Blogcation Redux Part 1: NH

With an unheard of five straight weeks off from classes, I told Ryan, "I am NOT sitting at home in Delaware."

So we planned our own New England mini-road trip. The plan? 3 nights at a B&B in NH, 1 night in Maine, 2 nights in Boston, and 1 night in CT.

We ended up starting the vacay a day earlier and spent the night on post at West Point, possibly the one thing the military has done right (ie, the only military institution that I've ever been on where there are trees, green grass, landscaping, and buildings that did not have the brown/beige color combination...some were grey-haha). The town of Highland Springs (outside the post) was quaint, but in all honesty, the area is absolutely beautiful. Mountains, valleys, and water, plus Manhattan was about an hour away...what more can you ask for? These people get nature AND the city...

Then off to NH where we stayed at a bed and breakfast (our first) that was just outside of a tourist trap of a town (read: Maggie Valley NC or Gatlinburg TN). Waterfall, a hike, a moose, and the best damn beer I've ever tasted.

On Sunday, we decided to hike Tuckerman Ravine, inside the White Mountain. We had no plans to hike up Mt. Washington (read more here and here). The first video clip shows us just past Tuckermans Ravine, on our way up to Mt. Washington. The second clip was taken pretty close to the top of the summit. Notice how rocky it is? The pyramid rock formation that you see at the end of the clip was a way of following that portion of the treeless trail (instead of the yellow painted strips you normally see on trees). Once at the top, our hair was wet as we were in a cloud (no joke). In the 7 1/2 hours it took to complete the hike (up and down), I went from wearing a tank top in sunny weather, to wearing an additional two layers of long sleeve clothing,

to back to sunny weather. We went from mid80s at the bottom to low 50s at the top. After buying a patch that says, "I climbed Mt. Washington", we left the park and headed 'home' to the B&B to wash up, pop some motrin, and head out for a much deserved beer. Cheap asses that we are, we COULD have taken a van DOWN the summit (saving us 3 hours, 15 minutes), but at $26 a ticket, we thought "rip off!" After 2 hours of climbing down, we were kicking ourselves.

Monday we woke up and I could not sit, stand, squat, or move either leg without a reminder of the humbling hell we put our bodies through (we still loved it though!). We headed to Diana's Bath, which anyone who has spent summers in the western mountains of NC knows how refreshingly cold the water is, and we relished every moment our legs were in the water. It was a true ice bath that actually soothed our legs. More waterfalls, more ice baths, until finally we found a place for Ryan to jump off a giant rock into the water.

(l to r: Diana's Bath, Diana's Bath, Ripley Falls, Ryan jumping off Upper AmmonoosucFalls)

Remember those friends in swimming lessons who wouldn't jump off the diving board, no matter how much you encouraged them? I don't ever remember having that fear, but on this day, I was that child. It took me 15 minutes to jump, from one of the lower (although not the lowest) boulder.

(sideways view...anyone know how I can switch it to right side up?)

She finally jumps! (this is actually jump number 2...picture of jump one shows me peering over the edge...PS...I screamed the entire way down on the first jump. Chicken.)

It was AMAZING, and a great way to end our trip in NH.