White Mountains, Day One...

......or pretty much one of our most favorite places to be!!!


Kevin, Bailey, and I spent the 4th of July weekend in Lincoln NH with our friends Christa and Kevin and their dog Riley! We wanted to show our friends what is probably one of our most favorite places in New England. And we really just wanted to get away for the holiday!


I have blogged sooooo much about this area so I am not going to go in to crazy detail. I am only dividing it up in to a few posts because I took such an insane amount of pictures. What I am sharing here and in the next couple of posts is just a fraction of them! I believe over the course of 2 1/2 days I took over 375 pictures. Yep. But that is just how I have always been. I once took 225 pictures at one of my nephew's tball games! ONE game...of tball...five year olds. Thank God for digital!!!

The car all packed up and ready to go!

The dogs just chillin' on the 2 hour ride up to N. Conway.

We headed to N. Conway for part of Saturday since Christa and Kevin have never been there. We were staying at the other end of the Kancamagus Highway, in Lincoln.

See that mountain shrouded by clouds off in the distance? That is Mt. Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast, whose summit is home to some of the world's worst weather.

They had actually gotten snow at the summit the day before we went up north! Snow! But New England is weird. In most mountaineous areas, even if it gets warm the temps are still usually a bit cooler than what the cities are. Not in New England! Nope! It was sooooo freakin hot and humid all weekend and pretty much the same temps we would have had at home. As much as I love this area, I do love it much more in the fall.

So as a result of the uncomfortable heat we passed on walking around the shops of North Conway, with the exception of a stop at one of my favorite little gift shops, the Covered Bridge Gift Shop, a few miles past North Conway as you head toward Attitash Mountain. After that we decided to start our trek across the Kanc as we made our way to Lincoln. We stopped at several of the scenic areas, including one of my favorites, Rocky Gorge. Most of the remaining pics in this post were taken in an around this area.

My boys staying cool in the shade!

There are many areas along the Kanc where you can swim in the cold Swift or Pemigiwasset Rivers, like Lower Falls (which we decided to pass by because there was an accident on the road right in front of the entrance which backed up traffic. And given that is was a scorcher of the day, the area was already jam-packed with people.

The waters in and around Rocky Gorge look tranquil but there is a strong current. Though swimming is prohibited you will still see some people in the water in the calmer areas. I will admit I have gone swimming here in the past. Luckily there have never been any rangers around!

I tend to follow the rules a little better now in my 30's than I did in my teens and 20's. Still, in that heat I would have given anything to jump in! Kevin, though he appreciates the beauty of the place, is perfectly happy to bypass swimming at any of these areas. He thinks the water is too cold. Wuss! ;-)

So beautiful. I could stare at these vistas all day!

Bailey did dip his paws in the water! He enjoys it!

Christa and Kevin exploring the beauty that is northern NH!

I am always fascinated by things like downed trees and weird rocks and stuff. I love that in an unspoiled place like this, if a tree falls, it just stays where it lands. No need to "clean up." I love when nature can just be...

Since this a still picture you couldn't hear Kevin pointing out to me that swimming is indeed not allowed in this area! ;-)

I just loved when I caught this! I felt like even Bailey was contemplating the beauty all around him!

One area where the current really starts to pick up!

Tired doggy! He was taking a rest before we piled back in the car to drive the rest of the way in to Lincoln. We were all hot and tired and hungry and we still needed to check in to our hotel. I love that there is a such a wide variety of accommodations in this area and many are dog friendly. We usually prefer to stay in cabins or cottages when we are in this area but since it was a short trip we opted for a hotel. There is a Comfort Inn right on the main road in Lincoln that is only a few years old, affordable, very comfortable and extremely well-maintained. And of course dog friendly! I am also partial to the round the clock free coffee available in the lobby! ;-)

All in all it was a great day, and fun to introduce Christa and Kevin to the White Mountains. It was also a loooong hot day. Reading this post it doesn't sound like we did a whole lot but we were non-stop on the go from 8AM when we left MA till after 7PM when we finally had to give in and call it a night. We really wanted to get an early start the next day anyway. I hate to waste any part of the day away when I am up there! Once we were settled in at the hotel, the guys went out and picked up some dinner for us (remember we had the dogs) and we relaxed and planned our 4th of July!