A great long weekend at the Lake

I decided I would Blog about my wonderful long weekend at the Lake. I just returned about an hour ago from a weekend full of beautiful weather and more sweet memories.

We (my daughter Caitlin and I) arrived early Friday afternoon for our 2nd trip up to Lake Winnipesaukee this August. First time I came up with the rest of the Family....Hubby and youngest daughter, they unfortunately could not share in our 2nd trip up because of work obligations for my Husband and Band Camp for my daughter Becky. Our previous trip up the first week of August was full of bad weather (the Weirs wash out, road wash outs, etc), only 2 days of semi sunshine and the rest was cold and rainy....not this time though.

As I mentioned, we arrived on Friday to a beautiful warm sunny day, which was thankfully an indicator of how the rest of the weekend would be. It's about a 5 1/2 hour trip from where I live in NJ, so by the time we got there we were ready to rest a little while. Unfortunately, my lead foot (I'll come back to that point later ) got us to our destination a little early, not quite time to check in, so we went to Hannaford's (our favorite store) to pick up what we would need for our stay and of course every brochure they have by their exit (not that I don't have every single one of them from my last trip).

We stayed at the Belknap Point Motel this time (earlier in the month we rented a house for the week on Dockham Shore Rd)..Anyway, I have stayed at the Belknap Point Motel many times before in both the Summer and Fall, and would highly recommend to anyone who wants to stay right on the Lake. Absolutely wonderful location in Gilford right on the water and they do have docking if you bring a boat. Nice rooms (Motel is on top and the efficiencies are below right on the Lake). We stayed in a lovely efficiency just perfect for a mother/daughter get away.

After the shopping when we got there on Friday, we checked in and rested for awhile.
After a brief doze, we looked over the Dining Guide and decided that we would stay close by for dinner that evening and went to the Ellacoya Barn and Grill, which turned out to be an excellent choice. I had the Ahi Tuna w/Wasabi Sauce and Jasmine Rice and my daughter had the Lobster Ravioli, and we were both very happy with our meals. After dinner, we decided to challenge each other to mini golf (twice) first at Funspot and then at that really dark Mini Golf area next to the Batting Cages next door to the Fire House by the Weirs. I won both times, which didn't make her happy, but I had a blast.

Saturday morning started very early with a hike up Mount Major. We had planned to do this on our previous trip but the weather just didn't cooperate. I was so happy to be able to do it this time, and the weather was just perfect. A little hazy, but not too warm and we beat our time up to the summit by about 15 minutes from last year, so I'm hoping that means we are in better shape now. By 10:30 am we were down and back to the motel for shower's. After a discussion about what to do in the afternoon, we were off to the Weirs by around 12:45. We both wanted to take a boat ride, so we decided to go on the Sophie C. Again, the weather was just beautiful, quite warm, but completely sunny and just the perfect day to go "out" on the Lake. I mistakenly parked in the 2 hour parking spots by the arcades, so I had the ticket that would likely be waiting for me when I returned on my mind for the whole trip, but it did not ruin my day at all. It was so neat to stop at the Islands as the mailboat made its rounds and get a glimpse of the Island life. As we stopped at the Islands, the mail lady would get off with dog treats in hand and give the Island pups a treat and the kids from the Islands got on the boat to get ice cream. Was alot of fun. Would highly recommend a trip on the Sophie C to anyone who has not taken in yet. Saturday night's dinner was had at The William Tell Inn. I have been there before several times and have never had a bad experience. I love their salad which is served with a house dressing and beets, corn and carrots. I never eat beets anywhere else or even at home, but I eat every last one of them on my salad there.

On Sunday we travelled to the White Mountains and took the Cog Railway. I have taken this trip before, but I always enjoy the beautiful scenery. They have one Diesel powered engine now and I happened to get my ride up with that one, and I must say it smells alot better and is a much cleaner ride than with the coal engines (although they are fun to go up in). We lucked out with beautiful weather on Sunday as well. It turned out to be a late day and we were tired, so we picked up dinner to go at the Tamarack. Mixed feelings....the food itself was very good, but I think that they should train more thoroughly or at least observe more closely the conduct of their employees.


We knew that the weather in the am on Monday would be iffy at best, but I am ever the optimist, so my daughter and myself decided to hike up Mount Major again. Well, we got about 3/4 of the way up the Boulder Trail and down came the rain. Knowing there was a chance of Thundershowers, we got a little spooked and turned around and went back down. Of course as soon as we made it to the parking lot, it turned into a light shower, and by the time we made it back to the motel the sun was partly out. At least we made it halfway up again, it was fun anyway. We spent the rest of the day taking a ride around the Lake. We rode through Alton and then off for lunch to Wolfeboro. We had a nice lunch at the Dockside Grille where I had the Fisherman's Platter and my daughter had the Clam Plate. We both fully enjoyed our meals (and the great waffle fries) and knew that we would not be eating dinner at night because we were stuffed.
We continued our journey around the Lake enjoying the beautiful scenery and had a great day. Since we were passing by Funspot anyway on the way back, we decided to burn off a few calories with a quick game of mini golf. After our game, we went back to the motel and I decided to enjoy a nice glass of Wine on the deck. It had become quite breezy by that time and the temperature had fallen quite alot, but it was lovely just the same. Not too much boat traffic passing by though. One Pontoon Boat and a couple of speed boats, but that was it. I noticed a few ducks on the floating dock and started watching them. They seemed as if they were having a conversation and then one jumped off, swam in the water a bit, and then jumped back on the dock. Then two of them got up and started moving their necks the same way and then one after the other they started flapping their wings and flew away(and the wind was strong, I was wondering if they could buck it or not). Of course they had no problem flying in the strong wind, and eventually, the third duck got up and followed suit. I don't spend afternoons like this back home..it was nice..

As I mentioned, we had a huge lunch, so we had a light "dinner" at the Kellerhaus (only 2 scoops)...I had Cookie Monster and Maple Walnut, smothered in Butterscotch and chocolate and marshmallow and a flag of course. They had a flavor there that I had not seen before...it was called "Moose Poop"...which I think the man said upon my asking had chocolate and peanut butter in...maybe next time. Afterwards, we had one more game of golf at the dark golf course again by the batting range and go carts by the Weirs..Then back to the motel to pack and reflect on a great long weekend at the Lake.

Now to the trip home.....We left around 7:15 this morning. We had a good start, no traffic on 93 which I guess I can attribute to not travelling home on a weekend, no traffic on 495 either, so I was travelling along with my aforementioned "lead foot" when out of nowhere a very unpleasant state trooper nailed me for speeding in Sturbridge. Now, I am not admitting to speeding, I was "travelling along with traffic" when he jumped out of nowhere and signalled me to pullover..well...the weekend had been great up to there....Any MA Lawyers on the Forum who want to help me out??? LOL