Day 4: Quechee to North Conway, New Hampshire

Day 4 was our last morning in Vermont, moving on to New Hampshire in the afternoon. It was a really great day. Outdoors all day long!!

Highlights:

Quechee Gorge

* After breakfast/check out from out hotel, we headed just across the street to the Quechee Gorge. We had to hike a short maybe 1/2 mile hike down to the gorge… very, very pretty!

* Once we made it down there, the boys were in heaven. There were rocks galore to climb around on. I had just planned on this being a fairly quick stop, but they loved it so much we spent quite a long time here instead.

(You actually couldn’t see the bridge from shore, unless you climbed out into the rocks in the middle of the river.)

* As I suspected would happen, Ethan eventually slipped and fell on his butt. He had been eyeing this one area with a little waterfall making a mini-“whirlpool” anyway, so, he decided he would just go for it and swim in his shorts.

* It was cloudy, but very warm and pleasant. Sun came out before we left, too. It was a really beautiful, peaceful place.

* View from the top, on the bridge!

Lost River Gorge and Caves

* After a quick lunch, we drove the approximately 1 hour into New Hampshire to the White Mountains. I booked 1:30 timed entry tickets to the Lost River Gorge and Caves.

THIS WAS SO FUN!!!!

* I had been debating between going here or to a different gorge called The Flume nearby…. knew we only had time for one or the other. This was a great choice.

It’s a winding hike down between rocks along the river, on wood planks and staircases… it’s gorgeous. But the best part is that you can climb in and through I think 22 Boulder caves along the way.

This was crazy fun!! The boys couldn’t get enough. You had to squeeze between rocks, duck down and crawl on your hands and knees, sometimes even flat on your stomach to fit through.

(My mom didn’t really participate…. My dad tried most but for some you literally had to fit through an 18 inch wide hole!)

They had cool old fashioned oil lanterns illuminating the caves but they were mostly dark and wet. It was awesome.

* The whole hike was so pretty too. So even though my mom didn’t climb in the caves, she still got to enjoy the views. She did a couple of the more tame ones too! Sat out the one called “the lemon squeezer” though. Lol. (Was a TINY space on that one… I was not sure I would fit. Thankfully, we all made it out. 🙂

The Basin

* After the caves, we drove about 15 minutes away to a shorter hike at a place nicknamed The Basin.

* The boys found more rocks to climb around on up the river.

* Asher kept doing dumb stuff all day that had me convinced we were going to end up in the emergency room.

Old Man in the Mountain site

* After The Basin hike, it was late afternoon already and we were getting tired. We stopped by the Old Man in the Mountain site.

It’s a historical marker of a famous old rock that “used” to be up on the mountain in the shape of an old man’s face profile. I actually saw it once as a kid. In 2003, the rock fell and sadly, the face is no more.

Now they have a beautiful park area with info/history about the site. They built these cool poles that if you stand in the right spot, you can see how it would have looked.

* This was an unexpected bright spot in the day, too. The lake here was empty and the sun was shining bright… the kids played in the water, we sat on the shore and it was just a really nice, relaxing time.

* It was almost an hour to our condo then to check in. We stopped first to put our name in at a local brewery…. Restaurants everywhere here are in a world of hurt because they can’t get any employees… there are long waits because they have to run limited tables or in most cases, only be open certain nights a week when they can get staff.

The place we went was practically the only restaurant open on Tuesdays, so we had a 1 hour wait. Enough time to go check into our condo quick and then go back to eat.

We have gorgeous mountain views from the condo decks.

Amazing!!! I wanted to just stay in to enjoy the views, but we were low on any real groceries and didn’t feel like trying to deal with that (and then still cooking) last night.

* Dinner was fun and yummy though! It was a beautiful night on the patio.

* Back at the condo, we just relaxed on the deck.

* Later, the boys played more Texas Hold ‘Em.

* Sadly, as I write this, this is the view from our beautiful deck:

Wahhhh! 😩 Some rain and fog moved in. I think it’s supposed to be mostly dry today, though…. So I’m hoping this foggy stuff moves out ASAP.

Daily Gratitude: I am grateful for choosing the Lost River option over the other hike. It was so much fun.