I remember when I began teaching full time at Eastern Nazarene College, I was invited to a faculty retreat during the first week of November. It was being held in a place called “Woodward’s Resort” in Lincoln, New Hampshire. I had no idea what to expect. I had never been to New Hampshire, and never been to a retreat of any kind. And, best of all, my wife and son were able to come with me. My son loved the fact that the resort had an indoor swimming pool and game room.

Woodward’s had a meeting room where we ate our breakfast, and where we could meet to play games, have worship services on Sunday morning before departing. There was a dining room where we were served the finest of lunches and dinners. Best of all, Saturday afternoons we were free to explore the area for a few hours, and I quickly learned how many trails and sightseeing locations abound in the area. Some of my favorites included The Flume, The Basin, Profile Lake, and of course the many overlooks along the Kancamagus Highway which stretches about 32 miles through the White Mountains from Lincoln to Conway. As a budding photographer, I really enjoyed these locations and quickly became known for arriving at meetings with the latest photos of the day. I even began getting up early in the morning to catch the sunrise at the Sugar Hill Overlook, or photographing the rapids and waterfalls along the Sawyer River.

A few years later, the location for the faculty retreats was changed to the Red Roof Inn in North Conway for a couple of years. This was great for the kids because it had an indoor water park. There were spacious meeting areas, and an incredible all-you-can eat brunch buffet on Sunday mornings. I would lead excursions to the nearby Diana’s Baths, a beautiful waterfall area near the inn. Sadly a few years later, the faculty retreats were no longer possible.

As our family got more familiar with what the White Mountains and nearby areas had to offer, we began to spend a few days there each summer for several years. We stayed at Woodward’s and also at a place down the road known as Indian Head Resort. We often took the Cog Railway or our car to get to the top of Mount Washington, the highest mountain in New England at 6,288 feet. We went shopping in North Conway (my favorite was the Columbia store and Ragged Mountain Sports). We enjoyed ice cream at a placed called “Udderly Delicious” in Lincoln. And once we even went on a boat ride on Squam Lake to see the loons. We even ventured beyond the White Mountains to the far northern reaches of New Hampshire in a place called Pittsburg, which was right on the Quebec border.

As a wildlife ecologist and photographer, I began to become consumed with the idea of seeing and photographing a moose in the wild. There were signs everywhere to watch out for moose, but it seemed like they knew how to evade me at every turn. This is why we began going to Pittsburg because there was a stretch of road there known as “Moose Alley”. I would get up at ungodly hours (3-4 am) to drive down Moose Alley with a spotlight and look for moose. Finally, one morning at about 4 am, I was driving back to the cabin when I saw a moose along the side of the road. I stopped my car and tried to get my camera in position for a photograph, and was having some trouble focusing in the dark despite the spotlight. The moose and I look at each other for what seemed like a minute or two, and then it went trotting down the trail and I never got the photo. I was kicking myself for days after that.

A couple of years later, when I had given up hope, we were driving back from North Conway to Lincoln along the Kancamagus Highway when we noticed a few cars along the side of the road at dusk. This was a sure fire sign that a moose was nearby. We stopped the car, and we could see a young bull moose foraging in the undergrowth. There was a gap between our car and the next car, and the moose started coming out to cross the road in that gap. My wife felt that she had some kind of connection with that moose and she just stood there as it came toward her. I grabbed her arm and got her over to the car in case the moose decided to charge. It did eventually cross the road and kicked the car on the other side before trotting off into the woods. I got TWO usable pictures from all of that … but at least I got them. We have since seen one other moose, a young bull, at Lily Pond along the Kancamagus Highway.

As I am writing this blog, I once again find myself in New Hampshire, for the first time since the COVID pandemic. I was able to come up here again due to the generosity of ENC, who chose me as their “Travels With Charlie” award receipient this year. The money provided has paid for this wonderful trip for myself and family. I am grateful to God for another chance to spend time in this little slice of heaven. I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures from this most recent adventure: