March Finale

Well March is officially over in an hour or so. Hopefully April brings some better weather than the record rain we got this past month. That lousy weather and a cold being passed around our house has slowed us down a bit since the last post but we have had my Moms (Ray-Ray to Brooke at the moment) birthday, Brooke Jen and Charlene went to visit the Easter Bunny Sunday, Brooked named him Hop, and I got in a hike but other than that it's been pretty quiet here.There are a bunch of random pictures from the past couple weeks here if you're looking for some. There's a few from my Moms birthday, a couple of Brooke with the Easter Bunny and just random stuff like the crow, owl and squirrels fighting across the street tonight and Brooke playing in puddles.
There's a bunch from a hike along the Franconia Ridge Sunday with Ryan and Mike right here if you want. It was a long day, partly because it was Mike's first time using crampons on a very icy, windy exposed trail that he wasn't comfortable on and was trying his hardest not to die, and partly because he decided that it was a great time to break in his new boots and his feet were killing him. How did he put it, oh yeah, it was the most scared he's ever been in his life and his feet felt like they were on fire. I guess the first part was our fault for bringing him there without the experience and comfort level he should probably have had and the other was his so the 12+ hour hike was both our faults. While we slowly moved along I had plenty of time to take lots of pictures. Those are all here if you want to see them. I've also been playing around with HDR pictures all afternoon so if you'd like a shorter version or just want to see the trip in HDR also you can click here instead. If you do there are two of each picture. The first is the original image and the second is the HDR. You'll figure that out pretty quick I think. It's about as close as you can get to being there without going with me so I'd highly recommend you check it out. Even if you don't like the hiking pictures just seeing the HDR thing is pretty neat. That's about it for now. Hopefully we'll see everyone on Easter. If not, have a good one and check back here soon.

Mt. A on St. Paddy's Day

Boon Island and Cape Neddick



The Presidential Range in the White Mountains



The White Mountains, 75 miles or so away


Well spring appears to have sprung for real around here. The April Showers have arrived early and flooded much of the area but that didn't stop us from getting out to enjoy the 60 degree weather on St. Paddy's day after 7.5 inches of rain finally stopped falling.

We headed up to York this time for a small easy hike up Mt. Agamenticus. They say it's area is the largest section of unbroken coastal forest between Acadia National Park and the New Jersey pine barrens. I don't know how that is because it's not right on the coast but whatever makes them happy is fine with me. What we liked was the fairly short (3/4 mile) easy trip up the 700 foot high mountain to a nice open summit area on a beautiful day with some great views too. The late afternoon sun and blue skies gave us clear views all the way to the White Mountains and up and down the coast, especially to the Isles of Shoals and Boon Island, where in 1710 a ship wrecked and the survivors had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive until they were rescued. We could see the little island out there, it didn't look too far off shore. Apparently it's 6 miles but I think I'd have tried to make a raft or swim before I'd eat another person. Maybe that's just me. Anyhow there's more pictures from the hike and the last few weeks right here if you want to see them.

Also if you want to read more about that little episode you can click here or there's more about the history of the light house in general here.

Just another quick entry. Today was Jens Sunday to work so Brooke and I got to have a daddy/daughter day. We were going to go hike Mt. Agamenticus but it wasn't quite as warm as I would have liked so instead we went down to Odiorne Point. We had a seaside picnic lunch in the back of my car and then spent the afternoon throwing rocks into the water, watching "ducks" which were really seagulls and using the playground. It was another great March day to be out there and since it's harder to take a lot of pictures when it's just the two of us there aren't a whole lot of them but there's a few here if you want to see them. Hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend as much as we did and I hope there's plenty more of this weather to come.

The temperature today was forecast to be in the 50's, which is pretty good for this time of year so we decided to take advantage of it. By the time I got out of work and Brooke finished her lunch it was spring-like outside so we packed up and headed over to Stratham Hill Park to get some fresh air, sunshine and exercise. We've been up this hill twice before with her but today was her big day. Instead of being carried in a backpack we let her try climbing up by herself. She did great and made it all the way up without any help from us. She tossed a few rocks and played with some sticks along the way but after 10-15 minutes we all made the 150 foot/.3 mile climb to the 290 foot high top.

From there Brooke wanted to go up the first level of the tower with me to look around and then went down to explore with Jen while I climbed up to take some pictures and soak in the birds-eye view. It was a beautiful day to be up there. You could see everything clearly from the Isles of Shoals to Mt. Washington 88 miles to the north (click on the picture above to blow it up and check out the view). After we soaked up our share of sunshine Brooke led us down to the playground at the bottom of the hill. There wasn't much for little kids there so she used the big kids stuff. Swinging and climbing until she was just about wiped out and ready for a nap. It was a fun afternoon and there's pictures of all of it right here if you're interested.

Jen is working tomorrow but if anyone else is interested in joining me I might take Brooke up to Mt. Agamenticus in York for another hike if the weather is as good as it was today. The trail is about 1.5 miles each way and the mountain is about 700 feet high so it'll probably be a good couple of hours and she'll probably be riding in my backpack for a bunch of it but anyone is welcome to go. I know it's last minute but give me a call if you read this and want to go.