Picture of the Day

Moose watching on the morning of Saturday, August 9, 2008 -- this is along Rt. 3, a stretch of road between the town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire and the Canadian border.

It's about a 5 hour drive from Boston; I reached my destination around 11 p.m. on Friday night. There's a 12 mile stretch of "active moose crossing" according to the signage (19 miles total where you're instructed to look out for them) and they're not lying -- I saw 4 moose (2 singles and one mother & baby) on my first trip up to the Canadian border.

I was a little scared at first -- I didn't know what behaviors I could expect from them, so I didn't want to jump out of the car with a camera. And you can't take night pictures through a windshield. As it turns out, staying behind the wheel was a good decision ... I came across the mother & baby by a stream and they decided to head up the road -- straight for my car! I probably could have stayed in place without consequence, but I didn't want to risk it ... I went in reverse and kept my distance.

Rt. 3 has a couple gravel outlets where you can park ... I chose one (right in the middle of moose alley) and hopped in the back of my rented SUV (I reserved a compact but this was the only car left at Enterprise -- actually a good fit for this voyage, given some of the back roads I traveled) to sleep. I even brought a pillow and blanket -- nice and comfy & I saved myself $50+ a night. I swam in a local lake on Saturday ... granted, I was still a smelly beast that day, but it was better than losing my money to an incredibly overpriced hotel.



Here's the first moose I saw on Saturday (above) -- got up at about 5:50 in the morning and found this one at 6:30. You have to start EARLY. They're not as likely to be out and about at 2 in the afternoon (although I missed one giant male -- decked out with huge antlers -- around 1 in the afternoon ... ironically, he appeared about 50 yards away from the lot where I was sleeping -- my mid-afternoon nap backfired ... I woke up when I heard all of the commotion from passing cars).


Yes, I doctored the color a little with the photo above. Saw this one in the morning as well ... sometime before 9 a.m.






Opening a small business in Pittsburg, New Hampshire? I'll let you in on a little secret -- a moose needs to be on your sign or you'll have no credibility with the locals.






I usually oppose bumper stickers altogether -- the fact that someone would advertise that they're Pro-Life (while changing lanes without signaling) or that they hate the President (come on, who doesn't?) is just annoying. But this bumper rules: