Several years ago my husband and I headed north for Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken's induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Whenever we travel Doug always has a few surprises planned along the way.After we left Cooperstown up we headed to Mount Washington. For many years I had seen those bumper stickers stating "This Car Climbed Mt. Washington". What could possibly be the huge deal about driving your car up a mountain?
This statement from Wikipedia gives this statement about Mount Washington:
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m). It is famous for its dangerously erratic weather, and long held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph (372 km/h) (or 103 m/s), on the afternoon of April 12, 1934. It was known as Agiocochook, or "Home of the Great Spirit", before European settlers arrived.
The adventure started out calm enough driving along the lovely New Hampshire countryside. Green rolling hills, sweet family farms, and the occasional peak of rock from the mountain.
The base of the mountain is a little two lane road meandering upward without guard rails. At first this didn't cause any great concern but as we traveled along there were many moments of extreme anxiety. Up we climbed twisting and turning at times feeling as if we were hanging out in space.
The views are simply spectacular, words can't do justice to the wonders you view from every vantage point.
Back to level ground! The trip with all of its harrowing moments was well worth the journey. Now I have my very own bumper sticker, and understand why everyone proudly displays them.I would encourage everyone to check out the journal Mount Washington observers maintain. Here they discuss daily life, experiments, and post amazing photographs. Follow along with their amazing journey!
Here are a few genealogy blogging gems discovered this week :
Gayle's Family History
Gen Wish List
Leaves for Trees
Shaking Family Trees
Happy Follow Friday!
What serendipity. We were just a lecture last night by one of the weather observers from the observatory on top of Mt. Washington. There was a great slideshow of what it was like to spend some time up there in the winter. Brrrr! Nothing like going out to check the weather instruments while tied to a chain so you won't blow away! We lost the record last year, someone else beat the world wind speed record- see my blog post at http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-hampshire-loses-world-record.html So now your sign for the wind record is truly a piece of history!
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