Laboring hard

This past weekend, Labor Day weekend, I found myself back in New Hampshire again. In fact, I was in New Hampshire three of the past 4 weekends. I'm really starting to take a liking to the state. My sister is always saying I should move there. What can be bad about a state that has "Live free or die" as its motto? And no sales tax either? Well for starters, property tax is really high, and cell phone reception is limited in most of the really mountainous areas...



Anyways, RI does not even come close to the grand vistas and views you witness in NH. The rolling hills of green and mountains or rock surrounding you on all sides. The rivers and waterfalls, dense forests, tall trees, and even the lack of it all when you get above the treeline-vegetation that is struggling to stay alive in the strong, often hurricane type, wind. Ah, the beauty of it all. And once again, I found myself in New Hampshire enjoying the beauty of creation all around me.



So, the Thomas Clan somehow managed to round up all of itself plus one Cackett and Beth's boyfriend (Tim was busy working and such so he couldn't come)-thats Me, Joy, Mom, Dad, Kyle, Beth and bf (though he didn't arrive till late Sat. morning), and Kelly-and headed down to Bartlett, NH (right by Attitash and North Conway) to stay at Attitash Woods Condo #7, located in the Mt. Washington Valley. The view from our deck was spectacular-the two pictures above were both taking from there. Notice Mt. Washington in the latter picture, its the bald peak above the condo, just left of the tree in the picture. The condo itself was very nice. Its mainly used during ski season, but was still very sweet. It had the usual full kitchen, 2 full baths, master bedroom, guest room, loft-type bedroom that slept 4, deck, tv with surround sound on the main floor, tv with surround sound in the basement, along with a Foosball table, ping-pong table, and laundry and dryer. Not bad at all!!

Joy and I met my parents and Kyle, who were driving the Maxima, right off of 295, and followed them in the Orange Crush (aka SRT4). The "deal" was that we had to pick up Bethy in Boston at the train station (she's interning in NYC right now). However, her bus was late, or she took the wrong bus, or something, and we had to stop off in Quincy around 12 to waste some time at Barnes and Noble. (got a signed first edition of the newest-and last-Dune book, yeah!) Then off to Old Navy, McDonald's, and finally South Station to wait for Beth. You know whats fun? Following somebody in Saturday traffic in downtown Boston. Anyways, Beth finally arrives and we drive to Nashua, NH to pick up Kelly. When we get there, we then drive the remaining 2 hours or so to our Condo in Bartlett. We went on the Kangamacus (spelling?) highway part of it, which was cool. There were long hills which I coasted down and great views of the valley. The rest of the night is spent relaxing and watching a movie.

We wake up on Sunday to great weather. The sun is shining and there are no clouds in sight. I can see Mt. Washington from our deck! Last time I was up here all I could see were clouds everywhere! Its amazing to actually see the top of the mountain that I had hiked two weeks earlier. Unbelievable! The girls decide to go shopping, my brother and Beth's bf join them, and my Dad just relaxes. I decided to take care of some unfinished business with Mt. Washington. No, I didn't bring any of my hiking stuff, but I do have my car, so Joy and I decide to drive up to the top of Mt. Washington!



After waiting in line for an hour just to pay the fee to take the road, we finally are able to drive up the auto road. Its a pretty cool experience. The road is pretty steep and narrow in a lot of places. Some places its just dirt with nothing more than a few inches separating you from a long drop. The views are awesome though. I still can't believe how different the weather is compared to when I hiked it! I was in first gear the whole way up. It def. takes some skill driving a stick up the Mt. though. People don't go as fast as you want them too, then you are close to stalling cuz the RPMS are so low. And on dirt roads too. Thats just what you need to do is stall out or peel out on a dirt road and a really steep hill with no guard rails. Awesome.



It takes about 30 mins to get to the top and I finally get to see everything without 60 mph winds, rain, hail, and freezing cold. I can't stress how awesome the view is-100 miles visibility-insane! I finally get my picture on the actual summit, Joy too, and enjoy the view. Good stuff.





After we drive back down the Mt. (when you drive back down you are supposed to stop every so often to let your brakes cool-I don't because I use engine braking and don't have to use my brakes nearly as much as everybody else who is riding their brakes big time) and get back to the condo, we eat burgers for dinner, go in the jacuzzi, and watch some more movies. A good fun day!



The next day we head out early, eat at the usual Tilton Dinner, then head our separate ways home. This will prolly be one of the last times the whole family is together, as Beth is in New York now, Kelly and Tim in NH, and Kyle is going to basic training. It was still a lot of fun though! Especially the part where Kyle and I jumped off our 10+ foot deck then climbed back up it and the neighbors looked at us funny!



Joy and I did visit Purgatory Chasm on the way home, which I must say, was disappointing. Yeah, the rocks might be fun to climb, if they let you, but it was a lot less impressive than I thought. Oh well!