Mount Washington : The place of the Great Spirit

Mount Washington : The place of the Great Spirit
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New Hampshire Oct 2015

No mountain in US has such a cult following as Mount Washington does in New Hampshire. The visitors love driving up Mount Washington, a mountain that does not even make the list of top 10 tallest in the East Coast of US. This mountain barely peaks at 6,700 feet, is not very tall compared to the giants else where in US. Just to give you a perspective, there are 53 peaks that are at least 14,000 feet in Colorado state alone. I used to live by one of those "14ers" as they call them in Colorado, and I driven up many others as well but I have never seen one fourth the crowds on Rocky Mountains as I have seen on Mt Washington. Why you may wonder? Perhaps due to the fierce reputation that Mt Washington has earned. How bad it gets on Mt Washington? Please read on..

Mount Washington registered the highest wind ever recorded in the world taking hurricanes and typhoons into account. The wind blew at mind-blowing 231 miles/hour at the summit on April 12, 1934. The bad news just keeps piling on the top of highest mountain in the North East United States. In the year 1969 a record level of 566 inches of snow fell and 50 inches of it fell in just a single day. Get this, a 100 inches of rain pounds the mountain annually. A mountain that is so notorious for erratic weather had the perfect weather when I was up on the summit. I have such effect on mountains, I surmise.

The road up this mountain is so vertical that it feels like you are driving up straight into stratosphere and your heart drops into your tummy. You try not look down but it does not help much. You can't stop because there are vehicles behind you. You can't go up because you are too frightened. You can't pull over because there is hardly any room for cars going up and cars coming down. The popularity of this mountain can be attributed to the fact that the visitors want to be able to tell everybody that they climbed this mountain and lived to tell the story. The drive comes at a price however. It is not cheap either. It costs you $28 for the driver and vehicle, additional passengers pay $8 per adult. The mountain may be steep but the fee is steeper.

Now that you are excited about wanting to conquer this mountain while still bummed about the high dollar fee, you might ask, how do you get there? Lets say you start out from Boston and head up north on the interstate I-93. About 70 miles up north after you passed Concord the capital city of New Hampshire you come across Route 49 that takes you towards the towns of Waterville Valley and Compton. This junction of I-93 & Rt 49 is a good spot to stop and fuel up. Food for you and gas for your car. There is a tourist information booth right there by the exit if you like to pick up brochures and learn more about White Mountains attractions. You get back on I-93, fasten up and get ready for drive of your life. If the Franconia area just up the highway feels like you are in Jurassic era that is just the beginning. Stay on Route 3 that takes you North East off I-93 in to the northern edge of White Mountains. At Carroll take Rt 115 East until you hit Route 2, turn east on Route 2 and you will come up on the town of Gorham. Here you have to get on Route 16 going south, you will be treated to the majestic views of the mountains all around you, about 10 miles down the road through the National Park you will see the signs for Auto Road for Mt Washington on your right.

After you finish your trip you will know more about your car than about the mountain. You will know what I mean when you try the climb. I was half way up the mountain road and stopped at a "lookout", spent a few minutes there savoring the views and took some pictures and got back in my car and turned the ignition on. Nothing. It would not start. The steep drive overheated the engine and I had to wait a little until it cooled off before I was back to the scary ascent. Keep your car in the lowest gear and keep it there through out your trip. The cars going up have the right of the way.

Do you know the Native Indians used to call this mountain "Agiocochook" means "The place of the Great Spirit". They revered this mountain in such a high regard that they never climbed it out of respect. It all changed when the early settlers decided to built the road by hand since they didn't have the modern equipment. It took them sheer determination, lots of gun powder, ox-driven carts, battling the elements, thick forests, budget issues, lots of pure muscle to carve out a path. At first horse-driven carriages were the only mode of transportation until they converted the road in 1912 for automobiles. In 1869 they built a cog railway which is still in use today and extremely popular among tourists.

If you have scaled this mountain you have been to the birthplace of legends. That's how the gentleman begins in the companion CD they give you that is extremely informative. Not sure what he meant by that but it sounded like a good way to end my story.

==Thank You==

My Halloween Weekend in Boston Oct 2015

My Halloween Weekend in Boston Oct 2015
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Upon waking up on Halloween day I figured we had a hectic Saturday. My son, daughter and I made plans to drive to downtown Boston and check out Faneuil Market, head up to Somerville to see Halloween decorations, pick up Halloween costumes on the way back home and finally accompany kids on trick-or-treating in the evening.

1. Faneuil Market : We parked near South Station and decided to walk to the famous Faneuil Market. Its a historic market with a million people milling around, a market that is indoors in a mile-long building is home to a thousand restaurants of all kinds that has people from around the world visiting this place only to pay astronomical prices for the mediocre food. Its a ritual everyone has to do it once I guess.

2. Metro : I was lot more thrilled when my kids got to try the metro trains, MBTA or simply T as it is called in Boston. Faneuil market is not very far from South Station but it takes 3 different trains to get there. It worked out pretty good because kids got to board blue, orange, red lines; got a chance negotiate the underground maize of levels, platforms, lots of steps, lots of escalators, lot of walking through subterranean tunnels. I loved it, glad my kids got a chance to experience it and they told me they had fun riding the T.

3. Somerville : We heard there was this community in Somerville and they decorate their houses with elaborate Halloween themes and characters. It was not easy to locate these houses but we persisted and when we finally got there, we were quite impressed by the decorations. I kid you not the character in the black costume with wings is a real guy who spooked the heck out of us when he actually started moving and talking when we got near him. He is a super nice guy when he is not donning the mask, I should say.

4. Trick or Treat : After we had stopped at the costumes store we got back home and it was time for trick or treat. It was a fun night of walking around the neighborhood and getting to the know the fine folks in the community and demand candy(just kidding). What astonished me was the self-control my son had over the candy. He never ate a single candy the whole evening while we were trick-or-treating. I sheepishly begged him for some candy and I ate two bars and gave my daughter one while we were walking to the yet another house. If I were his age and if I were doing the trick-or-treating in my day, I bet the bowl would be nearly empty by the time I got home.

==Thank You==

A Double Rainbow in Honolulu Hawaii

A Double Rainbow in Honolulu Hawaii Sep 2014
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I had no idea double rainbows exist until I saw one in Honolulu Hawaii. This was the first time I had ever seen one. The fact that I got to see this in Hawaii was 10 times more pleasurable. Do you know the colors in the 2nd rainbow are inverted? I had no clue and never noticed it when I saw it since I was too preoccupied to capture this rare phenomenon on a photograph I should admit.

While I don't want my story to be a primer on rainbows I think it is appropriate to quote this paragraph that I liked on accuweather website : A primary rainbow is visible when light is reflected once off the back of a raindrop, a secondary and usually dimmer rainbow is spotted when light is reflected twice.The colors of the second rainbow are inverted, with blue on the outside and red moved to the inside.

Now on to how I happenstanced on the happenstance of seeing a double rainbow. Rainy days in Hawaii are magical but rain lends an interesting look to a beach like Waikiki because the image of picture-perfect sunny beach is entrenched in the minds of tourists. Well I was not a tourist and I considered myself anything but a tourist while I lived in Hawaii. I saw myself a Hawaiian, a local and I acted like I lived in Hawaii my whole life in the 3 months that I lived there. So I did what any local would do on a rainy day, I went to a beach and spent my morning at Waikiki beach and took a swim near Kuhio Lagoon. The wet sand under my feet and rain drops falling on me while swimming was pure delight and I felt like a child all over again. That alone would have my made my day but I had no idea there was another surprise in store for me that afternoon.

The rain kept me indoors but not for long until I decided I would go check out University of Hawaii at Manoa. The University is served by public bus and there is probably a bus from any given route stopping here at UH every 10 minutes. If you like to start from Ala Moana bus station the best bus to get on is "A". Since I lived in Waikiki the more convenient bus was "13". It sort of takes you there through back streets and if you ask me has better views along the way. The rain was just letting up as the bus dropped me off at the back entrance of the campus. The sky looked clear and spent, the sun was out and seemed cheerful at the improved prospects, the ocean lay down below a mile to the south, a fresh breeze swept off from it and came inland and felt cool against my face, has welcomed me to the abode of learning.

I was expecting to see a campus crept up the mountainside and sat atop offering the sweeping views of the Pacific but that was not the case. Nonetheless the campus was beautiful like anything else in Hawaii. I strolled around the campus for an hour and while I thought the UH looked any typical college scene I was reminded how wrong I was as I was trying to walk towards the front of campus to wait for a bus. I looked back to get my bearings on to see where I was and there it was -- a double rainbow -- in all its glory. The Kalaepohaku Ridge hills provided the perfect canvas to the nature's art class at the school, I might add.

==Thank You==