Mission Hill, Boston

Sunday, October 26, 2008

View of Mission Hill and New England Baptist Hospital, Boston.

What I like about this picture is that it appears to capture a typical New England village setting, complete with colored leaves, quaint housing, and an old, brick institution on the crest of a hill. This turns out to be Mission Hill, which is a neighborhood behind Harvard Medical School that is almost in the center of Boston.

Mission Hill has been gentrified over the past few years (even since I moved into town, 5 years ago) and has become an appealing neighborhood for those who work in the mammoth Harvard/Longwood Medical Area. The New England Baptist Hospital graces the top of the hill...while not one of the main teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard (those being along Longwood Avenue and Francis Street at the base of the hill), it is one of the leading hospitals specializing in orthopedic care in this country. For instance, Jack Nicklaus had a hip replacement performed there a few years ago.

Paraglider...Franconia Notch, NH

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Cannon Mountain, Franconia Notch, NH

Here I go at trying to reincarnate this blog...this time with a picture about once a week, not necessarily of the same day as the date of post. I found that it was too difficult to lug my camera around every day to keep up with the pic-a-day blog. I never wanted to give it up, though.

Anyway, I was in New Hampshire for a graduate program retreat last weekend, and a few of us decided to drive up to Cannon Mountain (home of the late Old Man of the Mountain formation, which collapsed back in 2003...look for a depiction on the New Hampshire state quarter) for a ride up the 80-person "aerial tram", or gondola. I must acknowledge Matt and Mel for handing us 4 tickets to the tram, since they didn't have the time to make it up there on their leaf-peeping tour a week prior. At least they were able to enjoy the other nearby attraction in Franconia Notch, the Flume.

A note about the paragliding. First of all, we were at an elevation of 4,200 feet. It was cold (24 degrees) and very windy. We watched a paraglider fall from sky sky and plummet towards the forest below using a reserve parachute. We think he was fine...scary, still. As fun as paragliding looked that afternoon, I wouldn't want to do it from this mountaintop, especially on a day as windy as this one.