New Hampshire - White Mountains

September 13, 2019 - September 17, 2019

We moved from Vermont toward the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire.  There are several "notches" in the White Mountain area.  The definition of a notch is "the highest point on any publicly maintained road in New Hampshire."  Those of us who live in the West would probably call is a pass.  Near the town of Franconia is Franconia Notch State Park.  It includes many interesting places, not the least of which is Flume Gorge.

Near the bottom of the Flume

This stone wall was built to keep the stream from eroding the bank.

Looking back over the sheet of rock that forms the flume.

As you climb higher the stream narrows.  Pathways and bridges have been built alongside and over the stream.

This is near the end of the flume trail.
It may look like the stream is flowing directly out of the rocks beyond the bridge
but it's actually the end of a series of waterfalls. 

Avalanche falls at the end of the the trail.

This is a common site in these woods.  Trees hanging on for dear life in this rocky area.

Near the Franconia Flume Trail is a short trail to "The Basin."
Due to the time of year the water level was quite low allowing us to see how it had cut a patch in the rock

A nice little waterfall very near "the Basin."

To get to the top of Mt. Washington we chose to take the Mt. Washington cog railway rather than driving.  The railway uses both steam locomotives and bio-diesel locomotives.  We chose to take the steam train which you can see below.

The engine pushes a single passenger car to the top of the mountain.
The car and the engine are not connected to each other.

This is how the cog railway functions. 
Two teeth on the gear wheel are in constant contact with the toothed rack rail as the engine and car inch their way up and down the mountain.

Looking out the front of the passenger car as we ascend the mountain.

Looking out the window at the beautiful New Hampshire mountains.

The fog began to envelope us as we neared the top.  The summit is a popular destination for hikers. 
Rock cairns along the trail help hikers find their way.

Enjoying the view at the top.

This is what the top looks like on a rare sunny day.
Some interesting statistics:
This was the first cog railway ever built. (the track was begun in 1866)
You pass through 4 climate zones as you climb to the top.
Highest temperature ever recorded at the top:  72 degrees
Highest wind gust ever recorded at the top:  231 mph in 1934.
Average clear days at the top:  65 per year
The average grade is 25 percent.  The steepest grade is 37.4 percent (2nd steepest in the world).

Eli, our brakeman, uses these two big wheels to keep the passenger car from putting too much weight on the engine as we descend the mountain.

Vermont - Woodstock, Quechee Gorge, Brookfield, Barre and a quick trip to Cornish, New Hampshire

September 8, 2019 - September 12, 2019

Woodstock, VT: Billings Farm Museum

OMG - such big nostrils - all the better to slime you with!

Jersey cows are what it's all about at the Billings Farm.

Laura demonstrates that all cows love to have their ears rubbed.

The cow barn.

Love the little calves - check out the length of those eyelashes.
They birth about 40 calves every year at the farm.

The technical end of the milking business.

The business end of the milking business.

Getting down to business.

Let's face it - some cows are just more beautiful than others!

Belgian Draft Horses on the farm.  

These horses are really really big!

Sheep and goats and chickens are also around the farm.

The farm's purpose was the production of butter which is why they choose to raise Jersey cows which are renowned for the high butterfat content of their milk.  The pictures below show the type of  equipment used to produce butter from cows milk in the latter part of the 1800's.

 

Quechee Gorge, VT:

Looking down river from the bridge over the gorge.

Looking almost straight down from the bridge.

 Brookfield, VT: Vermont's floating bridge

Spotted this as we drove to the floating bridge.  Just had to get a picture.

Hate to say it but I think this person is right on the mark.

It's no match for Washington State's SR 520 floating bridge but it does the job.

Barre, VT: Rock of Ages granite quarry

Looking up from the bottom (this is a site only the quarry-men get to see). 

View from the top.  The current quarrying is going on over on the left side of the picture.
Our tour director told us if we were to touch the aqua water it would feel like paste because it is so loaded with granite dust.

This is the Rock of Ages Production facility. 
Virtually all the granite from this quarry goes into making memorials.

You can see some of the memorials currently being created laid out below.

A quick run across the VT/NH border to Cornish, NH to see the home of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of America's most famous sculptors.  He was born in Ireland to a French father and an Irish mother.  His parents emigrated to the U.S. when he was less than a year old and settled in New York City.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Sorry this is such a terrible picture but I'm using it only to indicate that Saint-Gaudens was apprenticed to a Cameo cutter at the age of 13.  His apprenticeship ended when he was 18.  The work served him well as he became an expert at bas relief sculpture which is one of the more difficult types of sculpture work.

Two examples of bas relief work done by Saint-Gaudens.
Marion Reed (above) and Robert Louis Stevenson (below)

Saint-Gauden's home in Cornish, NH.  

Saint-Gauden's workshop from the porch of his home.

A sampling of copies of Saint-Gauden's larger sculptures.

Abraham Lincoln (original is in Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL)

Admiral David G. Farragut (original is in Madison Square Park, NYC, NY)

The Puritan (original is in Merrick Park, Springfield, MA)

Robert Gould Shaw Memorial (original is in Boston Common, Boston, MA)

In about 1905 Saint-Gaudens was asked by Teddy Roosevelt to design a new $20 gold piece and a new $10 gold piece.  They are considered to be the most beautiful coins ever issued by the United States.  Sorry about the blurry pictures but at least you'll have some idea of what the coins looked like.