This is the view we look at for 7 days straight - always changing, always serene. Did I tell you that only two cabins out of 7 were occupied, so we almost had the whole place to ourselves this year?
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Vacation in the Great North Woods
We just returned from our week's vacation in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire. This year we were there for the 4th of July festivities. Unfortunately for us, all the July 4th festivities in Pittsburg, NH (closest town to the cabin and last town in NH before Canada) took place on Saturday, the 3rd of July! We arrived in town all dressed in our red white and blue for the pancake breakfast, only to discover that everything - the breakfast, the parade, the Lions Club chicken barbecue - had taken place the day before! Arg! Off to breakfast at the restaurant.
The week went by with no mishaps and a lot of fun. The weather was very unique for this part of the country. Most years we pray for a few days of blue sky and sun, and almost always get some rain and thunderstorms during each day. This year, it was Miami all the time, sun sun and more sun. It was so sunny that we didn't fish much. The lake was calm and bright and the fish had cooler, deeper places to be. The dock had gotten messed up by a fall storm, so our chairs didn't fit well on the rocks, and it was too darn hot to sit out there looking at an unmoving bobber. So we donated our $70 fishing license money to the state, and went swimming instead.
The swimming was wonderful. We played a lot of cribbage and cooked out every night on the barbecue over charcoal. We read, and I worked on learning how to read a crochet pattern and made several lovely dishcloths (?), and beaded a difficult project, and read some more. When it got too hot for man or beast in the afternoon, we retreated to our air conditioned car and took rides around the countryside. We drove 100 miles on a 90 degree day to Cabot, VT, and watched a demonstration about curds and whey and spend $50 on artisan cheeses. It was a lovely ride through the Vermont countryside.
I estimate that I used about half of the stuff I brought, including food. It was too hot to do many things, and I didn't need a nice hot pot of tea at the end of the day in my china tea pot. We didn't use our fishing gear, our sweatshirts and sweaters, half of the food we brought (too hot to have much of an appetite), and we stayed cheerful, packed it up and brought it all back home again.
It was a lovely vacation. The whole country was suffering from heat, so why not us too? The days went by slowly, we got lots of rest, no stress, and BEST OF ALL, no bug bites for me thanks to a morning slather of Avon Skin So Soft gel lotion--miracle stuff! Whoohoo!
Here are the pictures.
The week went by with no mishaps and a lot of fun. The weather was very unique for this part of the country. Most years we pray for a few days of blue sky and sun, and almost always get some rain and thunderstorms during each day. This year, it was Miami all the time, sun sun and more sun. It was so sunny that we didn't fish much. The lake was calm and bright and the fish had cooler, deeper places to be. The dock had gotten messed up by a fall storm, so our chairs didn't fit well on the rocks, and it was too darn hot to sit out there looking at an unmoving bobber. So we donated our $70 fishing license money to the state, and went swimming instead.
The swimming was wonderful. We played a lot of cribbage and cooked out every night on the barbecue over charcoal. We read, and I worked on learning how to read a crochet pattern and made several lovely dishcloths (?), and beaded a difficult project, and read some more. When it got too hot for man or beast in the afternoon, we retreated to our air conditioned car and took rides around the countryside. We drove 100 miles on a 90 degree day to Cabot, VT, and watched a demonstration about curds and whey and spend $50 on artisan cheeses. It was a lovely ride through the Vermont countryside.
I estimate that I used about half of the stuff I brought, including food. It was too hot to do many things, and I didn't need a nice hot pot of tea at the end of the day in my china tea pot. We didn't use our fishing gear, our sweatshirts and sweaters, half of the food we brought (too hot to have much of an appetite), and we stayed cheerful, packed it up and brought it all back home again.
It was a lovely vacation. The whole country was suffering from heat, so why not us too? The days went by slowly, we got lots of rest, no stress, and BEST OF ALL, no bug bites for me thanks to a morning slather of Avon Skin So Soft gel lotion--miracle stuff! Whoohoo!
Here are the pictures.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Packing Light
Tonight we are packing up the house to take it to the cabin. We leave for Pittsburg, New Hampshire on Saturday morning. We want to leave in time to miss any 4th of July traffic. By the time the hoards get going, we will be way up past the White Mountains. I think that packing light is highly over-rated. When I go on vacation, I want to make sure I have most of the comforts of home. I take pillows and towels and nice sheets. I take table cloths for picnics and one for the kitchen table. We take our books and binoculars and my beading lamp and supplies. I have an afghan kit to take that should be easy to knit outside by the lake with my feet dangling in the water. I take a china tea pot and two nice mugs, so that I have tea in a china cup. My mother always said that tea and coffee tastes much better in china, and I believe her. We take clothes, but not too many. I probably take one pair of shoes too many, but, hey, it's my vacation and why should I leave my new flip flops at home? We take steaks and hamburger from a good butcher, and cold cuts and sausage from our favorite German sausage store. We buy fresh vegetables and fruits on the way, and I packed a pie plate and small rolling pin so I can make a fresh strawberry pie.
If all this sounds a little crazy, just think of all the things I'm leaving behind: TV, cell phones and computers! See you on the flip side!
Have a great day!
If all this sounds a little crazy, just think of all the things I'm leaving behind: TV, cell phones and computers! See you on the flip side!
Have a great day!
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