Lately I have been going through some of my childhood toys which gave me a nostalgic feeling of pastimes. I looked over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys, Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Mega Man and The Legend of Zelda games and even played some of the games on our widescreen TV- boy did that make the games look different compared to my families’ old 20” RCA 1980’s set.

One evening while trying to fall asleep I thought to myself, “What type of ‘world’ would I want to visit if I could just choose one?”

I could travel the fields and dungeons of Hyrule with Link just as long as I had a shield and sword to defend myself against its foes or I could roam the different worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom and stomp Goombas, smash Koopa shells and find power-ups with Mario. I could explore Middle Earth with Gandalf or go on my own in search of items of old like Bilbo Bagins did. I could hunt down Metroids with Samus as long as I could have a suit similar to hers or I could travel from planet to planet with Daniel Jackson through Stargates in search of artifacts and maybe even spend some time with the Asgard. I suppose the other thing I could do is explore the galaxy aboard the Enterprise, either the NCC-1701-A with Captain Kirk and have debates with Spock or the NCC-1701-E with Captin Picard and even enjoy some conversations with Commander Data.

I think ultimately I’d have a difficult time choosing but I think I’d choose Middle Earth as long as I could take my camera!

You may think I am a geek and that is fine with me, however I think its fun to have fantasies despite them not being “true” which is the whole point of a fantasy. Live Long and Prosper!

It’s been one year since Robin and I got married; it went by very quickly for us. I wanted to do something special for Robin and I, so I secretly booked a Bed & Breakfast in Greenville, Maine for 1 night and 1 day. There has always been a B&B in Greenville that I’ve wanted to eat and stay at; Robin and I always drove by it while heading to Kokadjo. I called Blair Hill Inn to reserve the 3rd floor room that overlooks the Moosehead Lake, a couple of months in advance just in case.

Our anniversary is October 4th, which happened to fall on a Sunday- so after church Robin and I headed towards Greenville. I told her we are going to go somewhere for the night but I couldn’t tell her where. The weather was rainy and cloudy. Upon arriving Greenville, a large fog cloud hovered over Moosehead Lake which rained on my idea of having a good view of the lake. I pulled into the B&B under the guise that I was lost and going to ask directions. After checking in I asked Robin to come inside and told her this is where we were staying.

The inside of the Inn was beautiful, it resembled its original charm with a large fireplace, dining room, game room and sitting area. After checking in, we headed up to our room that overlooked Moosehead Lake, had a king size bed, wood-burning fireplace and all-tile bathroom. We stayed in for the evening, exchanged our gifts and drank our sparkling grape juice and ate the remainder of our wedding cake, in front of the fireplace.

The next day, we got up early and ate our complimentary breakfast which was home-made by the owners themselves, while watching the previous day’s fog start to burn up from the rising sun. Later on in the morning we checked out and headed towards the boat landing for Mt. Kineo. I originally was planning on having us kayak to Mt. Kineo; however I was told it’s about a mile from the shore which normally is not bad when kayaking along a stream or river but Moosehead Lake is very large and usually has large cold waves. I decided to pay to take the ferry across the lake which was $10 a person round trip. Upon arriving on the island, the Sun started to peer through a section of the cloud veiled sky. I was looking forward to climbing this mountain as this was a first for both of us; I’ve read about the island’s history. It got its name from an American Indian that was banished there and then later on it was “discovered” by “white man” a hotel chain erected a hotel on the island however several years later you can read about the hotel during the process of being torn down and it burnt down.

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Day three of our honeymoon started with us leaving Stonehurst Manor and driving down Kancamagus Highway. I have read and heard many good things around this area that we both were looking forward to driving it. We stopped at the Ranger’s station and purchased a 7-day pass for $5 and headed to our first stop; an unnamed turnout. Once getting out of your car you walk down a small flight of wooden stairs which leads you into the woods that twists down a small hill and at the foot of the path are exposed boulders of various sizes which the Swift River eroded. The scene was beautiful; the shore line was lined with trees in varying stages of autumn.

Our next stop was Lower Falls which was a larger area than before, much busier as well. We walked past a rest room and headed down to a sandy bank with a pool of calm water due to be shielding by boulders acting as a wall. Further down the river the bed was actually exposed due the lower amounts of water, a floor of smoothed ledge rang along the left side which reflected the morning’s sun would cause you to slip if you were not paying attention. We continued on and found the falls which had a very pretty setting; the falls were very small but still enjoyable as you could walk out to the edge and look down. The wind picked up heavily so we decided to continue our drive.

The next stop was a little further into the byway; Rocky Gorge Scenic Area. We walked down a paved trail where you saw a calm portion of Swift River to your left and then a slant of 15-20 feet which is the gorge; if you continue following the trail a wooden bridge crossed the gorge which led to a small pond with one bench. The bridge provided many scenic shots from different angles; some of which Robin had pointed out. On one side of the bridge a maple tree overlooked the river which I thought was an excellent picture; it also provided me another opportunity to shoot colorful leaves up-close.

We were roughly a quarter of the way through the byway and we had already spent 3 to 4 hours walking around taking in God’s beautiful creation. Our next stop was Sabbaday Falls; one of which had a beautiful dirt path covered in freshly fallen leaves; along the left flowed a stream also filled full of autumn leaves. The falls are 3 tiered, the upper tier is about 8′ tall and drops into a deep emerald punchbowl. The punchbowl spills over a 20′ horsetail then makes a 90° angle turn into a flume and drops about 12′ into a very deep trough pool before flowing into the broad pool at the base. Robin and I really enjoyed this as we now have a special attachment to waterfalls as that’s where we got engaged. On the walk back we stopped and took more photos from different angles and even shot some of our rings.

We proceeded on the byway and stopped at a turnout that overlooked a valley with various mountains; we took pictures of people with their cameras and they returned the favor for us.

As we neared the end, I told Robin that I had one more stop in mind for her but it was off from the byway. Near the end of the highway is a mostly scenic view of mountains and valleys due to the increase of elevation the road takes. Although the views were very colorful I could not snap a decent photo as the sun was directly above the mountains.

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Robin and I woke up mid-morning on Sunday, packed our cloths and other items we would need for the honeymoon and set off to North Conway, New Hampshire. We started off on I-95 South and got onto Rt 202 from Augusta and then onto Rt 302 all the way into Conway, NH, the entire drive took roughly 4 hours.

While on the White Mountain Highway in North Conway Robin was looking for our hotel we signed up for, I drove by it without her knowing as I directed her attention to a store on the opposite side. I turned into the “Stonehurst Manor” driveway which winds up a hill into an opening that overlooks the White Mountains; as I we made our way into the Manor parking lot I told her that I was lost and that we should go in and ask for directions with a sly smirk on my face. When inside I stated, “Checking in, under Ogden”; when Robin heard that her eyes lit up and a big smile followed. As we walked up the three flights of stairs, we looked around at the Victorian Manor’s beauty, it looked much like it did 100 years ago, it was kept up very nice, the only hint of modernism in the hallway were the electrical lights. We arrived at room 33, I opened the door, swung it open and walked in with Robin in my arms. To her astonishment she looked around the suite, king sized bed, personal washroom, jacuzzi, it was beautiful and totally unexpected to her.

After settling in, we headed downstairs into the dining area which has thus far been the most fancy place we have dined- and we have ate at fancy restaurants. The lounge which hosts the waiting area has the original fireplace with bay window seating and tables; while talking, we were greeted by a waiter and were escorted to our seats where we were served 3 course (in my opinion) 5 star meal. Since we were guests the food was on the house. Later that evening we enjoyed a relaxing time in the jacuzzi.

The next morning we headed downstairs for our complimentary breakfast which was no less than excellent. The Manor has several connecting trails which we walked through, one of which crosses the North Conway Scenic Railroads. The majority of the day was overcast but at one point the sun came out just enough to light up a few leaves. Throughout certain portions of the trail, the leaf colors varied, ranging from green to brown, my favorite part of our walk was near the end where one section looked as if I were walking through Lothlorien Forest on Lord of the Rings; the ground was covered in freshly fallen golden yellow leaves, the sides of the trail were walled with the same leaves and when I looked up a canopy of the tree tops glistened in the sun’s rays. On our way back we were stopped by one of the Manor workers, he told us that if we come out at around 10PM we may see a black bear in the dumpster.

Our two nights and two day stay was coming to an end at the Manor, we drove around North Conway looking at the stores, and scenic areas to get an idea of where everything is. Later in the evening we headed out to the dumpster to see if we could spot a black bear; we did not see it but we did hear something rustling in the woods. We decided to play a game of Chess while waiting on the bear to emerge; although we played for awhile it did not show. We utilized the Jacuzzi on our last night at Stonehurst Manor and left the next day for Kancamagus Highway.