Bear essentials

We've spent a while on the road today, heading northeast towards our vacation destination. 

Along the way we stopped for lunch in Hanover, New Hampshire - home of Ivy League Dartmouth College (and also one-time home of Bill Bryson).  It's a tiny place.  We checked out a couple of bookstores and cafes on Main Street.  At Lou's Restaurant the Boy ordered what purported to be "the best milkshake in town" (but when we asked him if it really was the best he replied earnestly that he couldn't really say, as he hadn't had any other milkshakes in that town).

Now we're at our en route accommodation, the Stonybrook Motel in Franconia, NH.  I've always fancied staying in a real motel - one of those one-storey places where you park your car right outside the door to your room.  This one is not grand by any means - I'm not sure that any of them are - but if you don't mind just basic facilities, and decor circa 1974, it's really not bad.  And the setting is splendid - grassy fields around the backs of the buildings, a pond and a river, and views of the White Mountains.  On top of that, an indoor swimming pool where we had fun racing each other, and now the Man is teaching the kids about another type of pool in the Games Room.

And...as we were setting out for dinner this evening we saw A BEAR!  It was just wandering around the motel grounds and (from a safe distance) we watched it climb a tree and then fall out of it when a branch broke under its weight - it was huge! 

Wow.  I've never seen a bear in the wild before.  I'm kind of glad we're not camping... But anyway, now I'm holding out for a moose...