4th Stop - North Conway, NH

On the way to North Conway we stopped to tour the "Castle in the Clouds",  That's exactly what it was as it was rainy, cloudy and foggy.  You can read about the rags to riches story of Thomas Plant on the website.  http://www.castleintheclouds.org.


 

 

Must be nice to have your own pipe organ in your home. 

 

Note the rolls in the cabinet to the left.  The organ was actually converted into a player organ.

 

As you can tell it was truly a castle in the clouds.

 

Nancy taking a shower with her clothes on.  This is called a "needle shower" and only the very well-to do had them in their homes.  Water is forced through tiny holes in the silver pipes giving it a "stinging, but refreshing" effect.

Sewing room (Singer has been around a very long time!)



M'lady's fur room

 

Dresses and accessories worn only for special occasions.

 

Dining room

 

Sports room

 

This is the cog train to Mt. Washington and has been operating since 1869.  It was the first mountain-climbing cog railway in the world.  Although it is only 6,288 feet high, it is the highest point in the northeastern US.  It is also the place where the most severe weather occurs and the highest recorded wind speed ever observed by man at 231 MPH.  Temperatures fall to below zero over 65 days a year with an average snowfall of 177 inches and an average wind velocity of 37 MPH.  Nancy is not interested in living there!

 

On a good day you can see 4 states from the summit.  As you can see below, visibility was only a few feet on the day we visited.

 

 

Mt. Washington Hotel at the base of the mountain.

 

Covered bridge.  Nancy had to be quick with the camera as we were moving along the road rather quickly.

 

These pictures do not do these beautiful trees justice.  It was a cloudy day and the colors didn't show up very well.

 

 

Next Stop - Kennebunkport, ME



After a wonderful time in the Boston area we moved on to Kennebunkport, ME.  I said in our last post that we went through 3 states going between Mystic and Boston but that was incorrect.  It was going the 79 miles to ME that we went through 3 states.  Each day the colors become more vivid.

 

 

We crossed the state line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire...

 

 

...and then headed to Maine - a total of 79 miles!

 

 

Our campground in Wells, MA had a beautiful ocean view.

 

At the Seashore Trolley Museum, we learned the difference between a trolley and a streetcar.  There is no difference in the vehicle.  Whether it is a trolley or a streetcar depends on the distance of the route.

 

Russ is logging in a ME geocaching find.  So far we have a "find" in every state.

 

 

We had our lobster dinner at a fancy restaurant in Wells.  (This isn't it!)  If you think eating crab legs is messy, try eating a lobster.  It's pretty unsettling to see those eyeballs looking up at you from the plate!  Pictured:  We had lunch at The Maine Diner which was featured on the TV program "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."

 

 

The Fall colors began their show early in the season...

 

...and have continued every passing day. 

 

Note:  While in Kennebunkport we went by the Bush family home but did not take a picture as there was no activity going on.  Of course, there was nothing much going on at the Kennedy compound either, but we took pictures of those homes anyway!

 

2nd Stop - Foxboro (Boston), MA

After a wonderful start to our trip in Mystic we headed to Foxboro, MA and the Boston area.  It seems strange to have a 100 mile drive and go through 3 states -- we cut through a corner of NH before reaching MA.  There is so much history in the New England area.  It's hard to believe that much of the history of the area happened almost 200 years before Arizona became a state.   

 

 

Our campground in Foxboro was beautiful.  We assume that what was established in 1759 was the farm and not the campground!  Can you imagine what an RV might have looked like in the 1700's?

 



 

This is the "National Monument to our Forefathers" and took 69 years to complete.  The figure on top is pointing to the heavens with one hand and has a Bible in the other.  On each corner is a different figure representing different characteristics of our forefathers such as courage and knowledge, etc.

 

On three of the sides are the names of those who came to America on the Mayflower.

 

A replica of the Mayflower.

 

Below the deck, several "period actors" answered questions.

 

 

Plymouth Rock

 

Joseph Kennedy homeplace.

 

One of the houses on the Kennedy compound.

 

As we took a boat tour of Cape Cod and Hyannis Port, we went by a large island with this beautiful home.  The owner originally purchased the island for $25,000!

 

"Sailing, sailing over the bounding main"...well, not so bounding or Nancy wouldn't be smiling!

 

Korean War Memorial on Cape Cod. 

 

 

John F. Kennedy Memorial, also on Cape Cod.

 

Sandwich Glass Museum, Boston

 

We caught this demonstration of glass blowing but failed to take any pictures of the beautiful glass work in the museum.

 

Around the corner from the glass museum was this mill generated by a water wheel.

 

 

This was one of several unusual signs.  I guess they are just different in New England.  This means congested area!

 

Gillette Stadium - home of the New England Patriots.

 

John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Boston

 

 

The Oval Office

 

The Kennedy Clan

 

USS Constitution (Old Ironsides)

 

Ahoy, mates!

 

 

Paul Revere

 

The Old North Church

 

Organ in the Old North Church

 

I guess families bought pews in cubicals for their family.  This one was Teddy Roosevelt's.

 

Other places in the area were Harvard University, Boston Conservatory of Music, Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology among other places of interest.  (Sorry, but the camera battery died and we were unable to take pictures.)