The places of the northeast of the northeast.

During this end of the trip, I ended up only getting to stick around half as long as I had planned. a bit annoying yes but we accept that. this is why we dont plan and then we enjoy the time here anyway. Because of that we end up doing everything everywhere at the same time. Because of that, how the 4 months before this trip felt like a few weeks while that last 2 weeks here feels like a month and a half passed.

Salem, MA

Salem, land of the witches and tourst traps. truly all the devils work. The city was pretty chill and although i think the halloween season was just about starting, it was a pretty chill enviroment all things considering. the vibe the tourist traps were giving out was pretty neat. all over the place you have pretty neat architecture, plenty of museums, and crystals you can buy with a side of fortune telling. now I was tempted to get my

told to me, but there were no priceses and i assumed thats how they get ya. So after a fun day of tourist traps, I left for my next adventure, Boston.....

Except, as i leave there was this giant plume of fire, firefighters were on the scene in minutes, and within 20 minutes it was gone. Witch burnings have gotten quite efficient it seems in the last couple hundred years.

Boston, MA

So that same night i was in Salem, i drove down to boston. It was awfull but great. To clarify, the city was beautiful and i loved the vibe of the few places that i ended up going to. the roads though were not meant for human made cobustion engines. now this issue extends past boston into the whole of Mass, but, WHY, for the love of all things holy and unholy, is the merge lane 2 inches!! you get about the merge length of 1 car and then you are getting rear ended by people driving about 20-50 miles an hour. These merge lanes are on the highway, on the normal way, in roundabouts,... everywhere. this is added on by the fact that drivers are about as bad as Philly drivers.The only saving grave here is that Mass people are at least self aware that they are bad drivers. I ended up talking to a civil engineer that works on bridges in the area and he agreed that its bad and the context was simply a poor call when the highway was being built. All in all, if i could go back in time, i would consider going to school in boston, otherwise, It's a bit much but still tempting. there is plenty to do and I went back plenty of times for climbing, board games, and just general exploration.

Arcadia, ME

Which means i can do what i want!

So I end up leaving boston at 11 pm and start driving to Acadia, Maine.... which for those that dont know the area, is a 4.5 hour drive... on labor day weekend... in effectivly a tourist state. I think I make great decisions.

An overpriced hotel and several hours later, we make it to Acadia and boy, it she a looker.... for those people that ask for photo's, ya'll gonna get your wish shortly.

We didnt hike here but we did a mini free solo climb, alone, that was an experience and slightly terrifiying climbing over minimal to no protection onto unstable ground. Then after moving to another, more secluded, spot; I ended up stumbling onto a spiders nest, i was about ready to nope out of there. but I stuck around, met a few strangers/ now friends, and then eventualy notified my emergency contacts that i did not in fact die on this trip. We drove back to new hamster, arriving back home around 3 in the morning.

Exton, NH

So Exton had an alien convention. After talking with my bunker budies and the host, i was expecting the crazies to show up. i was a little dissapointented that when i got there that all the talks were over with and at how much of a family event this ended up being. alien sex dolls galore, tin foil hats everywhere, and a single hamburger stand. it was the highlight of extra terestrials events.

The porty Dynamic, NH

So outside of those few little events, i ended up going to a lot of places for a bunch of smaller events. board games, rock climbing, caffiene adddiction, and a bit of the arts. those things have taken me all over the east part of the state. which leads me into discussing this weird dynamic.

The area is suprisngly nice. Port towns have a pretty good vibe but this feels more like a mountainy port town. unlike most areas where you have 1 big city and a lot of suburbs and farm, here its different. its several mid sized cities sepereated by about 10-15 min of road. this leads into a neat little dynamic of cities and culture. It doesnt feel as accepting or weird as Austin, TX, but it also doesnt give off the gentrefication vibe of Denver, CO. It's still TBD if its as crazy as Lancaster, PA but I dont think thats something that I can truly know with the time that I have here.

Epping, NH

Epping is now where I am staying, and its nice but a little too country for me. i think after this experience, im good to go back to city living. but until then i'll enjoy all it has to offer, from the only grill we have is the outdoor wok or charcole grill, to the horeback riding lessons. The company is pretty nice too, even if everyone here is a little crazy, myself included.

Rumney and  Mt Washington, New Hamster

So up comes the next weekend and we think we learned our lesson with Maine, if so then you thought wrong... ish. so saturday comes around and we drive up to Mountain washington, not the famouse mountains of washington, or the mountains in washington, but MT. Washington in NH. Later that day we crash the night at some air bnb and climb at Rumney the next day. But, back to the mountain. After a 3 or so hour drive, we arrive and we take the bitch move by driving up the mountain instead of hiking up alone. The drive was very nice and relaxing, 5$ gas aside. The top was quite nice, albeit very touristy (which i cant really complain cause i drove up as well and took part in the touristy things). The drive down ended up being a bit more sketchy, now the moutain is about 1000ft per mile going up 8 miles which was fine for uphill. downhill though, well, we smoked out a bit with the breaks but no harm no foul, at least no harm that i can see.

Once we got down though, there was a reliving of the 1740's - 1840's. People and families were living in huts, cooking on authentic cookwhere for the time, sleeping in beds exposed to the world. NO FLOORING. It was neat, Though as I was getting to the end, I effectivley got kidnapped by this small group, sat down at a table, and given wine in front of me, and then fed with supper. we exhanged travel stories and generally shot the shit. I can't for the life of me remember their names but they were a fun bunch who will soon be leaving back to their lives from Maine or to Florida.