August 3 - Quechee and Shakers

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Below is Joya, exhibiting the respect for authority and rules that all teens dutifully display.  She even convinced the rest of us to come over with her, and no, the dam wasn't opened up while we were down there.  If you can't read the sign, it reads "WARNING: Climbing gorge wall is forbidden $500 fine if rescue is necessary".  Fortunately for us we did not require rescue; our funds were low enough as it is.

The gorge.  The river rises more that 50 feet at times, based on the line at which we saw debris hung about in the trees.

After the hike down to the gorge, we hitched up the trailer and headed East again, into New Hampshire.  On our way across this fine state, we stopped at one of the few fully preserved Shaker communities.  The last Shaker there died in the late 90s.  For those readers who don't know, the Shakers were one of the several religious sects who attempted to create utopias.  The Shakers were originally called the "Shaking Quakers", since they took Quaker beliefs as the basis for their religion.  The Shakers were a very hard working, caring people -- who did not believe in sex.  Married persons did not even touch.  Needless to say this may have contributed to their declining numbers.  They grew their communities by recruitment and by adopting orphans.  There are now only 7 Shakers left in the world, living in a Shaker community in Maine.

This shot shows some of the work buildings, and gives a bit of a feel for the village.

While taking one of the the tours offered, the girls made a friend!  Or at least, Beatrice made two.   She was perversely  reluctant to rejoin her family.

It gets very cold here, and the Shakers needed huge quantities of wood to keep all of the families warm.  500 cords, to be exact!  That's 5 cords per building per year.  The shot below is a small fraction of what was used.

After the tour, we continued driving, arriving at our campground in Epsom, near Concord, New Hampshire, at dusk.  The layout was nice, with plenty of space and enough trees, and it had a pool and Jacuzzi.  It was a bit unsettling, though; it had a large number of folks living there full time.  They had lots of junk sitting about their little yards, and the main activities seemed to be sitting around drinking beer, and listening to your kids cry.  Different strokes, as they say.

August 4 - One Man's Dream