The morning started as we delayed packing up and checking out until the last possible moment. I read and had a post-breakfast nap. Cheryl actually went back to bed. The boys spent some screen time. Chris wasn’t up yet and Kim sat on the couch with a cup of coffee gazing out as the fog lifted over the “mountains” beyond the Christmas Mountian condo development.

Eventually the lethargy lost out to preparation, but not before Kim and the boys went for a walk. Here’s how Jesse defines “a walk” when there’s a rock wall across the driveway from the condo.

Note that Spencer hasn’t yet waked across the grass to the wall. That means he hasn’t yet walked thru the water-filled depression. His shoes and socks are still dry. The birds are still singing. The butterflies are still flitting. All’s right with the world. This will change shortly. It’s no picnic being a 3 year-old little brother.

Eventually, though, we did change into dry sandles (and won the battle against wearing socks with them) and loaded up the car and hit the road.

The goal for today was to move to Waterbury Vermont, a distance of just over 100 miles – taking the direct route. We NEVER take the direct route. There’s so much more to experience if you find the best detours. Cheryl and I call it “traveling with the expectation of serendipity. Here’s a brief glimpse at today’s serendipity.

From Christmas Mountian (sorry, Chris, there were no plastic reindeer or inflatable santas) we headed to Conway and from there to the Kancamagus Scenic Byway. This 36 mile road takes you thru the White Mountains, over Kancamagus summit and into Lincoln. Along the way are several viewpoints, magnificent scenery, and our first stop of the day.

After a time playing in and around the water we ate a picnic lunch and proceeded on our merry way.

Eventually, after several stops and a few too many “ooos” and “Ahhhhs” we arrived at the resort town of Lincoln. From there it was a short drive to the Franconia Notch State Park – and some serious hiking (OK, maybe not, but we did get our and walk some. We found a parking space in their immense parking lot (Kim suggested that this park is the east-coast equivalent of Old Faithful. Based on the number of cars parked and people wandering around I tend to agree.)

Then we took another hike over to the visitors’ center to buy tickets for the bus that would take us the half-mile to the base of the Flume Gorge.

Needless to say the hike (a walk, really) is an amazing experience that photos can’t do justice to.

Once we got to the top we walked back down to the bus (half-way by a side trail before joining the upward walkers on a “two way trail”) – except for Jesse and me. One of the thinks the bus audio talked about was the covered bridge we were going over (thru?). Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to get some shots of the bridge Jesse and I opted to walk back to the visitors’ center, stopping along the way to take bridge pictures.

I’m glad we did and Jesse didn’t seem to mind the additional exercise.

We arrived at the visitors’ center about 5 minutes before the others and after a brief rest stop we piled into the van for the short drive back to Lincoln for Ice Cream.

Ice cream in hand we set off on the final part of the day’s journey – the 75 mile trek across half of New Hampshire and 2/3 of the way across Vermont. We took the scenic route – more rivers cascading over big boulders and such, along with numerous “watch for moose” signs. We didn’t see any moose.

We arrived in time for an excellent dinner at a little “hole in the wall” pub, then to the house were we unpacked, did a grocery run, started the laundry, played video games, FaceTimed with Mimi and Poppee, and eventually to bed.

Tomorrow is day 1 of sightseeing around central Vermont. There will be much less driving and lots to see.

till then, Nite All.