Woods Wind Wander

  Sweet, plump little Dark-eyed Junco We had one last decision to make our final night in New Hampshire which was, do we leave at 4:30 a.m. (like we did on the way up) the following morning to head back home, or do we take it easy and depart comfortably by 10:00 (check out time)?  I voted to leave at 10, but take it easy?  Sleep in?  No way.  I reasoned, why bother to stay an extra night and wake up in New Hampshire only to leave it?  Come on, one last adventure?  In a pretty surprising move, my husband agreed.  Why rush to just depressingly get back home by 3:00 p.m.?   We thought back to a sign (pictured below) that we had seen on our last hike to Greeley Ponds :  Davis Boulders/Goodrich Rock.  It's a short hike.  We could get up early, hike, be back to the house around 9, gather up the last of our things, and head back south.   Let's do it! The hike description (which I paid a lot closer attention to) said from the parking lot to this sign is 30 minutes, then "the trail

He took to kayaking immediately.  A natural! After reading my last blog post, my husband pointed out to me, "you know what's even more impressive [than hiking 10+ miles and 4,000 ft mountains] that you've neglected to mention?"  Me, "what's that?"  Husband, "that in addition to hiking all of these days, we played 5 rounds of golf, went stand up paddle boarding and kayaking, played tennis at least 4 times, and went to the river after dinner most evenings."  Me, "you've got a point."   Honestly, this trip has been one of the best vacations I've ever had.  It is a paradise for outdoor sports.  One small regret I have is that we did not get around to mountain biking, but realistically, I'm not sure when we would have fit it in! The wonderful thing about staying in the valley was the spectacular view wherever you were 🌄  Kayaking and Paddle Boarding Happily, lazily paddling around the pond He was off on an adventure, exploring

We had been super lucky so far this vacation with the weather, but today Tropical Storm Isaias was making its way up the east coast and into our neck of the woods.  The good news was that it wasn't going to be in our area until late afternoon around 4:00 or 5:00 so we still had the majority of the day to get out and play.  Given yesterday's " 5 mile low-key hike " that ended up being 10+ miles, my kids had every reason to look at me skeptically when I told them this hike would be "easy" (I know, I know.  I wouldn't trust me either, but the hike really is rated as easy.  Promise 😉)  It runs partly along an old logging road, so it is soft, wide and not technical (rocky or root-y). You'll also notice that in the photo below the sign says Greeley Pond s , as in plural, more than one.  I don't know why, but I assumed it was only one pond.  Hikes are named imaginatively all the time, take for example a hike we did recently, Wolf Rock.  The sign said l