Water, water, everywhere!

So, the first thing I didn't expect to see in NH was all the water. Between the rain, some of it encouraged by hurricane Kyle, the waterfalls, and the rivers, there was water everywhere. Of course, this made for some awesome scenery, despite the gray skies.

This is the Rocky Gorge Scenic Area along the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains of NH. The highway is a 34 mile stretch of scenic overlooks and windy roads. Right up my alley. the amount of water traveling through this gorge was amazing. I'm sure the rain helped.
Lower falls along the "Kanc".

Small waterfall along the trail to Arethusa Falls.

Arethusa Falls, NH. This waterfall is well over 100 feet tall. Hard to tell from the photo.

Home Sweet Home

Of course when you travel to the northeast, there is an immense amount of history. The architecture and condition of old buildings and homes is incredible. There are too many to take photos of, let alone post on here. So I just picked a few of my favorites.

This one was in Conway, NH. It was built in 1815 and shows one feature that I really liked on some of the old homes. The barn is actually attached to the house. I can only assume the reason is so that the owners didn't have to go outside during the winter. They could just walk from the house right into the barn. Convenient!
Russell-Colbath house, Albany, NH. Great story here. Built in 1831 by Thomas Russell, the home was occupied by only one family and their descendants until 1930. The last resident was Ruth Priscilla Colbath. In 1891, Ruth's husband told her he "would be back in a little while" and left. Although he had told her the same thing on several occasions, for some reason Ruth was concerned about the darkness and cold, so she left a lantern in the far right window for her husband to use to guide himself back home. But he didn't come back. Ruth had faith in her husband and every night following she would place a lantern in the window. She did this for almost 40 years until she died in 1930. He never came back until three years after her death.

The house is still decorated and stocked with furniture, supplies, clothing, appliances, etc. from the time period of it's residents. I am always impressed at how people lived back then, especially in the middle of the mountains with very little contact with others.
Castle in the Clouds, Moultonborough, NH (www.castleintheclouds.org). Built in 1914 by a shoe factory owner, the house is a great example of the arts and crafts style of home. It is set high in the Ossipee mountains above Lake Winnipesaukee with an incredible view (more photos of that later). The house was very modern for the time period. It had a central vacuum system, "needle" showers, and a refrigerator cooled with brine. The woodwork inside is amazing and it is full of fantastic details like marble, stained glass windows, claw foot tubs and dumbwaiters. This is the back of the house.
I don't know the history or story of this house, but I had to include it here because it is the oldest house I saw on the trip. Located near Sugar Hill, NH, it's another great example of the barn being attached to the house. One thing I liked about some of the old homes is that the current owners would put the date it was built above the front door instead of the house number. If you look closely in the lower photo, you can see that this house was built in 1779! It is still in great shape!

Just give me that countryside

Some more farm photos. Notice how GREEN the grass is! This one is in NW New Hampshire.
Another in NW New Hampshire. Nice front yard, huh?
Nothing but trees, grass, cows, and crops.
" There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age." - Bill Bryson.

Farm livin' is the life for me

Another iconic picture of New England is the farms. From Vermont dairy farms, to apple orchards, and maple trees for their famous syrup, the farms I saw were more picturesque than you could imagine. It is very easy to drive 15-20 minutes from anywhere in New England and be near a beautiful pasture or barn.

This is actually land belonging to the bed and breakfast I stayed at in Vermont.

Southern Vermont farm on a hillside. This is one of my favorites of the whole trip. Notice the classic white house, the smaller, older out buildings and barns, the silo, the rock walls, and the American flag on the side of a building.
Not a farm, but the typical dirt road in rural New Hampshire.
Near Sugar Hill, NH.
Harpswell, ME. This is an old cattle pound built in 1793. It is right next to the town hall and a big church. I was glad to see that the town has left it as is and not dismantled.

"Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who shall have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will the love of farm or country fill his heart." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Stiff as a board...

In Bennington, VT, there are several bronze statues around downtown of typical scenes in a small town. I didn't take photos of all of them, but you get the idea from these. The stories I heard of people encountering these were hilarious. They are so life like that many people mistake them for real people! I even caught myself doing a double take on occasion just to make sure I knew what I was looking at. Besides the two below, I also saw statues of two kids playing, a college student drinking coffee, an elderly lady with a grocery sack, and more. It was pretty impressive just how life like they made them.

I saw a few people taking photos with the two gentlemen below, reading the paper over his shoulder of course. The bottom photo is the back of a statue. I took that angle so you could see the window washer over his right shoulder - also a statue!

First day in Vermont

So after a fantastic meal at the bed and breakfast, I headed off to explore Vermont. I didn't even get out to the highway before I came across this small lake and had to stop. I wasn't sure if I had timed my vacation close enough to the peak foliage season, but after seeing this, I knew I was in for a great trip.


I drove west again to Bennington, VT to see the Park McCullough house. (www.parkmccullough.org/) It was built in 1865 and the family lived there until 1965 at which time the family turned over the home to the Park McCullough House Association. The group has been taking care of the house ever since and they have preserved it in the exact condition that the family left it in. So essentially, the home has one hundred years of history, furniture, clothes, art, books, etc. Plus, the house has 35 rooms on three floors, all with 14 foot ceilings. Unfortunately, you can't take photos inside, but the outside is impressive enough.

The carriage house is bigger than any house I ever hope to own. It had several rooms and even some old carriages the family used to use. The lower photo is in the back of the carriage house where they kept the horses. Even the stalls are bigger than my old apartment!!!

New England in the Fall

What is the most iconic view of the Autumn season? New England of course. The trees changing colors, the pumpkins, the harvest festivals, the cool weather, the historic farms and churches. Well, I had to see for myself what all the fuss is about. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

I traveled to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine last week and spent my time traveling the countryside, hiking the mountains, and braving the chilly coast. It was everything you'd expect it to be. All the postcards and calendars are pretty good depictions of the area, but none of them, including my photos, do it justice. I highly recommend that anyone who has the chance take this trip as well.

So, I'll do my best to give the highlights of my adventure. Unfortunately, over the eight days I was there, it rained about 80% of the time. This made for interesting photos - fog, rain, and white/gray skies don't always contribute to good photography, but I still pulled out some good ones.

I flew in on Friday, September 26 to Manchester, NH and drove a couple hours west to Wilmington, VT to stay the night at Shearer Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast. (http://www.shearerhillfarm.com/) It is a quaint, 200 year old home that has been updated and added onto to create a great place to stay. The owners were incredibly polite and accommodating. I could go on and on, but just know that when you think of a Vermont Bed and Breakfast, this place fits the bill.


The building on the left is the original house, the addition is on the right. I'm standing on the steps of the carriage house where I stayed. No, I didn't sleep with the horses or anything. The owners had fixed up the carriage house with three more rooms for guests.

Shearer Hill is best known for their baked apple breakfast. The combination of flour, sugar, cinnamon, nuts, raisins, and of course maple syrup made for a pretty tasty first meal. When the server asked if I wanted ice cream on my apple, what was I supposed to say, no? I mean ice cream for breakfast? This vacation was off to a great start.

Before breakfast I took a walk down the dirt road to see what I missed when I drove in the night before. I was pleasantly surprised to find the typical, but not disappointing, Vermont farm life. Cows, horses, sheep, turkeys, and barns like the one above. There were plenty of bigger barns around the area, but this one caught my eye.

This is the scene in front of the carriage house with the aforementioned steps in the background. This was a pretty typical scene in Vermont - plenty of color, pumpkins and gourds, barns, and grass. Green, green grass. You don't learn to appreciate green grass until you live in the desert.

Bishops Lodge Trail

I went to Santa Fe last weekend to hang out with Talia and go hiking. We started the day at the REI grand opening from which I purchased a pair of trekking poles. Although REI is a great store, I'm always blown away at the prices of some of the gear there. Some companies are VERY proud of their products. But, being the grand opening, I was able to get a nice discount on the poles.

We drove to Bishop's Lodge which is a pretty plush resort northeast of town. It sits on old ranch property and has been inhabited by several bishops over the years, the first one living there in the 1850's. There are several trails around the property and we decided to take a 5 mile loop. Unfortunately, the trail crossed a road at one point and we couldn't find the trail on the other side for about 20 minutes. We walked down the road very frustrated and when we didn't know what else to do, we walked back to where the trail met the road in the first place. On the way back, we stumbled across the trail, a little embarassed.

The trail climbs to a small peak above the Lodge with great views in all directions. It has been travelled so much over the decades, that it is really more of a trench than a trail. But that sure made it easy to find. We then walked around the hill back to the lodge - a total of over 6 miles.















9/13/08 - Bishops Lodge/Big Tesuque Creek
Length - 6+ miles
Elevation - 7,100-7,800
Grade - easy, briefly steep in spots
Scenery - B+, good along the creek, the high point had 360 degree views of the Jemez, Sandia, and Santa Fe mountains
Overall - the deep trench-like trail made for interesting hiking in some spots, the shaded creek was a cool retreat from the higher trails, the back side was not well marked but was easy to follow

Meet Up Group

I joined a hiking group through the web site http://www.meetup.com/ and tonight was my first hike with a group. There are over 400 people in the group, but 10 of us met tonight to hike along the bosque (pronounced boss-key) which is the land on either side of the river. It was supposed to be about 8 miles, but for some reason the leader cut the hike short so we only walked about 3 miles. The people were pretty nice and it was good to hike with other people for a change. I keep reading in all my books that you shouldn't hike alone. That is partly the reason I joined this group. It is hard to find hikes that I can participate in because of when they are scheduled, and many of them are well beyond my abilities, but I'll try to attend as many as possible.

The bosque has the most plant life in Albuquerque so the hike went through plenty of brush and plants, but it is also full of sand because of it's proximity to the river. That was not my favorite, but the dirt roads made for easy hiking.

Along the trails are some sculptures made by local artists out of dead trees. They carved several of the trees into amazing shapes of animals and people. These two are of a roadrunner and lizard, and a forest firefighter and dragon. Pretty impresive.



9/9/08 - Hike along the Bosque ****

Length - approx. 3 miles

Elevation - approx. 5,000

Grade - none, level land next to the Rio Grande

Scenery - B+, plenty of plant life and the setting sun made for good views and photos

Overall - very nice hike with great people, brush was thick in some places and the sand was difficult to hike through, but overall very pleasing

Trail Logs

One thing I've picked up and am really starting to cultivate, is my love for hiking. Good thing I live near mountains! I hope to use this blog as a way to keep track of where I've hiked and what I've discovered. I am using a book, Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide, to find all the good trails and I hope to get through all the hikes sometime next year starting with the easiest. I went on a few this weekend. Here are the details.

9/6/08 - Sulphur Canyon Trail - **

Length - 0.8 mile

Elevation - 7,420-7,620

Grade - easy/moderate

Scenery - C-, none due to thick tree coverage

Overall - short and sweet, plenty of shade

9/6/08 - Bill Spring Trail - ***
Length - 1.4 miles

Elevation - 7,400-7,720

Grade - easy, nice gentle rise
Scenery - C, only one big look of Highway 536 due to thick tree coverage

Overall - rocky, but plenty of shade and easy elevation gain, I went past the end of the trail another 0.25 mile to the intersection of the Oso Corredor and the Faulty Trails. It was steep, but more fulfilling because of the difficulty. This view is from up the hill on the Faulty Trail.

9/6/08 - Balsam Glade Nature Trail - ***

Length - 0.6 mile

Elevation - 8,620-8,660

Grade - very easy, benches and information signs along the way

Scenery - A-, great overlook at end of the trail of the East Mountains, Paako golf course, and the Sandia Ski Area

Overall - well maintained simple path to a fantastic view on the edge of a cliff

After hiking on the Bill Spring Trail, a forest ranger stopped me to ask a couple questions. Then he told me that the Sulphur Springs Trail was closed due to bear sightings. I didn't see any bears, but just the possibility of spotting a black bear was pretty exciting.

Why Albuquerque?

So you might have thought at some point, why Albuquerque? Well, to be honest, when I decided I wanted to move, I knew I wanted some place that was poles apart from Missouri. I didn't have a problem with Missouri, but if I was going to move, then the new place needed to be really different.

Somehow, I narrowed it down to Portland, OR or Albuquerque, NM. I had friends in both places and the deciding factor was actually the proximity to the mountains, and the desert climate of NM that won me over. Little did I know that this place sucks you in. New Mexico is called The Land of Enchantment, but many people joke that it is The Land of Entrapment because it is very easy to fall in love with this place. I have met many people who are transplants like myself and they say the same thing. Although I chose to move here, some came against their will, because of a job or other reasons, but it doesn't take long for most to agree that this is a special place. Between the mountains, the history (Native American and otherwise), the dry and warm climate, and of course the food, New Mexico is my kind of place.

The Sandia mountains are right next door to Albuquerque and you can walk into them from anywhere in town in about 20 minutes, or you can drive into them and to the top in less than an hour. Plus, northern New Mexico has some of the most stunning mountains around, nothing that you would expect when you think of the Southwest. Just take a look at one picture from near the Santa Fe ski area (yes, there are several ski areas in NM). Even on a cloudy day, the mountains are spectacular. I have plenty of pictures of the Sandias too, but they will come later.

As for the climate, this desert is nothing like you would expect. It doesn't get as hot as say, Phoenix. In fact, it rarely hits 100 degrees. And with little to no humidity, the temperature is just warm but not miserable. The only thing is that since we are at over 5,000 feet, you have to be careful with sun exposure because you can get cooked pretty quickly.

Food. What can I say? You've never had Mexican food until you've had New Mexican food. Chile is the specialty. Red, green, chopped, roasted, sauce, stew. On eggs, burritos, pizza, and burgers, etc. You will find chile on or in more foods than you would think is possible or appetizing. But trust me, once you start eating chile, you can't stop. There are rumors that chile is addictive. I am proof that the rumors are true.

Catching up

How do you catch the public up on 6 years of adventures? I have no idea. But I'll do my best. I'm not going to recount every little detail. Mainly because I don't remember them all. But I do have several pictures on my computer so that should spark some fond memories. So let's get started.

I moved to Albuquerque in September 2002 with several intentions in mind. The main one, to do new things with new people. I can honestly say that I have accomplished that, however, it took me a little while. I don't have many pictures from the first couple years, but I didn't do much except work anyway. Mom and Dad came to see me in October of 2005 and I had a new digital camera so I did get to take a few photos of that visit.

From the top of the tram (http://www.sandiapeak.com/), in the early evening, it's hard to get a good view of Albuquerque, but basically, it is a medium sized city (about 700,000) that is spread out in the high desert (about 5,000 feet). We are at the top of the Sandia mountains, just over 10,000 feet, looking down. One thing about the desert, the sunsets are phenomenal, as you can see. The peak is about 15-20 degrees cooler than the city, therefore the sweatshirts, jackets, and frozen look on Mom's face even in early October. If you look closely, you can see the cables for the tram in this next photo.

We went to the International Balloon Fiesta (http://www.balloonfiesta.com/) on two mornings and it is something I highly recommend for anyone coming this way. Hundreds of balloons, cool shapes and cool mornings make for one of the most unique events around. You get to walk around among the balloons as they fill up with air and take off. The officials that help launch the balloons really try to make a spectacle of themselves so that they will be taken seriously. Wouldn't you take these guys seriously?

First of many...

Something happens when you move 800 miles from your family and friends. They start to wonder what you are doing with yourself. Well, after 6 years, many escapades, and consistent requests for photos of my exploits, I guess it is about time I answer my fans, and make use of this Internet thing. So without further adieu, here goes.

Periodically, I will post some of my favorite quotes to express my feelings towards various topics. I figured I should start by posting one that shows who I really am and, well, says plenty about me.

"I stand in awe of my body." Henry David Thoreau

Feel free to agree.