Lazy Sunday, busy Monday.

Sunday, as is today, was another beautiful, comfortable day. It will remain as such until we get rain on Wednesday. No this is not a weather report. I'm not sure what it is. I wasn't sure what to do yesterday. I could have just lazed about. It seems Arlene was thinking the same. I think we are both in a state of adjustment. She has been semi-retired 8 weeks. Me, 7. We have more time on our hands. Summer has just begun. We have talked about various things we could do or places we could go. All local, which includes New Hampshire, places that would be relatively inexpensive. The cost of gas and maybe lunch or dinner. One potential overnight stay in New Hampshire, back to Mt. Washington. There's a hotel at the base, who's weekly summer rates are quite reasonable. $64.00 a night. I've written about the last time we went before, maybe 2009, but it is a vivid memory for the both of us. The weather at the base and the weather on the peak can be quite opposite. As we pulled into the parking, lot the top of the mountain was in the clouds while the surrounding sky was clear blue. It will always be a roll of the dice when predicting the weather up there. If it's clear ,the view is spectacular. You see all the surrounding mountains for what seems like forever. Or, as we found out as we went to buy tickets for a van ride to the peak, while it was clear and 78 degrees outside, on the peak the wind was blowing at 60 m.p.h. making the temperature feel like 18 degrees. There was snow and hailstones. Now we came prepared. I had never been there but Arlene had and she told me about the drastic changes in weather on the peak and you should always bring winter weather clothing with you no matter what the weather is below. We also checked out the web site. Not everybody did. There were people in flip flops, shorts and tee shirts.

It was just as awful as it sounded when we read the weather conditions upon arriving. It was dark. The lights on the gift shop in front of us were blurry. The driver warned people to take off hats, glasses and whatever might be loose and easily blown away. He got out first to open the passenger door on the side. His hair shot straight back as he crossed the front of the van. He was doing his best Marcel Marceau's "walking against the wind". His skin was pulled taught by the wind as he opened the door. We all made a bee line into the gift shop. A stone building chained down to the mountain. 

The inside of that smallish gift shop now resembled a camp for war refugees. Bewildered looks. People panting for breath. Their eyes darting back and forth while possibly questioning their sanity. Hair shooting out every direction. Hopefully the people in shorts and tee shirts learned a lesson. This is the place where the highest wind speed ever recorded happened. 231 m.p.h. 

In the 50/60 or so minutes it took to ride to the peak, it went from a lovely summer day to being stationed on an Antarctic outpost. It was a different, wild, drastic and totally hilarious experience that Arlene and I still laugh about. We laughed about it Sunday which prompted us to possibly give it another go. This time instead of a van we will take the Cog Railway to the peak. It is quite scenic and the ride up (1 hour) should be nice. The weather could be just as bad or worse on the peak this time as well. We would stay an extra day so we could explore a bit of the local area. All of this is just talk right now. It may or may not happen.

Still all this is about adjusting to a new schedule. A bit more free time on our hands. A slight change for me after working full time for 43 years in one job and a total of 46 so far. We are fortunate to have many things to do and see in a relatively small area. Yesterday as I hung around Arlene called. She asked me if I wanted to take a short drive to Winchester, a town next to my city. We share the Mystic Lakes (last blog) with Winchester. I have not been to Winchester since 1970 though it's only a couple miles from here. Winchester is an upscale bedroom community. My city is a bedroom community as  well just middle/lower middle income community,closer to Boston. They are completely, a sleepy, well manicured residential, upscale town.

 

Arlene volunteered to drive. It's a lovely drive. As you drive along the river in my city it becomes all residential/woodland. A really nice place to live and you shortly enter Winchester. All we really did yesterday drive to the center of town, park and cross the street to a little area called Mill Pond. It was about 6 p.m. and the sun was still burning bright as it made it's way west. Essentially we walked around the pond and I took pictures and videos. We then walked around the corner and I was treated to a dish of  ice cream. So all in all it was a lovely way to close out the day.

 

 A little island in mill pond.

 

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get back to reality and the laundry. Though it's close by I could never afford to live in Winchester. It is a town in so many respects. Most of the businesses are local. No malls and it's chalk full of beautiful homes. The median price there is about  $650,000.  It really is a lovely place except you have to bring your trash to the dump, well maybe someone who works for you can take it there. Time to fold clothes.

I'm outta here.