Clark's Trading Post

This week's trip was to Clark's Trading Post. It began as a roadside attraction in 1928 as an Eskimo Sled Dog Ranch. In 1930 they introduced the black bear and have performed bear shows ever since. The bear show was entertaining as bear shows go.

The had several museums. One was antique fire wagons, another, antique games (we sure felt old in that one), antique machines including typewriters (we've sure come a long way on that line) and a few others.

The highlight was a steam engine train along one of New Hampshire's scenic rivers. The entertainment portion of that for the children was encounters with "wolf man." That trip is recorded on DVD and we haven't had time to clip out a still photo.

We checked out Lost River Gorge and decided against the climb up and down 1000 steps.

We have 8 more days of full time work and then go to part time.

Flume Gorge and Canyon Mountain

Once again God blessed us with a beautiful day off for sight-seeing. The weather couldn't be better. We went to Flume Gorge and hiked up and down hills and a multiple of stairs. It was so worth the climb. We were first greeted with "Table Rock" and soon view the long stream of falling water running over the granite rocks. At the top we were well rewarded for our climb with several big and full water falls. We met someone on the climb that came in May but the Flume was closed due to too much water.

Many steps, bridges and bends following up to the bigger falls.

On the way down, Richard opted for the van ride while Ginger walked up and down for the photo opts. This covered bridge is the most photographed one in N.H., built in 1886.

She also met up with a big granite boulder.

After enjoying the Flume Gorge we proceeded to Canyon Mountain. The gondola can hold 80 people in the summer time but only 60 in the winter. We only had around 40 so there was a lot of room for everyone to enjoy the views.

We have 2 more weeks of full time work the go to weekends only. The week after Labor Day we plan to car camp in Nova Scotia.

Stay tuned for next week's adventures.

Five Hour Scenic Train Trip

What a beautiful day. The weather couldn't be better for sight-seeing. We went to North Conway and cashed in our passes for a free five hour scenic train trip through the mountains.

We passed curves, sometimes thinking we'd pass ourselves.

We viewed mountain vistas,

waterfalls,

flowing rivers,

dry riverbeds and so much more.

Some had a little trouble not seeing the inside of eyelids due to the rhythm of the train.

We even caught a little wildlife. The train noise scared off bigger forms.

Five Hour Train Ride

It's Too Hot

Our 2 days off were off the charts in heat. So glad not to be working in the heat. It will be cooler tomorrow when we start our new work week. It was so hot we mostly stayed home. We did drive to Best Buys in Auburn, ME to return Richard's computer. They are going to try to get the insurance company declare it a lemon and give us a new one. It's the 5th trip for the same problem.

Since I don't have anything new this week I thought I'd share some pictures of Story Land (where we are working). It is an excellent park for young families - so much nicer than Disneyland. Hope you enjoy them. We will take a side trip next week so be sure to "tune in."















Cinderella"s Castle. People can ride a pumpkin coach up the hill to see and talk to Cinderella. It is a highlight for little girls.

Pirate Ship, tours the lake going around the island. Finds treasures. There is a play ground with water guns where the children can shoot at the ship. Of course, it's a great hit with the little boys (and a lot of the girls).








An audio story of the "Three Little Pigs" There is a farm section with animals which go with stories, ie. Mary's Little Lamb, etc. The pigs are exchanged as the grow bigger.



One of the 2 RV sections. Ours is the class C in the front with our "new" red Saturn wagon. We still own the Saturn View but it is too heavy to tow behind our Class C. It was fine when we had our big diesel pusher. We have the wagon because we plan to do car camping in Nova Scotia in September when we go to weekends only in the park.

Temperatures will return to "normal" (whatever that is) tomorrow as our work week starts. Tune in next week.

Full week

This has been a full week. Our 2 days off were packed. Monday night the park took us to a private antique wagon museum . The host said it was a hobby gone out of control. He opens the museum by his invitation only. He owns several hundred antique wagons and sleds. Of course, we were impressed with the antique "RV's".

Thursday morning, bright and early, we went to the station for Mount Washington van auto road tour. The day was hot and sunny. The tour was beautiful and interesting. It was so nice at the top at 10 am we didn't even need long sleeves (very unusual).

Thursday afternoon we went to Wildcat Mountain and rode the ski lift to the top. After Mount Washington it was a little anti-climatic but enjoyed, nevertheless.

Friday saw us up early to ride the Cog up to the top of Mount Washington for our second time. Our second coupon for a free ride expired after that day. Ginger was able to get a few other pictures not taken on the first trip. The most interesting one is on the way down where the riding car is separated and a little distance from the engine.

Laundry and other chores called us home. That evening we celebrated our 43 anniversary with a delicious stuffed lobster dinner (Our anniversary is the 31, but that's a work day.).

More next week.

Santa Village

Today we had a few hours before the rain came so we went to Santa Village. The highlight was enjoying the Christmas music played throughout the park. We were surprised to find a large nativity scene. It had a cross in the center of a pond in front of it and a chapel beside it. The park was beautifully landscaped so we enjoyed many beautiful flowers. It seems this area is full of a lot of theme parks concentrating on the young families.

Since we both like fresh made pastries we visited their bakery. While sitting on their deck, enjoying the view and the pastries, we had a visitor.

Tonight the work campers are having a pot luck. We've invited the international students who will be bringing dishes native to their respective countries.

More next week.

The Clog

I can finally type a little though my right arm is still in a cast. We finally had a day off without having any medical appointments. We went to Mt Washington and road the Clog train up to the top. The charcoal based steam engine was built in the 1800's. It runs on 3 tracks. The middle track is for the clog, a wheal with teeth to grab and pull up. The ride began at 2700 feet and climb to the top of Mt Washington at 6288 feet. Going down takes no power but a lot of breaking. The weather could not have been better. On one side of the mountain we were above the cloud and on the other you could see forever. The temperature was even pleasant.

Florida

We didn't get to meet our Adventureland friends before we flew to FL. We rescheduled that for this week. Our trip to Florida was great. The flight went without incident and arrived on time. We were greeted by daughter, Debbie, son, David, his wife (our 3rd daughter), Bridget, incredible tall grandson, Jack and, a beauty to behold, granddaughter, Jania. We stayed in their motel on base and all had a wonderful 4 short days together. The only drawback was the broken wrist Ginger got the first morning. It's really hard to type one handed so further updates wont be available for about six weeks. We are back working at Story Land. We've been visited by a black bear, a moose, 2 wild turkeys and a family of Canadian geese. Photos and more in about six weeks.

We went to Portland, ME for a day this past Thursday. The park provided tickets for the Red Socks farm team. While in Portland we had a delightful boat tour of the bay and the many light houses in the area. It was even more delightful being in the cool bay breezes as the temperature in Portland hit 90 that day.

Opening weekend broke records for high temperatures. The first day we worked together on the balloon chase (a Ferris wheel type ride). The second day Ginger was back on that ride and Richard was on the flying fish (a fun ride but very hot). The third day Ginger went to flying fish and Richard was on the Tractor ride. Next weekend Ginger does the Safari Jungle Tour. She gets to sit but must memorize a lot of speeches. It should be fun.

On Thursday we go up north somewhere to meet up with some friends we worked with in Adventureland, Shirley and Dick Green. We look forward to that day trip.

We were delighted with a phone call from son David. They have arrived safely in Melbourne for some R&R before going to their new assignment. We plan to fly down on Monday, June 4 to see them. We will have to return on Thursday as we work on Friday. Three days are short but better than none. We will update after our trip on Thursday.

Orientatiion

We spent Saturday and Sunday in orientation. On Sunday, while being trained on one of the rides, Richard look down the path, about 25 yards, and saw a black bear loping across the path toward the pavilion where we had just eaten lunch. There are a lot of bears here. They fence the dumpsters with 12-foot high fences and fence the fence with electrical fence. The bears still get in and make a mess. Sunday night, Ginger had to take Glee out around 3 AM. Needless to say, she was a little nervous in the dark. She didn’t want to make noise as to wake up others. She did survive (and so did Glee).

Monday, the sun finally came out for the first time since our arrival. We were able to see Mount Washington. Today we are going to two places, Echo Lake and something else (we’re not driving). Friday they have given us tickets for some kind of ball game in Portland. We will spend the time up there looking around.

Arrived at Story Land

Sorry for the delay. Ginger's computer caught a virus at the last posting at a Panera's. Richard is busy trying to restore it. Richard asked Ginger what she wanted for Mother's Day and she said, "Sit still." We found a Passport America campground and went to a Methodist college church Sunday morning. We sure miss the friendliness of our church. After church we drove to the "Grand Canyon of the East Coast" It is a steep, thin canyon of black granite rock with 3 levels of water falls. It was beautiful and we will try to post some photos. On Monday we continued up the road and stayed in another Wall-mart for the night. We discovered cool weather. We arrived in Story Land on Tuesday to find snow still on the surrounding ski slopes. Today, Thursday, the high will be in the low 50's. Our friends from Adventureland arrived yesterday and are in the site next to us. We've met the manager of the park and a few of the employees and think the work atmosphere will be delightful. We report for orientation on Saturday morning so will spend today and tomorrow checking out the surrounding area. This is a high tourist area with many attractions. We are enjoying the scenic views. There are moose, deer and bears here. Because of that, there is no dumpster near the RV's. It is chained up behind a fence.

Travel Part 2

We are sitting at Panera's enjoying their AC and good food and free Y5 in Columbus, Ohio. It was, finally, a very uneventful travel day. We seemed to hit rush hours in every major city. The heaviest was here in Columbus -much heavier than Cincinnati. Cincinnati looked very old and dirty but we did stop for lunch at White Castle. White Castle preceded the Crystal burger. Richard enjoyed it and Ginger waited to eat some left overs in the rig. Tomorrow we head through Cleveland Ohio and are hoping to find cooler temperatures. We are parked in a Super Wal-mart which was a challenge to find in the traffic. Of course, while here in Panera's we will forget our food plan and buy some goodies for breakfast.

On the Road, Part 1

Tonight, May 10, we are in a PA park in the Kentucky hills. It is nice to have full hook-ups after 2 nights in Wal-Mart parking lots. This has been a very memorable trip. It started out at home when Richard was backing up in our driveway with a blow out tire (of course, the inside dully). The road service could not get anyone out until 10 the next morning. After the tire was changed we drove the rig and car into town and bought a new spare. We hit the road around 1 in the afternoon. The next day, while Ginger was driving, the spare that they said was good and on the inside dully, spit off the tread. She was able to pull over to the side of I 40 (Memphis area) saving room for placement of a jack. We waited on the side of the interstate for 3 hours for the service to come. They are very polite drivers in Memphis during rush hour. A female truck drive let us in the rush hour traffic. We pulled into the next Wal-Mart/Sams parking lot to search for another new spare. They didn’t have our size but a Goodyear store across the road could get one by 10 the next morning. It was a hot and stormy night.

We left Memphis around 10:30 this morning and had an uneventful drive. The trees in the Kentucky hills say it’ early spring but the thermometer is higher than in TX. We will spend the evening in AC comfort and head on in the morning. We passed Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby and are just down the road from Mammoth Cave. We gave some SKP hugs to our neighbors then went inside to enjoy the AC. We look forward to whatever tomorrow’s adventures bring but will not take off very early. More next time we have a free Y5.

Leaving for New Hampshire

We were planning to leave for New Hampshire on Monday, May 7 but the night before, we were both so tired we decided to wait another day. On Tuesday afternoon we were going to back the RV out so we could put the car behind it and attached it but the RV wouldn't move. We discovered a big bubble on an inside tire. We let the air out and moved the rig over to the concrete during which that tire popped. The auto service said someone would be out within 3 hours. After an hour and a half the service called. It seems the tow truck driver didn't want to work any later that day and would not be available until 10 am the next morning. We are grateful to God for His timing and protection. It was so nice that this happened in our drive way and not on the side of a road somewhere. We have a good spare so will just go to town with the rim of the bad tire and have a new one put on. Then, we will head off this afternoon as we only plan about 3-4 hours on the first leg of our journey (Texarkana). We've heard from friends who say the further north they get the cooler it is and we are looking forward to that. Our next blog will be from Story Land NY. We plan to be there around the 17 as orientation is on the 19.

Escapees Chapter 10 Rally

We have just returned from our rally held just west of Tyler, TX. We had a wonderful time of eating, fellowshiping, eating, sightseeing, fellowshiping, eating, etc. We di d spend part of one night in the camp ground office waiting for the all clear of a tornado watch. Just to the west of us, much of Texas was flooded. Some areas were also hit by tornados. We were just wet.

We did visit the gigantic flee market in Canton, TX. It was mostly just more of the same stuf in any flee market but a whole lot bigger. The azailas were absolute beautiful throughout the area. The famous Tyler roses were not in bloom yet.

We visited a fish hatchery and enjoyed their .8 mile nature trail. We made a DVD of the hatchery and have made coppies available to those who want one.

Now we must catch up on business and get ready for our six month trip to New Hampshire.

March Update

We had a wonderful time in Florida, with Debbie and horses in Melbourne and with Tammy and grandchildren in Pensacola. We arrived home needing racing shoes. We are reworking part of our rig inside and catching up on a variety of business. We have a rally the end of this month and are preparing for our six month sojourn in New Hampshire.

While in Melbourne, we had the opportunity to meet up with a couple of friends we worked with in Adventureland. One of them had just finished six months in Europe by RV. Even though they kept us up with their travels via e-mail, it was nice to hear between the lines in person.

Ginger's supply of her devotion book is running low, so if you don't have one and would like it, let us know. We are asking for a donation to Goodrich United Methodist Church organ fund for the book. Postage is about $3. She's been getting a lot of positive feedback and is happy they what the Lord had spoken to her heart is true for others.

We will try to update this site once a month. Look for the summary of our rally to be added the first of April.

A New "Grandson"

On Saturday night, January 27, the mom foald a heathy son. Mom's and son are doing fine. Debbie is tired from checking on the new foal throughout the night. The photo was taken Sunday at 10AM. It's amazing how fast they get on their feet. Glad our human babies are slower.

Old Lady

Ginger just celebrated a really big birthday. That gives us a pay raise since we can now drop the company insurance. We had to pay for both of us just so Ginger could stay insured. We had a delightful day with daughter, Debbie. We ate fondu at the Melting Pot and relived memories of the family fonduing 35 years ago.

We will visit with our 106 year old friend next week. What a blessing she is. What a glorious witness. Still bright, alert and smart and passing out the love of God. Aging in the Lord is a beautiful thing. We praise Him Ginger is experiencing that joy.

We will be getting together with Richard's Harris cronies in early February. There are fewer to see each time.

The weather here has been glorious. Plants are budding thinking it is spring. A cold, rainy front is moving through tonight but it will only drop it to the high 60's or low 70's.

We are doing our internet at Panera's and I forgot to download new pictures. Sorry. Tune in again in a couple weeks.

We Know When to Leave Town

From Melbourne Florida

After a few days with Tammy, Kevin and six grandchildren in Pensacola, we moved on to Melbourne to spend some time with Debbie, sister-in-law, Bernice, old friends and for Richard to play disc golf. After two days of disc golf, he can hardly move. We are incredibly busy but thoroughly enjoying the warm, balmy weather here compared to the sub-freezing weather in Livingston. We sure know when to leave town!

Our air conditioner went out which we expected when we purchased the rig. We will probably replace it on the way home in February. Next week we will take a day trip to visit some friends, Peggy and Jerry Martin. We worked at Adventureland with them and will be working together in Storyland in New Hampshire this coming summer.
We hope this finds you enjoying the sunsets and praising our Lord God.