This morning was the first time we'd experienced temperatures in the single digits (Celsius) for months! Sure, it was 9 degrees Celsius, but we could fill the chill in the air! We drove through beautiful fall foliage, before arriving at The Mount Washington Cog Railway. "The Cog" goes up 3 climate zones to the top of Mount Washington, the highest peak in the US northeast region, which is 6,288 feet (1,916 meters) tall, and has been doing so since 1869. Fun fact: the mountains in New Hampshire are named after US presidents--there's also Mount Adams, Mount Jefferson, Mount Madison, Mount Pierce, Mount Monroe, and Mount Eisenhower (which was renamed from Mount Pleasant in 1969).
There are several ride options available, and we decided to do the "Fall Foliage" trip, which is a ride only available for a few weeks (end of September to mid October), to go 4,000 feet up the mountain, and unlike the ones that go all the way to the top, we would be riding in vintage coal-fired steam locomotives (the others run on biodiesel fuel, which have been available since 2008). We had plenty of time to hang out before our trip, and as we were already elevated, we got to see some pretty spectacular views around the White Mountain National Forest.
Once it was time to board, we got into our assigned seats (we were second from the front), meeting an Aussie couple who were in our coveted front row seats, who were traveling around the US for a few weeks from Queensland. They had already been in the US for a couple of weeks, and commented with surprise that we were the first Aussies that they'd encountered so far on their trip--surprising to us too, because they'd been to some major cities and Aussies love to travel everywhere!
Our guide on the steam locomotive told us that our train was over 150 years old, and that the railway had been built by New Hampshire businessman and inventor Sylvester Marsh, who nearly died in fierce weather while hiking to the summit. People thought he was crazy to build a railway at first, but it seemed to be quite an adventure to be working on it--men would sljde down on shingles after a day's work, reaching speeds of over 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour to get to the bottom!
Because Mount Washington is on a steep incline, the locomotive's firebox is on a noticeable angle, so that when the fireman shovels the coal from the bunker into the firebox it can effectively generate the steam for propulsion. There were 2 men working inside the locomotive, and we learned that to get the whole way up, the locomotive needs 1 ton of coal. Even for our short journey, we'd use up at least a couple of hundred pounds of coal.
Once we got to the highest point our train would go, we got out to see the lovely views, which were completely of the White National Forest, except for one large, sprawling white set of buildings in the distance that turned out to be a hotel. We definitely felt like we were in a remote part of the state! After a decent stop (also allowing our locomotive firemen to have a break from shoveling coal), we headed back down again, waiting for a while to also allow the trains coming up to pass us, and for the tracks to change so that our much-older train could descend. Our bench seats had been on an incline as we went up, and we swiveled the backs around for us to then face the other way, watching our guide work the brakes as we went down. The whole trip lasted about 90 minutes, and while the price of the tickets were a splurge for us, we enjoyed the unique excursion!
A Long, Long, Long Drive
After leaving The Cog, we drove back downhill, and ended up getting routed through a narrow, windy, and gravelly length of road that was densely populated with trees, with some trails and creeks along the way. There would definitely be moose, fox, and other animals residing in these parts! We were so enamored with the scenery, that we just had to get out and go for a short stroll with Sheila to explore. Today was definitely a forest bathing day!
Our plan was to drive to Maine (state #41!), to go to Arcadia National Park, one of the most popular national parks in the US (it has about 4 million visitors per year). However, to achieve this, we would need to drive for about 6 hours to get as close to there as possible! So...we had a LOT of driving, and our only stop was a pullout on the highway to have lunch, before continuing on.
Finally, we arrived that evening at our stop for the night, a Walmart store. We went in to buy a few groceries, and Michael purchased some alcoholic ciders to drink. We were at the self-checkout counter, and as we've experienced many times, an alert came up saying that we'd need to have one of the staff check ID to go through with the purchase. A young lady came up to us and asked for not just Michael's ID, but Lisette's as well! We were surprised, because that's never happened in all the times we've done this, and Lisette didn't have her ID on her. We told her this and said that the drinks were all for Michael (true) and he was paying anyway (also true), but she refused to let us proceed. Michael commented that there was no way we looked like we were under 21 (very true), but she declined and then reached over in front of us to yank the alcohol off the counter, and pressed the screen to remove it from our purchases! We were so shocked by her customer service that we told her that we weren't going to buy any of the other things, and when we asked for her name and to speak to her manager, she covered her name tag, and walked over to a colleague with our request, and we could see her from a distance pointing and laughing at us.
This was now beyond bad customer service--this employee was horrendous at how she behaved, and was very immature and inappropriate in how she handled the situation. Eventually we got the manager of the store over, who did stick to the policy, but agreed that this employee behaved poorly and that she required more training, because she should never have covered her name tag, behaved like she did with the transaction, and how she was laughing and carrying on. It just makes anyone--including us--more annoyed. Apparently for alcohol purchases, ID is essential if someone looks below the age of 50, not 21!
After we left the store, we wondered what would happen if a parent was buying alcohol and was with their underage child shopping--would they then be unable to purchase? Apparently... yes, this could be the case! This struck us as being such an odd policy, as it puts the onus and punishes the store, and creates some very tricky hurdles. So now we know that Lisette should always carry her ID, in case such a situation were to arise in the future!