Well here is another blog update for your enjoyment. Ive done what is called a quiet publish of the blog so if youve not read anything since I published Day 24 a while back, then go and have a read and keep posting as you read them if you find anything interesting or have any questions as they are always great to read and sometimes funny too ! So as of today you can keep reading through until Blog Day # 30.
Big sleep after a big day and we did not get up until after 8 and had a quick breakfast of bran cereal, strawberry yoghurt and some cream cheese on toast and we hit the road around 9am. Today it is cold around 4 degrees and cloudy with maximum expected of around 12.
We headed north past downtown North Conway and first stop was an unusual place where an old covered bridge on the side of the road next to a hotel had been converted into a gift shop. I spotted a New Hampshire licence plate but it said Live Free Until You Die which is the state motto so hopefully
I can find a better version somewhere. Kerry bought a special moose coffee mug and we hope that is a good sign as we are in Moose country so eyes are peeled.
We had a little drizzle as we made a couple of stops for photos and we also stopped at the lookout for the majestic Mount Washington Hotel but the Mountain behind the hotel was hidden by low clouds. It actually looked like there was some snow on the higher elevations here. The odd shower soon cleared away and a bit of blue sky appeared. It is amazing that as soon as some light hits the trees the colours just pop so brightly.
We headed towards a town called Littleton where we made a beeline for its only diner which opened in 1930 so has lots of history and character and found the last car park space in a nearby car parking lot and even at midday we had to wait around 15 minutes but scored our favourite spot being a booth seat in the corner where we can focus on people watching which is one of our favourite activities !
The menu choice was amazing but I went for their famous # 3 meal called Top Of The Morning (Corned Beef Hash and eggs) and a side of Bakes Beans and Kerry ordered a Clam Chowder Bowl. The food was great but the service was the worst we have had. The coffee was not even served for about 20 minutes and until I asked her as a follow up when she said sorry I forgot.
After exploring a couple of shops we headed south on this loop road to the town of Lincoln as we were doing this drive in an anticlockwise direction (just as the americans drive around their roundabouts) and it was not too long before we ran into traffic on i95 and google maps told me to take an exit to save time so I did what I was told however it then told me to go straight back onto the i95 on ramp again which slowed us down by about 30 minutes and we were back in the same traffic jam again but this was nothing with what would follow later !
the Franconia Notch park entrance and were lucky to get a car park space near the entrance and there was signs saying no more tours today. Entry was by prior booking only and when I looked later this might have been a good thing to have seen !
Soon we were back on the road and arrived in Lincoln around 3.45 pm and I found my New Hampshire licence plate for only $10- so I was very happy. The receipt said we left at 3.57 pm and next was a drive on the world famous Kancamangus Highway the road loop back to North Conway which is one of best scenic byways in USA and goes for about 60km and should take an hour or so.
As soon as we left Lincoln the traffic started building up. We soon got bored as we were moving at a snail pace and traffic going the other way was even worse on this single lane highway.
