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Published: September 21st 2023
Covered Bridge 1
The Honeymoon Covered Bridge in Jackson….You may recall, that I left you all with a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the last episode. How far away was Hurricane Lee? Would it hit Mount Desert Island before the Famous Four managed to get away? Would they all be stranded at the Kimball Terrace Inn and would they all have to hunker down in one room and listen to the wind whistling through the crack in Steve & Lily's balcony door? These questions and many more will be answered in this next thrilling episode of Gone with the
Wind, meets The Perfect
Storm, meets
Twister and starring Claude
Rains (yes he was a British actor from the 30s and 40s) playing Steve Forbes,
Hurricane Higgins (in his acting debut) playing Paul Kilby, Michelle
Gayle (once of Eastenders) playing Lily Forbes and finally,
Gail Platt (a Corrie mainstay) to play Many Kilby. With a soundtrack including 'Riders on the
Storm' by The Doors, 'Blowin' in the
Wind' by Peter, Paul & Mary and 'A Hard
Rain's gonna fall' by Bob Dylan, this episode has it all!
In actual fact, our last night at the Kimball Terrace was more like something out of a new novel
by Charles Dickens which I'm calling
'A Tale of Two Bedrooms', because the experience of the Forbes' and the Kilby's couldn't have been more different! After doing bit of blogging, I dropped off to sleep quite quickly and have to say, slept like a log only waking when I heard Mandy talking on the room phone at 6.00 am. As for Mandy, she took a little longer to drop off, (basking as she was, in the glory of her Yahtzee victory), woke up about 3.00 am, heard the wind and had a nose out of the window to see what she could see - nothing as it turns out, because (surprise, surprise), it was pitch black outside!! Even more surprisingly, Mandy actually went back to sleep. As for Steve and Lily, life was a little different, with both of them kept awake most of the night by the noise of the wind outside, coupled with the every increasing whistle from the gap in their balcony doors! As I'm writing this, I've just read about the sad passing of Roger Whittaker a very popular 60s singer, he could also carry a mean tune with his whistling; well the noise that Steve
Nestlenook View 1
The view from the rear balcony of our Jackson home……. & Lily experienced, definitely wasn't a
'Durham Town' or
'New World in the Morning', if you know what I mean.
As they lie awake all night, Steve & Lily grew increasingly worried that we wouldn't be able to leave today and this was only exacerbated after switching on their TV to hear that a State of Emergency had been declared in the whole of Maine after the impact of the hurricane had arrived several hours earlier than had been previously forecast, (to be fair, the eye of the storm was quite a way off shore, but the impact of the storm had a reach of over 400 miles, making the coastal area of Maine a prime target). As early as she dare, Lily called our room and spoke to Mandy (the call that I eventually woke up to!) and talked about what we could do. Whatever else we were going to do, the first thing we all HAD to do was 'get up' and once ready we were going to have a chat with reception and get some advice. As it happens, the very helpful lady on reception, lived off the island and had driven in this morning, without
Nestlenook View 2
…….and another….. any difficulty, although she had driven a bit slower than usual to be safe. I had also had a look outside and seen a handful of cars out and about without any apparent problem and so, after a quick discussion, we decided to check out, load up and get outta town!
I was driving for the first leg today and I took it very carefully, particularly when there were lots of trees about and whilst it was a bit unnerving, our trusty motor felt very safe and before long we were off the island and motoring away from trouble. Our destination was 230 miles to the west and all along the route the wind was blowing hard and the rain pelting down, but with little or no evidence of any real damage around and about. This was definitely a full scale hurricane and had the potential for very serious damage, injury or worse (and one man was apparently killed by a falling tree, which was obviously tragic), but if we listened to media reports, it sounded like potential Armageddon out there, when in reality most locals seemed to just get on with life as normal, but just being a
bit more careful, and whilst at the same time closing down things like the National Park and boarding up some shops, to avoid putting people or property at risk. Arguably, the hurricane was more worrying in the anticipation for us, than it was in reality, but evenso, having seen a real-life hurricane up close, we will be quite happy if we don't see another one!
Now we were on the road, we were heading for the next State of our trip and that was New Hampshire and in particular the small town of Jackson, nestled in the White Mountain range. It would be a drive of about 230 miles and with our aim being to leave Hurricane Lee as far behind us and as quickly as we could, we didn't plan any sightseeing stops on the way (not that I had included any in the itinerary in any event), with our only pit stops being at a halfway point in a small town called Newport, to have some much needed breakfast and then a supermarket to pick up a few 'essential' provisions to use at our next accommodation, such as wine, nibbles, etc., oh yes, and some fruit and
The wrong Kancamagus Highway 1
On the wrong road, but a nice shot! stuff for breakfast! Our base in Jackson was a lovely, two bedroomed house at a place called the Nestlenook Farm, a complex mainly aimed at the winter recreation market, but with a number of houses that seem to be owned privately and some of which appear to be rented out all year round.
As we turned off the highway, we entered Jackson through one of my favourite things in America, a covered bridge, this one called the Honeymoon Covered Bridge and originally constructed in the 1870s. Mandy and I first saw these bridges in the US when we were in upstate New York State with cousins Jill and Ed some years ago and of the thousands of these structures that were built in America, most were in the Northern and Eastern states, with the 'covered' nature being designed to protect the wooden base structure from the worst of the weather. In addition to being the main entry point to the town, we also noticed two weddings taking place when we arrived and I suspect that the bridge is a classic place for wedding photos.
We arrived early afternoon and after initially driving a little too far up the
The wrong Kancamagus Highway 2
The wrong road, but we were able to see the Mount Washington Hotel. hill to a massive standalone house which, despite our best efforts, wouldn't open with the key code we had been given (!!!), we realised our property was a little further back down the hill, in a row of about 6 units. The correct house was perfect for our stay, with a good sized lounge, decent kitchen and with one good-sized bedroom and en-suite downstairs and a second massive en-suite bedroom with balcony, upstairs. In fact, it looks as though it would be possible to rent either upstairs or downstairs as a self contained unit if you were a couple, as opposed to four adults. The rain had stopped and wind died down by the time we arrived, with even a bit of sun creeping through, revealing how beautiful the setting of our house was, in amongst the tree covered mountains, making the mountains more 'green' than 'white'!
Like most small American towns, Jackson is actually spread over quite a large area, so Mandy, Lily and I got back in the car to have a look around, while Steve was determined to have a walk around to do his own investigation, Jackson is another beautiful town, with a stunning mountain
backdrop and, hopefully, a perfect location for us to explore the White Mountains tomorrow. After a quick mosey around, we bumped into Steve, who was on his way back from a restaurant on the edge of town called the Red Fox Inn, where he had booked us in for dinner that night, a very good move as it turned out.
Back at the house for a bit of R&R before dinner, all was going well until.........we had a 'power outage', as they say in the States! Lily popped outside and met one of the neighbours, who confirmed that it was a general outage and asked if we had any candles, which, of course, Lily didn't know. Lo and behold, a few minutes later the neighbour knocked on the door with a supply of candles, which he had been and got for us from the local store; such a lovely gesture and he refused to take any money from us! He declined our invitation to come in for a drink, but chatted on (and on!) on the doorstep, mostly about his own life (which was fascinating), but also warning us about the bear that often wanders down by the houses,
The Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway 2
The half way point as we meet the other gondola. scavaging for food! As it happens, we didn't see said bear, but it was useful to know that we should be a bit careful going outside, especially in the dark!
The power came back on again after about an hour and before it got dark, so we didn't need to use the candles in the end and we had light again in time for us to get dressed for dinner at the Red Fox. The restaurant was very big and being a Saturday night, was absolutely rammed (good job Steve booked!) and, I have to say, the food was excellent! A great end to a quite amazing day!
Day 2 in Jackson and I have a full day's sightseeing packed into the itinerary to make the most of our time in the White Mountains. Why they are called the 'White Mountains' is unclear, but one theory is that the mica-laden granite making up the mountains, can appear white at the top and above the tree line. The abundance of granite is also thought to be behind New Hampshire's nickname of 'The Granite State'. New Hampshire is the fifth smallest state in the US and only a quarter of
the size of Maine, although has an almost identical population size to Maine. It is bordered by Maine, Vermont and Massachsetts, but also stretches up to the Canadian province of Quebec and, as I mentioned in the previous post, has a small sliver of the state which reaches the Atlantic Ocean. The State Motto of New Hampshire is 'Live Free or Die' and is attributed to General John Stark, (New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the Revolutionary War), in a letter he later wrote in 1809, although the motto was actually thought to have first been used during the French Revolution and may have been 'pinched' by General Stark. In any event, motto was officially adopted by the State in 1945.
My plan today was to firstly drive 40 miles along Route 112 from North Conway to Lincoln, along what is known as the scenic Kancamagus Highway (or the 'Kanc' as it is apparently called locally), then 15 miles up to Franconia to ride the aerial tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain. We were then to drive another 50 miles to Mount Washinton (the highest mountain in north eastern US) and to get to the top one way
or another, about which, more later. We were then only about 10 miles from Jackson, thereby completing a good circular loop, covering the major sights in one day and what's more, the weather was going to be perfect today. Unfortunately however, this carefully tailored plan came stuck pretty much at the very start, when I fed 'Kancamagus Highway' into the SatNav and whilst we headed off to Lincoln as planned, it took us along route 302 (a faster and less scenic route) as opposed to the 112, which I only noticed about half way along, when the scenic viewpoints that I was expecting, just didn't appear! Don't get me wrong, the views of the mountains and trees were fabulous, but just not what I was expecting athough we did get to see the ultra luxurious Mount Washington Hotel, built in 1902 and amongst other things it is famous for, it played host to the historic Bretton Woods conference in 1944, which led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund after the Second World War.
It is perhaps worth mentioning at this point that we are probably at least two weeks early for the true, multi-coloured view of the
The Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway 5
…..and one of the sheer drops on the walk! trees that one would expect to see in the Fall. The trees were definitely on the turn, but unfortunately Fall seems to be getting later each year and we will miss the best. A little disappointing, but such is life and the views that we have had, have been truly majestic in any event.
Anyway, back to the crumbling plan! Well, the good tour guide is nothing if not flexible and resourceful and before we reached Lincoln, I hatched Plan B and we did a quick detour to Franconia and made our first stop the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway. The original aerial tramway was built in 1938 and was the first such tramway in the US. It was replaced by a newer version in 1980, with this version having two gondolas, one at the top and one at the bottom (and vice versa), carrying 80 people in each gondola to the 4080 ft summit of Cannon Mountain. After the 10 minute ride to the top, we then walked a short, but quite spectacular 500 yards (with a few slightly scary drop off points) to an observation tower, with 360 degree views of the surrounding area. It was chilly and
blowy at the very top, but worth it for the views and at a cost of of $28 pp, it wasn't too pricey. One other interesting fact for skiing enthusiasts, Cannon Mountain and Franconia was where legendary US skier Bode Miller was brought up and learned to ski.
On the way down the tramway, Plan C was forming (!) and once I checked out the map, it was a reality. We would drive on to the town of Lincoln, which was only about 6 miles away, pick up some fuel and then drive the Kanc the opposite way round (but this time, correctly down the 112) and when we got to North Conway at the other end, we would move on to do Mount Washington (about 20 mlies) and then take the short hop back home to Jackson; in actual fact, we would end up doing slightly less miles overall!! I referred to the fuel stop and should mention one little problem. Steve was driving and we found a gas station, which unfortunately, he decided to enter from the wrong side and which the rest of us took great pleasure in pointing out to him! With another car having
pulled up alongside (pointing the right way of course), rather than turn around and reverse to the pump, Steve thought this was simply too embarrassing and shot away with a squeal of tyres (and much laughter from the rest of us) to find another gas station! But don't worry Steve, I did exactly the same thing a couple of days later!!
There are a number of scenic viewpoints along the Kancamagus, some of which can be reached by simply pulling off the road and others may have to be hiked to, if you have the time. The views were fabulous, although there is no doubt that they would have been better still in the true Fall colours. One viewpoint that we did walk to (only about a mile round trip) was Sabbaday Falls and it was well worth it. The falls aren't big by any means, but they are very picturesque, with the small river gushing through a granite gorge and the great thing is, you can get up close and personal both on the viewing decks and the surrounding rocks themselves. Great fun! The name 'Sabbaday' was allegedly coined by workers building the Kanc and who stored their
tools near the falls on a Saturday evening before going home for their rest day on a Sunday; they called the area where they stored the tools 'Sabbath Day' and later shortened it to 'Sabbaday'. True or not, it's quite a nice story.
Having completed the Kanc, we had quite a big decision to make and that was concerning our ascent of Mount Washington, as I said earlier, the tallest mountain in Northeastern, United States - have you noticed in this blog, that wherever you are in America, there is always something that is the tallest, biggest, widest, oldest, first, etc., and if it isn't the '....est', in the whole of the world, or the US, it will be the '.....est' thing in the region, the State, or conceivably, that particular street!!! They like bigging up their particular 'thing' as much as possible and fair play, I suppose.
Anyway, back to the decision. There are two ways to get to the top of Mount Washington and they are firstly, to drive (either self-drive or in a tour bus) the 8 mile route to the summit on fully paved roads, but roads that have no guard rails and are
Kancamagus Highway 1
A cheating snap of what the colours could have looked like. renowned for being scary; you are, in fact, advised not to drive if you have a fear of heights. The alternative is to use the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world's first (see what I mean!!!) cog railway (a rack and pinion system) opened in 1868 and which runs 3 miles, more or less straight up the western edge of the mountain. We were keen to drive ourselves, but were a tad worried about the heights, but were also conscious of the difference in cost, $85 toll to self drive, compared with $360 for the four of us to use The Cog! What swung it in favour of the self drive however, was watching a video the previous night, that someone had posted on YouTube of the whole drive (on fast forward) and whilst it looked pretty scary in parts, we thought we could do it, with Steve driving up and me driving down.
We arrived at the entry point to the Auto Road, paid our money, had our last minute warning about any fear of heights and a reminder to use a low gear coming down, stopping regularly to cool the brakes and then off we set. The
Kancamagus Highway 2
Mandy at one of the scenic overlooks. first four miles are pretty unproblematic, being surrounded by trees on both sides, but it then starts to get increasingly steep and wide open on one side or the other, with sheer drops of increasing magnitude. However, other than one or two corners where it was a touch 'white-knuckle', it really wasn't that bad; in addition, the road surface is very good and was two-lanes (more or less) wide the whole way. It took us 20 minutes to drive up and whilst we were glad when it was over, we certainly weren't scared out of our wits!
There is the inevitable gift shop and cafe at the summit, which is a cool 6,288 feet above sea level and whilst is was lovely weather when we were there with benign winds, we did get a reminder of how rough the conditions can get at the top, when we saw a sign stating that the highest wind speed in the world (!!!) ever recorded by man, was measured here in 1934 at an incredible 231 miles per hour! The views from the top were amazing and photos really don't do them justice, but safe to say that the experience at the
Kancamagus Highway 3
The Sabbaday Falls 1…… top is well worth the effort getting there; a 'must do' in my view! In addition, we were lucky enough to catch the Cog Railway as it arrived at the top and interestingly it was less than half full; perhaps if they cut the cost significantly, they might pinch more passengers from the self-drivers!
It was my turn to drive down and I have to admit to being a little apprehensive, but in actual fact, it was absolutely fine. The automatic gearbox was straining a bit as I kept in low gears and touched the brakes as sparingly as possible, but the car behaved really well and before long, we were down. A fantastic experience in a day full of fantastic experiences!
We drove home and then picked up some takeaway pizzas from the Red Fox (not bad, but nowhere near as good as the meal there the previous night), played a couple more games of Yahtzee (a box of this game was also at this home and by the way Steve was the victor thus time - twice!), had a few drinks and then fell into bed. We have loved Jackson, New Hampshire and the White Mountains,
but move on tomorrow to Vermont and the Green Mountains. But before I go, today's Countdown Conundrum is:
REVERB FIG CODE And the clue is:
A Clint Eastwood film in Madison County.
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