WinKing: MAINE AGAIN! NEW HAMPSHIRE and VERMONT

26 June 2012: We came out of Canada and it was rain all the way through Maine until we reached Hampden, where Lisa lives with her famlily. Lisa is Ruth Murray's daughter from Wales, and Ruth was with them! We had missed Ruth's husband Wilf by a few days, he had already flown back home to Wales.
We were delighted to meet Lisa's family: her husband Jon, and sons Liam, Jacob and Christopher. Their second son, Ethan, was away having fun with relatives in California.

Lisa and two of her four boys, Christopher and Jacob.

Back: Ruth Murray, Jacob, Liam, Jon; front: Lisa and Chris. Liam, age 17, is off to BYU in the fall and wants to go on to medical school. Go Liam!

27 June 2012: It is going to rain all day so we decide to make it a driving west day. Before we leave, we help with the chickens.

Jacob feeds the chickens

Ruth gathers the eggs, with which she makes delicious quiche.

Jacob, his grandmother Ruth, and Sheila after chicken chores are over.

Our new friend Jacob waves goodbye.

We drove west on Rt. 2 through Maine:

Note the flags flying from the telephone poles.

We saw this in many Maine towns that we drove through.

Beautiful scenery

We went out of our way to see a covered bridge,
since many were destroyed in the recent winds and floods

We continued on RT 2 through NEW HAMPSHIRE

A few years ago we were in New Hampshire with Sheila's father and were lucky enough to have a clear view from the top of Mount Washington, notorious for its high winds, low temperatures, and low visibility. We had gone up in a service van, but since we are not faint of heart we decided to drive up even if we couldn't see anything once at the top.

We tried to earn the "Our Car Drove Up Mount Washington" sticker, but the road was closed due to perilous gravel conditions caused by the rain. Not that we could have seen anything!

and VERMONT: