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.

Day 14 - North Conway, New Hampshire

A 6:30am start with a happy little boy- yay!  We tidied up and made the most of the washer and dryer before we handed the keys back at 9:30am.  We really enjoyed staying here, shame it is so far away.

As we were leaving Woods Hole the weather packed in big time and it rained and rained.  We managed to find the LL Bean outlet at Wareham and thankfully they had a jacket in Julians size.  He has grown out of all of his old ones and we needed one desperately.

Then we drove to Plymouth.  The plan was to walk around the Mayflower replica, the Pilgrim museum and have a look at the Mayflower Society house.  Unfortunately it was blowing a gale, freezing cold and the rain was coming in sideways.  Also Julian dropped off to sleep just as we arrived - our singing couldn't keep him awake any longer.

We decided on Whoppers from Burger King and ate them in the car on the foreshore.  This was the view out the windscreen:

Then we set Jane (GPS) up to take us to our rental in New Hampshire.  For some reason she decided on taking us via Maine, adding 2hours to our trip.  Thankfully we were on to her and caught the error before it was too late.  There was a lot of cursing to be had.  The correct route took us through Boston which wasn't too bad traffic wise.

 Still crap weather as you can see.

That is Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox) on the right.

We stopped for a pit stop in Portsmouth at the Dunkin Donuts.  Fair to say, we wont be eating their donuts again as they seem to always be dry.  The hot chocolate (we have given up on their coffee) tasted like marshmallows even though there weren't any in there!

Then it was the last 130km to North Conway where were are staying for the next two nights.  Still raining.  There were a couple of pretty lakes on the drive but I think the rain obscured the greater vista.

For some reason Jane (GPS) couldn't find the road we are staying on, which added another 30mins whilst we sat in the McDonalds carpark googling the address!  When we arrived, we turned the heating on (12degC outside), set up the cot, feed Julian and headed out much to his dismay.

I had found a local hotel which brewed it own beer in North Conway, so we went there for dinner (Moat Mountain Brewery: http://moatmountain.com/).  Steve had a Pulled Pork burger with fries and I had Carolina Pulled Pork (slow cooked pork with a spicy sauce all on a slice of cinnamon raisin toast served with garlic mashed potato and coleslaw). 

 No idea why Steve was pulling the face - perhaps he was worried about the beers.  I had a Pale Ale and Steve had a Brown Ale and a Belgian triple.  It was so good, we have decided to go back!

We once again needed milk, bread and beer so we went to Hannafords, the local supermarket.  Nothing too exciting there except it was raining and we got drenched getting Julian in/out of the car.

And then when we got home we found that we couldn't get any water in the bath/shower so Julian missed out on a bath.  He wasn't interested either and was fast asleep in minutes!

Finally, here is a little house at the end of our street.

White Mountain Accommodation

White Mountain:
http://www.flipkey.com/bartlett-chalet-rentals/p292006/