Loon Mountain and Sabbaday Falls

Wednesday, August 5

On Wednesday, Tony, Ari and I split up from the rest of the family to do our own thing--mainly, Loon Mountain. This was the place where Tony proposed to me 12 years ago, so it was on the top of my Things to Do list. We inadvertently picked the crappiest day of the week to do this--it was cloudy and hazy, with a small rainstorm around lunchtime--but it was still a lot of fun. And at least it wasn't pouring down rain or anything.

We rode a gondola to the top of the mountain, which Ari thought was pretty cool.



When we got to the top, we pretty much made a beeline for The Spot--well, as much as you can "make a beeline" for anything when you have a straggly toddler in tow. We were alone there for a few moments, until someone walked by and offered to take our picture.



I stepped back to get a better shot of the whole platform--didn't quite fit in the whole frame, but you get the idea.



I snapped this shot right before we left The Spot. It may just be my favorite picture of the whole day.



We walked around the summit a little more--there's a pretty lake off to one side.



There's even a little "chapel" area set up--they hold church services up here every so often. I don't think I'd be able to pay attention to the sermon with a view like that.



We took some time to explore some of the glacial caves up there. A lot of them had long ladders, and/or muddy bottoms, so we didn't do all of them, but Ari didn't seem to mind. She had fun with the ones she did.



When we were done with the caves, it started sprinkling a little, which was kind of perfect timing, since we were pretty much done up there. We rode the gondola back down, poked around the gift shop a little (found Ari a small stuffed loon on clearance for only 95 cents--score!), then went back to the car. There's a picnic area along the river at the base of the mountain, and we had packed a lunch for ourselves. The rain had picked up a little at this point, so we simply ate in the car, and again, the timing was perfect--when we were done eating, the rain had stopped. We got out to explore the river. Ari absolutely loved it. She wasn't at all fazed by the cold water, and several times, Tony had to almost literally pull her back, to keep her from getting too far away or into water that was too deep for her. The child has no fear, I swear. She spent the whole time searching for rocks and sticks to throw into the river. I think I am just going to buy her a big bundle of sticks and a bag of rocks for Christmas.



Another self-portrait...



Throwing sticks...



I love this shot...



See how Tony is holding her shirt in this one?



I love this picture (notice how Ari is sticking her foot out at me). If only that lady in the background weren't there. It's times like this I wish I knew Photoshop.



After we left Loon Mountain, we took a drive along the Kancamagus Highway--it's a beautiful stretch of road with several scenic lookout points. Our last stop of the day was Sabbaday Falls. When Tony and I were in the White Mountains in 2005, we spent most of our time hunting down various waterfalls in the area. Out of all of them, this was one of my favorites. It's a bit of a walk until you get to the falls, but it's worth it. Here's the first glimpse of the falls.



A bit closer...





Look how pretty...



This was a little upriver of the falls.



Of course Ari wanted to get right into the river... and 2 seconds later, she declared, "I have to go potty." (And yes, I asked her if she had to go back in the parking lot, before we started the hike.)



So Tony rinsed out her Crocs and we booked it back to the outhouse in the parking lot. But I managed to snap one last shot before we left. I kind of liked the way this broken tree branch frames the shot.



And that was Wednesday. I can't remember what we did the rest of the day--I'm guessing we just did dinner back at the house with the family, and had a lazy night.

The next day was all about Ari.

To be continued...