A Drive Thru New England

August 2011

Friends, Gene and Rita, invited us to spend a week with them in a rented cabin in Maine.  The cabin rental ran Sunday to Sunday so we decided to venture out 3-4 days early and take our cameras on a sightseeing trip thru New England on the way to Maine.  What you see here are just a few of the hundreds of images we captured.  Be sure and click on any image for a larger view, some additional information about the image, some camera information and a satellite image of where the picture was taken.

It's been a number of years now that we've talked about visiting the home of F.D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park NY.  We set out with intentions of doing so but time simply got away from us so we missed it yet again.  We were in the area around 1pm and thought we'd stop at C.I.A. (Culinary Institute of America) for lunch.  Hopes of doing so were dashed because we simply could not find a place to park so we drove around the campus and continued on our way. 

Mt. Graylock

Mt. Graylock is located in the northwestern corner of Massachusetts and is the state's highest point.  We noticed, while doing some internet research before leaving home, that there is a lodge nearby.  Bascom Lodge had some rooms available so we booked one for the night in advance.  Dinner, while expensive, was available so we submitted a reservation for that as well.  Staying at the lodge put us in position for some evening and sunrise photography without having to drive up/down the mountain several times.  We arrived on site early enough to go inside the tower and climb the spiral staircase to the top.  Later, we sat through a park ranger's presentation covering the history of Mt. Graylock, the tower, and Bascom Lodge.

Glacial Potholes

While having dinner at Mt. Graylock, we sat with some "locals" and told them of our mission to photograph whatever we come across on our way to Maine.  They told us to be sure and visit Shelburne Falls MA on our way out of the area.  Shelburne Falls is home to a couple things we shouldn't miss.  One of them are the Glacial Potholes which were formed when the last of the ice age was on it's way out.  A dam used for hydroelectric generating lowered the water level in one area exposing the Glacial Potholes.

Bridge of Flowers

The second claim to fame for Shelburne Fall is the Bridge of Flowers.  The 400 foot long bridge was originally built as a trolley crossing but was abandoned in 1928.  A year later, The Shelburne Falls Woman's Club took over the span and the Bridge of Flowers was born.  Today, over 500 plant varieties are grown on the bridge.  Personally, we were surprised to see trees on the bridge.

Mt. Washington Cog Railroad

In northern New Hampshire, we decided to head to the top of Mt. Washington via the Cog Railway.  Mt. Washington stands at 6,288 feet which makes it the highest summit in the northeastern USA.  We boarded the railway with temperatures in the low 70's and found temperatures at the summit in the low 50's, 20 degrees lower.  The sky was sunny and clear all the way up but it was amazing how clouds would blow by totally obscuring sight of the structures around us on the summit.  The railway runs one steam engine that departs at 8:30 in the morning which was to early for us but, we did pass it on it's way down.  Housed at the summit was a variety of weather observation equipment none of which was open for tours during our visit.  The "Tip-Top House", long since closed to overnight guests, was open for touring.  In it's day, accommodations were rustic.  I should mention that there is an auto road to the summit and, of course, some hiking trails.  It is without regret that we took the Cog Railway to the summit....

The Flume

We had heard of The Flume for years and finally found ourselves at the entrance to take a look at it.  The Flume is an 800 foot natural gorge with trails, boardwalks, flowing water, and lots of green.  We didn't carry tripods with us but still managed to get some flowing water images.  I couldn't resist capturing some infrared images of all the green lining the walls.

Cannon Mountain

The weather was sunny and clear so we decided to take the Cannon Aerial Tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain.  Kathy is usually a little unnerved by these things but she went along with it and enjoyed the ride.  Once at the top we stopped for lunch then walked the trail up to the top of the radio tower and along the ridge.  Venturing to the top of Cannon Mountain was well worth it.

White Mountains Area

Our mission for the area was to seek out some waterfalls and hike a few trails.  There was a lot more opportunity for this kind of thing than we can physically handle.  Along the way we stopped to photograph the Mount Washington Hotel, one of the last remaining survivors of these old wooden hotels.

Lovetts Inn

We thought it would be kind of neat to stay in one of those cute little cottages we've seen in our travels.  As luck would have it, we stumbled onto Lovett's Inn which referred to itself as a Cottage B&B.  Each unit was very nicely finished.  A group of Morgan owners were staying at the inn which, in itself, provided a photo op for us.  The Morgan is British made and we enjoyed hearing the history of these unique automobiles.

Images taken with a Nikon D300, Nikon P7000 and a infrared modified Nikon Coolpix 5400 are Joe's.  Kathy was packing her Nikon D60.  Images were also geotagged using a Sony GPS-CS3KA.

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