Sib Trip! (06-02-13)

Part of the reason we are spending so long in Boston, is that all of my siblings (two brothers, a sister and a sister-in-law) live here. Once we knew our dates for visiting, we planned a Sibling Trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

We all met at my brother’s house on Thursday morning, where we piled into the SUV we rented.  We thought the trip would be more fun if we were all in the same vehicle. My brother Ray volunteered to drive, since Paul drives so much on a regular basis. I think Paul enjoyed riding Shotgun!

North Conway is about a 3 hour drive, so we stopped to stretch our legs along the way.

Instead of getting hotel rooms, we rented a house-it had the advantage of giving us a common area where we could just hang out.

We also had no need to eat out for every meal- we cooked most of our own meals, and had fun doing it.
Ray and Paul were our master Barbequers.

With the weather forecast calling for reasonably clear skies and temperatures in the 90s (unbelievably warm for the New Hampshire mountains) we took a van ride and headed up to the top of Mount Washington.  Not the tallest peak on the east coast, but the one with the worst weather!

We were able to see quite a distance before we got to the peak, but once we got to the top, we were in and out of the clouds. 










in the clouds



out of the clouds













 
The wind wasn’t as bad as it usually is, and it wasn’t even that cold, so all in all, not a bad day to go up. 

Once we were back down the mountain, we had a picnic lunch and it was still early enough in the day to take a short hike to Glen Ellis Falls.  It was getting pretty warm by then, but the cold water kept it a little cooler.

My brother Richie is always up for a round of (miniature) golf, so we topped the day off with a quick, but by this time, very hot game of golf.









Our evenings were spent at the kitchen table, playing our favorite card game.  A lot of laughs were had by all!


my sister Debbie won the first night we played



my sister-in-law Dawn won the second night















Of course, you can’t visit a quaint town like North Conway and not go shopping, so Saturday morning we beat the heat and headed to the stores early in the day.  As usual, I didn’t buy anything!

    With afternoon temperatures expected to soar into the 90s, most of us headed to Diana’s Bath, one of the top rated natural swimming holes in the country.  After a short, half mile hike, we arrived at the waterfalls.

It is extremely unfortunate that the water is mind numbingly cold.  The guys dipped their feet in, but I was the only one who went all the way into the water.









Still, it was a great afternoon to relax by the waterfalls.














Sunday came much too quickly, and after a great breakfast at a local restaurant, we started the long trek back home.  We couldn’t resist making one more stop along the  way, though, so we found Lost River Gorge in Lincoln NH.  We all got some exercise hiking up and down the hundreds of steps.

There are numerous caves to explore in this gorge, but I think the consensus from all of us would be that this place is a young person’s place. Many of the caves would be perfect for kids to explore, but a bit of a challenge for us adults!

Back home, we have about 3 days to recover before our daughter Jessica flies in from California, and another whirlwind long weekend begins.