-
Learning to Love Winter – Winter Activity Programs in Schools
We moved to New Hampshire when Ryan was starting first grade. We were eager to move right away, and so we looked everywhere to try to find an affordable house rental in a good school system that was within commuting distance of Concord/Manchester. We ended up in a sleepy little town with a tiny school, right next door to Mount Sunapee. The town wasn’t the right place for us, but the tiny little school was fantastic. One of my favorite things that the school offered was their Winter Activities Program – for four weeks in January/February, the kids spent the second half of every Wednesday either skiing, ice skating, or…
-
Festival of Colors
Fall has arrived. School is in session and there is a chill in the air. Families flock to apple orchards and pumpkin patches. The lush green of the woods has been replaced by vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds. The changing colors of the leaves announce the season more clearly than any date on a calendar ever could. The background of any outdoor picture immediately gives away the season, while tourists line the sides of roads eager to document the beauty of the leaves. You won’t see these colors in Winter, Spring or Summer. In our old town the Fall Foliage Festival was the event that was anticipated all year. Committees…
-
Devil’s Hopyard – Tuesday Tour Guide
The Devil’s Hopyard is a site in the White Mountain National Forest. When my friends first asked if we wanted to hike to the Devil’s Hopyard with them, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. The name sounds intimidating, but the Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain Guide classifies it as an easy hike that is relatively short and flat (only 2.6 miles round trip and 250 feet of elevation gain). The trailhead begins at South Pond Recreation Area in Stark, New Hampshire. The Day Use Area there features a beach, picnic tables and grills. There is a $7/car fee to access the Day Use Area, but since we were…
-
The Devil’s Hopyard – Sunday Snapshots
Recently we had the chance to hike to the Devil’s Hopyard with friends. The trail is located in the White Mountain National Forest and is accessed from South Pond in Stark, NH. The name sounded ominous, but it turned out to be a gorgeous and fairly easy hike! Keep your eyes out for a more detailed post and description of our hike to the Devil’s Hopyard on Tuesday! This blog is participating in the Sundays in my City link up. To see photo posts from other bloggers’ communities, click the button below.
-
Isolated? – Myths of the North Country
The White Mountains and the Notches that pass through them form a natural barrier between the North Country and the rest of New Hampshire. Driving through Franconia Notch, the interstate narrows to one lane in each direction and the speed limit drops to 45 mph as the road winds between the mountains. It is easy to see where one might get the idea that it is isolated up here – and if you are someone who needs easy access to a major city at all times, it just might be. As someone who had no desire to be in a major metropolitan area, the North Country is perfect for me.…
-
Back to School
Ryan started fourth grade on Monday. It really seems like they grow up overnight, check out the difference between the first day of third grade and first day of fourth grade. I can’t believe I have a fourth grader already! When he was just a little preschooler, school seemed so big and scary. Each year he has grown more and more and become increasingly independent. Usually Ryan likes a little bit of extra support and hand holding. Not this year. This is the first year that he didn’t ask me to walk him to class. In fact, I asked him (several times actually) and he was insistent that he wanted…
-
Littleton, New Hampshire – My (New) Hometown!
Littleton is a very cheerful little mountain town, full of quirky shops and restaurants. The town seems to have almost a magnetic pull to it. People are just drawn here. The first time I ever visited Littleton, I was amazed by what a cute little town it was and wondered what it would be like to live here. Unbeknownst to me, Cal had driven through the town two years earlier and thought the exact same thing. I have met so many other people who were drawn to this town in the same way. Still, when it came time to decide where to move to in New Hampshire, we never considered…
-
Finding Stability and Home – Part Two, Our House Hunting Journey
Cal and I have been house hunting off and on for about three years now. Circumstances changed at different times, so we weren’t able to be seriously looking for that entire three year period. We initially looked to buy right when we were first moving to New Hampshire. We looked at houses and made offers. Our initial location criteria were the best school districts in the state and being centrally located for jobs. After a few months of looking we decided to get a rental before the new school year started so that we could all be together. Our rental was in a small town in the Sunapee/Kearsarge area of…
