Old toll bridge

Old toll bridge, originally uploaded by MemaNH.

This spans the Connecticut River between Charlestown, NH and Springfield, VT. It ceased to be a toll bridge in 2001.

The first Cheshire Bridge, completed in 1806, was a wooden covered bridge established according to a ferry charter granted by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1772. All who crossed it paid a toll. Four-wheeled carriages were charged 25 cents, a horse and a rider six cents and pedestrians one cent.

In 1896, the Springfield Electric Railway Company purchased the Cheshire Toll Bridge and the ferry charter for $8,400. The wooden bridge was replaced with a steel truss structure which cost the company $225,000. The current Cheshire Toll Bridge was built in 1930 and completely rehabilitated in 1992 following its purchase by the State of New Hampshire.

Approximately 4,000 vehicles a day cross the Cheshire Bridge. In fiscal year 2000, tolls and user fees on the bridge generated $495,823 in income. The toll rate for a two-axle vehicle has been 35 cents.

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Chipmunks!

Chipmunks!, originally uploaded by sarunas.b.

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Okay, so some of you caught me publishing a photo in my sleep. Or perhaps it was because I was in Maine yesterday that I got confused. In any case, I hope this little guy will help you smile and say Thank You for keeping me on track. :)

From the Summit

Scenes from the Summit 1, originally uploaded by dmalantic.

Summit of Mount Washington, Sargent's Purchase, NH

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Stairway to Heaven

IMG_4375, originally uploaded by Matt Feldermann.

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...or the top of Mount Washington anyway.

USS Albacore

USS Albacore, originally uploaded by erik.swenson.

the USS Albacore, making steam against the rising tide of weeds


USS Albacore

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Welcome Aboard — USS Albacore (AGSS-569)

The third Navy vessel to bear the name, the Auxiliary General Submarine (AGSS) Albacore holds a place in history as the first Navy-designed vessel with a true underwater hull of cylindrical shape that has become the standard for today's submarines worldwide.

Designed, built and maintained by the skilled engineers and craftsmen of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Albacore served as a sea-going test platform from 1953 to 1972. Albacore's teardrop-shaped hull was the prototype for the Navy's nuclear powered submarine force and was the first boat built specifically to operate underwater. Prior to Albacore, submarines had been characterized as surface vessels that could submerge. With her revolutionary hull design and state-of-the-art systems, Albacore provided the Navy with an engineering platform to evaluate systems and design features before including them in future classes of submarine. Her motto was Praenuntius Futuri (Forerunner of the Future) and her mission was experimental.

Commissioned in December of 1953, Albacore was only 2/3rds the length of a World War II Fleet Boat and, when outfitted with her special high capacity silver-zinc battery, could out run a contemporary nuclear submarine. In 1966, she set the record as the world's fastest submarine having attained an underwater speed of nearly 40 miles per hour.

Used for testing control and propulsion systems, sonar equipment, dive brakes, escape mechanisms, and various innovative theories and equipment, Albacore was truly a unique Navy floating laboratory.

In September of 1972, Albacore was decommissioned and placed in reserve at the Inactive Ship Facility in Philadelphia. Ten years later, Portsmouth City Councilman Bill Keefe began an effort to return Albacore to her place of birth as a permanent display. It took two years, lots of paperwork and committee meetings before Albacore was towed from Philadelphia to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. In May of 1985, Albacore was maneuvered through a dismantled railroad bridge and a cutout section of four lane highway toward her final resting place. It took nearly six months and a system of locks before she finally was settled on a concrete cradle at Albacore Park.

Your tour of Albacore begins outside the entrance to the museum. There are a series of five outdoor podiums and panels with push buttons that are part of a self-guided audio tour. An additional eleven audio sites continue the tour inside Albacore. The narratives relate not only interesting facts about the boat but also include comments by former crew members of incidents that occurred while they were on board.

Albacore provides a unique opportunity to see where a crew of 55 worked and lived. You will see some of the unusual features of this prototype submarine and hear some of the experiences of her crew.

For information on how to get to Albacore Park, hours of operation and tour charges, please check the Visitor Center section.

Find out more information...

Snack

Snack, originally uploaded by NorthIsUp.

An afternoon nosh near Hancock, NH. For better details, view in the large size.

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Round Pond

Round Pond, originally uploaded by mariaaobrien.

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Spam Warrior

Spam Warrior, originally uploaded by Frank Lynch.

Harrisville, New Hampshire

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Leaf blower

Leaf blower, originally uploaded by NorthIsUp.

No time to properly compose this one, but I liked the look of the leaves in the old car's wake.

Joppa Hill Road, Bedford, NH.

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YES WE DID!

Barack Obama, originally uploaded by StarrGazr.

Londonderry, NH

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President Elect Barack Obama

Obama tops McCain in NH

By HOLLY RAMER – 15 hours ago

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The state that gave Barack Obama his first primary setback supported him when it counted Tuesday.

The Illinois Democrat defeated John McCain to claim New Hampshire's four electoral votes. The call was based on an analysis of voter interviews conducted for The Associated Press by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International and early vote returns.

Also, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen ousted Republican Sen. John Sununu in a bitter rematch of their 2002 race. Shaheen is the first Democrat elected to the Senate from New Hampshire in 33 years.

And Democratic Gov. John Lynch won a third term in a landslide, beating GOP state Sen. Joe Kenney.

Though Obama had held a solid lead in polls heading into Election Day, he had cautioned his supporters not to get cocky, given that he lost the primary to Hillary Rodham Clinton back in January under similar circumstances.

But this time, his organizational advantage and the Democratic Party's growing strength in New Hampshire propelled him to victory.

"I think he'll do a great deal to restore our reputation in the world," said Democrat Alasdair Drysdale, 58, a professor from Portsmouth. "He's got the best temperament, the right temperament. I like his energy, his intellect and his fundamental decency."

For McCain, who had campaigned heavily in New Hampshire, it was his first loss in a state that twice had launched him toward the GOP nomination. He won an upset victory here last winter in the Republican primary after his campaign had been all but declared dead.

An AP exit poll showed Obama scored high among moderates and independents in New Hampshire, with close to two-thirds in each group pushing him to victory.

The exit poll showed Obama also won voters who had strong worries about the nation's economy and a desire to elect a president who could bring about change and reflect their values. Obama and McCain held ground among their party's political bases.

In the Senate race, Sununu had portrayed the former governor as a "taxing machine"; she depicted him as President Bush's equally evil twin.

Six years ago, when Bush was still popular, Sununu defeated Shaheen by 4 percentage points. This time, Shaheen had the twin advantages of Obama's coattails and a demographic shift that has helped the Democrats. A study by the University of New Hampshire estimated that one-quarter of the electorate has changed since 2002, with young voters and newcomers to the state more likely to identify themselves as Democrats.

Last Waltz for McCain in New Hampshire?

John McCain, originally uploaded by StarrGazr.

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November 2nd, 2008

Last Waltz for McCain in New Hampshire?

Posted by: Andy Sullivan

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. — On Sunday night, John McCain returned to where it all began.

The Republican presidential candidate flew to New Hampshire for one last question-and-answer session with the voters who put him on the map in 2000 and brought his campaign back from the dead in January of this year.

“I come to the people of New Hampshire … and ask again to let me go on one more mission,” McCain said at the Peterborough town hall.

Peterborough has a special significance for McCain. It hosted his last town hall meeting in 2000, when he won the Republican primary over frontrunner George W. Bush. Peterborough also hosted McCain’s 100th town hall gathering last year, at a time when his campaign was out of cash and on the rocks.

“There was a time not that long ago that I was riding on a well known airline, Group C in the middle seat, from Baltimore to Manchester, so we’ve come a long way thanks to you,” he said, referring to a period when he would fly on discount Southwest Airlines to get to campaign events.

Now McCain has two private jets to carry around his entourage.

The question-and-answer session had a more casual feel from the amped-up, tightly scripted rallies that dominate his schedule in the campaign’s final stretch. No teleprompters were in sight as the Arizona senator fielded questions from an enthusiastic crowd on immigration, student loans and energy.

McCain was joined by a posse of senators – Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Judd Gregg and John Sununu of New Hampshire, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Sam Brownback of Kansas — but was introduced by Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, a demigod of sorts in Sox-crazed New England.

New Hampshire may have rescuscitated McCain’s career twice before, but it might not help him on Tuesday. The former Republican stronghold has been trending Democratic in recent years, and polls show McCain trailing Democratic rival Barack Obama by an average of 11 percentage points.

Tellingly, senior aide Charlie Black didn’t mention New Hampshire as he sketched out a possible victory scenario to reporters on the plane earlier in the day.