New Hampshire – Page 4 – New England's Narrow Road

Hike A Little Mountain With a Big View

view of mountains — View From The Top of Pitcher Mountain

I don’t remember how I learned about Pitcher Mountain, but it is one of my favorite places to hike. It’s not a long way to the top from the parking lot, so most everyone would be able to do this hike. It does get a bit steep, with rocks to navigate near the top. Follow the trail to the right, which is a dirt road until you reach the edge of the pasture, then you will be on a steeper trail.

The pasture area is part of the Pitcher Mountain Farm located in Stoddard, New Hampshire. You will pass it on Rt. 123 heading west toward the small parking area for hiking. Blueberry bushes cover the top and it can get quite busy during July and August when berry picking is best. There is a money box in the parking area for donations at that time of year.

fire tower on Pitcher Mountain — Fire Tower at the Top

There is a fire tower on the rocky top and other trails to follow back down through the woods. They won’t have the nice views you’ll see by the pasture, but if you want to extend your hike, follow the trail markers out across the blueberry field toward a pole and then go down that path that leads through the woods. It comes out at a road where you will turn left and walk back to the parking lot. It’s a cool walk down after a hot day of picking (and eating) berries.

The Morning of Space Shuttle Challenger

We always watched the shuttle launches. First on the television, right up until after blast off, just in case there was a delay at the last second, which sometimes happened. Once it lifted off we’d run outside and stand in the road or at the end of the driveway and look east above the treeline watching for the glow. We’d follow it up and could usually just barely see the two solid rocket boosters dropping after a couple of minutes. Once the shuttle was way up out of sight, around 5 minutes or so and the smoke trail was taking on a wavy shape from the wind, we’d hear the rumble coming. That was so awesome. We lived about 60 miles or so from Cape Canaveral and it took that long for the rumbling from the massive lift off to reach our area. Sometimes it was louder than others and actually shook the windows. The kids loved it.

On the morning of January 28, 1986 my oldest son was in school and my only other son at the time was three. We were watching the count down that keep getting delayed mostly because of the cold, and finally gave up because I had to get to the grocery store. After my shopping was done, at the old Winn Dixie on Providence Blvd. in Deltona, as we were heading out to the car, I noticed some people at a parked car listening to the radio and others trying to get a view of the sky. Someone said, “The shuttle exploded”.

On the way home, I headed east driving down Doyle Road and I had a perfect view of the sky where ordinarily I would have seen a beautiful big plume of smoke left from the launch. This time the sky was full of zig zag, swirly patterns of smoke that were definitely not a normal sight. My heart sank. So much hype had been given to this mission especially. We’d been kept informed of all the training the first teacher in space had to go through. Krista McAuliffe was the lucky one chosen and all I could think about was all the kids in the New Hampshire classrooms who knew her and were watching that day as the mission ended before it even began.

Years later my family went over to Cape Canaveral to watch a shuttle lift off from as close as civilians are allowed to get. It was truly an awesome sight. And now I live in New Hampshire where the teacher came from. Today the local news will be interviewing people in this area who are related to the story in some way. It’s hard to believe it was 25 years ago.

Derrick: Lessons Linger 25 Years After Challenger Tragedy (npr.org)
Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster FAQ: What Went Wrong (space.com)
Challenger: 25 years later, the wound still aches (msnbc.msn.com)

Antrim’s Home and Harvest Day Parade

Official seal of Antrim, New Hampshire — Image via Wikipedia

Last weekend we attended the home town fun in Antrim, New Hampshire. The weather was nice, even a bit cool when the sun went behind the many clouds, but that made the day very comfortable.

Fire trucks in a parade — The Parade Begins

I went downtown with my daughter and her boyfriend and his daughter and my youngest son. We parked by the schools and walked down into town where the sidewalks were crowded with people waiting for the parade to begin.

I love parades, even very small ones like this one. We saw some kids in the high school band that we knew and all the people on the floats threw candy to us and I never realized that Antrim had so many fire trucks!

I have more photos but don’t have the time right now to add them all so I will later on this week – hopefully.

I’ve only lived in Antrim for a little over 5 years, but I am impressed with all the activities and the dedicated natives who take pride in their home town.

Antrim, NH town hall — Antrim's Town Hall

The Air Up Here

When I visited North Carolina one year I remember standing outside on the deck of the house we had rented just breathing in the cool, dry air. I lived in Florida and air like that never happened. We would get less humid air – our “winter” – but it still was not the same as the “northern” stuff.

I realized then how much I missed that lack of humidity that wasn’t brought about by air conditioning.

I also thought it was odd to think of the Carolina’s as “north”. I never could get used to everything being north when I lived in Florida.

Now that I am back in New England the world seems right again. North Carolina is in the south and the air I breathe up here is mostly wonderfully dry. I swear there is no air like the air up here. Even during this hot, and sometimes quite muggy, summer we get a break and the air clears.

This morning at 4AM it is like that.
I just let my cats out, against my better judgment, and I went outside on the deck to scare away any wildlife that might want to hunt them, and the air is just awesome.

The day before yesterday I finally bought an air conditioner to help with this humidity we’ve been having, and now the temperature has dropped to about 40 degrees! But I love it.
It feels like Fall, but I am not fooled. It’s only the beginning of August and we are bound to have more humid, muggy days, but this morning I feel the energy that comes with this sweet smelling northern air.