My Diary Saturday 23rd June 2012
VISIT TO NEW HAMPSHIRE
As part of
visiting New Places in and around Boston, it was planned to visit the Flume
Gorge, a feature of Franconia North State Park in New Hampshire.
As has been
planned the previous day, we all woke up early morning and had our morning
ablution and breakfast by 8.15 am. My puja and other routine activities were
curtailed to keep up the schedule by 8.30.am. The car zoomed towards New Hampshire.
It was three hours Journey. In order to ease the driving pressure, Smitha drove
the vehicle half way and Venky the rest. For Smitha, it was a challenging task
as it was her first maiden entry in the Highway. However, the guidance came from Venky,
who was sitting next to her.
The journey to
New Hampshire was an amazing adventure. From the windows one could see trees on
all the sides as if nature is welcoming us to its fold. All along the roads
there were water bodies, buildings neatly designed.
Aditi and Aditya had their share of mint and fun. Aditi after watching nature for some time engrossed herself with her story book. I could see Aditi biting her nails while reading. Aditya in the meanwhile made some mischief with his sister and had his quota of reprimand from Venky and Smitha. After driving for a good distance, the car halted near a rest room. After resting for some time, Venky took the wheels to cover up the remaining distance. It was about 11.30 am when we reached New Hampshire.
Before entering the
Flume George, we had our lunch at nearby subway and later reached Gilman
Visitors’ Centre. Venky purchased the
tickets and we all boarded a Mini Bus to enter the unique geological area in
the Flume. We had some glimpses of the Geological area through photographs
depicting the various flora and fauna, varieties of butterfly and other nature
related items. We took nearly two hrs to cover 3.2.km. We enjoyed walking the
distance, taking snaps often. In some
places we had to climb the stair case and gravel trails. The Flume is natural
gorge extending 800 feet at the base of Mount Liberty. The board walk allows us
to look closely at the growth of flowers, ferns and mosses found there.
The flume was discovered in 1808 by 93
year old ‘Aunt’ Jess Guernsey, when she accidentally came upon it while
fishing. Initially, it was difficult for her to convince her family members
about the discovery, but later she was able to convince others to see themselves.
It was
learnt that nearly 200 million years ago in Jurassic times, the Conway granite
that forms the walls of the flume was deeply buried molten rock. The Gorge was
covered by glaciers during Ice age. After the ice age, Flume Brook began to
flow through the valley again. While walking on the trail, we first happened to
see a picturesque covered bridge, one of the oldest in the State. It was built
in 1886 and has been restored several times. Flume Gorge is a natural gorge
extending 800 feet at the base of Mount Liberty
On the way we saw a Wolf Den. This is a narrow one way path involves crawling, squeezing
through rocks. Venky and children ventured to enter the Wolf Den and literally
squeezed themselves to enter the narrow one way path.
After the Flume Gorge visit, we all walked towards the car
parking area. On our way back, we had some snacks and Smitha
took to wheels and drove towards Sharan. After driving for nearly two hrs, when
rain started drizzling, Venky took his turn. In the meanwhile the kids wanted
to visit the Hampton Beach. Because of down pour and traffic jam, it was
difficult to drive. However, Venky managed to reach the Beach but could not
enter the area. At last decided to
return and on the way visited RITU KI RASOI, a vegetarian restaurant at
Burlington. The restaurant is run by a North Indian couple, neatly maintained. The
ambience in and around the restaurant was really laudable. We enjoyed the food
supplied by them. By and large we all enjoyed the trip.
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