Create Idyllic August: Mountains
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2023
Create Idyllic August: Mountains
I can't remember when my family started vacationing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but Mount Washington was often on my father's mind: he was once offered a job at the summit. One of the early visits took place in a relatively cramped condo near Mount Cranmore in Intervale, just north of North Conway. I remember that there was nasty infestation of gypsy moths going on. The next year, we found a nice little cabin in Hart's Location [population 68]. The catch was that the cabin was next to the Saco River, and could only be accessed by going to Bartlett center, crossing a bridge (which was later washed away by floods), and following a dirt road west. For my family, which loved getting far from the madding crowd, this was ideal. Of course, in the mountains it can get pretty cold overnight even in July and August. This was where my mother's prowess with coffeemaking came in handy. Her coffee was strong enough to walk on, though by this point she was starting to rely on those coffee packs that you put in the percolator and then throw away after the coffee was made. If her coffee couldn't warm you up in the morning, nothing could.
Being in the mountains was wonderful. My nephews gravitated to the water slides at Attitash, the miniature golf places, and the bone-chilling water that flowed from the mountains through Diana's Baths (eventually, when you were used to the cold water, you started to enjoy it). You had to hike a trail through the woods to get to it. On a hot summer day, numerous cars would be parked along West Side Road (so called because it ran along the west side of the Saco River. It bypassed the heavy traffic in North Conway on the east side of the river).
No trip was complete without a trip to the top of Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeastern U.S. My father was a meteorologist in the Army air force in World War II. After being discharged, he was offered a job in the weather station at the top of Mount Washington. He declined the job, as this was no place to raise a family, but my family liked to visit this famous place. (Dad kept his hand in by offering weather predictions. He was often right.) We usually drove up a road that wound around the mountain. Once I took the cog railway from downtown North Conway. I remember being too hot at the bottom, and too cold at the top. The vibrations were pretty formidable as well. I only did this once. ;-) In 1985, I joined my father, sister, and brother in a climb up the mountain (I bought a "This body climbed Mount Washington" T-shirt in the gift shop).
After the bridge was swept away in that fateful flood, my sister got the idea of buying a place of her own, where she could entertain the family. This was downstream from the previous cottage, and floods would continue to be an issue. I remember going up to her cottage one year when the river was so high that it was lapping at the edge of her deck. I cut short my stay because the river's roar kept me from sleeping. One time, the water was so high that it got into her cellar, killing the furnace and doing more than $20,000 dollars' worth of damage. This was supposed to be a 500-year floodplain, but then a hurricane went through and caused more flooding. She couldn't get flood insurance. She had to arrange for someone in the area to look in on the place in the winter.
But apart from the flood danger, it was a lovely place for a vacation. I loved to take West Side Road south to Conway, cross the covered bridge, and come back north along Rte. 16 into North Conway, which had lots of factory outlets as well as a Wal-Mart
and plenty of places to eat. I usually picked up plenty of shirts and some china (my guilty pleasure!). My sister often got tickets for performances at the Western Slopes Theater in North Conway. We saw a lot of shows over the years -- "The Secret Garden," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "The Boy Friend," "Anything goes," etc. In later years, my sister liked to take her laptop to a place that had wifi. In the evening, while my sister was fixing supper, I would walk along Rte. 302, listening for the sound of peepers and occasionally finding Monarch butterflies. After supper, we would sometmes play cards or board games, or borrow a video to watch on the TV.
I also loved to go swimming in Echo Lake, which was on an access road off of West Side Road. I liked to swim on my back, looking up at Cathedral ledge. The deerflies would sometimes buzz me. I had to keep a sharp eye out so I didn't bump into the float. There was a floating rope to keep the little children from getting over their heads; sometimes I risked getting caught in the rope. Oh, well.
As the years went by, it became a hassle to drive up to the cottage from Western Massachusetts (where my sister lived) or Boston ( where I live). A few years ago, my brother-in-law got a severe case of Lyme Disease. This meant that riding in a car for hours was uncomfortable for him. When my father came up, we had to make sure someone was with him, as he was prone to falling. Last year my sister decided to sell the place. In retrospect this was good timing, as my brother-in-law got sick and died not long afterward.
My sister still rents a place and goes up to New Hampshire sometimes. The attached photo is one that she took from Cathedral Ledge a few weeks ago.
attached picture files:
--Bear Notch Road. Vista across the valley, with Mount Washington in the distance
--Cathedral Ledge
--Diana's Baths
--Stone cairns in the saco River near my sister's cottage
I can't remember when my family started vacationing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but Mount Washington was often on my father's mind: he was once offered a job at the summit. One of the early visits took place in a relatively cramped condo near Mount Cranmore in Intervale, just north of North Conway. I remember that there was nasty infestation of gypsy moths going on. The next year, we found a nice little cabin in Hart's Location [population 68]. The catch was that the cabin was next to the Saco River, and could only be accessed by going to Bartlett center, crossing a bridge (which was later washed away by floods), and following a dirt road west. For my family, which loved getting far from the madding crowd, this was ideal. Of course, in the mountains it can get pretty cold overnight even in July and August. This was where my mother's prowess with coffeemaking came in handy. Her coffee was strong enough to walk on, though by this point she was starting to rely on those coffee packs that you put in the percolator and then throw away after the coffee was made. If her coffee couldn't warm you up in the morning, nothing could.
Being in the mountains was wonderful. My nephews gravitated to the water slides at Attitash, the miniature golf places, and the bone-chilling water that flowed from the mountains through Diana's Baths (eventually, when you were used to the cold water, you started to enjoy it). You had to hike a trail through the woods to get to it. On a hot summer day, numerous cars would be parked along West Side Road (so called because it ran along the west side of the Saco River. It bypassed the heavy traffic in North Conway on the east side of the river).
No trip was complete without a trip to the top of Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeastern U.S. My father was a meteorologist in the Army air force in World War II. After being discharged, he was offered a job in the weather station at the top of Mount Washington. He declined the job, as this was no place to raise a family, but my family liked to visit this famous place. (Dad kept his hand in by offering weather predictions. He was often right.) We usually drove up a road that wound around the mountain. Once I took the cog railway from downtown North Conway. I remember being too hot at the bottom, and too cold at the top. The vibrations were pretty formidable as well. I only did this once. ;-) In 1985, I joined my father, sister, and brother in a climb up the mountain (I bought a "This body climbed Mount Washington" T-shirt in the gift shop).
After the bridge was swept away in that fateful flood, my sister got the idea of buying a place of her own, where she could entertain the family. This was downstream from the previous cottage, and floods would continue to be an issue. I remember going up to her cottage one year when the river was so high that it was lapping at the edge of her deck. I cut short my stay because the river's roar kept me from sleeping. One time, the water was so high that it got into her cellar, killing the furnace and doing more than $20,000 dollars' worth of damage. This was supposed to be a 500-year floodplain, but then a hurricane went through and caused more flooding. She couldn't get flood insurance. She had to arrange for someone in the area to look in on the place in the winter.
But apart from the flood danger, it was a lovely place for a vacation. I loved to take West Side Road south to Conway, cross the covered bridge, and come back north along Rte. 16 into North Conway, which had lots of factory outlets as well as a Wal-Mart
and plenty of places to eat. I usually picked up plenty of shirts and some china (my guilty pleasure!). My sister often got tickets for performances at the Western Slopes Theater in North Conway. We saw a lot of shows over the years -- "The Secret Garden," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "The Boy Friend," "Anything goes," etc. In later years, my sister liked to take her laptop to a place that had wifi. In the evening, while my sister was fixing supper, I would walk along Rte. 302, listening for the sound of peepers and occasionally finding Monarch butterflies. After supper, we would sometmes play cards or board games, or borrow a video to watch on the TV.
I also loved to go swimming in Echo Lake, which was on an access road off of West Side Road. I liked to swim on my back, looking up at Cathedral ledge. The deerflies would sometimes buzz me. I had to keep a sharp eye out so I didn't bump into the float. There was a floating rope to keep the little children from getting over their heads; sometimes I risked getting caught in the rope. Oh, well.
As the years went by, it became a hassle to drive up to the cottage from Western Massachusetts (where my sister lived) or Boston ( where I live). A few years ago, my brother-in-law got a severe case of Lyme Disease. This meant that riding in a car for hours was uncomfortable for him. When my father came up, we had to make sure someone was with him, as he was prone to falling. Last year my sister decided to sell the place. In retrospect this was good timing, as my brother-in-law got sick and died not long afterward.
My sister still rents a place and goes up to New Hampshire sometimes. The attached photo is one that she took from Cathedral Ledge a few weeks ago.
attached picture files:
--Bear Notch Road. Vista across the valley, with Mount Washington in the distance
--Cathedral Ledge
--Diana's Baths
--Stone cairns in the saco River near my sister's cottage
