New Hampshire Day Trip

We've a few great adventures this year, but we haven't had a local daytrip in a long time, local to us at least.  Back in March we tried to head to Polly's Pancake Parlor with Kate's sister Emma for an amazing breakfast but had to postpone as Kate and Wesley got VERY sick.

We decided that Saturday August 16th was the perfect make up day, and thankfully the weather agreed.  Emma was able to tag along with us and as it turns out she had never been to any of the places we were voyaging to.

We hit the road a little after 6 am and didn't make out first pit stop until Fair Grounds Cage in Fryeburg so Kate and Emma could get a coffee style drink.  I bought a molasses cookie and it is the second best molasses cookie I have ever had.  My wife makes the best, and I love molasses cookies so I always have to pick one up.  Typically they are ok but nothing compares to my wife's this is a VERY close second place.

Kate had Emma sit in the front seat so she could experience the beauty of the Kancamagus Highway and driving through Franconia Notch State Park.  Both roads are uniquely gorgeous, but the Interstate running through Franconia Notch is the prettiest Interstate I have ever driven on.

On the other side of the Kanc we stopped at the McDonald's for a bathroom break and Wesley and I explored the railroad tracks.

 

We stopped at the Betty and Barney Hill abduction site, the first widely spread UFO abduction story.  Down the road is a gas station with a mural honoring it as well.

We got the Polly's about 930am and they had a short 45 minute wait, which really isn't that bad.  Kate found a bench in the shade, coupled with the low temps and nice breeze it was a pleasant wait.

After an amazing breakfast we made the short drive to Harman's Cheese and Country Store where I got two pounds of their May 2023 aged sharp cheddar.  I was hoping for the 4 year cheddar, which they did have this past March, but oh well.

We continued north to town of Littleton and their beautiful main street.  We went to Chutter's home to world's longest candy counter to get some delicious treats.   They actually sell penny candy still and I got 220 pieces of frooties, 20 of each of the 11 flavors they have.

Also on main street is a bakery called Crumb Bum that Kate has been following for a while Instagram and just had to try it.  We got some croissants to bring home for later.  I thought it was good, but I like the ones that Kate makes better.

After getting back in the van we hit the McDonald's drive thru for some Diet Coke's, I got a Coke Zero, and headed west towards Bethel.  We decided to drive a big loop and come back into Maine a different route.

Once we got into the Bethel the temptation to stop at Smokin' Good BBQ was too much and we just had to get the best BBQ in Maine.  When we stepped out of the vehicle the smell of the smokers was AMAZING!  If you weren't hungry you would be that's how good they smelled.

I finally tried the Hot Links, and they were delicious, but I'm glad I got the two meat combo as I would have been sad to not have some Texas beef brisket.  Kate got the pork sundae, Emma got just the pulled pork, and Wesley got a heavy half rack of ribs.  We had plenty to take home with us.

The final planned stop of the day was just over the line in Greenwood at Maine Line Products so we could get some of their delicious fudge and some shaker peg racks for the mud room.

We got home just about 5pm for a good 11 hour daytrip through the White Mountains and back.

If you ever get a chance to hit all the places I wrote about in this post, you should!

Until Next Time! 

Winter in the White Mountains

In 2018 a variety of incidents prevented us from going on many day trips starting with my medical issues in the Spring to my work being overburdened with overtime since they closed the Gray center and merged it with Augusta.  Yes we were able to go on our camping trip with the kids and our Atlantic Canada vacation in September but no day trips into the White Mountains.
 

In December I asked Kate if she would like to try to get away for a night in January, overtime was letting up (two people put in their notice while we were away) and with me being at work so much Kate was running the household by herself.  We both needed this!  So I booked us a cabin at Pemi Cabins in Lincoln, New Hampshire and before we knew it the day had arrived.

Thursday, January 31st, after dropping of the kids where they needed to go, Kate and I hit the road for our overnight adventure.  The sun was shining and the sky was clear both days so it made for nice driving and we did a lot of driving.  Stopping first at Bova's in the North End of Boston we got stuck in a bit of construction traffic heading into the city.  It only hung us up for about 15 minutes, but it was a bit annoying.

I dropped Kate off so she could go in and procure the cannolis which were magnificent.  I drove around the the one way streets making two laps before Kate was ready to be picked up.  We headed straight back out of town going north back to New Hampshire.  Yes we drive to Boston to buy cannolis and we will do it again.

Next stop was in Dover at Le Festa Pizza.  We were both excited because heading North on 95 in New Hampshire when the road splits to either take exit 4 to the White Mountains on the left or stay the course to Maine on the right, we've always went right, it was excited to go left.

La Festa was tremendous!  We each got a slice and garlic knots, first time we've been not for Mother's Day too.  We next drove to Weir's Beach to play some games at Fun Stop!  I wasn't sure how Kate was going to take wanted to stop at the World's Largest Arcade but I knew they had tickets games and that's like a a gambling addict at a Casino for her.

A $20 bill gets you 125 tokens, most games take 1 token, pinball 2 tokens, and some up to 4 tokens.  Kate's "drug" of choice is the cyclone game.  You drop a token in and a light spins around, the object is to stop the light on the Jackpot, which starts out with 100 tickets and climbs by one ticket for each token played.  If you don't land on the jackpot then the spots around it awards tickets from 10 and decreasing for each step further away from the Jackpot that you are.

I don't know how many times she hit the jackpot, but her haul of tickets was over 2,500!  I know it's crazy but she is just so good at this game.  Called Wheel of Fortune other places this is the sixth or seventh arcade we've been to that she has played this game and made a killing on tickets.

I myself played a whole bunch of pinball!  I even played Hercules the world's largest pinball machine that uses a lacrosse ball for the pinball.  I also dropped some tokens into some classic arcade games like Pac Man, Double Dragon, and Tag Team Wrestling to name a few.

I played my share of tickets games including not hitting the jackpot on cyclone and doing fairly well on skeeball.  After over three hours of gaming fun we decided to cash in the tickets and we got some cool swag.  It was funny because Kate carried around the big bunch of tickets for quite a while because it looked impressive, it really did.

We drove to the Pemi Cabins located on the Pemigewasset River in Lincoln, New Hampshire and got check in.  They had gotten over a foot of snow in the area just two days prior so the snowbanks were impressive, it was also bitterly cold in the low single digits dropping below zero when the sun fell.
  

I had booked cabin number 5 based on the photos and we were not disappointed.  The inside was small but had everything we needed with a queen bed, fireplace, tv, mini fridge, and bathroom.  I bought two bundles of wood and Kate didn't waste anytime starting a fire.  We relaxed and enjoyed it for a couple hours before heading to dinner.

We drove down to Woodstock and to eat at the Black Mountain Burger Company.  We had eaten here a couple years ago for Father's Day so we knew it would be good.  It was pretty darn busy for a Thursday night but we got seated without a wait.

We got an appetizer of mac & cheese bits, which is a breaded deep fried ball of macaroni and cheese, yes it was amazing.  We both got burgers and they were fantastic!  They hand cut fries were splendid and while Kate had some hot tea, I got myself a beer, a rare occurrence for sure but when I saw they had something called Great North Robust Vanilla Porter on draft I had to try it.  It was smooth and worth it.  We both left very pleased.

Back at the cabin Kate got the fire roaring again which heated the place up making it nice and cozy.  The cabin also had a screened in porch that overlooked the river and we could hear it roaring by all night, it was quite soothing.  Turning the TV on we found that The Breakfast Club was playing on AMC and out night was set.  

The bed was actually very comfortable and, it must of been because we slept for almost nine hours.  It was chilly minus two degrees when we started the day and even though there is a heater in the room, it was a bit too cold for it.  

Checking out we headed just up the road to Indian Head Resort because I wanted to take a picture of this landmark sign which is self explanatory.

Next stop was Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire!  I love this place, it has the finest pancakes around without question.  It was our first time eating here since they demolished and rebuilt the dining room.  They managed to keep the charm of the old place but now they are open all year round instead of just seasonally.

I'm not a hot drink type of guy but they had something on the menu called a Maple Steamer which is steamed milk with maple syrup, I had to try it.  The first sip was scalding and being a hot drink rookie I just forced it down and that was a mistake.  Once it was cooled it was tremendously delicious!

Kate got Kathie's Combo, 3 pancakes, buckwheat, two eggs and bacon and I got Polly's Sampler Combo, 6 pancakes with sausage and I got a side of bacon as well.  For my pancakes I got two oatmeal buttermilk, two buckwheat, and two gingerbread with pecans mixed in, all amazing but the gingerbread with pecans was the best on this day.

We went over the hill to Harman's to pick up some of the best cheddar cheese there is.  Sincerely they do make the best cheese.  I got there two and half year old really aged cheddar, a two pound block for only $16.

We took the Kancamangus highway home, which was the plan of the trip to begin with to traverse the road in the winter.  It was beautiful drive and the road was quite sketchy at times but in the end it was uneventful for us, we did see one vehicle that of off the road but they had help on hand.
 

We have been to the White Mountains many times in the past but never before in the Winter so it was nice to see it in a different way.  Round trip we drove 482 miles. 

Later Readers!