[at-l] who, where, & why

[buchanan at gtcinternet.com (S Buchanan)]

I write from my computer which is in the room adjoining my bedroom.  I 
live alone in a huge 5 bedroom house, so have taken over two of the 
rooms as my "suite".  House was built in 1800 as the Kearsarge Tavern 
(and Inn).  Mary Todd Lincoln spent a summer here - yes, I sleep in the 
Lincoln Bedroom <G>  The floors upstairs are incredible - pine boards as 
wide as 28 inches! The house is on the north end of North Conway, NH 
(for those of you who know the town, I'm less than a block's walk from 
EMS and IME), but the wonderful view to the north of Mt Washington that 
you get from other places in town is blocked by some tall trees across 
the street.   If I look through the door to my left (west) and on 
through my bedroom, I can see the Moat Mts.  The new ballpark is right 
across the street (north - under those tall trees) and every evening I 
hear the sound of kid's voices and the crack of the bat as little league 
is in full swing.

I am not alone here this summer, however, as my college daughter is here 
for a couple of months. She was born and raised in VA, and still goes to 
school there (Wm & Mary), but I moved up here to NH a year ago. Her 
older brother still lives and works in VA. It is nice to not be totally 
'empty nest' for a bit, although I'm really enjoying my 'grown up' kids. 
  At 45, I'm thoroughly enjoying this part of my life - I let my ex's 
likes and dislikes dictate too much of my world for too long.  He wasn't 
a hiker.  So we didn't hike. That's probably what went wrong <G> I did 
my first backpacking trip (across the Grand Canyon) when I was 13, and I 
was hooked.  It needs to be a regular part of my life.  So - if there is 
ever another man in my life, he'll have to be a hiker!  Or be prepared 
to be hiker support person <G>.

I've been an Episcopal priest for 9 years.  Just out of college I worked 
for an environmental engineering firm (sanitary sewers) for a little 
bit, and then spent 12 years in restaurant work (mostly waitressing, but 
also bartended and worked in the kitchen) before heading to seminary.  I 
serve the church here in North Conway, as well as the one in Bretton 
Woods (two miles west of the Crawford Notch AMC construction site). 
There are much worse places to have to commute!

I started peak bagging with Art Cloutman last July and have managed to 
pick up 9 of the 4000 footers.  More to come this summer and fall.  And 
hopefully, I'll be ready this winter to begin doing some in the 
wintertime.  I'm an AT section hiker, am making plans for the Long Trail 
in August '04, and trying to figure out how much of the PCT I can do on 
my sabbatical in '07.  I'm transcribing a couple of trail journals this 
year and enjoying that (Liteshoe's AT journal, and Freefall's PCT) and 
also enjoy the chances I get to do a little trail magic on my commute 
through Crawford Notch.

spike