Summer NH Vacation - Day 4

The last day - much too short. We did more touristy things, but they were popular (very) places in nature. The first stop after a relaxing morning was to Diana's Baths. It was only about 10 minutes from our resort, to the West of the Saco River. The reviews warned of it being crowded and they weren't kidding. We got to the parking lot, which both Google Maps and my GPS got wrong, and waited a few minutes for a parking spot. Had we gotten there a bit later, I would have seen that everyone was parking on the road as well. We wore our water shoes, sprayed up (bug & sun), I put the new hat I got from the five & dime (similar to this one) and we were off down the 1/2 mile or so path through the woods to the "baths". We came out and found the crowd. Some people were in the water, but it was freezing! We went in, looked around, then back to the path and up a little more to see what it was like higher up. It was just as crowded but we hopped around on the rocks a bit, after navigating our way through the woods. We got in about calf deep and that was nice and refreshing but anything more would be numbing. It was fun walking on the rocks. I was a little nervous and kept annoying Shara by reminding her to pay attention and think before she went. It was slippery in areas and I didn't want the day ruined by scrapes and bruises. There were none and we both enjoyed the baths.

We left and when we got back to the lot realized we came at a good time. The place was packed - like they let the busses out! We got in the car and moved on to our next stop - lunch. We agreed that we'd just get some pizza or subs to take to Echo Lake for our picnic. The easiest place to go was Elvio's in North Conway. It was very good. Shara got the eggplant parm sub, I got the Italian Sub (fried eggplant, roasted peppers, tomatoes, garlic, basil, mozzarella), and we "split" a piece of white pizza. Back to the car and down the road a few miles, past Cathedral Ledge and onto Echo Lake. We got there, found parking on the road, loaded up and went in. We ate and Shara gave me a bite of the pizza. The crust was really good. She said she started eating it and forgot we were going to share. I was happy she was enjoying it so much she forgot. My sandwich was excellent - homemade bread too. When we were done with our picnic at a table under the pines, we found a spot on the beach. Not the part that was roped off with the lifeguard, but a little ways down. It was great. We swam, played catch in the water, swam, played catch in the water, and stayed in the water for over two hours, surrounded by a spectacular view of cliffs, similar to this. When it was time to move on, we realized how tired we were and decided to go "home" and relax a bit before deciding what to do for the evening. Shara was hungry at that point so we had an early dinner of various leftover, including the eggplant sub, which survived a day out. Health inspectors would be upset but no one got sick!

Showered and feeling much better I found Tuesday movies at Settler's Green. They put out a blow-up screen and have people come and set up chairs and show a free kids movie. Homeward Bound was the movie for the night and we headed over. There was a pretty good sized crowd by the time the film started. We set up our chairs, got a cupcake from White Mountain Cupcakery (Boston Cream) and a banana peanut sundae from the ice cream shop there. Aside from my having to be a pain and ask the guy for a larger cup/bowl to put the ice cream in, because it was overflowing and would be impossible to eat, it was a fun night. The bugs weren't too bad, we had sprayed up a little, and the movie was good. Neither of us had seen it before and I'd recommend it. A little girl in front of us got upset near the end, but all turned out fine, of course. When we left, Shara had to find a bathroom so we went in and "borrowed" the one at Applebee's before coming back to the room and going to bed Really Late!

Summer NH Vacation - Day 3

Shara woke up herself at about 8:30 am and we had a bite at the apartment and I talked her into going to take a look at the Saco River Trail behind the resort. We got dressed and headed over. There were already people in the pool - a very popular place! The trail started by the tennis courts and had fitness challenges every so often. The first we found was stepping up with one foot onto poles a number of times, then the other foot. We bug sprayed ourselves and didn't find the bugs too bad even though this was mostly through the woods. Before we sprayed they were already becoming annoying though. We went past a pond and followed the cross country ski trail a bit and finally got to the river. It was really low. The first stop we made was by a rock beach where we found some nice rocks to bring home.

the sand feels great

we stumbled upon this

Shara at the river

After exploring for a while we continued down the path and found a group taking a tour from the resort. They were leaving a picnic/swim area as we were arriving. We looked around there a bit and did another obstacle from the fitness course (parallel bars) and went further. We learned from the group that the trail was a one way, so we went a bit further and turned around. It was about the 1/2 mile mark and ended up walking back most of the way with the group until we got to the pond we saw at the beginning of the trail. We went to the waters edge and saw what we think were frog eggs. We also saw minnows and lots of teeny frogs. Very cool and we were glad we took the time to explore a bit more there. Shara thought daddy would have really liked to have seen the pond.

When we got back to the apartment, we showered and realized we were pretty hungry. At that point it was almost noon. The original plan was to go to Attitash after 3 pm to get a 1/2 day pass for the water raft ride and trampoline. We figured it would work to go to North Conway, have lunch and look around the town a bit before coming back to go to Attitash. We got to N. Conway and Shara was really hungry and then really hot so we went to the first place that had sandwiches. Shara had been craving a reuben but none were on this menu. That was fine, this place is fine, let's just go here. I try to go to places that are on my researched list of "good choices". This wasn't on the list but I didn't care because I wanted to get us fed and back to happy. Let's say this place was interesting. Here's my yelp review on the Courtyard Cafe. Not a good review, but honest.

After we were fed, things were actually looking up, though the lunch experience wasn't the best. We headed out and started looking in the cute shops. We spent a ton of time at Penguin, Zeb's and the 5 & dime. Somewhere during that time my phone died and I had no idea what time it was. I asked Shara if she wanted to continue shopping and maybe skip Attitash or if we wanted to find out the time and see if we could get to Attitash. She was enjoying shopping so much we skipped it. Before we left town, we stopped at 18 degrees Celsius. Loved the salted caramel balsamic creation and was extremely impressed with the salted caramel pretzel frappe. We saw an artist at work. The balsamic was the salted caramel ice cream, topped with a balsamic deduction drizzle, the dusted with chili pepper flakes, cumin and something else I can't remember, but gave it a citrus flavor. The frappe was incredible. A huge scoop of ice cream, milk and 2? pretzel rods, pulverized. Then he added another scoop of ice cream and garnished with 2 more rods. Highly recommend making the stop.

We got back to the resort and headed to the pool to try and work up an appetite for dinner. We played around there until close to 7 pm then came back, dried off, redressed and figured out where to go. By then, Shara was really tired so we decided on somewhere easy, but I didn't want to go to Maddy-B's, on the resort property. We went close to N. Conway, but not all the way to it, to Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery. That was a good choice, though a 1/2 hour wait. Surprised for a Monday night and also that there were so many young kids there. Made me feel like not such a bad parent! It was hard deciding so the wait was well worth it. Shara got the smoked pork sliders with fries and a small caesar salad. The salad needed extra dressing and then was very good, though the pieces of lettuce were a little large. I had the smoked pork burrito w/ black beans, rice, salsa, and shredded lettuce. It was good but needed hot sauce for more flavor. The pork itself wasn't flavorful enough on its own and I didn't see any sauce in the burrito. We have almost enough for dinner tonight.

Summer NH Vacation - Day 2

We had a leisurely, but not too leisurely, morning. Shara slept until 8:30 am (I woke her up) and we got showered and dressed and headed out for our late breakfast at the Sunrise Shack. A place that has good Yelp reviews. You can view mine there as well. We played hangman & tic tac toe while we waited for our wonderful brunch. Then we were off for our full day at Storyland. Today it was a little drizzly, and not very warm, however that didn't stop us from getting soaked! Shara wanted to go on the Dr. Geyser's raft ride again (and again and again). There weren't any lines so we pretty much got right on. We did that once, then moved to parts more unknown. Up the hill, past the Polar Coaster (looked and Shara didn't want to try it), but did agree to a photo by the North Pole:

Then to the Cuckoo Clockenspiel. Seabands on! But it wasn't too bad and actually we had great fun.

Then we went down and around and to the Swan Boats. These are similar to the Antique Cars, but on water and they're swans! Shara was in the front, doing the driving. We only bumped into a couple of other swans during our 10 minute ride.

We grabbed a coach ride up to Cinderella's Castle, but Cinderella wasn't there to visit. No worries, we still got to see her glass slipper and Shara sat in the throne.

Then we went to see Butterfly Island on the Storyland Queen. It was a lovely trip and Shara thought the little baby on it was really cute. We all clapped when he rang the Fairy Godmother's bell to give us a safe journey.

To finish off this area, we both went on a cool carousel. There are only two in the world like this one. It's from Germany and turns clockwise and the horses are on springs that you rock back and forth, not up and down.

At this point, the sun was out and it was pretty warm so back to Dr. Geyser's! Then Shara needed to try the shaved ice. If you've never seen one before, this is an idea of what it is. She got the rainbow. I had cone - orange/vanilla. Then it started drizzling again but nothing major. It was over in no time and we finished our snack and went to get soaked again.

But this time we went to Splash Battle: Pharaoh's Reign. And we did get soaked. It was fun squirting everyone and getting squirted. Shara really got into it and wanted to go back and squirt the people on the boats from the outside of the ride. Then she got really brave and wanted to go on the Great Balloon Chase - a mini ferris wheel, the all enclosed kind. Back for a last trip on Dr. Geyser's raft and over to finish up at the Antique Cars. Shara got out her driver's license and did a much better job driving than yesterday.

So we were soaked and freezing at this point. The sun was back in and it was about 72 degrees. We went through the candy story - Shara spent her own money on a sour baby bottle thing, and under the road to the parking lot. The car was nice and warm and we loved it! Back to the resort where we changed clothes and had some dinner - leftovers. Gave daddy a call, then made the quick trip to the market to get coffee and some breakfast food. Then Shara talked me into going to the outdoor, heated pool. It wasn't really warm, but once we got in (Shara got in really fast), it was fine. We had fun racing, especially our running races. Were there for about a 1/2 hour, then back to the room for a quick change, throw in a load of laundry, then out for ice cream, because we're on vacation. We went to Trails End Ice Cream just up the road. It was pretty good but I'd like to try someplace else next time.

Summer NH Vacation - Day 1

Shara and Laurie's Big Adventure started well. We hit the expected Saturday traffic to New Hampshire and arrived at Storyland after about a 4 1/2 hour drive. We stopped along the way at a Chipotle, where Shara got a great taco kit kid's meal with a side of guac to share. I can't remember the name of the town we went to but my first attempt was to find a local diner so we headed to the historic section, as indicated by the signs. We found a couple of old farms, the library and very new town hall. Not very business-friendly though. Then we went the opposite way and got to the malls. Oh well, at least Chipotle is fast, eco-friendlier, quality food.

Storyland after 3 pm lets you get 1 1/2 days at the park for just one day admission, which is a great deal. We planned on going on the new Roarasaurus, a brand new wooden roller coaster. This is preparation for Disney because we're signed up for fastpasses for the big rides. Well those passes will be traded in for littler attractions, so this was good information to learn. We didn't start at the Roarasaurus though. We got there, headed to the bathroom, then let the path lead us. It lead us to water - Dr. Geyser's Remarkable Raft Ride (This churn of the century soaking is just what the doctor ordered on a warm summer day.). The picture looks like it's a bright sunny day, but it was in the high 70's and overcast. However, it didn't hurt the fun we had on this ride.

Soaked Shara

We got on the ride fairly quickly - about a 20 min. wait, and were picked to go on quicker because it was just the two of us and we went on with another family. They had two girls, one younger and one about Shara's age. The older girl seemed quite nervous and the dad was funny. Good group to ride with.

Desperado Plunge

Bamboo Chutes

We then headed over, across the railroad tracks to the Bamboo Chutes. I remembered the Desperado Plunge from Storytown, when I was a kid and this looked a little smaller but it's hard to say. We paid the $10 for a keychain with the photo of us coming down the chute. We'll share later.

After all that we needed a snack and got a cone (Laurie) and a refillable slush (Shara). Then followed our path to the Roar-o-Saurus. Shara wanted nothing to do with it. She saw how high it was (not very) and fast (yes, pretty fast) and said, "no". Wandered around some more and then headed to the Turtle Twirl. Got out the sea-bands for that one! Here's a video, which looks pretty slow, but it is not. Shara said she closes her eyes on these if she feels dizzy and I tried it. That really works and we had a great time on it.

We then hopped on the train and went to the entrance where we found the antique cars, "Guided, guest-operated mini cars that put the wind in your hair and the road at your back!" After waiting about 1/2 hour in line, which went by pretty fast, Shara got a pink car to drive. The older men at the start and end of the ride were so nice. I think Don gave her instructions to hold the pedal down all the way. I can't wait until she's 16. Shara is not a natural behind the wheel but she had fun and needed to get her driver's license when we were done. I think she may want to go back today and do it again!

concentrating hard

Here are a couple more photos.

Our first day at Storyland ended happily and off we went to the resort. Alan was right about cell service and the GPS wasn't the best in the car so we had to rely on the old fashioned method and I finally gave in to Shara's wish that we stop and ask someone. No biggie - took a left at the intersection instead of a right. We found the resort and got a big surprise when we checked in. I verified we had a mini-fridge and microwave in the room and found out we had a one bedroom townhouse! 2 bathrooms, one bedroom, full, but small, kitchen. And I believe it's a new unit. Little, but perfect for us! We found the building, which is off in the back, over the train tracks, in front of the Saco River trail, which we'll check out later. We got unpacked then decided where to go for dinner. The restaurant on the property was pretty attractive, since it was easy, so we started walking there, didn't find the path that looked like it cut through from our side of the grounds to the entrance, so came back around, ended up at our car and I convinced Shara to go to the place that I had found on Travelocity. I wouldn't have saved it if there weren't good reviews, so we went, and again, took a left instead of a right. That really blew her confidence in my sense of direction around here - but I just need to find out which way is west and which is east - today's task. Turned around and headed the correct way, with Shara in the back saying, "ok, prove it. If we don't find it, we're going to the restaurant at the resort." That was fine and we did find it and had a good meal. My Yelp review.

We didn't get back until late and it's 8:20 AM. Shara's still sleeping. I'll let her sleep another 10 minutes but if I don't wake her up, she'll be upset at me. We haven't decided if we're going out for brunch and have leftovers for dinner or what the plan is, other than going back to Storyland. We'll let you know!