July 30,2008

July 30, 2008

By sheer coincidence, the Freeport campground we stayed at last night was associated with an oddball attraction called the Desert of Maine. The owner lets campers walk the site. We do so after dinner. It turns out to be a real sand desert in the middle of a Maine pine forest. One of the placards explains that the sand appeared because of soil erosion from poor farming practices. I guess that explains why we see few farms in Maine. The topsoil is thin and just barely covers the ground.

In the morning we head west leaving Maine and crossing into New Hampshire. Once over the border we run into the picturesque White Mountains. (They look more like green mountains to me.) Soon we arrive in Bretton Woods where in 1944 a famous international economic summit was held. Bretton Woods is also where we catch the cog railway up to Mt. Washington. Mt Washington is the highest peak in the Northeast and it has the reputation for having the world’s worst weather. Gale force winds pummel the peak most winter days. Today, however the weather is quite nice at the summit. The star of the day though is the rail ride up. This cog rail is the oldest in the world having been built in 1869. Ancient coal burning locomotives haul a single passenger car up incredibly steep rail lines. Over 37 degrees at one point! I have a ball on the ride. Aimee wasn’t so thrilled with it. She didn’t like the clanky noise, the bumpy ride, or the coal soot raining past the windows. She thought it was the just the opposite of the relaxing kayak ride we took yesterday.

Down from the mountain, we spend the night at a private campground in Littleton, NH.