Nonchalantmom has asked our blog readers to submit any ideas they might have for fun trips with the kids. We have a few submissions and continue to ask for more! The following submission is from Meredith.... Thank You Meredith!
New Hampshire has always been a frequent vacation spot for my family. New Hampshire is a beautiful state that offers great skiing in the winter, refreshing lakes and rivers in the summer, and amazing foliage and views in the autumn. Two weeks ago, my husband and I packed up our truck and drove north to New Hampshire. In addition to our luggage, we also packed our four children.
Our first stop was Mt. Washington Auto Road in Pinkham Notch, NH (www.MtWashingtonAutoRoad.com). Mt. Washington is the highest peak in New England and it’s summit is the home of the “World’s Worst Weather.” At the base of the mountain, we were given an audio tour on a CD. As we drove up the Auto Road, we listened to the CD, which detailed the mountain road’s history. The road is very narrow…especially for a Ford Expedition holding six people! The truck was just inches from the edge of the road with a steep fall at the edge. Our children loved it! It was a beautiful day, 78 degrees, the sky was clear, we could see all the way into Canada. As we drove up the last mile of this 6,288-foot mountain peak, the weather dramatically changed. All of a sudden we were in a cloud and the wind blew strong. Moments later, we reached the summit, the temperature was 32 degrees and the wind was blowing 76 mph! Yes, we did get out of our truck to go into the summit building and museum. My husband and I carried our youngest two children for fear that they would blow away! After downing some hot chocolate, we headed into the summit museum, which provided an in-depth look at the mountain’s four climate zones, geology, history and ecology. All four kids loved the experience and are still talking about their fascination with the rapid weather change.
Following our family decent from Mt. Washington, we drove to the Flume Gorge (flumegorge.com) located in Franconia Notch State Park. The Flume is a natural gorge that has amazing waterfalls, paths, vistas, and covered bridges. Our children ran to and climbed every boulder that we came across. It was a beautiful hike after a long drive.
That night, we were all unconscious by 8 o’clock!
The next morning greeted us with another beautiful day. We drove to North Woodstock, NH. There, in the Kinsman Notch, we set out to explore the Lost River Gorge and Boulder Caves (www.findlostriver.com). This Gorge and river is flanked with many spectacular caves. The Judgment Hall of Pluto cave has an amazing “indoor” waterfall. Other caves to explore are Thor’s Workshop, The Devil’s Kitchen, Center of the Earth, Cave of Silence, Bear Crawl, the Rotunda, the Hall of Ships, and the Lemon Squeezer (my husband and I skipped the last one). At the end of the river walk, the kids panned for fossils and gems at the Lost River Mining Co. We all left the Lost River in awe of the rugged land and with a very cool bag of rocks!
We managed to pack many adventures into our two-day trip. We all (including four children of various ages) had a wonderful time. The best part…we had a fun, action-packed weekend with our family and there wasn’t an amusement park in sight!
