After our whirlwind in Massachusetts, we faced yet another once we arrived in New Hampshire. Jim 's company was named to the 2011 Inc. 500/5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America, so he and I flew out to Washington D.C. for a conference held in honor of all the winning companies.
The girls didn't mind a bit since we flew Jim's sister, Shannon out to stay with them. And they had a blast! In the 5 days we were away, they hit Maine, Boston, Massachusetts & explored New Hampshire...and all those fun details and pics will be on Natalie's blog. Jim & I, on the other hand were so excited to have a "date" weekend. We ordered breakfast in bed, loved having maid service & savored the mental break in planning! We took a guided 1/2 day D.C. tour (& didn't have to organize an ounce of it!!!), enjoyed dinner out, attended two days of amazing speakers (including General Stanley McChrystal & real estate expert and star of Shark Tank, Barbara Corcoran), met a lot of wonderful people (a really cool Christian couple from Arkansas), and had fun at the grand finale black tie dinner & dance. Jim was definitely inspired by the speakers and fellow entrepreneurs.
As much fun as we all had, we were anxious to be together as a family again. We left from our campground in Derry (in southern N.H. near the airport) and drove due north to the much more beautiful White Mountains region.
We hiked around Franconia Notch...
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| Natalie "fell" victim to the rain-drenched path! |
& Crawford Notch to see New Hampshire's tallest waterfall at 200 feet.
While here the leaves started to turn & fall, making a beautiful mess:)
Our most adventurous New Hampshire outing (though not as scary as we anticipated) was a ride up the Mount Washington Cog Railway.
It was a stunning climb to the top of the northeast's highest peak (6,288 feet) & "home of the world's worst weather". The lowest temperature recorded was -50 degrees while temps above 72 degrees have never been recorded. Snowfall averages 311 inches per year and the winds exceed hurricane force an average of 112 days per year (which is why some of the structures at the peak are chained to the mountain!) In the spring of 1934 wind gusts were measured at 231 mph! Thankfully, we visited on an unusually perfect day!
We were glad to ride with a conductor, though "back in the day", men took thrill rides like this down the mountain...
As usual, we were sad to leave such a beautiful area, but my favorite place on earth was next...
Maine!
A) Derry, NH
B) Twin Mountain, NH
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so fun! the waterfall looks beautiful :-) but what it the world were those guys thinking, riding down the mountain like that?!?! crazy! loving all the posts :-) thanks for keeping us in the loop!
ReplyDeleteAlayna, that was a great one! Can't wait for the next "guess what". I love you!!
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