It's all about the journey (and the best kayaking in New Hampshire)

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

September 9, 2022

Today is a motor home travel day, and we have several stops to make along the way. We don't have an exciting destination, but we're looking forward to the stops in our journey to get there. Sometimes it's all about the journey! Our first stop was to check out another local apple orchard. So we drove a few miles to Smith Orchards, where the ripening apples make a beautiful picture against the bright blue sky.

We are learning the protocol of buying apples direct from the growers. At Smith Orchard, you can purchase a bag, and then go out into the orchard to fill it as full as you want. Those bags cost $15 per peck, or $25 per bushel, or you can pick smaller quantities and pay $1.50 per pound. We also love to talk to the apple growers, and find out how they got into this business. The Smith family bought this orchard 38 years ago, and has been selling apples ever since. They started with the original 300 trees in the orchard, and then planted 2,500 more semi-dwarfs in 1984. The dwarf trees are easier to pick, and they said their insurance company charges more for the old trees because people have to climb ladders to pick those apples.

We picked a sizable sack of apples, and paid for them by the pound. They included some of the newer varieties from the dwarf trees. But Denisa had to pick a few Cortland apples from the trees planted in 1928 and still producing fruit almost 100 years later. It looks like we'll be having more apple-tasting competitions in the days to come. So far our taste tests have determined that a fresh-picked apple tastes great, no matter the variety.

With our apple reserves replenished, we continued our journey down the road. Mark had to do some research for today's relocation drive in the motor home. He had to find parking areas that were big enough and smooth enough for the motor home along the highway. It was a 26-mile drive to our next stop--New Hampshire Covered Bridge #16. Yes, this state has so many bridges that they have to number them and then make the list available for bridge fans like Denisa.

This old bridge has its original wooden pegs that were used in its construction many years ago. 

We are driving on little remote highways today, passing more moose crossing signs. But still no moose! Thirteen miles later, we made our third stop on this travel day. Mark had to look a long time to find a spot to park the motor home in this very rural part of the state. He finally chose this place on the side of the road, and we tried to ignore the "state property no trespassing" sign on the building next to us. We're assuming that they don't want us to trespass in that barn--not on this little parking space.

After parking the motor home, we unhooked the pickup and drove it another three miles to Grafton Pond. It's a beautiful blue-sky-no-wind day with the puffy clouds mirrored in the pond. We have been disappointed that we couldn't find a good place to kayak when we were staying in the lake region of New Hampshire. It's hard to find a nice lake that isn't surrounded with houses, but that does have a public dock and a public parking lot. We also prefer a natural setting away from big roads. Is that too much to ask?

When we googled, "best places to kayak in New Hampshire," Grafton Pond kept showing up. It's big enough to go to the trouble of inflating the kayak, but small enough that the winds won't bother us. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!

It wasn't easy getting here, but we're glad we went to the trouble. We inflated our kayak and almost immediately started seeing wildlife.

The water is about ten feet below normal, but it is still beautifully clear. As we paddled close to the shore, a monarch butterfly fluttered at the end of our oar.

We paddled a circle around the edges of the lake. When we were on the far edge, the loons started calling to each other. It's just magical to be on a lake, listening to the changing calls of two or more loons communicating with each other across the water. Even though we hadn't seen any loons yet, it was so fun to hear them. Loons have different calls that range from tremolos to yodels to wails. We sat silently in the kayak for more than ten minutes, just listening to the call of the loons.

As we paddled into different coves, we started spotting the loons. This young loon still has his brown feathers. But he is old enough to be by himself, napping with his beak under his wing and oblivious of our presence.

We got close enough to wake him. But these are social birds that don't mind posing for pictures. We read that seeing a loon is a good sign of water quality. These birds need clear pure water so they can see the fish they dive to catch. We can confirm that the water here is beautifully clear.

We also spotted an osprey at the top of a tree, eyeing the water for fish for dinner.

We paddled into one of the last coves at Grafton Pond when we had the best animal encounter of the day. Two loon parents were swimming with their adolescent chick in the waters ahead of us.

Then we experienced something that we had never seen before. We watched as an adult loon dove under the water, and then resurfaced with a tiny fish in its beak.

With water still beading up on his feathers, the parent would paddle over to their baby . . .

and hand over that fish. We watched over and over, and we never saw the parents gulp down a single fish. They always gave them to their offspring.

Loons are "seriously monogamous," and this pair is obviously doing a good job of providing for their family. We caught them with their beaks pressed together, gazing at each other with loon-love in their red eyes. It was a tender moment on Grafton Pond.

We didn't paddle toward them, but they continued to fish close to our kayak. It was such fun! Another fun fact is that loons are true water birds. The only time they go onto land is to mate, and then to sit on the nest.

We've never gotten such clear pictures of loon-fishing, and we were certainly enjoying it.

Once the baby was full, the family swam away together. Thanks for the show!

We were on the water for 2.5 hours on Grafton Pond. We'd have to agree with others that this is a great place to kayak in New Hampshire! We dried off our boat and put it away.

We drove back to the motor home, glad to see that it wasn't ticketed for parking in an inappropriate place. We hooked up the pickup, and then drove 19 more miles to our boondocking spot for the night at Walmart in Lebanon, New Hampshire. We had planned to visit a nearby National Historic Site, but we had spent too much time on the water. We'll make that stop tomorrow instead. We ate pizza and salad for dinner, and enjoyed a quiet night in the Walmart parking lot. On this travel day, we could have driven 63 miles in about an hour on a big highway to get to this Walmart destination. But instead, we drove the little roads and visited out-of-the-way spots like an apple orchard, a covered bridges, and the best kayaking pond in New Hampshire. Our 63 miles stretched to an all day journey. Our destination wasn't just a Walmart parking lot today--it's all about the journey to get there.

P.S. In our apple competition today, the Honeycrisp from Smith Orchard narrowly defeated the Cortland apples from the 92-year-old trees. But we have to say that they were both great. Fresh-picked apples are so much better than those you can buy at the grocery store!