So - normally when Amber and I head off for a day of boxing we have a whole list of boxes and a well plotted path to find as many as possible. But our main box of interest - could have been a total bust by the time we made it to its location - so we decided to basically run amuck. We boxed without a specific agenda... shot from the hip as we made our way to our destination. This is a MAJOR change for us. Very much out of our comfort zone. How on earth were we going to manage to not conquer a list of boxes? The one thing that helped - no 'list.' I was with 'Traveling Teacup' and she has no list for boxes over the border. But somehow a Green Tortuga has been haunting her Maine list for a while. So after talking about making the trip for about 4 years - today was going to be that day we conquered the turtle!
Even without a list and an agenda - we still had plenty with us depending on how the day went. Teacup and most Maine boxers have their "BIBLE" - I don't have one for Maine, nope - I have one for New Hampshire! Go figure. So we were heading out - two bibles in the back seat. Teacup's Maine bible (though it was slightly hidden by camo tape) and mine. Two gazetteers and Maggie to annoy us to death! We were good to go. I pulled into her driveway at 6am and we were off after a brief Sweet Tea stop. Destination - Glen House, NH. We made a couple quick stops en route to gather a couple drive-bys we missed during Acres of Wildlife and then continued towards the border.
We saw it looming ahead of us - and as we crossed, the oxygen was sucked out of the car - Amber's world started to spin and she somehow managed to keep the car heading westward! We drove through a relatively quiet North Conway and made our first New Hampshire stop in Glen to pick up a Swan Ride. Now - sometimes in the morning - we tend to take clues literally - or we don't follow the directions the way they are meant. And because of this - sometimes we land in some strange positions. Like limboing under chain link fences in a parking lot. I didn't try this. First of all - I wouldn't have fit. Secondly - when it says 'watch your step' and I see a drop off - I'm hugging the car door : ) Or a tree if the car isn't close enough. Amber on the other hand (in cream colored jeans none-the-less) was shuffling between the fence, a rock and the watershed in no time. After checking the wrong location REALLY well - we opted to head BACK to the correct end of the fence and try a different tactic. Yup - we could avoided getting Amber all muddy if we had maybe been a little more awake... but I doubt it. So after collecting the swan... we continued a bit further north. But not without needing a U-turn in our trip. Of course I had us heading in the wrong direction trying to get to Wildcat Mtn. But we only ended up a mile or so out of our way. Which the way we roll - is a relatively short miss-direction : )
Back on the right road - we set off in search of a turtle. We drove through the White Mountains admiring the lovely views and vast expanses of green timberlands. We made it to Glen House a bit early - so we thought we'd have a visit with a 'Well Defined Gentleman' before our gondola ride up the hill. Yeah - I did mention that we were playing tourists, didn't I? Hiking up was out of the question as we do NOT have scaling the 4000 footers on our life list : ) So after chatting it up with the locals who were convinced that the view at t top was "Awesome!" we set off to jump into the gondola. Not a simple feat as I'm deathly afraid of heights and Amber hates confined spaces. We were just glad we didn't have to share our box with anyone else as they were already pretty warm. Our distinguished and friendly car corraller gave us a bit of advise before locking us in the box - look down for wildlife. And off we went - up the hill. It didn't look too intimidating from the bottom - but as we climbed the mountain - and the base lodge was getting smaller and smaller - we were happy we had seen geese, turkeys and a fox while driving in the car because our eyes were looking at the horizon, NOT down!
And let me tell you - on a clear day, the green trees are lush and pretty from a gondola! Those big HONKING monoliths of rocks that turn into ski jumps in the winter look might intimidating in the sunshine of summer. But the brooks were happily babbling for us and the water looked clear and cool from above. The only part of the ride that was slightly 'jostling' was every time the gondola hit the crossbar supports. Then we'd swing just slightly and twist, not to mention the slightly horrifying grinding noise it made - probably a noise chatty skiers don't hear one their ride to the top. Besides - if it breaks in the winter - their descent to the ground is padded by feet of white stuff... all we saw were those very large erratics! But we chatted out way up and then we noticed the birch trees. From below you don't see the devastation they suffer from the tormenting winds. But from the gondola - boy do they look different. Like trees out of a Halloween landscape. All broken off branches devoid of any leaves. And there were miles of them dotting the hillside. Kind of made us sad for them. We love birch trees, these looked so devastatingly sad.
But further up we climbed. Who knew the ride would take 13 minutes one way? Well Amber did - but that's besides the point. I was certain she was wrong - it didn't look that far up to the top. Then we rode over the first 'section' and still couldn't see the top departure building. So maybe 13 minutes isn't an exaggeration. And look at that - out of our view went base camp. Mt. Washington was a lovely sight off in the distance. Up, up, up we rode. Now getting into the cab at the bottom was kind of clunky... like walking onto one of those moving walkways... only this was heading around a corner. Se we discussed how we were going to try and improve our 'dismount' at the top. After all - we only had backpacks, not skis and poles : ) We were in sneakers, not ski boots. So we should be able to master this with relative ease. Yup - like a pair of drunken penguins with vertigo. Smooth let me tell ya!
But we made it out of the car at the top with a young gentleman kind of chuckling at us. I think we were the first landers at the top that day. And boy we are an amusing pair??? So we ambled off the platform - trying to get out land legs back in working order. Trying to squelch the vertigo and the sheer panic of being 4000' feet in the air. Trying to look like the proper tourists - we had to have our photos taken at the top. "Look! Mt. Washington!" Yup - we can ham it up with the more foolish of them! Then this wonderful man came over and offered to take a shot of us together. How could we refuse? That would have been rude... so we posed again like foolish tourists : ) We chatted him up a bit. Seems he was on his way to 4000 footer 38 and 39 today. Made us feel like slugs - but we were tourists - so it was okay. What I found amazing was that he had just finished hiking UP Wildcat and he felt the need to stop and have a couple cigarettes... really? How the heck could he breathe climbing up? Amber was concerned that he didn't have enough water... my thoughts were that was the least of his worries. But whatever.
So after playing the proper tourist - we ambled around a bit looking at the signs and views from all advantages. After all we did pay $15 a piece for this experience - didn't want to rush through it. So up over the rocks and into the trees. Damn bugs survive at 4000'. And of course - they taste just the same as at sea level! Yucky! Spit, cough, hack - removed my sunglasses and tried to catch up to Amber. No need, she already had the box in hand. So back out to the sunlight. A few more bugs for the protein content. No sense wasting nourishment at these altitudes - yeah, right. And we cracked open a VERY wet turtle. He was swimming in water. Now normally turtles like a bit of water. But when its fetid and icky - its time for a clean up of his shell! Our came the towels and trail magic supplies. Okay - so we forgot the supplies. But we did have one of my HHs. So we pirated everything from that to rescue a turtle before we put him back under his rock.
So we strolled around a bot longer. Thought about looking for that hinted at geocache, but opted to give it a pass since the trail was muddy and I had my fill on bugs. So instead we chatted up with some flip flopped other tourists who were looking for the falls. Since we had no idea which direction to ship them we suggested that ask the young man on the loading platform. We left them as they contemplated trying to hike the trail and headed back to the gondola. Now let me tell you - our loading technique is pretty good. And as long as we are both facing the direction we need to - we might be able to handle the 13 minute descent. With the thrill of the turtle in the win column on our day - we chatted about our next direction. Well... there is Mt. Washington : )
More on that tomorrow.
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