Saturday Day Trip

Last Saturday we had a free day on the program designated for a day trip. Not knowing quite where to go and having been given a choice we decided as a team to leave it to our hosts to decide for us. The weather on Friday was shaping up to be pretty ordinary and we were to meet at the pick up place on Saturday and make a decision there.
Bob Couch was our driver for the day and he advised us to go north into the White Mountains as the weather was improving and he had access to aviation weather forecasting which told him the clowds were high over the mountains further north.
It proved to be a perfect decision.
At 9.15am we headed up I93 through Concord, Plymouth and Lincoln and arrived at a very snowy car park at Flume Gorge. Unfortunately the path into the gorge was inaccessible due to the amount of snow cover but that didn't stop a bunch of crazy Australians frolicking in the snow. Car Park snow is better than no snow!
back in the "bus" we headed to The Basin where more snow fights ensued on our way to have a look at The Basin - a granite gorge worn into a whirlpool by eons of snow melted rushing river. Photo opportunities galore and some have been posted on the Bow Rotary Club's website.
On through Franconia Notch where the Old Man of the Mountain used to hang out. He is the symbol of New Hampshire, a rock formation in the shape of an old mans' profile. A few years ago he suddenly collapsed into a pile of rubble. (It was a bit like the London Bridge at the Twelve Apostles crashing into the sea.)
We carried on around through White Mountai National Forest to Bretton Woods. Here we sighted the beautiful Mt Washington, the highest peak in New Hampshire and we lunched at Mt Washington Hotel, once described as a liner on land, and the hotel where the International Monetary Fund was formed.
Continuing after lunch we travelled through the National Forest and stopped at North Conway for our first Ben and Jerry's and more shopping.
The Kancamangus Highway took us back to the starting point of the park and we sped down the I93 to arrive home tired and happy at around 5.30pm and 230 miles later.
It was a fantastic day out, and thank you Bob.