Franconia Notch Loop Hike

Nancy (niece Nancy) and I went hiking! This hike was the longest I think I have ever done. It was about 9 miles and it took us 7.5 hours. Arriving at our starting point at about 8am on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend (avoiding the crowds), we parked the car across the highway from the Lafayette Campground, ascended to Little Haystack Mountain climbing the Falling Waters Trail, then crossed the other two mountains, Lincoln and Lafayette, using the Franconia Ridge Trail, then switched to the Greenleaf Trail that connected us to the descent along the Old Bridle Path. The descent was the most difficult; it took about 3 hours, and was a continuous pounding on hips and knees. I understand now why so many hikers use poles to redistribute the weight to their upper body, because my quads were sore for a week!

Getting an Early Start

Checking the maps.....

And off we go!  This was a looong hike, so there are a LOT of pictures :)))

I love moss......

....and ferns....

...and waterfalls....

Two hours later...still climbing...

Nancy's New Haircut

Hair-flipping Hotness!

Still misty...

Above the treeline at last!

Up On Top: Franconia Notch

Starting along the Franconnia Ridge, traversing 3 mountains. 

That's Nancy up front in the white round cap.

It was incredibly exhilarating to have made the climb to the top and be
 travelling across the ridge in the midst of all this beauty!

Fun on the Top....

...or so we thought....

Goofing around.

Where are we, anyway?

Need to practice the panorama setting more...

Lunchtime!

Have to have a feet picture...

3 guesses what this is and the 1st 2 don't count!

On the downward trek along the Old Bridle Trail

And seven and 1/2 hours later, back where we started!
A BIG THANK YOU to Nancy for being a great hiking companion!

Contradancing

One of my favorite memories during my teenage years was of summer Saturday nights in Fitzwilliam contradancing to the calling of Duke Miller with a band consisting of piano (often the late Bob McQuillen), a banjo, and a couple of fiddles.  I was introduced to contradancing during my freshman year at Monadnock by Katrina Royar and her mom, who took me to my first Fitzwilliam contradance. I also started going to dances in Dublin and Francestown, often called by Dudley Laufman, who in recent years received a National Heritage Award for the preservation of the art of contradancing. Later on I went to the Fitzwilliam dances on my own, and became close friends with Maureen Kennedy, whose parents sponsored the Fitzwilliam dances. Once Duke Miller passed away, the Fitzwilliam dances were not a regular weekly event during summers. 

The Monday night Nelson contradances have been occuring as long as I can remember, and have been called in recent years by my former MRHS classmate Don Primrose. The dance here is not called by another caller; I think her name is Mary.  Just prior to the dance, there is a contradance orchestra that rehearses. Here is an excerpt from a Swedish waltz they were playing:

Many of the dancers show up early to listen to the orchestra practice. There is usually a $3 donation for the dance that people drop in a fiddle case at the door. Often one of the "regulars" will bring brownies or cookies or iced tea.

Getting ready to dance--the caller is the woman behind the man in the blue shirt. The dance is accompanied by a piano and one fiddle on this occasion.  The fiddler is a bit lazy on the pitch, I noticed, but the dancing is still fun!

It was a fun evening that brought back a lot of good memories. And I remembered the steps like I had never stopped....just like riding a bicycle.

An Evening Walk With Carl, Clarissa, Lizzie and the Dogs

One evening I accompanied Carl and Clarissa on a family walk. We took the dogs, including Nancy's bassett hound Lucy, as Nancy was riding Abby in the pasture.

Down through the corn fields.....

The barn of the farm next door; it's a large very high tech farm.