Submitted by Virginia Leighton,
Granite State AmbassadorSt. 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.