#20 Boston - Gabelpoek - October 20 07

If you do not know what a Gabelpoek is, then you may not be eligible to play German Scrabble, and let me tell you apparently I am not that qualified either. I know it is my native language, and I am still pretty good at it, but sitting there with three umlauts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_%28diacritic%29) and several consonants that are popular in the Polish language, I felt dumbfounded, and Poek (the oe is a replacement for the o umlaut, the o with the two dots on it) was the only thing I could think off to add to the word Gabel (which means fork). Poek has no meaning as far as we could tell, and was simply a half-baked attempt on my part to siphon off some points of my fellow player’s superbly put down words that actually DID mean something. I got my butt kicked pretty nicely in this endeavor, and this is even more shameful considering that Andrea, who was visiting the United States for the first time, played American Scrabble up in New Hampshire last weekend, and performed admirably. I am going to stand in a corner now, bow my head and live with the embarrassment.



New Hampshire – last weekend – a car piled with Germans and one token American (hi Renee) headed up to the autumn-colored Granite State just to the North of us. The plan for Friday was to visit the Castle in the Clouds on the way up to Waterville Valley (http://www.castleintheclouds.org/ ) and visit we did despite the fact that it was pouring rain - loads and loads of it. Good thing the “castle”, the mountainous estate of Tom and Olive Plant, has plenty of diversions on the inside. It was built around 1913 and provides, on a normal day (which this wasn’t) spectacular views of both Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake. The décor shows great taste – the Plants did have money (at the time - he later went bankrupt due to some horrendously unfortunate investments and the stock market crash); the house features a myriad of rooms, cute little corners, and many marvels of early 20th century lifestyle – my particular favorite being the showers, which was a new convenience at the time and definitely had the look of a medieval torture instrument. Death by water comes to mind.






It was time then to head up to Waterville Valley for a weekend of fun and foliage – we had expected this weekend to be the peak of fall colors, and we were not disappointed. Saturday provided the most magnificent day I had spent in New Hampshire in a long while, just perfect. The mountains were dipped in colors as if painted by an impressionist artist. Still a little groggy from a reasonably late night at the Legends of Somethingrather (can’t remember the exact name) Bar in WV, and armed with one of Boot’s famous pancake breakfasts, the famous five headed up towards Franconia Notch and the Presidentials (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Franconia+Notch&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi ). Our first stop was the Visitors Center at the Notch and a lovely hike to the Flume Gorge - http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=Flume+Gorge . Located at the base of Mt Liberty it is about 800 feet deep. The very well laid out hike leads past two covered bridges, many glacial boulders and stunning waterfalls, Avalanche Falls being my personal favorite. (http://www.visitnh.gov/flume/index.html)







Plans to head up Cannon Mountain were discarded as the mountain was in the clouds and there was snow on top of it. (Yes snow!!) We quickly drove by the Franconia House to say hi, and then decided to go to the Mount Washington Hotel for a little pick-me-up (I believe hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps was mentioned). Alas, there is construction going on at the resort (http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=Mount+Washington+Hotel) and the only way for us to go there would have been to fork over 8$ a person and hop on the shuttle. Well, we did not need hot cocoa that much (or peppermint schnapps). Instead we opted for some spectacularly bad coffee at the Willey House at Crawford Notch. (http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=Crawford+Notch) The Willey House, you may remember, is the site of the unfortunate demise of the Willey family, who hid in their avalanche shelter from a rock slide, but got flattened in there while their family house survived. That was one bad decision, I must say, and this may have well been Mr Willey’s last thought.



Next was a stop and hike up to Ripley Falls, one of New Hampshire’s highest waterfalls; a short slightly steep hike but with a most rewarding destination - http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=Ripley+Falls. On the way up there we yelled some insults at the slackers taking the Conway Scenic Railroad, proving once again that hiking is so much fun and that hurling insults at folks is so much easier when they can’t hear you. The road home led via Bear Mountain Road toward one of America’s most scenic byways, the Kancamagus (pronounced “kangamangus” or short “The Kanc”) - http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=Kancamagus .





The evening in Waterville was spent with singing, playing Scrabble and heading over the Legends Bar for another installment of the Red Sox playoff saga – this one not being a good chapter in the story.



Sunday the weather was a bit more of a mixed bag, but pleasant enough, the grey frequently interrupted with bouts of blue sky. After a quick jaunt on the Mad River Ski trail, we headed toward home with a nice detour to the Lakes Region and a nice hike up Rattlesnake Mountain – scrumptious views of Squam Lake were the reward for our efforts (http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=West+Rattlesnake+Mountain+Squam&btnG=Search+Images) and in return we rewarded ourselves with some goodies from our friends at Dunkin D’s.







Monday, our paths led us to Newport, Rhode Island for a stroll along the famous Cliff Walk alongside the houses of the formerly (or still) rich and famous (http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=Cliff+Walk+Rhode+Island) – it was a fabulous day with the Atlantic Ocean in full splendor. A visit to the biggest “summer house” of them all - “The Breakers” – owned by the Vanderbilt family – eluded to the splendor of days gone by. We had to switch tour groups though – our first guide could not be understood even by native speakers, he literally sounded as if he had a baked potato in his mouth and combined with his Texan accent and an intonation that kept brining Cary Grant to mind, I could not understand a word the man was saying. We silently snuck away and sought refuge with the next tour guide, a lovely woman with a clear voice and friendly demeanor.



For Tuesday of this week, the 4S Wine Club had thought of a special surprise. Armed with faux Bavarian hats we picked up the German guests in a limo at Beacon and Charles and started on a pub crawl. Our first stop was The Green Dragon Tavern (http://www.celticweb.com/greendragon/) – Paul Revere’s watering hole of choice. The limo then took us to one of my favorites, Boston Beer Works (http://www.beerworks.net/) – their motto is “Upscale Meals. Everyman Prices. Lumberjack Portions,” and that is exactly what we consumed. Last stop was the Bukowski’s Tavern at Inman Square, and let me tell you, that was fine with me. I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking these days, and after a hard cider and two pints of beer, I was sufficiently soused. Just ask my family – apparently I was sitting on the kitchen floor inflating the air bed and laughing hysterically. Note to friends: I must be stopped at two beers, no matter what. Unless you really like to deal with the consequences.





Wednesday found us in Watertown for a pizza-infused evening hosted by Patrick, Ellen, Amy and Dana, and the resident critters Marge, Highway and The Peanut (thanks all!). Thursday we took it easy, spent some time at my favorite neighborhood joint, the East Side Bar and Grille on Cambridge Street. The Red Sox played with their backs against the wall, but all ended well that night.



So, Friday we did some retail therapy and then, due to the crappy weather decided to visit the Kennedy Library and Museum in South Boston (http://www.jfklibrary.org/), which to date is one of my favorite places to visit. If you ever come to Boston this should be near the top of your list.



We are about to decide where to head today, Plymouth Rock and Plimouth Plantation or Salem/ Newburyport/Plum Island have emerged as the two favorites. Stay tuned. I will be in California next week for a conference and return on Friday to embark on birthday weekend activities (a lot of naps may be included).



Toodles.



Pet:)