Parental visit take 2.
After the adventure of the whale watching cruise, my parents took off the next day to spend the week in NYC, only to return back to Beantown for the next weekend. I'd like to think they just couldn't get enough of me, but the primary reason they were making a 2nd weekend visit was to see our family friend, Anthony.
Anthony was an exchange student with our family in 1985 and we've stayed in touch since. He made another visit to Dallas with his sister several years after that initial visit and then many years later, in 2004, my parents visited him in Australia. I actually had planned a trip to Australia a couple months after my parents had been there which was crashed by this guy I had just started dating....Mike! In 2006, Anthony's family was traveling in the states and swung by Dallas just in time for Mike and my wedding reception there. Flash forward to a few weeks ago, he was traveling for work in the US and took a quick weekend side trip to see my part of the world. So, considering we didn't see him much for 20 years, we've had the pleasure of spending some good quality time with him (and his family) over the last several.
The plans for the weekend were ambitious. I wanted to show Anthony and my parents our NH getaway then scoot back to Boston so Anthony could do the 5 minute tour of the city. Of course, you can't really experience my love of NH without a good mountain hike. I told my parents months ago that a hike was in the cards, which caused my mom a lot of anxiety but she was game for it.
The hike we choose for them was one we're very familiar with - the Welch\Dickey Loop (though we didn't do the whole loop). The Welch\Dickey peaks are very visible due to their large, open, granite faces. We see them on the highway on our approach to our condo and when we see them, we're happy to be just about to our beloved vacation home. The hike across them is rated one of the best bangs for your buck because the elevation isn't atrocious and you get fabulous, unobstructed, 360 views of the region. The first outlook (not quite to the peak) on the Dickey peak is a reasonable distance and has a great view so that's what we picked for the family hike.
Mom,Dad, Anthony and Me - Ready to Hike Up
During the hike - Anthony,Me,Mike and Dad all on a big rock
Even though my mom was a bit of a weeny (sorry mom, but you were), she made it to the first outlook on the mountain. Here she is with Anthony on the home stretch.
Such a nice view as a reward for all of our hard work. Me,Mike,Dad,Mom
While Mike, Mom and Dad decided to head back down at this point, Anthony was intrigued of our stories of the steep granite ledges and really wanted to experience them. So, he and I decided to head up.
A nice view of Welch mountain's granite ledges from the peak of Dickey mountain.
After making it to the top, we hustled back down to meet the rest of the group at the base. We practically ran down the mountain, which was actually pretty fun. Our timing was superb because we ended up arriving approximately 1 minute after everyone else.
I was very proud of my mom for getting WAY out of her comfort zone and agreeing to go on a hike. It was a fun group event and I don't think she regrets it (though I'm not sure if she'll ever agree to it again either). We had a lot of fun together in NH. The next morning, though, we packed up and headed back to MA for the Boston portion of the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment