My Love Affair With New Hampshire
My love affair with New Hampshire started a long time ago, even before I met my husband. It was love at first sight, actually, and at the time had a lot to do with the summer job I had at a boys' camp. (I reminisced about this experience a while back.)
The real draw for me over the years, however, has been Mt. Washington. It has been my heart's desire to climb Mt. Washington ever since I first set foot on it. I love to hike and we've been hiking and camping in the White Mountains numerous times, but I've always been too out of shape to even consider hiking to the top.
But not anymore. I'm in the best physical condition I've ever been in--even when I was young and spry I wasn't in this good of shape--so I'm finally going to do it. My husband and I have got a hut-to-hut hike planned for early July and I am going to ascend the mountain of my dreams once and for all.
As I was looking for music to go along with this post, I came across the song "New Hampshire" by Matt Pond PA. It is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in a long time, and I love the lyrics.
My favorite part is when he sings of going back to New Hampshire:
I’m going home back to New Hampshire
I’m so determined to lay in lakes and see my sisters
I will hit my brother and hold my mother
I don't have any family in New Hampshire, I don't even know anyone who lives there. The only person that I know there is myself, the young woman that I was when I was first there, that part of me that feels fully alive whenever I'm back there. That's who I'm going back home to.
Matt Pond PA--"New Hampshire" mp3 off Emblems (buy)
photo by Patrick LaFreniere via Mount Washington Observatory
That's great and I wish you the BEST of luck and some good weather for the
climb. I've never even driven up that thing, and it's not that far away
from here.
thank you! i'm hoping for at least decent weather--no thunderstorms or
dense fog. the last time i drove up, about two years ago, it was so foggy
that i thought we were going to die. i had the kids in the car and i was
driving and it was all i could do to keep going. there was no place to pull
over, no way to know if anyone was right behind you so you couldn't
stop--it was terrifying. those conditions lasted for about the last two
miles up to the summit. of course, after we were there about 20 minutes,
the clouds cleared and we had beautiful views. we didn't stay too long,
though, coz i said to the kids that we had to go down while the going was
good! i can't imagine hiking it could be any scarier than that was. :)
I loved this post, especially what you wrote at the end. I hope you have
a wonderful trip!
aw, thank you! i am really looking forward to it. i have exactly one month
to break in my boots . . . :)
How funny that I came across this entry in your blog. I was browsing
through all of the great MP3's that you have posted and downloading quite a
few when I saw Mt. Washington and thought, wait- no way. Sure enough, here
you are talking with your love affair with NH. It funny because I have a
similar one with the state myself- I grew up there and currently reside in
Virginia. I miss it everyday- my insides ache for it, really. How nice to
hear someone else loving it as much as me- and you're not even from there!
Also- this Matt Pond PA song is one of the few songs that exists with the
ability to make me weep. It is so encompassing of NH that I listen to it,
and I am home. The cello is what makes it for me- it's as if it voices my
longing, y'know?
wow, thank you so much for all you kind words! i am glad you found so much
to like. :) there really is something special about new hampshire, isn't
there? i can't wait for my upcoming trip. it's one of the things that's
keeping me going at the moment, the thought of being in those forests, the
views from above treeline . . . everything about it! i'll be sure to check
out your blog, too. thanks again for stopping by.
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