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North Conway Trip - 05/30/08


Sometimes, spur of the moment ideas are the best! Colin was off work for a few days, so I scooped him up and off we went for a short overnight trip to North Conway. Current Picture

Of course, being guys, neither one of us checked what the weather would be like for the weekend until Friday morning. It was forecast to rain starting Friday night and then pour through the rest of the weekend. Hey! So, what? The sun was out and bright and it was really warm out. So we threw the bags in my car and were off on our Winnie-The-Pooh type 'explore' by about 11am.

And... we had to stop for coffee, a bite to eat, and some gas. But traffic was light and so was an easy ride up.

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Colin arriving for the great Winnie-The-Pooh type 'explore'! He's already grousing, "You're not gonna be taking pictures all weekend, are you?" You-bet-cha...

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Colin at the head of the .6 mile hiking trail back into the woods to Diana's Baths.

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Surprising that there wasn't more runoff even this late after the main melting season because there was a lot of snow up here this winter.

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Another shot of the falls.

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The long view of the stream and falls.

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I was taking it easy despite Janis helping me along the trails, but I wasn't going to push it by climbing over boulders and clawing my way up the steeper parts of the trail. I told Colin to go further up the stream so he could see that area as it is quite beautiful.

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After hiking back out from Diana's Baths, we drove up the winding road to the top of Cathedral Ledge. Rising up in the background is the Mt. Cranmore ski area.

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This view is to the left and South toward Echo Lake State Park

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Is this guy on vacation or what!

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Colin and I sat on the rocks here for awhile just chatting and taking it all in.

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Janis and I taking it all in. "Who," I said to Colin, "could possibly have more fun than us!" I told Colin about the couple of times that I had been up here and seen people leaping off the top of that rock face and para-sailing down to the lake below. No way... not even in my youngest and craziest days would that ever cross my mind...

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Ahhhh... respit from the hot afternoon and day of exploring in the bar at The Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, NH.

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The Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, NH. Is that picture perfect, or what?

While sitting in the bar of The Eagle Mountain House, I asked Colin what he felt like having for dinner. "Steak" was all he said. Well, if you want steak, then the only steak to have is a Black Angus. And the only place to have a Black Angus steak is the 1785 Inn right down Thorn Hill in Jackson to the northern part of North Conway. He was up for that, so we stopped at the Inn on the way past to see if we could get in. And if I didn't bump into the owner, Charles Mallar. No problem so we said we'd see him at 7:00pm.

Not so simple. We had planned to stay at my former condo in Center Conway at Melody Pines, but when we got there, guess what? No key. Not wanting to take the chance that the guy that had the key would be back when we needed him, I just drove back to North Conway and we checked into The Grand Hotel. One of the motivating reasons for selecting that was indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs. How can you miss with that?

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Picture at dinner of myself (Janis leaning protectively in the background), Allen, my friend and waiter of so many years I can't even begin to remember, Charles Mallar, the owner who I have been harassing yearly for, gee... must be going on over 25 years now..., and Colin.

I hadn't planned on coming here originally because I had assumed we'd be at the other end of the Valley. And so, as you can see, we could easily have been mistaken for the landscape crew...

I had told Colin that if you go to a place as renowned as The 1785 Inn, that it was going to be one of those weird things we call a "dining experience" unlike his more common Texas Roadhouse stuff and run. I forewarned him that when I dine, it is a long and involved process and that he would not only have to bear up under the pressure with me for that, but that if he was going to have a Black Angus steak of the quality that Charles put out then he was not going to defile it with a beer or soda. A steak that good had to be had with a good wine.

Sure, you can get a okay $20 bottle of wine. But for Colin's first real experience, I "shot the potatoes (you'll just have to ask me sometime what that means) and got a marvelous bottle of a 2005 Geyser Peak Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. I told him not to get to liking that sort of thing too much because that was a $45 bottle...

And I just had to tell Charles the story about 21 years before when we carried Colin in here in his car seat and stuffed him under the table which was right across from the one he and I were sitting at tonight. We had our meal, about an hour and a half as well, and when we got up to leave, everyone was amazed when we pulled ol' Colin out from under the table fast asleep in his car seat. Yup, that was some story and embarassed Colin to no end.

Well, after almost two hours - yeah, Colin made it all the way through, even letting Allen educate him about sorbet, and which side of the table you clear from and which you serve from, and wine, and other relevant information - we headed back to The Grand Hotel for a swim and relaxing half hour or so in the hot tub. We finished off the night with the movie Hunt For Red October, not getting to bed until after 1:00am.

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We just snoozed in until a little after 9:00. As predicted, it was pouring heavily, so we packed up and headed back.

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Here's Colin covering it up. It was really chilly besides pouring. Off to Burger King first for something to eat, and then Dunkin Donuts for coffee for the drive back!

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