Clark's Trading Post

We got up and were at Clark's Trading Post before it opened since we thought we'd spend the entire day there.  It seemed promising.  Perhaps a Disney of the North East.  There was a train, music and a Main Street-ish feel when we first walked in.  That was as far as the Disney resemblance went.

We could go on a Segway (but that would involve wearing a bike helmet that someone else has worn). Pass on the Segway thing.  Those bumper water things would be fun, but you end up soaked.  They would be a hoot at the cottage for us all to have though.  Pass on the water bumper car thing.  Other attractions--the House.  We had a guy who it was basically end of training and time to start doing the tours on his own.  He was very nervous (we were the only 2 on the tour so I'm sure that didn't help).  We entered a crooked room where everything was slanted one way and we were standing slanted another way.  Cheesy jokes that weren't that funny and stories about the crooked family that "lived" there.  Not very exciting and after the "yard" and 2 rooms in the house we were glad that was over.
Maybe the marvelous mansion would be better, or not.  We waited on the porch of the mansion with a Mennonite family (5 boys and 2 girls!) plus another family for it to be our turn.  "Who dare knock at the door of the magician?"  After a speech about how if you get dizzy or are afraid of the dark just scream loud--that won't help but it's fun for everyone else.  We enter a room where you "won't age," and sit down.  Cue music that people synch their Christmas lights to and black lights.  The magician "spins" the room around you.  Wow.  Even my mom is thinking this is not going to be even close to a whole day.

We wander in a few of the shops that aren't even shops.  They are like little history museums.  The guy at the hotel said to get a seat early for the bear show.  It's not for another 2 1/2 hours but there is an acrobatic show in about an hour.  We sit and wait.  Acrobat show is pretty decent and we stay in our seats for the bear show.  Man did it ever fill up quick with not many leaving after the acrobat show and more people standing behind the single row of chairs we are sitting in.
The bear show was really good.  They had some purple-ish ice cream that they fed the bears throughout to get them to do their tricks and such.  You could tell the brother/sister team loves the bears and takes good care of them.  They had them sit in a barrel, swing, roll a barrel, play basket ball... After the bear show the only thing left was a train ride.  Oh boy was that the highlight of all highlights (sarcasm).  It was an out and back ride on a wood burning train.  The whole time we had this WolfMan chasing us in his car mumbling and yelling at us.  We were told to squint our one eye and point at him yelling, "Scram ya old goat!"  At least there were a couple of little girls near us that were really into the whole wolf man thing that made us laugh at the situation.  

We couldn't exit fast enough.  I truly enjoyed the bear show but my expectations were not met with the rest of the trading post.  I guess I've been spoiled by Disney since the majority of other guests seemed to be having a blast at the place.  Oh well.  We continued on our adventure and returned to Vermont.

Kancamungus Highway

Mommy and Me trip day 2 (continued).  What is the name of that road again???  Yeah, we still can pronounce that correctly and we spent 34 very scenic miles on it.  This Kancamungus Highway goes across the state and was very scenic with nicely marked spots to pull over and take a hike and see some scenery.  There was one area that was very crowded when we first started our trek.  Lots of people swimming and enjoying the mix of deep and shallow river water in a safe area (minimum current).

 If you are camping for the night in one of the area camp ground places this is what you should do with your food at all times to keep it protected from bears:

Um, if there are bears I am not sleeping in a tent or worrying that when I go to take my food out a bear is going to materialize.  I might be able to run, but I am sure moving food is much tastier than food dropped out of a tree.  

view from the bridge

At our last stop on the highway (I'm not boring you with waterfall pictures-they don't really capture the beauty of the area).  We walked on this suspension bridge.   It was quite neat how it was built with the cables and supports so that it didn't sit in the river at all.  

suspension bridge

no idea what this is, but it looked cool 

We stopped at several places along the way and did some hiking in our Crocs.  Hiking for us meant a 1/4 mile walk to see something then back to the car.  We weren't taking the longer trails that were well marked and nice.  Great place for hiking though if you aren't afraid of bears.  There had been 3-6 bear sightings in the area over the past month.
End of the highway and we headed towards Clark's Trading Post to find a hotel for the night.  We ate at an amazing local restaurant.  I had baked ziti and it was delicious.  The guy that owns the place totally loaded it with cheese.  I had to take most of it back to the hotel with me for later.  On the walk back to our hotel we saw this:

Someone had put out a dog house thing for the cats in the area along with food.  Apparently every night the raccoon (left by tree) comes over and scares the cats out so he can eat.  The cats walk away and watch from a distance.  

Mommy and Me trip part 2

After our mini partial day in Maine we stayed at a little hotel in New Hampshire near the Castle in the Clouds.  I swam in the pool-- the filter wasn't working and it was a bit cloudy looking but no worse than the bay and still smelled strongly of chlorine.  I aqua jogged, so my head did not go under.  We went to dinner at a local restaurant and shared a small pizza.  In the morning we went to Castle in the Clouds.  It was gorgeous.

mom takes a hike

To get to the castle you drive up a one way road.  Along the way are small parking/pull off areas that you can stop and hike.  We stopped and hiked in our crocs.  There were quite a few little waterfalls all in a short little stroll from the parking lot.  We still have not seen the castle from the road or anywhere else.  Must have to be in the right spot to view it from down the mountain?

view from part way to the castle

We are probably halfway up the mountain and we park the car.  From here they have you take a trolly from what used to be the stables, car barn... which is now a restaurant with a very nice view of lake  Winnipesaukee.  Very scary trolly ride with a "cliff" basically on one side and a very steep road.

stable/troll stop

When we reached the castle we were taken into a sliding glass door-ed in porch and told the story of the man, Mr. Oliver Plant, that build the home.  Interesting story but I won't bore you with those details of rags to riches and back to rags.  They did own the mountain and all the land (about 6,000 acres) leading to the lake. 

Castle from trolly drop off point

castle view from part overlooking the lake

 Lots of neat shaped rooms, none were square or rectangular for the most part.  I guess the Plant family also liked to take cruises so their closet spaces were designed more like drawers found on ships.  The view from EVERY room was amazing.  Seriously, if everyone had a bathroom that overlooked this we'd all be a lot happier.

view from the bathroom

This was the shower.  It was called a needle shower.  Those bars had holes in them that would shoot the water at you from the sides in addition to the large overhead rain head.  I loved the color blue/green they had as accent tile colors in the white bathroom.

needle shower

We spent a long time at the castle wandering around and taking pictures.  I always think it would be fun to live in a castle.  This one has an amazing view and is definitely worth stopping by if you are in New Hampshire.  Reminds me of Boldt Castle in the 1000 Islands but with its own twist and charm.  Leaving the Castle we stopped at Lake Winnipesaukee and I put my feet in the water.  Shhh but I took a rock to give my dad.  Water was warm. 

 We thought about going on a boat cruise around the lake to take in the sights but upon finding out that the What About Bob? house was actually on a lake in another state made to look like a NH town.  Disappointed mom and no boat cruise.  We continued on to the Kancamagus Highway to make our way towards Clark's Trading Post for the trained bear show.

Mommy and Me Trip part 1

Late July mom and I went on a little road trip through part of Maine, most of New Hampshire and Vermont.  We left early from my aunts in Vermont to make the most of our planned day in Maine.  Of course we had to stop in New Hampshire for some liquor.  We spent at least an hour in the liquor store reading rebate things and picking out beverages only for the employees to tell us if you spend $150 you get a gift card for $25 to use later.  We spent another 20 minutes figuring out a few more bottles.  This is not all for us.  We spent so much time so we could get the most for our buck and use bottles in baskets for the cancer benefit our family hosts in memory of my uncle, Captain Jack.

Safely leaving the liquor store and going to the info center to get some brochures for our NH part of the trip.  My mom decided the guy helping at the info center had the personality of a snail.  For us Maine was a bust (mostly).  We wanted a light house and some rocky coast, what we ended up with was a sandy beach.
Exhibit A of what we encountered:

Looks like MASS. to me or part of the Long Island Beaches

yep, definitely looking not like Maine

Exhibit B of what we encountered:

yep, that was as rocky as we found.  We did explore it a bit before deciding we'd have to drive really far up the coast and neither of us really like beaches with all the sand sticking everywhere.

We did find this dead crab hanging in the semi-rocky area.  My mom had me use a stick and a rock to kind of pick him out of the water and put him on this rock.  We left and had lunch at Subway before going back to NH to find a place so we could continue our adventure.