Fighting the Current

there and back again

Back one or two days early from New England -- we never did solidify the last leg of it through Vermont and either the Berkshires of Massachusetts or the Catskills of New York.

It was fun until last night. Last night, I got sick, my brother got sick. I was worse off, but it's passing and I could have made it through today, damnit.

Took over 300 pictures.

Sights seen:

• A fog-enshrouded lighthouse (in its element, lol). You don't hear the foghorn on a clear day, so I guess we sort of lucked out, in that respect. I wanted to stay there. The sea actually smelled like it's supposed to, and the rocky shoreline was beautiful--even in the fog, and there was salt spray and wind and the sounds of the ocean and it was cool but not a biting chill. (Yes, that was a run-on sentence.)

• "America's Stonehenge" (which could actually be an interesting--not to mention legitimate--archaeological site if it wasn't turned into a New Age-y tourist trap... and if the only "archaeologists" working on it weren't a self-trained father, son, and stonemason team...)

• The White Mountains of New Hampshire, and Mount Washington (the highest point in the North Eastern US, with the purported "worst weather on earth"--and having seen pictures and read statistics, I don't doubt it) with its peak in the clouds. Also: gorges and waterfalls and thunderstorms on the peaks above us.

• What's left of the Old Man of the Mountain--he was there for millenia and we missed him by three months.

One story I have to tell:

After we had packed up the car this morning, we noticed that there was a little trail through the forest right in front of our car. It seemed short, so for a little last jaunt through the woods, we started down it. My dad was in front, I was close behind him. My brothers straggled into the forest after us, somewhat reluctantly. It was almost silent except for our footsteps and the highway maybe half a mile away.

About fifty yards in, my dad stopped suddenly. "Shh! There's a bear!"

I looked to where he was pointing and about twenty feet away an eight foot tall (at least) black bear was standing on its hind legs about to climb a tree. I saw it climb a few feet and I spun and ran, yelling for my brothers to get back to the car. They caught a glimpse of the bear and ran screaming out of the forest. I ran about thirty feet and slipped. Dad had been watching the bear and started to run when he saw it begin to go down the tree. He almost started laughing when he saw me just sitting there on the ground, scrambling to get back up again.

I got back to the car, and saw my brothers frantically trying to get into the backseat. Mom had been sitting in the front passenger seat reading maps and trying to figure out the best route, when she saw my brothers screaming and running with their arms up out of the forest. She thought they'd knocked over a bee hive or something. Dad and I told her what really happened. At least the bear was as scared as we were.

It's funny though. We went over a mile and a half into the woods yesterday and all we saw were a lot of chipmunks. We went 150 feet into a relative stand of trees and there before us was one of the most powerful animals in the eastern half of North America. At least we didn't have far to go for safety. (But it also happened on one of the few occassions when I didn't have my camera with me. Not that I would have gotten a very good picture, but at least I would have had proof, lol.)

The problem with bears is that they are very unpredictable. Most guides will tell you to make a lot of noise and do anything you can to make yourself look bigger. That sometimes scares them off. That sometimes makes them curious and/or charge at you. So yeah, we hightailed it out of there.

Okay, I need to find something to do now. I might sleep. I was up late last night after a day of walking and moving and sight-seeing...

::sigh:: I'll get back there eventually. And spend more time on the coast. And hopefully not see a bear at close range.