Date of first visit: July 2019
Length of stay: 2 weeks
Location: Contoocook, NH (just outside of Concord)
On our venture Northward, we decided to make a stop in New Hampshire for a couple of weeks. The path to the campground was alright overall. It took us about 2 hours to traverse between parks, most of that on a proper highway. Our GPS tried to take us over a small (9 ft clearance) covered bridge, but a quick call to the campground helped us avoid this minor problem.
There was a small grocery store about 5 miles away in the small town of Hopkinton, nestled along a very picturesque river. There was a nice post office just up the road in Contoocook. Walmart was a little further drive (maybe 30 minutes) in Concord.
The park itself was set up rather uniquely, but it was a wonderful place to sit outside and enjoy the surroundings. We happened upon a 50 Amp FHU site with plenty of room to spread out and feel comfortable. The park had pay for WiFi, but it was spotty at times, so we raised the cell extender in an effort to hedge our bet on coverage a bit. There was a great little pond on the property where I regularly enjoyed kayaking. here was no parking near the places to put the kayak in, but it wasn't a far walk to get there. (And the new addition of a cart for my kayak made the transition even easier!)
The park doesn't have a pool, but they have a wonderful beach area and swimming in the pond is a favorite activity for those here. We purchased firewood from the park and had more than enough for a fire on multiple nights, as well as some smores (I admit I had trouble keeping mine from being messy).
We met some friends we'd made earlier at a meadery (Moonlight Meadery) in a town about an hour and a half away for a tour and tasting. Kyle had learned of them at the Homebrew Convention in Rhode Island and we were thrilled to be fairly close to their facility. We spent a bit on several meads and then went into town for a nice dinner. Touring was quite wonderful in the area! We went to Mount Washington and rode the train up to the top with my husband's stepmother one day. On our way to the rail station, we went by the Old Man in the Mountain and toured about there. After our train ride, we enjoyed lunch at a great little place at the base of the mountain and then went out to the Trapp Family Lodge as well as the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream facility.
Being so close to Concord, we decided to go out to New Hampshire's capitol and then venture over to Vermont to check out Montpelier. Both had beautiful capitol squares that felt reminiscent of small town Texas for us.
After our two weeks here, we left and ventured onto our next location in Maine.
Below are some of the pictures from our time in the area.
Concord
Concord
Covered bridge in Hopkinton
Montpelier Capitol building
Train at Mount Washington
Top of Mount Washington
Kayak launch spot at Sandy Beach Campground
Gertrude all tucking in to her spot at Sandy Beach
Swimming area at Sandy Beach
Great time kayaking!
S'mores can be so messy!
Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont
