The next two days of our vacation were spent in New Hampshire at Aunt S and Uncle K's house. We had a bit of a family reunion since many family members live close by, and none of them had seen the Things (or Sweetie) for many years.
Highlights of the day included visiting with family, of course, including seeing all the children that have been born in the last few years, the unbelievable spread of delicious food and, of course, chopping wood. We all had a very nice time, and my family is no longer mad at me for never bringing my family east.
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| The Mario Bros ascending Mt. Monadnock |
The next day, we spent the morning hiking Mt Monadnock. Rather surprisingly, it is one of the most hiked mountains in the world, with ~125k visitors a year. This is mostly surprising because it is not the easiest hike. Being novices, (and having two Things with us) we decided to take the White Dot Trail up. While the rise isn't that much, only about 1800 feet from the parking lot, it happens over a very short distance (1.66 miles), so the grade averages over 20%. It was a humid day, and Sweetie and I are old, so we hauled ourselves up the hill while Calvin and Hobbes ran up and down trail, scrambling up and down the rock faces like lizards. There was some complaining, but that was mostly on the flat bits (that weren't as much fun). Eventually we got to the top of the climb only to realize that we were mistaken - we still had a long way to hike. Uphill.
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| Oh #%@$. That's the summit up there. |
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| Not atop Mt. Monadnock |
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| Atop Mt. Monadnock |
Gamely we pressed on and achieved the summit just in time for lunch (since we had planned to eat lunch at the top). After nourishing our worn-out bodies, we rested and looked at the scenery. There were quite a few people up there with us, naturally, but we didn't feel crowded. We hopped around on the boulders a bit to look in different directions, and then started back down. For the descent, we chose the White Cross Trail, which follows a very similar route to the White Dot Trail, except I think it's even steeper in places. I was glad we weren't hiking up it. Having successfully negotiated the mountain, we got some ice cream and headed back to the house.
Although they were tired, the Things enthusiastically agreed to help Aunt S make the evening's dessert: gluten-free strawberry shortcake. There was much measuring and pouring and mixing, all under the incredibly patient watchful eye of Aunt S, and the result was a thing of beauty. (And tasted good, too!) A delicious end to the day.
Next time: A Minuteman to win it, man.
Gamely we pressed on and achieved the summit just in time for lunch (since we had planned to eat lunch at the top). After nourishing our worn-out bodies, we rested and looked at the scenery. There were quite a few people up there with us, naturally, but we didn't feel crowded. We hopped around on the boulders a bit to look in different directions, and then started back down. For the descent, we chose the White Cross Trail, which follows a very similar route to the White Dot Trail, except I think it's even steeper in places. I was glad we weren't hiking up it. Having successfully negotiated the mountain, we got some ice cream and headed back to the house.
Although they were tired, the Things enthusiastically agreed to help Aunt S make the evening's dessert: gluten-free strawberry shortcake. There was much measuring and pouring and mixing, all under the incredibly patient watchful eye of Aunt S, and the result was a thing of beauty. (And tasted good, too!) A delicious end to the day.
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