Nov. 3rd - Moving Again.

So yesterday we finally got our lazy selves off of Leah and John's couch in Vermont and drove towards Dartmouth in Hanover, NH. (We'll be returning to their place in the next week to pick up Morgan's bike shoes that were left in Ottawa and to say one last goodbye.) We had heard of some really nice frescoes in the library at Dartmouth by Jose Clemente Orozco from Skip, Morgan's Uncle. Since we were only half an hour away, we gladly stopped to enjoy the beautiful and very political murals. I won't go into depth on the meaning behind all of the symbolism Orozco used for his ideas. Instead, here are some photos of his very impressive work and here is a note from Orozco to his audience at Dartmouth. 

 We next went looking for food and decided on Molly's Restaurant. We split a nice salad and black bean burger. We were impressed with the food. The salad had avocados, apples, walnuts, and blue cheese on it and the black bean burger was one of the best we've ever had- you could actually taste the veggies in it. After lunch we headed over to Morano Gelato. We were in heaven. Morgan got the milk chocolate gelato cone and I got the pumpkin cone. The milk chocolate was so creamy and as Morgan put it "The best ice cream I've had in my entire life". Thank you for the recommendation Leah! Another highlight of the day occurred while we were enjoying our gelato outside. We spotted a huge Great Dane in an SUV sticking his head out of the open sunroof(picture evidence below).

 After our tour of Hanover we continued north towards the White Mountain National Park. On our way we listened to the NPR Fresh Air interview with Tom Waits (thanks Tom for the recommendation). The man is a musical genius. And a very nutty genius. It seems as though his eccentric personality is not an artistic creation which he works at it, but instead a continuation of himself. One of my favorite parts was when he talked about how his wife says he has "reality distortion syndrome"(I don't think this exact syndrome even exists in textbooks quite yet). We've decided that she is probably an absolutely astounding woman and probably the greatest reason Waits is who he is today. If you haven't listened to this interview yet it is amazing and FREE over at NPR's Fresh Air Podcasts on iTunes.

 The setting sun and the winding roads encouraged us to stop for the night. So we found a picnic rest stop near a lake and small waterfall which was perfect. Since it was still early we entertained ourselves by making more postcards(sorry if you get one from me), listening to NPR podcasts, and reading. I finally finished On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Overall I really liked his vagabond stories of life during the late forties and early fifties, but I also got lost in his rambling and found myself drifting off and thinking of other things. Next, I need to finish Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

 This morning we woke up to the sun rising over the mountains and the sounds of a waterfall outside our car. After hiding from the cold in our sleeping bags for a while we decided to venture down the road to a coffee shop in N. Woodstock, NH(where we are now). The plan for the day is to hike around Franconia Notch State Park to see more wonderful sights and then we'll probably continue eastward to Maine.