Mount Major

September 13th

Since we live in a state full of mountains, we've bought a NH hiking book and picked up some hiking gear for myself, so we decided to hike an easier peak for my first outing.  Mount Major was recommended to us.  This was 3-miles roundtrip, with a difficulty of only 4, but a rating of 9/10. We drove up the road about 25 minutes, parked and hit the trail, ready to climb 1100 feet.  

I was surprised at how quickly it turned steep - and at how many children, people with jeans and even a few senior citizens were coming down.  We thought we were nearing the top at one point, but realized it was just a break in the trees - but it still offered some great views.



We carried on, up big flat rocks, through some mud, up some roots, up some more rocks - and made it to the peak!

The peak had such great views of Lake Winnipesaukee and surrounding mountains.

Next time, we're going to try a higher peak!

Mom, Dad ... and Mimi in Manchester

September 5 - September 7

Mom had been hearing the girls at work talk about the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival - they've been before and enjoyed it.  So, she snagged that weekend with us in New Hampshire to come down and see what it was all about.

Wellll, since they had just had an anniversary, I decided to check out flights from North Carolina.  Mimi had moved away from next door last year and we miss her a lot.  Since she hadn't made it back to VT and my parents hadn't made it down there, I decided to set up a surprise.  Mimi and I were able to work it out and she flew in the afternoon my parents were going to arrive!!!  

We waited and waited (while I tried to talk my mom out of Lebanon shopping on the way down without giving anything away) and when they got here, they came up the stairs to where Mimi was sitting at the table - what a surprise!!! 

The forecast for that Saturday wasn't good as we headed down the road to the Seafood Festival. We found one of the parking areas and took a school bus to the beach! We walked around to scope out the food, and found a table in the beer tent and we each chose something different to try. Nothing healthy about all of this food, but I hear the seafood options were good ... if you like that sort of thing. ;)

As the dark clouds were threatening the area, we checked out all of the beach shops and stands and some more food an drinks. We made it out of there just before the downpour moved in - and enjoyed a bit of shopping (Target) and a movie in as the rain kept coming down.

Sunday morning brought on a much nicer day. There is a diner Aaron and I have heard about here in Manchester - supposedly one of the top 10 in the country. We decided to hit that up before everyone left town. Little did we know, there are four tables and a row of seats across the counter! Small place, but very popular. After a short wait, we squeezed into a table made for four people (I got the seat labeled "Ty Pennington sat here"!). It was great breakfast!!


I am so glad we were able to pull it off.  We had a great weekend and were sad to see Mimi go back to NC.  We'll just have to do it again sometime!

Aaron Climbs Jay Peak

August 31st

While in VT, Aaron decided to climb Jay Peak.  He's gotten into hiking this year, and it was supposed to be a great day.  He went by himself, which I was a bit worried about, but he made it up and down okay.  He really loved the views from the top and took some great photos.  



He wants me to go up with him next time.