Boston Lot Hike

Today marks 6 weeks that we have lived in New Hampshire. We are getting acclimated and liking this climate a lot. Yesterday was a cool day with highs only in the 60s.  Hard to imagine that happening in Maryland in August.

We took advantage of the lovely day to explore the Boston Lot, an expanse of woods north of us owned by West Lebanon. It gets its name from a failed granite quarrying company based in Boston. Quarrying never happened but the name stuck.

We parked at that green rectangle on the left side of the map above and walked up the access road - the double red line.  That was quite a climb. We walked then around the lake on the Lakeside Trail.  That was a misnomer because the trail continued to climb and though we could glimpse the lake through the trees it was not a lakeside trail at all.

The ferns were lovely.

Roots and rocks to clamber over.  The soil must be shallow that's why the roots are so much on the surface.

Here's a view of the lake near the end of our walk.  There were two camping sites at this vantage point.

A lovely day for a hike in New Hampshire.

We had lunch from the food truck parked on the Lebanon Green. First time we'd tried it. We'll be back! It was good.

NH Living

Swimming in all sorts of bodies of water is the thing to do here in New Hampshire when it gets hot.

Our very first Saturday, daughter Emily invited us to join them at a local creek for a cool dip.  Since our things had not arrived by van we were without bathing suits so we came to dip our feet.

We were to meet at one spot along School Street where there was parking for three cars.  Fortunately we arrived at exactly the same time because there were no parking spots available and we were able to follow them to another access point.

The water wasn't deep but the granddaughters had fun.

The next Saturday Dan and I went exploring.  I'd read about Sculptured Rocks State Park in Yankee Magazine and had bookmarked the directions years ago.  It was a beautiful drive east.  What we hadn't considered was that it was Saturday and the parking lot was full. Turns out it's a popular swimming spot too.

We drove past the lot and the signs along the road that said no parking.  We found a spot to pull off and eat our sandwich.  Then resolved to drive past the lot again and if there was a spot we'd stop to see it, but if not we'd go on.

No spots in the lot but farther down the road there was a pull off where there was no sign to stop us from parking.  We walked back to view the rocks and river.

The sounds of people enjoying the water filled the woods.

Can you see the guy below in the rapids?

Here's the NH Park's description: Sculptured Rocks Natural Area, which spans 272 acres, is a unique example of nature's powerful yet delicate artistry. The Cockermouth River carved a narrow canyon in bedrock on its way to Newfound Lake, beginning as the last ice age drew to a close. Nature used grains of sand suspended in the current to carve the walls of the canyon into curious shapes and create potholes in the bedrock.  https://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/state-parks/sculptured-rocks-natural-area.aspx

I'm not sure I'd enjoy swimming among those rocks.

Here's another swimming spot this time in Vermont in Windsor.  We arrived here Thursday morning to join Emily and granddaughters. They like to swim early before all the local campers come and before the lifeguards go on duty.  They can wear swim aids then.

It was another beautiful day.  We didn't wear our suits on this day either because we had appointments later to get our drivers licenses in Newport with the DMV.

We will return to swim someday soon.

Pie

Blueberry season here in New Hampshire.

My daughter picked the blueberries.  She gave me 4 cups yesterday - just enough for a pie.

Before breakfast I baked one.  Here it is cooling on the counter overlooking the living room of our new place.  We have lovely bay windows overlooking the Mascoma River.

This afternoon after two trips to the dentist (a walk of 2 blocks) I had a slice of pie and a scoop of ice cream.

Delicious!