Wolfeboro

Catching up on blogging about our family vacation...

In what is becoming a family tradition of ours, I took the boys on a day trip down to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

I got up early ("early" being about 7 a.m. on vacation) and loaded our bicycles onto the boat. We got underway about 9:30 a.m. for the 40 minute boat ride down to Wolfeboro.

ES took this pic of his dog Lotis arriving in Wolfeboro.
(Lotis goes with us everywhere.)

Wolfeboro is a really pretty town on the southeastern side of Lake Winnipesaukee. It gained a little fame in the not too distant past when French President Nicolas Sarkozy took a vacation to Wolfeboro in the summer of 2007.

We tied the boat up at the town docks and unloaded the bikes for our ride into town.

Heading out from the town docks.

The old train station.

There used to be an old railroad that ended right at the waterfront in Wolfeboro. At some point like many other railroads across the country, they paved over the railroad tracks and made it into a nice bike path. Well, in this case it isn't paved, but it's a very nice hard pack dirt and gravel trail that's easy for biking, jogging or walking.

Wolfeboro Jogging / Bike Path

The boys and I hopped on our bikes next to the old Wolfeborough train station and rode 3/4 of a mile to visit the two attractions that brought us there for the day: the Klickety Klack model railroad museum and the Wright Museum.

Klickety Klack Model Railroad Museum

My boys have always loved model railroads and model trains. As a result, everyplace we go, we visit the model railroad museum if there's one to be found. We've been to many, and this little place in Wolfeboro, is a hidden gem and TOTALLY worth the price of admission.

It doesn't look like much from the outside. I could tell it has grown in popularity since we were last here 3 years ago. The parking lot has expanded, and there are signs saying it is okay to park on the grass if the lot is full. The last time we were here, it was fairly empty, but this time there were at least half a dozen other families in there with us.

I liked this photo ES took on his camera.

It may not be very big, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in a Where's-Waldo type of fun. The scenery around the railroad tracks is incredibly detailed. There are lot of miniature scenes that will make you laugh. Plus, there are a lot of things hidden around the railroad that you are challenged to find - like the miniature Superman or the miniature Indiana Jones. Those sorts of things keep me occupied for quite a while.

For example: Things to look for in the Metropolis Union Station.

Metropolis Union Station

I see Superman! (I couldn't find Indiana Jones though)

For my boys though, this railroad is better than most others we have visited because there is actually a lot of hands-on stuff for them to do here. There are buttons to push every few feet along the walkway that make something happen in the scenery - make a building light up, make smoke come out of a smoke stack, make a whistle blow, make a train run... At a lot of other model railroad places, the boys just have to stand and watch and there are lots of "please don't lean on the glass" and "don't touch" signs. This place actually offers the kids an outlet for their desire to touch things.

For Example: One of many buttons the boys can push.

They also provide these stools for the kids to carry around and put wherever they want to get a closer look.

Wolfeboro

A few things to note in the picture above:
1. You can see how the train used to come right to the edge of the lake.
2. That big yellow building is still there. If you scroll up to the top of this post, you can see it is a prominent feature of the waterfront.
3. Behind the big yellow building and some trees, you can see the old train station.

Wright Museum

Next, we got back on our bikes and rode about two blocks south to the Wright Museum. The Wright Museum is dedicated to the 1939-1945 time period both on the overseas front lines and here at home in America.

It didn't take much convincing the first time we came here. The boys were instantly interested when they saw the tank crashing out of the front wall of the museum.

Inside, there is a large room that talks about life at home in America during the war and has lots of antiques like radios, bicycles, toys, appliances, etc. Then there is a "time tunnel" that walks you through the events of 1939-1945 and leads you into the large vehicle display room.

This is the time tunnel with a room for each year 1939-1945.

Each year's room is decorated with magazine and newspaper covers, personal letters, citations, and a board with statistics like the price of milk, gas, a car, and a house.

You're not supposed to climb on any of the exhibits, but one of the museum docents said the boys could sit in the Jeep for a photo.

This Pershing tank took place in the battle at the Bridge at Remagen as the U.S. 1st Army crossed the Rhine River on 7 March 1945.

The boys were very interested in the display of military hats and headgear.

Bomber jacket
Each bomb is for a mission flown,
red bombs mean the plane was hit
by enemy fire and took damage.

They have a nice display of bomber nose art, too, but those are NSFW / not really for kids.

Our timing actually worked out perfectly. We finished both museums and the boys were ready for lunch. We rode our bikes back to the waterfront and had lunch at the Dockside Grille followed by some really messy, melting, dripping ice cream cones.

Mmmmmmm, iiiiiice creeeeeeam. :-9

On the way back, I did some helmsman training with both boys. This was the first time I let YB drive the boat on this trip, but I kept a hand on the wheel while he was driving.

So long Wolfeboro!
See you again next summer (we hope).

ES on a high-speed run.

Pentagon Gouge: Saluting Part II

Okay, so let's say, you were walking from a meeting at the Pentagon back to your office in Crystal City. You see approaching you a USAF colonel walking in the opposite direction toward the Pentagon. The colonel has his head down and is thumbing-away texting on his cell phone.

What do you do?

a) About face. Walk slowly the other way (the same direction he is walking) until he overtakes you. That way, the colonel can pass you without having to salute and you won't disturb him.

b) Right face. Walk quickly to the other side of the street. That way, the colonel can continue walking undisturbed and not have to salute you.

c) Clear your throat really loudly "AHEM!" so as to alert the colonel that you are in a head-on situation and he should expect to be saluted in the very near future. Apologize for distracting him as you pass.

d) Screech with terror, "OH MY GOD!!!" and point to nothing in particular behind the colonel. As the startled colonel whirls around to see what ghastly image has frightened you so, walk quickly past him and say, "By your leave, colonel."

e) Maintain course and speed. At an appropriate distance, salute and say, "Good afternoon, Colonel!" After the startled Colonel uses his cell phone to return your salute, go home laughing and write about it on Facebook and on your blog.

Yep, he kept his cell phone in his right hand, swung his right arm up, and touched the tip of his cell phone to the corner of his right eyebrow to salute as if his cell phone were his hand.

That was a first for me.

Tubing on the Shenandoah River

On Saturday, I organized a flat-water tubing trip on the Shenandoah River for my church. Overall: We had a great time floating down the river and the staff at River Riders were very friendly and easy-going.

We met up at 10 for our 10:30 reservation.

By the time we got done with the orientation and safety brief, got our life preservers, and got on the bus, it was 11:41.

They bring the tubes along in a trailer behind the bus.

Note: It's not advertised on their website, but they DO have double-tubes if you have a small child that you want to ride with you instead of letting them go off on independent ops.

The entry point was hard-pack dirt/mud and rocks. They recommend wearing some sort of water shoes or old sneakers, and I can see why.

As for me, I got to try out my new Keen Newport water-sandals. They were very nice, comfortable, and worked like a champ on the slippery rocks in the water.

YB and me in our double-tube.

It turns out that mesh-bottom in one of the holes of the double-tube was a pretty nice feature. It prevented us from losing a few things like YB's crocs.

Unfortunately, my wife's sunglasses slid off the back of her head and into the water. Plunk! Gone. We spent a while feeling around in the brown water, but weren't able to find them.

PLUNK!
Last known photo of my wife's sunglasses.

The boys kept putting on their goggles and looking around underwater trying to find the sunglasses for Mommy.

YB had fun blowing bubbles while he was searching, too.

A couple of people in our group brought footballs along. That was actually a pretty-good idea. We had fun tossing the football back and forth. (See the green football airborne in the image above.)

YB got out of the tube and had fun swimming back and forth to retrieve the football and give it to people. He also took a break to just kick back and float down the river a while.

There were a couple of spots of very light rapids. This short video shows you about as fast as it got.

This orange tube nailed to the tree was the marker telling us where to get out. River Riders runs a bus here every 30 minutes to pick people up. You can either ride the bus back to the beginning and ride the river again, or you can ride the bus back to the River Riders HQ.

The boys looking back the way we came.

Here are a smattering of other notes about our trip:

Timing. River Riders advertises on their website that it takes on average 1.5 hours but anywhere from 1 to 2 hours depending on the current. According to my GPS, we got in the water at 12:10 and got out of the water at 1:30 p.m.

We were a little frustrated with the efficiency of the River Riders operation and our 10:30 reservation got us in the water at 12:10. By the time we got back to River Riders to eat "lunch" it was 2:55 p.m. Lesson learned: They rent tubes you can put a cooler in to float with you down the river. Next time, bring a cooler with snacks and drinks so you aren't starving for lunch.

Weather. Definitely wear sun screen. When we started it was mostly cloudy, but the clouds burned off and the sun came out during our trek down the river.

Water Temp. The water was very nice - I would guess about 75 degrees based on how it felt compared to Lake Winnipesaukee last week. It seemed like the water was never more than about waist deep. The few times I got out of my tube, I was able to stand up.

Bugs. I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't really have any problem with bugs. We saw a lot of dragon flies while we were on the river, but that was it.

Shop. If you forget anything River Riders probably has it for sale in their shop. They seemed to have just about everything in there, including some cool t-shirts with things like, "Paddle Faster!" and "Dude, Where's My Paddle?"

Food. The Front Porch Cafe offered friendly service and pretty decent food, but had a little trouble keeping up with the demand. There wasn't a wait to place your order, but there was a bit of a wait for your food to come out of the kitchen from being cooked.

Today at church, I got a lot of positive feedback on the trip. Everyone seemed to have a good time and said they want to go again. I look forward to organizing a trip like this again.

Pentagon Gouge: Uniform Shop has moved

Heads-up for those of you reading this in the Pentagon:

The uniform shop that USED to be located on the 4th deck, 2nd corridor (4C251) has moved. The new location is 5E1085 (basically, it's directly above the Metro entrance on the 5th deck).

Do yourself a favor, just go like you are going to the Metro entrance, then go upstairs (or up the elevator) from there in the 10th corridor. I discovered the hard way it is foolish and futile to try the rat-in-the-maze method to figure out a quicker way to get to the new location from the old location. No matter how promising any of those corridors look, you're gonna hit a dead end and have to turn around and go back.

I'm sure we ALL know the easiest way to get to the Metro entrance from wherever you are in the Pentagon, so I'm tellin' ya - just go there and then go upstairs from there.

Update July 2013:  I'm back at the Pentagon now, and they've finished all the construction / remodeling, so it's pretty easy to get around.  You can come at the uniform shop from just about any direction now.

The good news, the new shop seems bigger to me. It's hard for them to offer a complete selection of uniforms for the USN, USMC, USA, and USAF all in one place, so they don't tend to have a LOT of inventory of any given item. Still, I was able to walk in and find a new khaki shirt in my size pretty quick.

Paddle Log #11: Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Post-Facto Comments on Paddle Log Format: (written after I composed the Paddle Log post below)

Bear with me. I'm still trying out different ideas. I used some feedback I received via email along with another website I found to improve upon what data to include in my paddle log.

However (comma) I'm not sure I like the overall format. I look at what I have written below and it seems dry to me - not very readable. When I look back at previous posts like the one about the Jack's Boathouse trip, I think it read more like I was telling a story. Maybe the better way to do this is to write the storyline blog post, and then include a standardized set of data and statistics at the end. What do you think?

Here's the post for today...

Location: Paddle Around Looooooooong Island on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Quick Summary: AWESOME, quiet paddle on a calm, mostly cloudy day. Second longest distance I've paddled in one day, but the longest I've done (8 miles on Goose Creek) was paddling with a current helping me along.

Southwestern point of Long Island, 1.0 miles into the trip.

Date: Saturday, 22 August 2009
Launch Site: Private beach access at Jonathan's Landing on Long Island
Time In: 10:30 a.m.
Time Out: 12:30 p.m.
Elapsed: 2 hours
Pull-out Site: same as launch site

Mileage: 6.6 miles
Paddling Odometer: 24.5 miles (since I started keeping track for this kayak).

GPS screenshot upon arrival back at the beach

Weather Forecast: 50% chance of showers, thunderstorms expected in the afternoon (I was trying to get one last paddle in before the thunderstorms and before we head back to Virginia). It was mostly cloudy and lightly raining when I got underway. As I rounded the southern tip of the island (1.5 miles in), the sun broke through the clouds. It was partly cloudy / intermittent shade as I paddled up the eastern side of the island.
Sea State: Nil for the first 4.5 miles, 1 for the last 1.5 miles (wave chop due to wind picking up from the South)
Winds: 0 for the first 4.5 miles, South 5-10 kts for the last 1.5 miles
Air Temp: ~75F (high today was 81F)
Water Temp: ~77F (last reported temp on www.winnipesaukee.com 4 days ago) I stepped into the lake as I was launching the boat and as my brain registered the temperature around my feet, I said to myself, "Self, ooooooh, thaaaaat's niiiiiiice." :-)
Tides & Currents: None
Traffic: Very little for the first 4 miles. The closer I got to the Multonborough Neck Road bridge by Trexler's Marina, the more pleasure craft / power boats (and hence wakes) I encountered.

In Company With: None. Went solo this time. Passed 3 other kayakers along the way.
Configuration: I sat in the center seat this time.
Kit:
- Ocean Kayak - Malibu Two XL (8th use) with Comfort Seat
- Werner Skagit paddle and leash
- Forgot my hat & sunglasses again. Actually, I didn't forget. I left them home because it was mostly cloudy with a light rainfall when I headed out. Wished I had them when the sun came out on the eastern side of the island.
- NRS Men's Boater Gloves prevented me from getting blisters in the crux of my thumbs this time, but I ended up with blisters above the second knuckle of my middle and pinky fingers on my left hand.
- Long sleeve swim shirt, swim trunks.
- Flip flops since I lost my old water shoes on my previous trip.
- Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx
- Garmin Forerunner 405
- Olympus Stylus 1030 SW waterproof, shockproof camera
- BB Storm in floating cell phone dry bag

Route: Counter-clockwise circuit of Long Island starting from Jonathan's Landing (private beach access). I reviewed the route on the local chart and on Google Earth and expected it to be about 6.0 miles.

Southeastern point of Long Island, 1.5 miles into trip

ORM (what could go wrong and what I did to mitigate the risk):
- Getting swamped by a passing power boat, maybe capsizing. Mitigation: Stay close to shore, follow the coastline, wear PFD, turn bow into oncoming wakes.
- Weather turning sour / thunderstorm: Review weather radar immediately prior to departure. Stay close to shore, follow coastline. Every foot of waterfront property on the island has a house and some sort of boat dock. I would seek safe harbor at the nearest dock and call my wife to come get me in the event of a thunderstorm.
- Medical Problem / Physical Exhaustion / or otherwise not capable of completing the route: Carry cell phone in dry-bag. I had a few spots along the route that I could stop and have my wife come get me if I wasn't able to complete the full 6 miles. I decided to go counter-clockwise so that I would start out heading south into the expected wind for the first mile. If at the end of the first mile I wasn't feeling up to it, then I could turn around and go with the expected winds back to home. If I decided to continue, the expected winds would help me travel northbound on the east side of the island.

Comments:

No wind, water was flat, and very little boat traffic for the first 4.0 miles, resulting in an avg speed was about 3.5 mph. As I got closer to the Long Island bridge and Trexler's Marina, the boat traffic picked up and I had a lot of wakes to cross that slowed me down. Then as I rounded the northern tip of the island and turned south, the winds and the seas picked up from the south. The last 1.5 miles I paddled into the wind, but I really enjoyed the sound of the wave slap and sloshing against the hull and the small amount of spray coming over the bow.

Tried taking some video by setting the camera on the main deck in front of me with the front seat folded down, but the bow was too high and blocked the view. All you can see in the video is the sky over the bow bobbing back and forth. Next time need to prop it up on top of something.

Self portrait by Trexler's Marina and
the Multonborough Neck Road bridge,
4.5 miles into the trip.

Marine/wildlife sightings or encounters:

I paddled by a flock of the brown-headed birds like I saw on Newfound Lake. I have determined they are American common mergansers (Mergus merganser americanus).

(Click to enlarge - 10MB file)

Closeup - note the "mane" on the backs of their heads.

Shoulda Coulda Woulda:
- Brought water. It might be okay for a short paddle to go without water, but since I was planning on a longer paddling trip, I really should have taken some water with me.
- Brought hat and sunglasses. I intentionally left them behind because it was mostly cloudy and raining when I left, with rain in the forecast.
- Put sunscreen on my legs (or brought some with me). I put some on my face before I left as a precaution, but that was it.
- Brought a strap to secure kayak to the caddy. The weight of the kayak isn't enough to keep the kayak on the caddy. If the wheels encounter any resistance, then the caddy comes to a stop and the kayak just slides right off the top of the caddy. I ended up just dragging the kayak up the sand to the boardwalk and then putting the kayak on the caddy to wheel back to the condo.

Hiking Bear Island

My eldest son (ES) and I have spent two days this week hiking Bear Island on Lake Winnipesaukee in search of the three geocaches on the island. Both hikes were very enjoyable and premium quality time with ES.

Tuesday, we drove the boat across the lake and tied up to the St. John's Church dock on the southern end of the island.

My son has a lot better eyesight than I do. He was able to read the sign in the picture above and tell me this was the dock for St. John's.


After we disembarked, he read the sign and asked me what "non-denominational" meant. This started our dialogue for the remainder of the day hiking around the island. I love these opportunities when we get to talk like this. We talked about what denominations are in order to understand what "non-denominational" meant. Then we talked about how some denominations are organized and follow a state or national or international council or group of leaders or the Pope. Then we talked about the freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. It was a great conversation.

First glimpse of St. John's church through the trees.

Blunoz self portrait in front of St. John's church

We ate a picnic lunch on the park bench by the church and then found the geocache there. It was a little challenging because there were a couple of decoy hides. Usually a pile of sticks or stones or bark is an obvious indicator of a geocache hide, but in this case there were a couple that of piles like that with nothing hidden underneath. We had to use the hints on the geocache listing to find it.

ES gesturing with feigned surprise,
"I WONDER what could be in heeeeere..."
Actually, there was nothing in there.
This was one of the two decoy hides we found.

Next, we headed off in across the island eastbound to search for the other geocache at this end of the island. The trail was well defined and marked by a yellow splotch of spray paint on the trees.

I have to admit. One of the reasons I pushed to do this hike on this particular day was because I got sun burned the day before out swimming in the lake, so I wanted to stay out of the sun. Hiking on the island was almost entirely under a fairly dense tree cover and made for a nice day's hike in the shade.


Because of the shade, most of the ground was covered with dirt or dry dead leaves or pine needles, so the prevailing color of the landscape was shades of brown. Because of this, the few isolated items we encountered along the way with a splash of color in them really caught my eye.

We passed a grove of birch trees. I love the light green leaves and white tree trunks. It always reminds me of going to the Grand Mesa near Grand Junction, Colorado with my Grandpa (okay, so those are aspen trees, but it's the white tree trunks).

We spotted two of these small (< 1 ft) black snakes with yellow stripes.

We saw some very bright orange fungus.

We found a brilliant blue feather and some antique farm equipment.

We found the second geocache on the abandoned farm without too much trouble. Inside the cache, ES found some Venezuelan money, so that diverted our father-son conversation onto where Venezuela is, who Hugo Chavez is, and the state of relations between the U.S., Venezuela, and Russia.

We hiked back to the boat and headed home for the day so we could go to my wife's aunt and uncle's place and paddle around Newfound Lake that night.

The next day, we decided to return to Bear Island to get the third geocache at the northern end of the island. This time, we tied the boat up at the Bear Island Post Office.


Previously during the week, we had seen the mail boat going back and forth across the lake and pointed it out to the boys. "Look boys, there goes the mail boat." When ES and I arrived at the dock and he saw the post office, he said, "THAT'S why they call it the mail boat!"

ES pointing at the Bear Island Post Office sign.

Are there really that many people on Bear Island?

From the Bear Island Post Office dock, it's only about 1/3 mile walk up a well-defined trail with red trail marks spray-painted on the trees.

ES on the trail.

We passed Lover's Lane along the way (dated 1858).

We saw a ladybug laying her eggs.

I took a picture of what I thought were some pretty flowers, only to find out later these are the dreaded stinging nettles. Luckily, I didn't touch them!

We found the geocache without much difficulty. This one is hidden in the ruins of an old hotel that burned down in 1934.

Inside the geocache, there is a photo of what the hotel used to look like.

Overall, both hikes were a great time for ES and I to have some father-son bonding time and good conversation, and we saw some cool things along the way. We found all three geocaches and did some trading in each. (Aside: If you take something like a toy out of a geocache, then you're supposed to leave something there to replace it. I keep a stash of inexpensive toys in my backpack to trade with in the geocaches when the boys find something they want to keep.)

On the way out there and back, I did some helmsman training with ES and let him start driving the boat. He's a quick learner. I noticed improvement in his driving ability from the first day to the second day.

He'll be ready for that boater's license before I know it.