the base of the mountain we continued our drive through the White Mountain National Park towards Gorham where we completed an Ad Lab that took us to the notable buildings in this very small township (we had also done another Ad Lab in Conway that I forgot to mention). Then we headed on towards our final destination Littleton. Our poor Sat Nav didn’t like us much as we decided to go the “back way” … off the Highway and on the roads less travelled and via the town of Bethlehem (whose town symbol is of course a star, and yes there is an “Inn in Bethlehem”).

Reaching Littleton we completed an Ad Lab that took us to the Pollyanna statue. The author who wrote the books is from Littleton and the town is know as Glad town and celebrates Pollyanna Day where they celebrate Gladness. We also found a wonderful suspension bridge across the river and a very modern covered bridge that acts only as a walkway and was built in 2004.

We checked into our hotel and headed out to dinner at the Littleton Diner. We had always planned on a diner experience and tonight was the night and believe me … it was well worth it. It was an authentic diner with booths along the windows. We were greeted by the friendliest lady who showed us to our booth and helped us navigate the extensive menu. Linda was everything you imagine in terms of service … she was friendly and made the experience very homely. The food was incredible … again homely, generous portions and absolutely delicious. We ate a hot dog with fries, a traditional meatloaf (served with mashed potato, veggies and lashings of gravy), a fresh garden salad and a serve of onion rings. Not only was it one of the best meals we have eaten on this trip … it was also so cheap! We left a generous tip and if we were staying here again tomorrow we would have been eating there again!

And so ends the day. A lovely day with lots of driving (good job Ian). Sadly for poor Ian he has to have a zoom meeting with a council back in Australia at 11.00 pm tonight! He is going to be a tired bunny tomorrow 😞

Today’s tally …

Photos - 640

Steps - 7,511

Kms walked - 5.74 km

Kms driven - 256 miles (400+ kms)

Ad Labs - 3