Melby's Travels

A sunny day with friends! Since its early days, the town of Concord was known for its wealth. Every prominent figure who visited Boston would also visit Concord. The resources concentrated in Concord drew the attention of the British army in 1775; those resources were Minutemen munitions.  We visited the Old Manse, where Reverend William Emerson - the "Patriot pastor" - once resided. He was known as the Patriot pastor because he preached that people had the divine right to freedom and that there should be no taxation without representation. In fact, the British army and Minuteman had converged on the grounds of the Old Manse in 1775. All of the men in the Emerson family attended Harvard College, followed by Harvard Divinity School. The top Harvard student would often become the priest of Concord, though most of the Emerson family became priests in surrounding areas of Boston. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the grandson of William Emerson, did not want to follow in this tradition. While...

Leading up to this trip, there was anxious anticipation about the forecasted rain. Nevertheless, the Acadia trip had toughened my skin and I was undeterred by the potential storms. I had enjoyed Acadia despite being soaked for two days and figured that a little rain wouldn't do much harm on this trip to the White Mountains. Plus, the rain would be part of the immersion in nature. We drove up to the MITOC cabin on Friday night, stopping at Hannaford - a New England grocery chain with a large selection and good prices (thank you low New Hampshire taxes!) - along the way. One group decided to leave soon after trip planning to hike Moosilauke under the moonlight, sleep on the mountain, and wake up for the sunrise. I decided against it for my attachment to sleep and lack of layers for sleeping in mountaintop temperatures.  When the Moosilauke group returned in the morning, we departed for Morgan-Percival along with part of the all-nighter group. Like most White Mountain trails, the Morg...