Right Out of Psycho

Hi Family;

Coming here to this quiet isolated part of NH from the GTA engine has been discombobulating. So many streets in surrounding towns are graced with enormous clapboard houses, but many are in need of paint. I would love to have been here in different times. The area was wealthy at some point in its history, for sure.

Yesterday we decided to try a climb of Crotched Mountain. But Dad wasn't up to it. So we drove to Antrim, the nearest town, hoping to find a food store. But Antrim is very sleepy. So we drove to Hillsborough, shopped and then searched and searched for a coffee shop. (Dad needed a latte and date square.) We were fussy. No coffee made at 10 am and stored in a thermos would do. So we drove an hour west to Keene and found a funky organic coffee house. Then we searched for a gorge that sounded picturesque. We'd left the resort at noon, gotten lost a bunch of times and by then it was five and getting dark. Finally arrived back here at six thirty. Must have been out of our heads on the road for four hours after eleven the day before.

The Francestown ski hill collapsed in 1989 at the beginning of a recession bringing this resort and 15-18 buildings under construction down with it. These derelict buildings hover over us, some with roof holes, looking like the set of "Psycho." The ski hill, reopened in 2003 and the guys working on a new lodge deck said that snow making begins in two weeks, that the the temp goes down to 0F in winter. Hard to imagine as we walked around in the 70 degree air.

Today we climbed Crotched Mountain where on a clear day there's a view to Mt. Washington -- also where 20 years ago or so hiked from hut to hut with Janet and Ted. Remember Liberty Springs Trail, Jan? Remember Ted purchasing a scarf and the diminutive hut master daughter of the American surgeon general carrying 100 pounds on her back? Another lifetime ago methinks. The wind was ferocious today, gusting to 70-80 km./hour, scattering clinging leaves in its wake.

We're enjoying ourselves -- a different part of our little world.

Love Mom