Indian Head Resort Offers Many Perks

Submitted by Virginia Leighton, Granite State Ambassador
St. Mary’s Bank - American Credit Union Museum Class of 2008

Finally I got to break away and use my Indian Head Resort perk from 2010. They were great when I called to make a reservation for nights of November 17 and 18. Rose S (another GSA) joined me for the excursion. 

NHGSA Rose in Lincoln Woods

We left Concord in the morning on Thursday with a stop at the Tanger Outlets in Tilton. Since I like to give back to those who give to us we lunched at 104 Diner (Common Man property). During a stop at the White Mt Visit Center we realized White Mt Mikey was among the missing. 

Cruised Main Street for a bit and checked in at the Resort. We wanted to try the outdoor pool and jacuzzi, yet, did not want them to open for just us, so we opted for the indoor pool and hot tub. Cleaned up for dinner, I had the prime rib and we took desserts of cheesecake with strawberries back to our room for later. After that big dinner we walked around the property.   

Old Man on the Mountain Memorial

Friday morning we had a great breakfast and headed out to the Lincoln Woods Franconia Falls Trail. There had been a dusting of snow during the night and it was crisp and breezy. We were the only car in the parking lot. As we walked the trail the damage from Irene was still obvious, although many trail repairs were already done. The plan was out to the falls and back an approximate 6 mile round trip. When we approached the intersection of the Black Pond Trail Rose said that her husband had seen many moose out by Black Pond. We opted for Black Pond – the trail was good at first and then narrowed out with a steep drop on one side. That was “ok” until we got to a very steep drop off with a brook crossing and no obviously great way to cross. Remember we were heading to the falls and back (easy hike) so we did not bring our hiking poles. We decided not to risk possible injury and falling in the water – so we turned back to the falls trail. We hiked for about 3 hours and encountered two couples on the return trip.

View from Sugar Hill Sampler

Since the day was far from over we lunched at a sports bar in downtown Franconia, visited Garnet Hill Outlet, went to the Old Man Memorial, Harman’s Cheese, tried some letterboxing near Polly’s Pancake House and checked out the Sugar Hill Sampler (great views from there).  After all that we got back to the Resort and to our delight found the outdoor pool and hot tub opened for some other guests.  It was great until you got out. Dinner was great – I had baked stuffed shrimp. During dinner I looked around the dining room and spotted NHGSA Paul and a friend who had arrived on Friday for his two day stay.

NHGSA Rose on Roaring River Trail

Saturday morning we had breakfast, a stroll around the resort’s pond, a short letterboxing hike on the Roaring River Trail near the Flume and headed home.  We stopped some more at a shop in Tilton owned by my neighbor’s daughter and a stop at Rose’s father’s grave site in the NH Veterans Cemetery.  We also walked the area that has memorials for each branch of the service.  I was quite impressed- it is a great place to visit.

What a great early weekend packed with lots of activities.

All Aboard for the Polar Express!

By Ami D'Amelio, NHGSA Programs Manager, Granite State Ambassador, PSU Ice Arena Class of 2011

The holidays are a magical time of year and what better way to kick off the season but to take the beloved ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express! This year, my sister-in-law Bridget and I hatched a plan to score some tickets for our families on the Polar Express Event of New England, and it all started in September .... which made for a very early start to the holiday season...

For the Polar Express Event of New England, which leaves from either North Conway or Lincoln, your entry and donation must be postmarked by October 1st. (For those of you that are just thinking of the Polar Express now, there are a few tickets which recently became available from the Lincoln location you can click here to see the available dates and purchase online) So we both sent in our entries with donations - hers to Lincoln, mine to North Conway - hoping we could hedge our bets. On the scheduled call days, volunteers for the Polar Express Event work their way through all the entries, calling each person and offering whatever seats are still available. When you receive the call, you have to make your decision on the spot and provide payment. If you don't answer, you lose your tickets. We were lucky enough that Bridget's call day was first and she was able to get tickets for all of us on the same Saturday night. (Consequently, I did get a call the next day but it was quite late in the afternoon and no Friday or Saturday tickets were available) Thank goodness we divided and conquered!

Now, the D'Amelios are a rowdy bunch so we took the feedback from other families who had attended in the pajamas and decided to all dress in matching PJs - I am sure we were quite the sight! But the kids were excited (the adults, too!) so we headed off in our matching outfits for the 7pm departure from the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln, NH on December 3rd. We arrived early to get to the head of the boarding line, the two little boys were in heaven playing with trains in the gift shop!


Promptly at 6:30, the doors opened and we rushed to board the actual train. True to the book, the train staff came by with hot chocolate for everyone and we enjoyed the yummy treat all the way to the North Pole.

Upon arrival at the North Pole, Santa's elves were standing along the path to help guide us to the theater and played along well with the kids. Our elf "Icecube" was very playful and asked the kids about their Santa lists - delighting each and every one with his attention.

We settled into the theater and enjoyed a reading from The Polar Express. Then the Big Man came out to greet the sea of excited kids and took the time to walk around and greet each one. This was definitely the highlight for our crew! (We had no idea Santa had this kind of time on his hands during this time of year!) After selecting a child to receive the first gift of Christmas, we all made our way back to the train and started the long trek back to NH from the North Pole. During our ride, the train staff came around again, this time to give each child a sleigh bell to take home. My girls were so excited to exclaim that they could still hear it ring!

It was a very delightful evening, and fun to see so much of the book come to life before our very eyes. It was definitely a memory that will stay with us for a long time - hopefully our matching PJs will last as long! :-)