Jun 9, 2024, Northwood, NH
Done! Well, almost.
It’s been nearly a month since we began preparing Sandy’s cousin’s house for sale. Sorting out and shredding her personal paperwork, donating as many clothes and household goods as possible and figuring what things had special value to be sold or stored turned out to be a large and complex job. Negotiations with a realtor are underway. And we’ve engaged a firm to remove remaining furniture and trash, rip out the wall-to-wall carpeting to expose hardwood flooring and to clean the house in preparation for sale.
We did manage to relax a few of the evenings during our last week there. One of the prettiest occasions was the dinner we had at Tides Restaurant in Nahant, a small town at the end of a long, skinny neck that extends out to sea between Swampscott and Lynn. It was a beautiful evening. The restaurant’s food was very good but the coolest part was the beautiful view across Nahant’s Long Beach back toward Swampscott.
But now, finally, we are on the road and ready to explore. We’ll return, of course, for remaining real estate transactions and for visits.
Our first travel day was a short one, a little over an hour and a half, to Northwood, NH. There we stayed at the Northwoods Brewing Company, a Harvest Host. The place is actually co-joined with Johnson’s Restaurant and Ice Cream/Dairy Bar, two separate businesses owned by the same people. Altogether it’s a huge, busy place and, along with the Northwood Diner across the road, you can satisfy almost any dining or drinking need without a need to drive.
We had a snack in the bar room of the brewery. We split a “small” nacho plate that was very good but was so big that we barely managed to finish it. We ate dinner at the Johnson’s side of the business.
June 10, 2024, White Ledge Campground, Conway, NH
We walked across the road to have breakfast at the Northwood Diner. Our waitress was engaging and the breakfast was well prepared and inexpensive. We also met one of our three Harvest Host neighbors. A young couple, they had their beautiful eleven week old daughter with them in a van that they, themselves, had converted into a camper. The conversion work was well done and pleasant looking and the result functional. Nice folks!
Our drive took us through Wolfeboro, a resort town situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee. Wolfeboro claims to be the oldest summer resort town in America, tracing its beginnings to 1759. Oldest or not, it’s an attractive town. We’d have stopped to spend some time there but were unable to find a place to park our rig or even to turn around! Backing can be impossible or at least challenging when towing a car like we now are.
We commented on the number of bikers we saw riding. Yeah, it was a pretty day and this is pretty country to ride but the number of bikers seemed extraordinary. We later learned that we were seeing people who were attending Laconia Bike Week. Laconia is at the other end of Lake Winnipesaukee and, since we didn’t drive that way, we missed the main event.
Our destination was White Ledge Campground in White Mountain National Forest just south of Conway, NH. It’s a small, moderately primitive campground and was nearly empty. Fine by us. We parked and set off to explore this area which we are mainly familiar with from our winter cross country skiing. Since this campground didn’t seem very interesting we first drove up the lower portion of the Kancamagus Hwy along the Swift River to the Covered Bridge Campground. Prettier than White Ledge, we decided we’d move there the next day. Then it was off to North Conway and the LL Bean and REI outlets. We shopped diligently but didn’t find anything we really wanted.
Heading next to the ski trails at Whitaker Woods at the north end of town we walked some of those trails. By now the weather was heavy overcast. Beautiful in the winter, they are completely different this time of year. We walked to the high point of the system and the Vista trail where we get a clear view of Mt Washington in the winter but leaves on trees completely obscured that view. Since our last visit they’ve installed new trail markers that identify the trail intersections by number and updated their trail map to reflect the new system. It’s a more reliable system where there are many trails with frequent intersections.
Also notable were large areas that had been timbered. It wasn’t pretty but it turned out there was a good reason. Recent gypsy moth infestations and drought have weakened or killed many of the huge red oak trees that make up Whitaker Woods. Falling limbs posed a risk to skiers and hikers. So Conway Conservation Commission decided to remove the trees for safety reasons and to be able to reclaim the value of the wood before the trees rotted.
Back at the campground Bill prepared a dinner of chicken tenders in caper cream sauce and sautéed asparagus while Sandy sliced a few tomatoes to add some color and freshness to our plates. A delicious end to a busy day.