Weekend Trip to the Coast of NH

This weekend we wanted to explore a bit in the Portsmouth, NH and the seacoast area.

Saturday morning we headed to Plum Island to spent the day at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.  We drove through Newburyport, MA which looked like a great little town to explore.  We wanted sand, ocean, critters, etc. so we continued on our way.  (Will visit Newburyport, MA another time).  We arrived at the visitor center to get information and a map of the refuge.  We talked to a couple people  there that gave us some great ideas for what to do. 

It cost $5 per car to get in to the refuge.  It is around 7 miles from lot 1 to lot 7.  That would be 14 miles of walking on the beach.  We decided drive and park at lot 3 then take the boardwalk to the beach and walk back toward lot 2.  The boardwalks are several hundred yards long.  We had a great time.  The tide was out so the beach was very wide.  It was windy and cold so it's good Pam brought ear muffs.  We returned by beach back to lot 3 and headed for lot 6.

On our way we spotted a Snowy Owl.  Several people were watching it feed on a duck it had killed. 

We continued to lot 6 and thought we would again walk the beach to lot 7.  Lots of nice shells.  We saw 6 unbroken sand dollars (lots of broken ones also) along the way.  One was still alive (maroon in color with little spines).  I brought my hunting GPS which said we walked almost 5 miles.  

Late afternoon we headed back to Portsmouth to check in to our hotel and make dinner reservations.  As we drove out the Snowy Owl was still enjoying the duck. 

We checked in to the hotel and headed out for dinner.  I wanted seafood so we went to Jumpin Jay's.  I had the best scallops I have ever eaten.  Portsmouth is very pretty at night so we walked around after dinner.   

I was up early on Sunday.  In fact, when I went to the hotel dining area the front desk person and the chef were watching television.  I startled them by being up so early.  I told them I was just there for coffee but they hurried to their stations.  I wanted to take pictures of "The North Church of Portsmouth" before the sun came up and people started moving about. One police car passed me and one guy walking.  Doesn't anyone get up early when they go away besides me ...

As it started to get light I headed for the water.  The center span of this bridge had been removed a few weeks back.  I took a picture of this tugboat, Miss Stacy.  In the news 2 days later there was a story and a picture about this tugboat that had gotten caught in the current moving the barge and ended up being pushed into the pier, took on water, and almost capsized.  

I continued looking for a fishing pier to take pictures. 


When I returned we checked out and headed out to explore.  We stopped at Fort Stark in New Castle.  It was used to protect Portsmouth harbor from the British in the 1700's and again in WW1 & WW2 from enemy subs.  There were a couple more fort's in the area we will explore next time.

We thought we would continue South along the ocean.  We ate lunch along the rocks.  The tide was out so the seals were sunning themselves on the exposed rocks.  I looked but no shark fins in the area. 

We arrived at Hampton beach and headed for home.  It was a relaxing and fun quick trip. 

Messin' with the Family

A photograph captures an instant in time that will never happen again.  From that moment forward it's history.  It's what happened ...

For years I fought the industry standard of juicing pictures such as replacing a washed out sky for a nice one, changing backgrounds, colors, adding things that aren't there, etc.

I take pictures because it was a moment in time I experienced ... not a made up thing.  I finally caved in and started playing with Photoshop and may take out power lines or enhance a washed out picture BUT I keep it simple.  

I do like joking around with my family and poking fun at them.  This is a casualty of me being their dad.  I may see an event or look for a photo to mess with my family.

From Cigar Guy to sports, I may change something or add a head or two where they may not have been.  It’s all to poke fun.  I like a good sense of humor.  I can poke fun at myself like I do in some of my blog posts, and poke fun at family and friends like I may do in my blog posts. 

I am not a Photoshop expert and on my best day can't compete with the likes of an expert. 

I didn't have a blog post to place said pictures ... BUT NOW I DO ...

Two Christmas Tree Hunt and Kill Family pics ... New England Patriots ... Hunting ... Olympics ... Cigar Guy ... Chara - Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins ... Gronkowski ... Starting my own family "Duck Dynasty" show ...

Smelt Fishing - What's with the name?

Rick, Doug, and I went smelt fishing in Maine on Saturday.

I have no idea what Smelt taste like. The name “Smelt” doesn’t seem very appealing. Who picked that name anyway? Rick said “You fry them up.... fabulous!” I guess I will find out!!

We are going to the River Bend Smelt Camp in Bowdoinham, ME. It’s about 2 1/2 hours north of us. The camp supplies a fishing hut, wood/stove in the hut, and bait. We will fish the incoming tide. Saturday low tide is 8 o'clock AM. Our thought was to be up at 4:30AM and on the road by 5:30AM. Doesn’t everyone do that on a Saturday?

Rick called the camp to find out more. They said we don’t need to get on the ice until 11:00AM. It takes that long for the tide to come inland to where we will be fishing. Rick brought venison stew. I brought the coffee pot.

We were in Hut 7 which was a 3 person hut. It was set up well with the stove on one wall and the ice channel on the other. There were 14 lines with a double hook set-up above the channel. We changed many of the hooks, put a piece of worm on each hook and lowered the lines. We started to heat up the venison stew and put the coffee on. The wood stove kept us very warm.

What depth do we drop the lines? How do we know when a fish is on? Do you set the hook or just keep pressure on the line when pulling the fish up? We had no idea. It seemed like we had more luck when the bait was closer to the bottom. When a fish gets hooked the line starts moving in a circle. We lost several fish pulling them up as they shook loose.

Smelt are schooling fish so you would think when one is hooked you would catch a whole bunch. They say that does happen but we were only catching one at a time. The guys in the hut not far away caught 100 fish. They were using jig poles with different set ups.

We fried the smelt we caught right on the wood stove with flour, salt, and pepper in a hot skillet with some oil. So here goes! The name “Smelt” does not sound very appetizing but to my surprise they were excellent (similar to haddock or cod).

It would be a lot of fun with families and kids. Next time we will set up jig poles as well.

Vermont Hike - Bear In The Woods

In 1983 I was introduced to a group of guys that liked hunting and fishing. We called our group "Sportsman's Fellowship". We started out hunting, fishing, and having Bible studies together. Over the years we have become the best of friends. Some of our group have come and gone because of jobs, moving, etc. but our core group hasn't changed. Our siblings were also included at a very young age and some are now adults carrying on the hunting and fishing traditions. Years ago we thought we would have a wild game dinner with bear, venison, caribou, salmon, trout, etc. Great idea but a bit unprepared when 95 guys showed up. Needless to say we ran out of everything.

We have loads of stories about our experiences in camp, in the woods, on the water, and on the ice.

Here is a true Doug story.

A few years ago there were several of us staying in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We were scouting for deer season.

Doug decided he was going to hike to the top of Gore Mountain just north of Island Pond. I do believe there is a trail to the top that is 4 miles or so but Doug wasn't going to take the trail.

Gore Mountain is one of the highest mountains in the Northeast Kingdom at 3,330 feet. Coming from Rt. 114 (around 1350 feet) it's a steep climb. If you hike to the back side it is a bit easier but much longer.  Doug is pretty strong and in good shape.  I remember Doug helped Pam and I move to a condo. I was in the condo and heard a loud bang. It was Doug. He had taken our queen size pull out couch, mattress and all, off of the truck and proceeded to carry it on his back to the second floor by himself. He got hung up in the stairwell going through the door hence the bang.

Anyway, anyone who knows Doug will tell you he can cover more distance, rough terrain, and hills than most men in a very short amount of time. (i.e. South Rim of the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch and back in 6 hours.)

It was raining on the Saturday he asked me to hike Gore with him. With bad memories of past hikes and having good common sense I declined. Rain + a steep climb + a long distance + a very fast pace + average conditioning on my part + DOUG = A BAD EXPERIENCE. I dropped him off on Rt. 114 for his climb.

Doug said he hiked for a long time and stopped at one point as the rain let up. He said "I was tired!" This meant I would have been hobbling a half mile back most likely trying to get back to Rt. 114 and probably lost (pre GPS).

Because of the rain, walking was very quiet in the woods. As he stood there he heard a noise Shhhhhh ... Shhhhhhhhh ... Shhhhhh ... Shhhhhhh ... He looked around and thought "What in the world is that noise" ... Just then he caught a quick glimpse of black in the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a black bear run straight away from him crashing through the brush.

It was black bear season but it happened so fast Doug said his .44 pistol (named Bertha) never cleared his holster.

It turned out Doug stopped in the middle of a beechnut grove. Doug didn't realize it but there was a black bear up in a beechnut tree eating beechnuts. Because of the rain the bear didn't smell or hear Doug walking. As he rested the bear must have spotted or smelled him and became nervous. The Shhhhhhhhh ... Shhhhhhhh ... noise was the sound of the bear sliding down the tree to escape. 

I took a picture of this beechnut tree with bear claw marks on it when I was hunting.  It's one of my favorite trees in the woods.

Doug continued to the top then down again to Rt. 114. I got a call to pick him up. He was so hungry we headed straight to the store for some food.

A black bears senses are so good they typically smell or hear a person coming and move off. The odds of seeing a bear in the woods is rare. The odds of keeping up with Doug on a hike is also rare.

ActionshotsNH - Photography Collage

I enjoy taking pictures of activities my family and I are involved with.  Several years back I decided to make a collage.  Would it be a theme, a recap, or what?  I would use one of my photos for a background and add my subject photos to show something.  I really like the individual photos but there is something about a collage which makes a good summary of an event.  They would make nice posters. 

My first collage of skydiving parachutes.  I had a couple good sky photos and some colorful parachute canopy pictures.  I tried to create some kind of flow showing the parachute canopy colors so I took the skydivers out.  I get a lot of views on my blog for this so people must like it.

Kevin and I enjoy the 2012 AMA Pro Hillclimb event in NH.  I put this up on facebook and many of the riders tagged themselves to the photo.

After an excellent year of trail camera pictures I saw a fresh boot track on a trail I cut with a fresher deer track in it so I used that as the background adding the trail cam pictures from my hunting buddies.  The trail camera pictures were from Ryan, Derek, Stephen, and Ray. 

The NH ice fishing derby on Lake Winniepesaukee has been tradition for several years.  We have had large groups and small groups.  Great time, cold, fishing, food, and some nice ice shanty's.

We have been going to the Vermonster 4x4 mud races.  I decided to make this Vermonster collage. 

Vermonster also had a hill climb event at Whaleback Mountain.  No mud ... but snow ... had fun taking pictures and put this together.

Kate likes the Ford Mustang so this collage is for her.

This Crash & Burn Collage has some of my crash pictures with a parachute cut-away picture I took.  Which is worse?  A parachute malfunction with a cut away, cracking up a motorcycle, or rolling/crashing a car/truck/monster truck/snowmobile ... All have the potential to be painful.

This is from the 2013 AMA Hillclimb.  I took several pictures of Anthony DeHart so I thought I would do one of him.

I could go back over my adventures and do quite a few of these. If we continue going to some of the same events I may make another collage for a specific truck/car/rider/etc.

Over the years Pam's grandma made afghans for all her grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I took one of my sky pictures and made this for her.  I also did a Vermonster Monster Truck collage with the BIGFOOT truck in the middle.  

Had a great time at the 2014 AMA Hillclimb during Bike Week in NH.  

While exploring on vacation I spotted a garden by the ocean with lots of bird houses.  It was oceanfront property with no house.  On the fence was this sign.  The gate had a private keep out sign so I took some pictures from the street.

For years Mike and Lauren have been gracious hosts to us during hunting season.  I made Mike a hunting collage with some of our people pics.  Great memories.  Some big bucks from the group over the years and I thought "Buckwacka" was appropriate. 

I recently went to a car show and saw some very nice cars.  When I saw a lobster boat with the name "three E's" it reminded me of my 3 daughters.

I shoot pistols at my Fish & Game club a bit.  These black and white targets are 5.25" in diameter and the black and green targets are 4" in diameter.  At a distance of 12' to 25' who says I can't hit the "Broad Side of a Barn?"

When you go to the top of my blog to "Search this Blog" you can use key words to find the event I blogged about; skydiving, AMA hillclimb, hunting adventures, Vermonster, ice fishing, Monson Village, Whaleback ...

This is a work in progress ...