Sep 2008

Left the campground and headed west to Vermont, only 25 miles. We went to the town of Graniteville and the Rock of Ages quarry and plant. This is the home of BARRE (barry) granite, a light grey stone used in monuments. The quarry is the largest dimensional quarry in the U.S., meaning that all stone taken from the quarry is cut to size before it comes out. It is drilled into very large pieces and then lifted some 600 feet to the surface. From there it is cut into smaller pieces and then into the shapes desired for monuments. All the work is done in the building on site.

From the quarry we ventured to Cabot, home of Cabot cheeses. A tour of the plant showed us how the cheddars are made and the various other products. Interesting fact is that all cheddars are white, they only become yellow when a coloring agent is added. Cheddars on the East coast are white, on the West coast they are yellow.

Next, in the town of St Johnsbury, was the Maple syrup plant and store. Unfortunately we were too late for the tour, but a video showed us the process of distilling the syrup. It takes 30-40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup.

Another beautiful day in the White Mountains of NH. Tuesday was a laundry day and catchup, have to have those periodically. Today we headed to the COG RAILWAY of Mt Washington. This railroad system was started in the 1800's and has today become an international tourist attraction. The trail, gog driven, climbs the west side of the mountain from 1400' up to the summit of 6288' The average gradient is 25% but on Jacob's Ladder the gradient is 37.41%. This incline means that the front of the passenger car is 14 feet higher than the rear, when on this part of the track. The engines are the original steam powered and coal fired. Lots of black smoke comes from the smokestack on the up hil trip. The fireman shovels 14 shovels every 20 seconds, using a ton (2,000lb) coal on the uphill trip. The engine also uses 1,000 gallons of water, making the necessary steam going up the hill. Once at the top you can see VT, ME, Quebec and of course NH. MT Washington is noted as having the worst weather in the U.S.
with top winds of over 200 mph. There is a full time manned weather station at the top.

Another beautiful day in the north New Hampshire White Mountains. Today we headed on the circle tour of the White Mountains, some 100 miles total. We stopped at several scenic vistas and river edges. Just too bad the leaves are not in full color. This would be the best place in New England for the color of the leaves. We did stop at the ski resort, Attitash, and rode the alpine slide. This is a sled on teflon runners that goes down the hill on a fiberglass track. You can control the speed by pushing forward on the stick to go fast and pulling back to slow down. The track is a mile long, weaving thru the trees of the ski area. From there we went on to North Conway and then across the Kancamus pass road. This road follows the Swift river, extremely scenic with swimming holes and lots of rocks that help warm the water.

Another travel day by car. This time we journeyed south to the town of Lincoln, right in the middle of the White Mountains. Here there are two different offerings of riding old trains. We chose the HOBO train. This was a ride some 1hour and 20minutes long, and you were served a hobo lunch and got to keep the ruck sack. The train followed the river and was very scenic, however in a couple weeks it will be outstanding with the fall colors.
We also stopped at the Clark's trading post where they have a steam train and trained bears. On the way home we took back roads and stopped by the home of Robert Frost.

Spent the day on back roads and exploring the town of Littleton. They have a restored grist mill that actually mills wheat for flour. They are restoring all the downtown area which is quite a project. One store of interest was the candy shop. It is in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest candy counter in the world. It is over 150 feet long. Plus the rest of the store is filled with candies.