(7/29 - Thursday)
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| Macomber Farm, Conway (from Charlie's house) |
The day opened with fog and light rain. There had been a downpour the night before and it was cooler but humid. Good day to travel; it was time for us to leave Marlborough and drive to Conway.
Our planned route was through Concord, where the NH Audubon is located. We would then travel north on I-93 to Lincoln and then drive the Kancamagus Highway, NH-112, into Conway Village.
Our destination, Macomber Farm, is on the edge of the village.
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| Ride'em Cowboy. |
So we packed, said goodbye to our gracious hosts, programmed the GPS and started out. First stop was the Audubon McLane Center on Silk Road in Concord. We bought greeting cards and a green NH Audubon T-shirt. Then we went outside to tour the new environmentally friendly wing, certified Green by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and, finally, we visited the Raptor Center where an injured Barred Owl is the featured guest.
Outside the Raptor Center was the strange statue of a Cowboy shown at the right.
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| State Capital, Concord. |
Next stop was Concord for gas and food. We ate across from the State Capital building in a friendly deli and enjoyed our sandwich. Concord was the home of the Abbot Downing Company known for creating and manufacturing the Concord Stagecoach. From 1847 through 1899 about 3,000 coaches were built in Concord. John Wayne rode one in the classic movie Stagecoach and, more importantly, the Concord coach was the mainstay of the Wells Fargo Overland Stage.
On the road again, we headed for the “Kanc”. We first drove the Kancamagus Highway in 1961 or 1962 just after the final sections were completed in 1959. The view from the summit is superb when not obscured by the weather. At the end of the Kanc we turned onto the White Mountain Highway, NH-16, and encountered the dreaded Conway traffic jam. The back-up was about a mile today. We got to the Macomber farm about 3 pm.
The evening entertainment was a concert at the foot of the Mt. Cranmore ski run in North Conway. An Irish folksinger accompanied by a guest fiddler gave a rousing performance to warm up the audience. He was followed by the main attraction the Compaq Big Band, a 24-piece band in the style of touring bands of the 50’s. The featured singer of the big band belted out “oldies” made popular by singers like Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Bobby Rich. The brass section was great on the Jazz selections of arrangements originally played by Artie Shaw and Count Basie. Lots of big-band sound poured from the excellent speaker system.
Even better than the music was watching the kids and parents playing and running up and down the ski slope. Tonight the crowd was small, but enthusiastic. The picture below, from the Mt. Cranmore website, shows a larger crowd. Oh, almost forgot, great picnic supper by Robin and Stephanie with Brownie 'bits' for desert.
Even better than the music was watching the kids and parents playing and running up and down the ski slope. Tonight the crowd was small, but enthusiastic. The picture below, from the Mt. Cranmore website, shows a larger crowd. Oh, almost forgot, great picnic supper by Robin and Stephanie with Brownie 'bits' for desert.
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| Band Concert, Mt. Cranmore, WWW photo |
Check out the Big Band at:
What a great way to end the day.
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