It turns out I felt like taking a little bit of a posting break on this trip, so that is what I did! Instead of getting up early I slept in until ~9ish each morning and there just wasn’t a natural time for posting. Right now I’m waiting for everyone to wake up (we have drifted to a late schedule) so I will get started with a massive catch up!
Day 2: Flume Gorge Hike & Polly’s Pancakes
We drove an hour to the Franconia Notch area for this hike, which I remembered from prior visits to NH in the 1990s! It was a ~2 mi loop and quite beautiful.
2 miles is about what our family can handle (I WISH we could do longer hikes but the kids do not seem excited about it – but this did ~1.5 hours and was beautiful).
LUNCH:
Polly’s Pancakes – iconic childhood memory (for me) and the pancakes DID NOT DISAPPOINT.
I am honestly not sure what we did after our drive back — possibly just hung out in our hotel, took showers, relaxed? Our dinner that night was at Cider Co.
Day 3: FunSpot
Josh and Cameron especially were super excited to head to FunSpot, which touts itself as “the largest arcade in the world.” I’m not entirely sure this designation still holds true (I think it’s from 2008) but they have a ton of games from modern to vintage.
We all ended up having a lot of fun — I played everything from Ms. Pac Man to skee-ball to this slushy madness game that our family ended up collaborating to win (100 tickets, woohoo!).
Dinner that night was at the Black Cap Grill – the family definitely liked it a lot!
Day 4: Biking Day!
On Wednesday we started off with some mini golf (A wanted to sleep in, so the rest of us went around 10 am!).
Then, we headed up towards Mount Washington to do some biking at Great Glen Trails. This was exciting to me because it’s the first year G can ride confidently. She did great! A was initially not into the idea of biking but she warmed up to it and ended up having a lot of fun.
These FL kids are not used to biking on hills but they figured it out (not sure G totally got the hang of using gears, but she powered through).
We finished with dinner at Tuckerman’s Brewery (and I binge-watched most of Four Seasons that night too, ha!).
TO BE CONTINUED with 2 more days of updates (later today or tomorrow!).
So far it has been a good trip! The kids have not been without challenges at times, but overall it’s been pleasant and going to NH in early June was kind of an accidental hack — everything is open, the weather has been decent (one rainy day, but the rest really nice) and nothing has been crowded since it’s so early in the season for them!
About to head to breakfast but more to come!
17 Comments
Everything looks very green and lush! I am glad the weather has worked out for you all! I’m trying to imagine my children sleeping in and I cannot wrap my mind around that! They are programmed to be early birds since we leave at 7 am, but I really look forward to a time when they sleep in on the weekends! But that is quite a ways away probably.
I think a 2 mile hike is the extent my kids could handle. We are working towards ditching the stroller for walks to places like Starbucks, which is about a mile away. They do best if they have their scooters, though. I decided I will bring a stroller to Chicago for my 1:1 trip with my 4yo because I don’t think he has the stamina to walk as much as I’d like to. It will be a bit of a hassle to bring but oh well. I am sure I will not regret it when we are walking for miles each day!
Hee hee just wait until the teenage years! You won’t ever see your kids before noon on non school days!
I love my family and I love hiking, but two miles is the limit that I would want to combine the two.
This sounds like such a fun trip! A good mix of activities, a different climate than you’re used to, and all the family time. Yay for accidental vacation hacks!
haha I get it! I have hope that as they get older they will be able to handle slightly longer hikes but this worked for now.
How in gods name did YOU sleep til 9????? I am a night owl by nature and I can’t even do that anymore.
I don’t really ever have a problem getting up early BUT somehow I can binge-sleep when I want to!!!! I slept 9+ hours every night of this trip sometimes closer to 10. Crazy!! I dont think I was in a deep sleep the last 1-2 hrs of it but was not lying in bed awake, either!
That ice cream looks amazing! It’s been so hot and humid here in the south that I can barely wrap my head around jacket weather. This seems like an excellent accidental hack!
Looks fun! Biking is such an easy activities for the kids that is under rated.
I just cannot even with A’s stretching. Wow! I am jealous.
Looks like such a fun trip so far.
We live in a town full of hills so I need to move to Florida. I would LOVE to have flat biking.
E-bikes! We live in SF and I commute daily on my Tern. I don’t even need to change at work because I don’t get sweaty even in the biggest hills (it is cool but not cold here year round though.) Can’t recommend e-bikes enough. I will never go back.
My family used to go to Fun Spot and mini golf from Eastern Connecticut for family vacations growing up. So fun to see they are still around!
Omg, I want to just take this exact vacay!!
you can 🙂 !!!
I love your pose in the arcade pic!!! Looks like you guys had a great time. I’m so glad the weather cooperated. We haven’t done bikes at great glen trails OR flume gorge so I’m adding them to my list!!
they were both really great!!! the kids even wanted to go back and bike again (but we ran out of days!).
The weather looks amazing- you’re wearing jackets!!! It all seems really fun, and the photos from that bike ride are beautiful.
yes, it was truly cool out some days – highs in 60s, lows in 50s!!!! now have to survive next ~5 months of swampland . . . sigh (although this week looks uncharacteristically sunny!)