New HAMPshire??

{Blog post title courtesy of What About Bob?}

As teased in the previous post, Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire was our next stop on this summer's road trip.  The inspiration for this particular destination?  The 1991 cult classic, What About Bob? Obviously.  Hahaha.  Growing up, this was one of my family's favorite movies and is still preeminently quotable to this day.  The fact that the movie was actually filmed in Virginia and NOT at Lake Winnipesaukee is just details.  Lol.  I fully intended to have a mandatory family viewing of the movie as part of our "Summer Movie Madness" to preface our trip, but alas, it never happened.  I hear that it's better late than never, though, so I guess I'll just have to make fetch happen this weekend instead.  Hahaha. 

Our stay in New Hampshire was the only one we used an airbnb for, and I always forget how much less stressful it is to have our whole family self-contained and separate from others while on vacation.  Lol.  The condo we stayed in had three bedrooms and a pull-out couch that left everyone with more than enough space to spread out and chill and having a kitchen for a couple of days made the necessity of eating out for every meal obsolete.  In short, it was pretty fab and I need to remember to keep that option in mind when I plan next summer's trip.  

Alex brought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with him everywhere we went.  It was kind of hilarious that on every bus/train/trolley tour we took, the guide had a comment to make about how great it was to see a kid reading.

Our first full day in town brought rainy weather with it, but thankfully, the morning was merely overcast and we were able to stick to our itinerary of a leisurely ride on the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad.  By the time the rain came down that afternoon, we were well-ensconced in the World's Largest Arcade -- aka "Funspot" -- a few miles up the road.  {For real -- the Guinness Book of World Records has it ranked as the world's largest arcade.}  After taking a break back at the condo, we finished our day with a trip to the movies for the girls (Barbie -- don't get me started) and another jaunt to the arcade for the boys.  All-in-all, it was a rainy day well-spent!

The boys were in heaven.

I don't know why they even bothered with counting tickets because I don't think they even ended up "buying" anything with them.

By the end of the road trip, I had started teasing Isaac that we had the same hairstyle.  Hahahaha.  (Minus the bangs, obvis.)

Okay, I can't help myself. {And just as an FYI, things got very heated in the car ride back to our room because my opinion was so wildly divergent from theirs and they thought I was taking the movie way too seriously and were embarrassed for if anyone heard what I thought.}  My review [the short version]:  4/10 -- it was too long (by at LEAST 30 minutes), too heavy-handed, too earnestly woke, a bit all over the place, with a contradictory and convoluted plot, kind of boring in spots, and essentially the cinematic equivalent of Inigo Montoya's line from "The Princess Bride": I do not think it means what you think it means.  Basically, it was a mess.  IMHO.  Will Ferrell and his posse of men were superfluous and added nothing to the script, Ken and Weird Barbie were the best/funniest parts of the movie, and the rest was mid at best.  Overall, it just wasn't as funny or entertaining as I was expecting it to be, but I did get a really big kick out of  "Closer to Fine" being the soundtrack of the girls' road trip.  Hahaha.

Our final day at Lake Winnipesaukee was spent at Weirs Beach and it was a delight.  The weather rallied for us, providing a lovely sunny afternoon, and even though we had to do SO. MUCH. WALKING. to get to the beach from the condo, I'm still glad we were able to enjoy some Lake life before we had to hit the road once again.  (Sophie didn't want to risk being in the sun again so soon after her burn, so you'll notice she's missing from all of the day's pics.)

The water was lovely -- cool enough to counteract the heat of the day, but not so freezing as to make it miserable.

We had planned on renting jet skis for the day, but apparently you need a boating license to do that in New Hampshire.  Renting paddle boats was our Plan B, and even though it was a much more sedate activity, it was still fun being on the water.

More finger hearts.

The boys were not quite as thrilled about the paddle boats as I thought they'd be.  Hahaha.

With New Hampshire now recapped and in the books, we have officially covered the first week of our New England Sweep!  Coming up next is the Green Mountain State...