Valeria Out Loud

Hi guys! I am back!

We spent a fantastic few days eating and hiking in the mountains of New Hampshire, and guess what? I stuck hard to my sobriety challenge during this trip. I am so proud of myself for not giving in. It was tempting. Believe me, I was thinking of giving myself a free pass for these few days, seriously- I was, but I just didn’t do it. I didn’t want to disappoint myself by giving in. I have to make it till Halloween day.

I did have some awesome locally made sodas with a few meals though- my favorites, 2 ginger beers and 1 ginger ale. They were too good! I am not a big soda drinker, either, but sometimes a good spicy ginger beer is needed!

The best parts of our trip were spent outside in nature. And eating outside in nature too. We stayed up in Lincoln, right on the Pemigewasset River. It is about an hour and forty-five minutes drive north from our town. The drive up was fun. We had good tunes, good snacks and a perfect view. The Fall colors of the trees and plants that flanked the highway were vibrant and intoxicating. The Fall does bring the cold weather, which I can live without, but before it starts to freeze, it turns the Northeast into a melange of colors to see. I think I’d miss the changing seasons if I did move. I do talk about leaving MA a lot, but yet, I am still here.

The back door to our room up in NH was fifteen steps away from the river, just beautiful. Here’s a snap of the first view and once the sun came out the next day.

We spent a majority of our time hiking and driving around to look at the colorful trees along the mountains. We had such a great experience and hiked A LOT! Being in that fresh mountain air felt so good. During these hikes I spent a lot of the time concentrating on my breathing. Inhaling deep through my nose, with all the good vibrations and colors, and exhaling loud through my mouth with all the crunchy steps. It made the climb up a lot easier. We spent time on the intermediate trails, so there was a lot of climbing. A lot!!

Our first outing was at the Flume Gorge. I don’t think I have the right words to describe this place. It starts off with a hike up a hill then you start to see these rocky plated falls covered by water. The reflection of the colorful leaves above glistening in the water was so beautiful, it looked fake. Then you trek up higher to the avalanche falls and the gorge. Holy moly! The sharp walls of the granite that are surrounding you make you feel so tiny. As you make your way up the small windy crevasse as it crooks around to a water fall. This winding elevated part is on a wooden boardwalk with stairs, which makes it easy to go up. The hike continues on up and down the wooded hills beyond the falls, there are more natural falls and pools. There was a covered bridge too. So pretty. The colors along the paths were raging with yellows and oranges, perfect for a Fall setting. It wasn’t a hard hike but there is a lot of up hill and distance if you aren’t able to walk well.

Then another hike, The Artist Bluff, was harder. I don’t think if you have health or stability issues that it is a good idea to go up. I saw some people struggling. We went up the whole mountain, right to the top, then trekked down to the middle on the opposite side to get onto the bluff. The view was insane. There was the view of Echo Lake and all the mountains surrounding us, with one snow capped , and the highways criss crossing below. It was so beautiful and worth the 1.5 hours up. Gah being up there felt so good. The way down was a lot different than the way we went up. It was all rocks and that is where we saw a lot of people having issues going up. Going down was not easy either but I’d pick down vs up in that spot for sure!

We spent a day at a local amusement park, Clark’s Trading Post, on our last full day, which was fun. And interesting. I did two things I had not done before..rode a segway and bumper boats. Both super fun and now I want a segway! I did fumble on the not eating junk part of my challenge. Not terribly, but I ate two bites of apple crisp n vanilla ice cream and a handful of popcorn. Those were the hardest things to resist the whole time! Who can resist apple crisp? I wouldn’t trust them. Like at all. 😂

Speaking of food. We ate at a few breweries, outdoors. One place was right on the water, so beautiful. We didn’t go all crazy on this vacation eating a ton but I do have to share one thing I liked … this pizza. Holy so good!!

So. Here I am on day 14, my favorite number, and I am still going strong! Yay me!! As always, thank you for reading along. xo

I am looking forward to the week to ahead, though the long weekend is not over yet! I will write soon!