Having never been to New England and having friends in New Hampshire convinced us to plan a trip to that area. We flew in to Manchester, NH and drove up to Concord to stay with Lois and Tom and their daughter Denise.
Since Lois and Tom were still working, we added Denise to our family temporarily and headed toward Vermont. Using Montpelier as a home base, we visited the large Rock of Ages granite quarry and the associated plant that turned slabs of stone into "monuments." (Don't call them tombstones!) The next day, we visited the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory, where we saw the production line and sampled as much as we could of the product. Wearing newly-aquired B&J t-shirts, we stopped for a visit at the state capitol (called "statehouse" in New England) in Montpelier. Our last stop in Vermont was at a maple sugar farm, where we were surprised to find no old-fashioned buckets hanging from taps on the trees, but an intricate web of plastic tubing snaking through the woods to collect the sap. The best part was tasting the soft serve maple ice cream made on the premises.
Back in Concord, we took a day trip to the highest point in New England, Mt. Washington. Though the summit, with a road leading to the top and a large visitor center, was a bit anticlimactic for someone living in the mountains of the West, the views were beautiful. A cog railway train, with a tilted boiler for the steep hill climb, makes the journey several times per day.
A highlight for us was a several-day visit to Acadia National Park. We climbed Champlain Mountain for a wonderful hike and view. The view from Cadillac Mountain was similar, but had to be shared with many more people, as there was a road to the top.
Back in the Concord area, we spent a day at the nearby Canterbury Shaker Village. The meeting house has two doorways, one each for men and women; the same division holds for inside seating arrangements. The last day, Lois and Nancy toured Zimmerman House, the best example of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses. Unlike some of Wright's other houses, this type was intended as an affordable, middle-class home.
The other
significant event of this trip was seeing Lois and Tom's photos of their years
in Yemen which led, in part, to our hosting Ayman for the year. Thanks, Lois
and Tom, for your great hospitality and a great trip!
