Our Mini-Vacation, part one: Story Land!
I'm awake before anyone else this morning, so I thought I'd come down to my desk and write about our vacation that we just returned from. It's been a few years since we took a weekend off. I'm not saying we haven't gone away, it's just that we usually make a "vacation" by adding an extra day or two to some kind of business trip.
Our vacation began with Flag Day on Thursday, when we retired our fading old flag that hangs by our porch next to the farm bell, hung up a new one, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and hit the road! We had packed up the Buick in record time, and left right on schedule (around lunch time). For those of you who are not in the Northeast, this happened to be Laconia Bike Week, so right away we noticed lots of motorcycles as we drove.
Our first stop was for lunch in New London, at the Flying Goose, a restaurant we had visited once before and had a good time at. It was full of bikers who had travelled from elsewhere to get here. After that stop, it was time to put some miles on, and we passed through the Sunapee area, headed towards Winnipesaukee. The closer we got, the more "Welcome Bikers" signs we saw on various places. bike week brings in a LOT of tourist dollars, as something like half a million people come to NH for it.
Our goal was to get to North Conway and check in at our motel, which was part of a larger resort. Since I was a kid, North Conway has grown and changed from the 1950's style tourist area to a more polished, upscale destination, but thankfully it is still affordable. The place we stayed at was called The Oxen Yoke and along with your room at the motel, you were also allowed the use of the facilities at it's parent resort a block away. The main resort hotel itself is located in a restored Grand Hotel from the heyday of rail travel. Guests have access to a game room, indoor pool, two outdoor pools and 1100' of river frontage for swimming. They even have a stocked fishing pond. Mostly we were just interested in a place to sleep. The room was only $49 per night, as we registered one day before their summer tourist season officially starts and rates jump.
The real goal of this trip was to go to Story Land, located just north of North Conway. Story Land is an amusement park geared towards little ones that has been in operation since the 1950's. I remember going with our neighbors, the Beaubiens, when I was a kid decades ago. In the 30+ years since I was there last, they have improved the place steadily and it is now a great attraction for families with small children. It is very clean and detail oriented. There are over 20 rides, all of which both parents and kids can go on together. In addition to the rides, there are little playhouses (like a giant pumpkin, for Peter Peter Pumpkineaters' wife to live in) and you get to meet live storybook characters like the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe (and you get to go in her shoe) and Mother Goose herself.
The crown jewel, however, is Cinderella's Castle. To get there, you ride in a pumpkin-coach up to the castle. As you get out of the coach, the princess herself meets you and takes all of the little girls on a tour of her castle. I gotta say, I have never seen such awe-struck little faces as a group of little girls realizes that Cinderella is a real live person, talking to them personally. Sometime in the tour, she asks the girls if they have seen Prince Charming yet, and tells them if they do, will they please give him the message that she says "Hello". So now, the little girls are on a mission to find the prince!
Food is affordable at Storyland, and there are plenty of shady places to sit and eat. There are some live animals (Three Little Pigs, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Peter Rabbit and Goosey-Goosey Gander), and up on a little hill is Heidi's Grandfather, his cabin, and his goats. That was pretty good timing because just weeks ago Caleigh got to watch Shirley Temple in Heidi for the first time. (gotta love NetFlix to find old classic movies on DVD)
There were only two downers to Story Land. One was that it is only open from 9-5, and when things shut down at 5 in June, there are still nearly 4 hours of daylight left and it seems like it is over too early. It is very sad when it is time to leave. The other problem was that we did find Prince Charming, and he wasn't a real person. When you take the Swan Boat ride (big one, 29' long, there were probably 2 dozen people on it) it takes you past Butterfly Island and on the island was a fiberglass statue of the Prince on his horse. The little girls are supposed to yell out to him that Cinderella says "Hello" as we pass by in the boat. Some of the other girls were cool with this, but to Caleigh it was a rather crushing moment, as she had taken her task very seriously. It was, after all, given by the real live Princess.
It was a moment much like the one in one of my favorite movies, "A Christmas Story", when Ralphie uses his Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring to translate the urgent message from the radio show, and it is "Drink your Ovaltine". I think she was very embarrassed that she had bought into the whole Cinderella searching for the Prince thing, and I felt really bad for her. I felt like I let her down, letting her think that it was all real. The management at the park probably has no idea how crushing it is to a little one when she finds out that there are no real Prince Charmings in this world. I think I will write to them and tell them that I really loved their park except for this one important thing. (at least it is important to a little girl who eats, sleeps and breathes Princesses)
After Story Land, we went out to dinner at The Muddy Moose where we had a good meal. Remembering that it is Bike Week, the parking lot was full of motorcycles from all over the US and Canada. I had pasta with venison sausage. One of the things I miss about living is the city is being able to go out to a good restaurant now and again, and decent food is an important part of a vacation to me!
Later, we went out to a make-your-own sundae place that was decorated with assorted antiques, including a plastic-and-vinyl 1970's hair dryer like the one my Mom had gotten with S&H Green Stamps! One of the last things I would have thought of as an antique. I guess I'm just getting old. What Caleigh was impressed with was a bunch of manual typewriters hanging on the wall. She calls them "18th century computers". Over in the corner there was a large photograph of a group of late-19th century hunters showing off a pile of rabbits they had shot. They were armed with an assortment of classic old double guns including a mix of breechloaders, caplocks and even one big old flint double! In 20/20 hindsight, I should have snapped a pic of it with my digital camera.
After that, it was off to the motel for some sleep before heading out on Saturday to the epicenter of Bike Week: Weirs Beach! To be continued in the next post...
Our vacation began with Flag Day on Thursday, when we retired our fading old flag that hangs by our porch next to the farm bell, hung up a new one, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and hit the road! We had packed up the Buick in record time, and left right on schedule (around lunch time). For those of you who are not in the Northeast, this happened to be Laconia Bike Week, so right away we noticed lots of motorcycles as we drove.
Our first stop was for lunch in New London, at the Flying Goose, a restaurant we had visited once before and had a good time at. It was full of bikers who had travelled from elsewhere to get here. After that stop, it was time to put some miles on, and we passed through the Sunapee area, headed towards Winnipesaukee. The closer we got, the more "Welcome Bikers" signs we saw on various places. bike week brings in a LOT of tourist dollars, as something like half a million people come to NH for it.
Our goal was to get to North Conway and check in at our motel, which was part of a larger resort. Since I was a kid, North Conway has grown and changed from the 1950's style tourist area to a more polished, upscale destination, but thankfully it is still affordable. The place we stayed at was called The Oxen Yoke and along with your room at the motel, you were also allowed the use of the facilities at it's parent resort a block away. The main resort hotel itself is located in a restored Grand Hotel from the heyday of rail travel. Guests have access to a game room, indoor pool, two outdoor pools and 1100' of river frontage for swimming. They even have a stocked fishing pond. Mostly we were just interested in a place to sleep. The room was only $49 per night, as we registered one day before their summer tourist season officially starts and rates jump.
The real goal of this trip was to go to Story Land, located just north of North Conway. Story Land is an amusement park geared towards little ones that has been in operation since the 1950's. I remember going with our neighbors, the Beaubiens, when I was a kid decades ago. In the 30+ years since I was there last, they have improved the place steadily and it is now a great attraction for families with small children. It is very clean and detail oriented. There are over 20 rides, all of which both parents and kids can go on together. In addition to the rides, there are little playhouses (like a giant pumpkin, for Peter Peter Pumpkineaters' wife to live in) and you get to meet live storybook characters like the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe (and you get to go in her shoe) and Mother Goose herself.
The crown jewel, however, is Cinderella's Castle. To get there, you ride in a pumpkin-coach up to the castle. As you get out of the coach, the princess herself meets you and takes all of the little girls on a tour of her castle. I gotta say, I have never seen such awe-struck little faces as a group of little girls realizes that Cinderella is a real live person, talking to them personally. Sometime in the tour, she asks the girls if they have seen Prince Charming yet, and tells them if they do, will they please give him the message that she says "Hello". So now, the little girls are on a mission to find the prince!
Food is affordable at Storyland, and there are plenty of shady places to sit and eat. There are some live animals (Three Little Pigs, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Peter Rabbit and Goosey-Goosey Gander), and up on a little hill is Heidi's Grandfather, his cabin, and his goats. That was pretty good timing because just weeks ago Caleigh got to watch Shirley Temple in Heidi for the first time. (gotta love NetFlix to find old classic movies on DVD)
There were only two downers to Story Land. One was that it is only open from 9-5, and when things shut down at 5 in June, there are still nearly 4 hours of daylight left and it seems like it is over too early. It is very sad when it is time to leave. The other problem was that we did find Prince Charming, and he wasn't a real person. When you take the Swan Boat ride (big one, 29' long, there were probably 2 dozen people on it) it takes you past Butterfly Island and on the island was a fiberglass statue of the Prince on his horse. The little girls are supposed to yell out to him that Cinderella says "Hello" as we pass by in the boat. Some of the other girls were cool with this, but to Caleigh it was a rather crushing moment, as she had taken her task very seriously. It was, after all, given by the real live Princess.
It was a moment much like the one in one of my favorite movies, "A Christmas Story", when Ralphie uses his Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring to translate the urgent message from the radio show, and it is "Drink your Ovaltine". I think she was very embarrassed that she had bought into the whole Cinderella searching for the Prince thing, and I felt really bad for her. I felt like I let her down, letting her think that it was all real. The management at the park probably has no idea how crushing it is to a little one when she finds out that there are no real Prince Charmings in this world. I think I will write to them and tell them that I really loved their park except for this one important thing. (at least it is important to a little girl who eats, sleeps and breathes Princesses)
After Story Land, we went out to dinner at The Muddy Moose where we had a good meal. Remembering that it is Bike Week, the parking lot was full of motorcycles from all over the US and Canada. I had pasta with venison sausage. One of the things I miss about living is the city is being able to go out to a good restaurant now and again, and decent food is an important part of a vacation to me!
Later, we went out to a make-your-own sundae place that was decorated with assorted antiques, including a plastic-and-vinyl 1970's hair dryer like the one my Mom had gotten with S&H Green Stamps! One of the last things I would have thought of as an antique. I guess I'm just getting old. What Caleigh was impressed with was a bunch of manual typewriters hanging on the wall. She calls them "18th century computers". Over in the corner there was a large photograph of a group of late-19th century hunters showing off a pile of rabbits they had shot. They were armed with an assortment of classic old double guns including a mix of breechloaders, caplocks and even one big old flint double! In 20/20 hindsight, I should have snapped a pic of it with my digital camera.
After that, it was off to the motel for some sleep before heading out on Saturday to the epicenter of Bike Week: Weirs Beach! To be continued in the next post...
posted by MVTCoPete | 7:40 AM
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