I've been a bit incognito lately. I went on a short family vacation a week or so ago to New Hampshire with my folks, and brother's family. My brother and SIL bought a vacation condo up in the White Mountains earlier this year, and invited the rest of us up for a few days. It was wonderfully, gloriously relaxing.
As much as I love my
Disney vacations, they are far from relaxing. No matter how much I say I'm not going to let myself go commando in the parks it never fails that I do. Plus it's pretty impossible to avoid the crowds and remain completely stress free. This long weekend was pretty much the opposite of Disney trips. We made absolutely no plans, and just played each day out as it came. Wonderful!
Growing up, the majority of our summer vacations were spent in New Hampshire. I hadn't been up to the area since I was a kid, and I was amazed at how little it had changed. Driving through some of the small towns, it almost felt as if you were caught in some kind of a time warp - in a good way. My one sadness though was that I didn't get to stay at any of the motels in the area, since I was staying with my brother. I know that sounds really strange, but I'm a bit weird.
I love the little mom and pop motels that are all over the place up there, especially the ones that have cottages. Still it was fun sharing a room with the nieces, even though it meant 6am wake-up calls from Jas when she'd climb into bed with me to knit.
Thought I'd share a few pics from the trip. It's such a gorgeous area of the country. Almost made me think of looking into living there. Almost. Too much snow, and too far away from the city ultimately for me, but still nice to think about. I'd recommend a trip up there to anyone.
We had to drive through the mountains one morning to get to the Flume. We had to stop to view the Mount Washington resort as we were driving past. I'm dying to see what the inside of this place looks like.
The Wings family at the beginning of the hike through The Flume. (Everyone still looking energetic!)
Pa Eeyore did not come join us on this long weekend vacation, of which I'm eternally greatful. No repeats of the aggravation from Disney trip last August.
As a kid walking through the Flume was my favorite parts of our New Hampshire vacations. It still is.
It's absolutely beautiful and humbling walking through there.
A covered bridge crossed along the way.
The Wings family at the end of the hike through the Flume.
A bit of exaggeration of the exhaustion on mostly everyone, but my dad. He was having a bit of a rough time towards the end with his knee. Luckily they have plenty of benches along the way to take a rest.
The next day we headed to a small state park area about a mile or two from my brother's place called Diana's Baths. It was just a short, fairly flat hike to the prettiest waterfall. It had multiple levels that formed a bunch of small bath-like basins of water. Perfect for kids to play in.
We climbed about 1/2 way up and set up some chairs out on the rocks so we could dip our toes in the water while the kids put their entire bodies in the cold mountain water. I brought along some knitting to work on, although had I remembered to bring along some water shoes I would have played in the water with the kids.
It was beautiful there too, and was the perfect way to spend a morning.
Later that day we drove to North Conway to ride the scenic train to Bartlett and back. The views out the window were beautiful.
We had sprung for the seats in the first class car at the front of the train. It was beautifully restored, and much nicer than the seats in the coach area. I know LL takes light fixture pictures, but I find myself a bit drawn to windows. This was one of the stained glass windows in our car.
Half way through the ride we stopped so that the engine could disengage from the train cars, and travel to the former back of the train and reattach for the return trip. We got off our car, and wandered up to watch them reattach the engine. I saw this on a wall of one of the coach cars as we walked through the train. It made me laugh. I think they need to put that on Metro North trains.
Once we got on board the train, we were able to upgrade 2 of our seats to the observation platform. (There are four seats, but someone else snagged two of them before we did). We took turns going to sit out on the platform. On the first half of the trip, it gave an okay view since you had to look around the train engine, but on the return trip it was a much better view since it was now the back of the train. Well worth the $2.50 charge to upgrade to the platform seats.
It was a quick trip. I drove up on Saturday, and drove home on Wednesday, but came home feeling so completley relaxed. (Even with the 5 hour drive
) Having to go into work last Thursday in NYC was a bit of a culture shock to the system after a few days in the mountains.
My ADR day is fast approaching! I think I've finalized my plans, but more on that next post.
. Just because.
It will happen....give it time...my prayers are with you.
And it matches your bagallini, too!!! How fun!
We'll probably be arriving as you are leaving!
