Day 15 - North Conway, White Mountains

We are in a townhouse which has a common wall with a neighbour.  Our bedroom is next to their main bedroom and they have a baby.  Steve was woken at 3:45am and then we both woke for the day (with the baby) at 5:47am.  Julian slept until 7:15am.  I am not going to make any further comment.

As we didn't have water (and therefore no showers), we were all up very quickly and had a good laze around before leaving the house at 9am.  There is another LL Bean outlet store here (even though this is really a small town) so we went there to find some waterproof overpants for Julian. There was so much stuff in this store but nothing we needed/wanted.

Our plan was to drive 30mins to a short walk at Crawford Notch which is in the White Moutain Forest Park.  Julian decided to take a napjust before we arrived so we changed our plans.

We drove further into the Park around to Franconia which was about when Julian woke.  They had an old iron smelter there so we looked at that and then had a short explore along the river.

We had lunch here in a small cafe which was excellent - no photo as we were too hungry.  We then took the scenic route back to another walk that I had found which was to Ripley Falls.  It was only a 2mile return trip (3.2km) so we thought Julian could handle a large part of it.  We hadn't figured the terrain into our calculations, but Julian was determined and walked a large chunk of the way there.  He didn't mind (too much) being carried most of the return journey.

 Nice part of the track.  Julian is sporting his new jacket.

Not so nice!

And this was what we were walking to.  It was pretty spectacular with LOTS of water!

We had to cross an operational railway line with minimal warning  (It reminded me of the movie Stand By Me.).  This shot is of the boys looking back up the river and it shows that it was sunny and not raining!!!

We then drove home (and it started to rain as forecast).  This waterfall was on the side of the road - and no I have not increased the green saturation.  It really was that green.  I can imagine how awesome this would look in Autumn when the leaves are changing.

Julian was trying hard not to fall asleep in the car and Steve managed to put him down when we got home.  As I type, we are enjoying a couple of the local brews, both Pale Ales, whilst Julian sleeps.  I really wish Australia would relax the tax laws to allow micro breweries to be viable!


Later:
Julian had a good rest and was ready for dinner when he woke.  After he ate we headed back to the Moat Mountain brewery for dinner.  It has a long walk up the side of a verandah and before we reached the door one of the waitresses had already come out to meet us.  Julian had charmed their socks off the night before and the woman was thrilled to see him again.  For dinner, Steve had the Hickory crusted pork (with mashed potato and pumpkin) and I had the Texas Brisket (on white toast bread with mashed potato and coleslaw).  No idea what happened to the photo of it!  Once again the meals were massive and very tasty.

We went home and bathed Julian (he was happy about this too) and then put him to bed.  I now braved driving on the right side of the road for the first time.  There was another outlet mall here, called Settlers Village, so I went there for some quality shopping BY MYSELF.  It is way too hurried with Steve and Julian in Tow.

The plan was to go for me only, but the first shop I saw was Osh Kosh.
Osh Kosh - Kids gear, bought a reversible jacket and shoes for Julian - 70% off the jacket!
Banana Republic - nearly the same stock as I saw at Clinton Crossing, so didn't buy anything;
Coach - handbags, wallets - excellent prices but didn't have a wallet that I liked and I definitely don't need another handbag;
Carters (recommended by Ali) - Childrens clothes, 40% store wide minimum, bought longsleeve tops for Julian for $4each!
Gap - bought a hoodie for Julian, Long and lean jeans for me - in AU$130, in US stores $70, at US Gap outlets $45 but on sale so got them for $31!
Old Navy - 3 long sleeve shirts for $17.50 each - can't make them for that!

I am so sick of shopping!  This was definitely the last shop especially since the bags are full!  The outlet prices are so much better than anything in Australia and the fit (for me) is perfect.  Also it will be many years before I am back (not like Steve) so I have definitely made the most of it.