Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 9

Tuesday are Travel Tuesdays. This is my 50-week challenge for 2018. I'm calling it my States of the Union Challenge because it's all about the 50 states of the USA. I do some research about the state and then choose something I learn as inspiration for making a card. I'm doing the states in the order they attained statehood.

This week's state is...

New Hampshire
Date of Statehood: June 21, 1788

I learned quite a bit about New Hampshire during my research for this week's States of the Union post.

The first potato planted in the United States was at Londonderry Common Field in 1719.

The Flume Gorge is one of the biggest tourist attractions in New Hampshire. Many visitors come to marvel at the geological wonder. The discovery of the place is an interesting story: the gorge was discovered in 1808 by Aunt Jess Guernsey while out on a fishing trip. She had lived in the region for years, yet discovered it at 93 years old.

Levi Hutchins of Concord invented the first alarm clock in 1787.

New Hampshire’s state fruit is the pumpkin. It was chosen by Wells Memorial Elementary School in Harrisville and adopted by the General Court in 2006.

New Hampshire is one of few states with no sales tax.

Four months before his more famous ride to Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere made an even longer ride from Boston to Portsmouth, to warn of an attack on Fort William and Mary. Colonists prevented the attack from happening, and saved the fort from the British.

New Hampshire's state sport is skiing.

The Blue Ghost of Wolfeboro is the U.S. Mail Boat for Lake Winnipesaukee. It makes a daily 60-mile loop delivering mail to 30 stops at camps and islands around the lake. 

New Castle is the smallest town in New Hampshire. It covers .8 square miles, or 512 acres. The town is composed of one large island and several smaller islands, and serves as a scenic residential and recreational community.

For hundreds of years, the Old Man of the Mountain was New Hampshire’s pride and joy. Since its first recorded mention in 1805, the natural rock formation—five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire, that appear to form a man’s haggard profile—attracted New Hampshirites and tourists alike to the White Mountains. It appears on the state seal, license plates, quarter, and postage stamps. Unfortunately, in 2003, the Old Man of the Mountain collapsed. New Hampshire residents were so heartbroken they left flowers at the mountain’s base in tribute.

New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe was supposed to be the first private civilian to travel to space. She was selected from over 11,000 candidates to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project on July 19, 1985. She, along with the rest of the space shuttle’s entire seven-person crew, tragically died when the Orbiter Challenger exploded 73 seconds after its launch on January 28, 1986. The planetarium in Concord, New Hampshire, is named for her.

New Hampshire’s Mount Washington is one the windiest places on earth. The record for second-highest surface wind speed ever witnessed by man was reported at the summit of Mount Washington on April 12, 1934. The wind squall was observed at 231 miles per hour. The winds were faster than most hurricanes

The three miles long Cog Railway at Mount Washington is the world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway and also the second steepest rack railway in the world which escalates Mt. Washington’s western slope beginning at 2,700 feet and ending at 6,288 feet above sea level.

New Hampshire has more than 50 covered bridges, including one in Cornish with the taunting name Blow-Me-Down.

In 2011, a Rochester, New Hampshire woman had an urn full of her mother’s ashes stolen at a bingo game. She eventually went to the media with the story hoping to convince the perpetrator to return the urn. A few days later, it showed up on her doorstep. 

Richard & Maurice McDonald — the actual founders of McDonald’s — were Manchester’s West high school graduates. The McDonald’s brothers sold their first hamburger stand to Ray Croc, often said to be the founder.

There are some weird laws in New Hampshire. It’s against the law for unlicensed showmen, tumblers and rope dancers to perform in public. You cannot sell the clothes you are wearing to pay off a gambling debt. You may not tap your feet, nod your head, or in any way keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or cafe. Any cattle that crosses state roads must be fitted with a device to gather its feces.  Sundays citizens may not relieve themselves while looking up.  

New Hampshire is the only state where seatbelts are not mandatory.

In a shockingly contentious battle over ownership, Newport, New Hampshire, claims to be the location where the infamous nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was written. The poem’s author, Sarah Josepha Hale, was from Newport and is one of two people credited with the original writing of the piece in an ongoing struggle for bragging rights with Sterling, Massachusetts. 

I've decided to go with this bit of New Hampshire information for my card's inspiration...  Mount Monadnock is the most hiked mountain in the United States, and is second in the world to Mount Fuji in Japan.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Supplies Used

Stamp Set: Kraftin' Jimmie Happy Camper stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Brown and White and SU Cameo Coral CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: American Traditional Designs Lil' Charms (with Ribbon) and Brads from an unknown vendor