Home»All Photographs»Honeymoon Part 3-Pittsburgh, NH

Pittsburgh, NH is one of our favorite places to camp and kayak. We decided to make it one of our honeymoon destinations. On the way up we took the suggestion of Pam's parents to visit Weeks State Park and climb the tower from which you get one of the best views of the Presidential Range. There we listened in on a conversation between the Park Ranger and a woman who was part Abenaki Indian and who was trying to put together some missing parts of her family tree.

Pittsburgh has earned it's reputation as "Moose Alley" -- everytime we have gone there we have seen more than one Moose. But what has eluded us, in this area, is seeing a Moose in the water while kayaking. The last time we went to Eastern Inlet, we were on the water about 7AM just as another kayaker was returning from being out on the water since 5AM. He also was a photographer and had been rewarded by seeing a Moose who was feeding in the water off the shore. We, of course, did not see a Moose that day.

Pam was determined that this would not happen again. So, we woke at 4:30AM and were out on the water by 5:30AM. It was 50 degrees F and the coolness created fog that initially gave us no visibility. But shortly after going out on the water it began to get more light and we could see for about 50 feet. Soon we could see the golden sun through the fog and make out shapes on the shore. Bob snuck up on a Great Blue Heron and, as he was taking pictures, Pam heard a splash behind her on the shore. "Bob, Bob", Pam said in a quiet voice, "Turn around, turn around." Sure enough there was a full grown Moose entering the water for a swim/walk/trot across the shallow Inlet. Bob paddled very quietly and snuck up on her, taking pictures between strokes. Suddenly the Moose came upon shallow ground and stood up staring at Bob from a very close distance. It was clear that if the Moose chose, it could reach Bob in only seconds. It was a moment to hold one's breath. Fortunately, the Moose chose to pick up its pace and head for the opposite shore. What a great encounter.

Later in the day we went to Pittsburgh's "Old Home Day". It was done on a pretty large scale complete with helicopter rides, politicians, art contests, bull riding (the mechanical variety) and a great variety of parade exhibits.

Across the street we saw a bunch of people gathering and went over to find out that someone was trying to leave and accidentally floored his truck while in reverse. Since he was parked on the edge of a cliff, he and his passenger went right off backwards falling about 40 feet. Luckily it landed on fairly soft ground and the people were not hurt too badly. They had to been rescued by firemen who had to use ropes to reach them and bring them back up. We took pictures of the truck retrieval and were thankful that there were no serious injuries.

Well, the honeymoon is over and we are back to a different kind of "reality". We hope you enjoyed the ride.