New England Road Trip – ~ wander.essence ~

Alex and I planned to stay at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire with Ron and his wife; Ron was the father of my colleague from Oman, Spencer. We would drive the Kancamagus Highway, a 34.5 mile scenic drive along New Hampshire’s Rt. 112 in the White Mountains. We would stop at the Albany Covered Bridge that crosses the Swift River and at Sabbaday Falls. We’d visit the Flume Gorge, near the town of Lincoln, New Hampshire, and the Flume Covered Bridge.

New Hampshire

Lake Winnipesaukee

After we left New Hampshire, we would drive through Woodstock, Vermont, then we’d head to Bennington, Vermont. In New York, we’d drive off the beaten track into the Catskill Mountains, where we’d try to hike to Kaaterskill Falls.

Bennington, Vermont

Catskills in New York

There are a number of books set in New Hampshire and Vermont, some of which I’d already read.

Books set in New Hampshire include:

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving *****
2. The Cider House Rules by John Irving ****
3. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
4. Sea Glass by Anita Shreve ****
5. Fortune’s Rocks by Anita Shreve
6. The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve
7. All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve
8. The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
9. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
10. Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
11. Edson by Bill Morrisey
12. As We Are Now by May Sarton

Books set in Vermont include:

1. Testimony by Anita Shreve ***
2. breathing water by T. Greenwood
3. Last Things by Jenny Offill (& Louisiana)
4. The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
5. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
6. Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian
7. The Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bohjalian
8. The Honey Wall by Karen Latuchie (& New York)
9. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (& Wisconsin)
10. The Late Bloomers’ Club by Louise Miller
11. In the Fall by Jeffrey Lent
12. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
13. Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris
14. Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
15. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
16. A Stranger in the Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher
17. Where the Rivers Flow North by Howard Frank Mosher
18. Disappearances by Howard Frank Mosher
19. Points North by Howard Frank Mosher
20. Wandering Home by Bill McKibben
21. Witness by Karen Hesse
22. Go With Me by Castle Freeman Jr.
23. All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg
24. Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

Movies set in New Hampshire include:

The Moon’s Our Home (1936)
Our Town (1940)
Northwest Passage (1940)
The Devil & Daniel Webster (1941)
The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951)
The Last Detail (1973)
The Europeans (1979)
On Golden Pond (1981) *****
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
The Good Son (1993)
The War Room (1993)
Affliction (1997)
Mr. Deeds (2002)
The Brown Bunny (2003)
Live Free or Die (2006)
The Sensation of Sight (2006)
Disappearances (2006)
What Goes Up (2009)
Before I Sleep (2013)
In Your Eyes (2014)
Hedgehog (2017)

Movies set in Vermont include:

Nothing Sacred (1937)
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Those Calloways (1965)
The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story (1983)
September (1987)
Baby Boom (1987) ****
Sweet Hearts Dance (1988)
The Wizard of Loneliness (1988)
Funny Farm (1988)
Johnny Tsunami (1999)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
State and Main (2000)
Super Troopers (2001)
Spinning Into Butter (2007)
Northern Borders (2013)
Ten Thousand Saints (2015)
Moonlight in Vermont (2017)

It would be a short road trip for us. We’d be on the road from July 10-15, 2014.

I have met some of the nicest people through blogging. I first got acquainted with Ron through his son Spencer, a young man I worked with at the University of Nizwa in Oman. Ron wasn’t a blogger, but because I wrote my blog, a nomad in the land of nizwa, providing an insight into what Spencer’s life in Oman might be like, he followed my blog, often leaving encouraging comments. At one point he mentioned he had a cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and said I should come up to visit in the summer. At the end of June, he wrote: “The cottage is open and waiting for you.”

The Swift River along the Kancamagus Highway

Sabbaday Falls

green pool at Sabbaday Falls

Flume Gorge, New Hampshire

Needing a break from the stress of watching the decline of my mother-in-law, and knowing I wouldn’t have time later as I prepared to go to China, I responded by email to get the details about the cottage. We planned that I’d come up right after my class on Thursday, July 10 and would stay through Monday, July 14. As Mike and Adam were working and couldn’t take time off, Alex and I decided to take the long drive to New Hampshire on our own.