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!

Wicked fun Weekend!

 It was a busy 4 days and with my vacation day I had three nights in a row off!

Thursday wasn’t too bad as Canaan just had football practice.  However, it runs from 530 – 730pm so it does interrupt dinner time and the normal flow to the evening.   After practice I bought us all Ice Cream at Debs, it will probably be our last of the season.   NBC Sports was streaming the NFL season opener of the Patriots vs. the Steelers, fast game with the Pats winning!

Friday I took the kids to school and daycare.  Then I ran some errands around Augusta stopping at Shaws, Dollar Tree, & Big Lots.  I stopped at Editor’s Note to play some pinball and buy a comic, I also set up to have him set aside a couple future books. 

The pinball machine called Pit Stop made by Williams Electronics and released in 1968 is based on car racing where the goal is to complete laps around the track.  10 laps gets you a free game, I myself played 6 games two of which I had won.  Very simple but very fun game.

Friday night was Youth night at the Gardiner Football game, the played Skowhegan and I’m assuming lost as they were down by several touchdowns when we left after the end of the 3^rd quarter.   Addison cheered the first half of the game and Canaan with his team were called out at Halftime.  As I’ve said before it’s quite an experience going to a game, they had 4 different food shacks to get just about anything you wanted. 

Saturday was BIW family day at Funtown in Saco, once again Dad & Linda treated us. The weather was nice, sunny and clear but not hot.  The kids had a blast hitting the rides side first with the catered lunch of hot dogs and burgers in there.  Dad bought them Ice Cream and then they headed out before we took the kids over to the Splashtown side. 

When we first got it we went over to the carousel, everyone was ahead of me as Gram-Gram had called to talk about Blacklist.  When I caught up I watched Dad helping Addison up on a horse and when I looked back he had mounted the horse next to hers.  I could not believe what I was seeing!  Kate took Wesley on the ride as well sitting on the bench. 

We went on a few other rides.  Addison drove me around on the roadsters and we rode the balloon race together.  Addison drove Dad & Linda on the Antique cars while Canaan chauffeured Kate on the same ride.  The kids road a bunch of other rides each some multiple times.  When they went for ice cream I went into the arcade and played a single game of Family Guy pinball, I got the high score and earned a free game based on score.  They also had a play until you win candy claw that had frooties in it!!  I won two frooties.

Over at Splashtown the kids and Kate played in Pirates Cove and went down plenty of slides, plus some swimming in the 3 foot pool.  Kate and Canaan waited an excessive amount of time to slide down the corkscrew.  I honestly can’t believe that Canaan went through with it.  We spent close to 3 hours at Splashtown before calling it a day.  Canaan made the comment that this was the best Summer ever.

On the way home we stopped at Wendy’s in Topsham.  For whatever reason the staff decided that we waited too long for our food, I didn’t think so, and gave us each a small or mini Frosty.   Kate dipped a French fry in her Frosty and said that she didn’t know why but that dipping your fries in a Frosty was delicious.  The odd thing in this scenario is that Canaan, Addison, & I each picked up a fry and dipped it in the Frosty, we didn’t even question just how odd her statement was.  Incidentally she was right!  Something about the sweet and salty mixture was really good. 

Wesley was so good all day today we made sure he got some blanket time for about half an hour.  You couldn’t have asked for a better baby.  That and he is just so friggin cute!

Sunday Canaan had a football game at 9am at home in Gardiner against Bath.  Canaan played a great game putting pressure in the backfield, making a few tackles, and recovering a kick off.  I couldn’t be more proud of him for trying hard, doing his best, and it was clear that even though they lost the game he was having fun out there.

By the time Addison’s game started for her to cheer it was basically a recipe for disaster.  The game didn’t start until 11am, by then Addison had been at the field for 3 hours.  The 5^th & 6^th grade teams stop the clock so the game took close to 2 hours instead of the hour her coach thought it would be.  Basically it was too long for her and she had had enough.  Unfortunately Addison was forced to leave with just a couple minutes left in the game because of her behavior. 

Kate, Wesley, and I went to the Litchfield Fair as Kate wanted some fair food.  I hadn’t been to a fair in over two years and hadn’t been to the Litchfield Fair in years! 

We had a good walk around looking at all the expo halls, rides, games, and of course the food.  I found a truck was served deep friend milky ways and couldn’t resist the urge.  It was delicious!  Kate had a deep fried twinkie and enjoyed that as well.  We indulged in a few other fair food classics.  In the 4H room I ran into Amanda Wade, a school chum I hadn’t seen in years.  We had a brief chat and it was nice to see her and her roommate.

Kate had her first experience with pull tickets and she was immediately hooked.  She’s never been to a casino either and told me it would be best to keep her away. 

When we got home I had time to watch a bit of the Packers vs. Bears game to finish off the a great few days before catching a nap so I could get through the night at work.

Just an awesome and busy few days. 

Later readers!