Today’s drive went west…ish. We crossed into New Hampshire then went west across to Keene, which is almost Vermont, then north a little then East. Later we just drove around our little local region because we were listening to an audiobook in the car and didn’t want to stop. Later still, after dinner we went out and drove around again because the book is fascinating.
I only took a couple of photos. I don’t remember the name of the town. I could look it up but I’m really lazy.
I don’t know if I will be able to wake up at 4:00am in order to get there in time, but if I do I’ll have a digital camera and a film camera and it will be cool.
Oh yeah, I have a good answer for this prompt. I live in Methuen, MA right on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire state line. The town next door to us is Salem, NH (not to be confused with the witch trials in Salem, MA). There is a pre-colonial site in Salem that I have never been to but will visit (with my camera) one of these days.
I don’t have a lot of time to work on this post right now so let me see if the AI assistant can write a description of the place…
Located in Salem, New Hampshire, America’s Stonehenge is a mysterious pre-colonial archaeological site shrouded in intrigue. This enigmatic complex features a series of stone structures, chambers, and astronomical alignments, sparking numerous theories and debates about its origins and purpose. Believed to be over 4,000 years old, it is often compared to England’s Stonehenge due to its fascinating alignments with solar and lunar events. Visitors can explore the site, ponder the enigmatic stone structures, and delve into the captivating history and speculation surrounding this ancient enigma.
A.I. Assistant, because Robert was too busy (and possibly too lazy) to write a little description himself
This site has been on my to-do list for years and years. When I first got my first DSLR camera in 2009 I made a list of places to photograph and American’s Stonehenge was on the list. I never got there though… possibly because the place is supposed to be a bit of a joke. I mentioned it to my wife once, ages ago, and she said she wanted to visit it with me. Maybe this year, once the weather improves, will be the year. Then the next time the daily prompt asks this same exact question (it will happen at some point, we all know it) I will have to think harder to come up with a response.
Until then… queue the Spinal Tap song (which I would find a copy of on youtube if I wasn’t so busy right now).
I thought this morning was going to be a bust. I got up to Hampton Beach in plenty of time to catch the sunrise, but there were clouds covering the horizon. Lots of them. I thought I had wasted a morning. I didn’t though. Gravitational lensing and all that? Could be.
I took a few shots before the appointed sunrise time, just because I was there and the ocean was there and we were there together and why not, right?
The waves were super wimpy, but the sky was just spectacular. I set up the tripod and put the digital camera on it for some long exposures. I’m not sure why, but none of them came out. I used shutter priority and set the time to 30 seconds. I didn’t try anything shorter than that so it’s my fault, but at least I can blame the… shit… I forgot to drop the ISO down to 100. I keep it set at 800 when I am at home. Okay. I can’t blame shutter priority, it was all my fault. Sorry about that, folks.
Anyway, I took out the ebay Nikon with Dad’s zoom lens and I was putzing around with that when suddenly I noticed the freakin’ sun was visible, popping out of the water. I guess I didn’t waste the morning after all!
Success! Two sunrise shoots in less than one week. I think I am set for sunrise at the ocean pics for a while then. Excellent.
One thing that’s fun at this spot on Hampton Beach is catching the sun reflecting off the windows across the street. It was less impressive than other visits but it was okay. I was missing my old zoom lens at this point, but I had a zoom on the film camera so I may get a good view when I get the film developed at some point in the vastly distant future.
I took a bunch of sun and water shots with the film camera. I expect they will all suck, mostly because the light meter on the Nikon FG-20 is a bitch to read. Manually focusing with that camera is also a bitch, but everything I was looking at was at infinity so that made it easier. Hopefully everything will come out okay, but we’ll have to wait and see.
I had planned to make a second stop on this morning’s photography adventure. I was going to go to downtown Lowell and walk around with one of the film cameras. Unfortunately for my plans my bladder was kinda full. I changed plans to stop at a spot in Andover where you can get up close to a railroad track, but I needed to change from route 495 South to route 93 South and I accidentally got on route 93 North, which is the way to get home. I was kind of on autopilot because I was listening to the live tracks on the deluxe edition of Rush Permanent Waves because today is Geddy Lee’s birthday and I guess I just distracted myself.
I decided I would go home, pee, and then go out for some car music. When I got home, Jen suggested I go back to bed because it was only 6:30am or so and I was going to need a nap at some point, so I went back to bed for a couple of hours and then did car music.
The weather is kinda crummy today but in the interest of the photo-a-day thing and avoiding crowds at supermarkets I found myself taking the back roads through Salem, NH and I stopped at Canobie Lake and snapped a couple pics. They suck, but so what?
Ducks!
32/265
The question now is, are we going back to Vermont again? Bellana and her roommates were in Massachusetts yesterday and they stopped at the house for a quick hello. We think one of them left their coat here because there is a coat in the dining room that doesn’t belong to either of us. It’s cold out today so we may be bringing it back to whichever roommate left it. No clear plans yet, but we’ll see.
Inside the Red Head's Head 