Boston Red Sox

“That wasn’t a lunar eclipse we all saw last night,” the D.J. explained this afternoon. That was the ghost of Babe Ruth erasing the ‘Curse of the Bambino’.

We arrived into Boston territory when the fans were despondent. Boston needed to win four games in a row against New York for the right to play in the World Series. They were down 3-0.

This was when I heard of the curse. In the early 1900’s Boston was a baseball powerhouse. In fifteen years they had won the World Series five times. Then they traded Babe Ruth (still considered to be one of the games best hitters) to New York.

“He wasn’t traded,” Jim corrected me. “He was sold - and that was even worse - and to New York too. They hated each other.” Since that trade in 1918, the Red Sox have not won another world series – until now.

Boston did win the next four games against the Yankees. Then they swept St Louis in the World Series itself. The fans are happy again - “We’re making history.”

We couldn’t afford the $3000 per ticket for the actual games, but it’s still been fun to be in Boston during the playoffs. There’s lots of talk on the radio and in the papers. Everyone is wearing a Red Sox shirt or hat. The signs read, “Reverse the Curse” or “I believe”.

We were actually in downtown Boston the day they won the World Series. We had our map out on the bar and asked the waiter where all the fans would be for the game and afterwards.

“You don’t want to be there,” he shook his head at us.

“No, we want to avoid it,” we told him.

Boston fans – or hooligans – had been stirring up trouble. One girl died in the rioting that followed the Boston win against New York.

Only one guy was noisy at the bar where we were watching. His lone voice would call out “go sox go” and then he’d bang his glass on the table. He wove his way out of the bar and ended up on the same train carriage as us on our way home. Every so often we’d still hear his cry. After about half an hour of this, a young guy with a tight white t-shirt and an attitude marched down the train carriage and attempted to shut him up. The punk had a girlfriend who dragged him back to his seat.

The three of them got off the train at the same stop. As we pulled out of the station, we watched the girlfriend holding her boy by the arm as he strained to follow the Sox fan down the platform.

“I guess the kid wasn’t happy that the Sox won,” Jim said.

Photo - Cheers

Photo - Go Sox Go

Photo - Boston Skyline

White Mountains - New Hampshire

“Man, you gotta love these Americans,” Jim nodded his head in admiration. “If there’s a big mountain – they just have to build a road to the top.” We were looking at Mt. Washington. It is the tallest mountain on the North East (6,288ft) and it has road up one side and a Cog Railway up the other.

“Some people just have to hike it but that’s not my cup of tea.” A representative of the Appalachain Mountain Club was giving us advice on trails in the area. “You sweat and strain to get up there and you are greeted by hundreds of tourists who drove! Besides the weather is usually awful.”

Mt Washington is renowned for its terrible weather. Their brochure proudly proclaims it as the site for the highest wind speed ever recorded by man – 231miles per hour. We skipped the hiking there.

Mount Washington is the focus for the White Mountains – but in reality it is a only a small part. New Hampshire’s state emblem is also located there. Or I guess I should say, was located there. The ‘Old Man of the Mountain’ was a rock formation – a striking silhouette of a face. This face is New Hampshire’s state emblem. It’s on their licence plates, highway signs, and of course t-shirts and all manner of tourist gizmos. Then, in the middle of the night, one night in 2003, the face fell off the mountain. Only the forehead is left now. The government actually had a serious discussion about rebuilding the face – such was the sense of loss.

The White Mountains also offer other granite mounts; some rough, some round and gentle. Water has engraved intricate paths in the stone to make what the locals call ‘flumes’ – carved waterfalls. Waterfalls of the regular variety are also common. In two days easy hiking we visited a dozen. And it is easy hiking. This ever-present granite enhances many of the trails.

“Can you imagine how much work it took to build these?” Jim asked as we came across yet another set of granite steps. “At least with a staircase they don’t need to build switchbacks.”

In lower elevations, there are still many beautiful areas of deciduous trees doing what they do best. For the high elevations, the leaves are no longer at their peak – or to be more exact – the leaves are now on the ground. That’s a pleasure of its own. I tend to look at my feet too much when I hike – finally I have something beautiful to actually look at.

With the weather getting colder (we finally had to scrape frost from our car), thoughts turn to skiing. We were camped at the base of the ski runs of Cannon Mountain. I began studying our map and counting the little red skiers printed on it. There were fifteen in the White Mountains itself and another fifteen within a twenty-mile radius.

“Ahh, possibilities…”

Photo - Jim Hiking

Photo - Hiking Trail

Photo - Leaf Angel

Photo - Cannon Ski Hill