Not Prague, Part 8: Mount Monadnock

New Hampshire is the proud home of one of the United States' most nondescript presidents, the coolest license plate slogan, and, if one is to believe the numbers, the most-climbed mountain in North America. I climbed Mount Monadnock on Sunday, along with half of Cheshire County, the varsity softball team from Franklin Pierce College, and eight other family members.

Monadnock is not the most majestic mountain you'll ever climb, but it draws hikers because of its grand views over New Hampshire and its relative ease to conquer. My 8- and 13-year-old nieces made the trek on Sunday, and my childhood friend's 76-year-old father completed the climb several months ago. Larry Davis climbed the mountain 2,850 consecutive days until his doctor warned him that doing it again while suffering from pneumonia might result in death. Garry Harrington enjoyed the climb so much he did it 16 times in one day. For us common folk, it's a satisfying day for exercise, scenery and bonding.

Not quite at the summit.

At the summit -- 3,165 feet above sea level.

Monadnock is among the three most-climbed mountains in the world, behind Mt. Fuji in Japan and Mount Tai in China. Keep in mind that this fact is not so much official as it is accepted. So us New Hampshire natives accept it, because it's better than bragging about Adam Sandler. The easiest path is not the shortest one, so we took the shortest route, which got steep and involved climbing a lot of rocks almost right away. Eight-year-old Sarah set the pace right away with Dylan, my 16-year-old cousin and proud member of the Haverhill High football team that snapped a 32-game losing streak two days earlier. By the end, predictably the legs were quivering a bit and we really needed some food -- which we got with a cookout at the bottom.

Dylan kisses the official marker of the summit.

The crew, L to R: Brother-in-law Shawn, sister Beth, niece Sarah, me,
niece Kate, cousin Dylan, uncle Tom, cousin Julia, aunt Karen.

Self-serving blog notes:

• If you haven't participated in the poll predicting the outcome of my first three months in the Czech Republic, it's in the upper right corner of the webpage.
• I leave for Prague in one week. By the end of this week I'm planning on posting a Q&A about my upcoming adventure. So if there's anything you're curious about, post a question in the Comments section or leave a note on Facebook.