This is it, this was our last trip of summer 18’. It’s been an eventful one, we had made it a point to do as much as we could afford this summer. It was important to us that we broke away from the daily grind as often as we could. I think we’ve done that, and we’ve done it on a budget. You don’t have to go far to have an amazing vacation and this short trip was no different. We ended our summer tour of New England in New Hampshire. It was a short one, but it did the trick.

 

Friday

 

Weirs Beach

As much as possible we’ve tried to have new experiences, this time although not entirely new, the places that we visited we had not been to since we were children, and I think it counts as a new experience still. We started our trip at Weirs Beach, I personally had never been but Redina had. Funny enough she didn’t actually know she had until she saw it. When she realized it she was struck by the memory of her experience there as well as guilt. Turns out she had been a real brat to her parents for bringing her there as a kid. The beach has a very nostalgic feel to it at least in our opinion. It not very large or stuffed with door to door boutique. Instead it has an arcade, a candy store, bumper cars, and tiny cottages for rent. It was charming and had a sort of enchantment to it. We loved it, which only played to Redina’s guilt for not appreciating it as a child. It just goes to show that revisiting places can always lead to new and wonderful experiences. Unfortunately our trip here was short as we had to continue on with our road trip, but it is definitely somewhere we’ll visit when we have children, so that they can be just as ungrateful as Redina was.

 

Polar Caves

The Polar caves were our next stop on our trip. I had come here when I was a child and thought Redina would really enjoy this place. This attraction is made up of 9 “cave systems.” They’re not very long. I describe it as mini golf kind of. The caves are small bites of what an actual cave system, but fun nonetheless. Also quite a workout too. If you visit the Polar Caves be prepared to climb, crawl, and squeeze your way through some tight spaces.

This trip was also unique because we were not a duo this time around we were a trio. My mother was along for the ride on this trip. Funny enough she had actually come here years ago before having me. Turns out mom is pretty claustrophobic. I guess, she had been here, and could get through a cave due to her fear. This time around she conquered her fear. Well at least twice, mom made it through to of the cave systems. If you ask her she’ll tell you three, but we all know the truth.

Overall it was a blast, we didn’t expect to sweat like we did. Even though I had been here before, I didn’t remember it being this physically strenuous, there’s definitely a pattern here and this isn’t the end of it, but it was the end of our first day. From here we drove up to Franconia Notch and stayed at a quaint cottage motel.

 

Saturday

 

Clark’s Trading Post

We kicked off Saturday with Clark’s Trading Post, My mother and I, again, had visited this attraction, but we did so 20 years apart. Nothing was as we had remembered it exactly, yet familiar at the same time. Clarks trading Post has been around for 90 years, maybe at some point it had started off as a trading post but now stands as more of an attraction, Their main attractions are a steam powered locomotive ride and a bear show. Yes, a bear show. I remember seeing this as a child, and being in awe at the size of the bear and it was just as impressive now. Although those things were very entertaining what stood out the most to me from this place was all of the Americana they have collected over the years and put out up on display. There is tons of history in this family owned business and definitely worth the visit.

 

Mt. Washington

 

The highlight of our trip had to be the finale. We drove up Mt. Washington, it was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. I have to say that if you live nearby it should be on your list. The drive up take about half an hour with no stops. There are plenty of areas to pull over and take in the site going up and back down the mountain. At the top there is an observatory, museum and restaurants that happened to be closed the day we went up there due to some convention of sorts. I recommend checking their website they day you plan to go to make sure they’re open. We didn’t have the opportunity, but the experience alone was quite humbling. I’m still not over the fact that the clouds were under us. The site was spectacular.

All in all we had a blast, on top of everything else we also all tried alligator, venison, elk and bison for the first time. I didn’t expand on it because it wasn’t very good, and I don’t really want to bash the place that served it cause the staff was extremely nice and attentive. Our trip was short but jam packed with activities. Also we took this trip without actually booking any stays until the day of and it worked out. We were lucky enough to get the last vacant room both nights in a row. As it turns out the last week before kids go back to school is a historically busy week for the area, go figure. It all worked out and we were very happy with our stays. I recommend taking the trip, especially with the fall right around the corner the road trip must be amazing during the change in foliage.