February 2025 Adventure
February is an unusual time to go on an adventure for many people, unless they are headed to the beach or a cruise. Or perhaps they are into skiing. But in our case, we decided a cozy get away in a nice log cabin in the mountains was in order. So off to New Hampshire we went. But that is an 8 hour trip, so we ended up stopping halfway. First we scoped out Amsterdam, NY. Amsterdam was an interesting town. Not sure if it was just luck, or the local area we attempted to find food in. But the first place had what appeared to be inmates in orange jumpsuits walking around the parking lot freely and randomly. The second place had a cashier who was asleep at the counter with a bottle of booze in her hand. But at least that place had some decent grub.
The trip was fun, save for the first night. It had been a while since our little one had stayed in a hotel, and it took him a long time to finally settle down. This made all of us grumpy. But we finally all got about 3 hours sleep and that seemed to be enough to see us through. We stayed just outside of Saratoga Springs, NY. The Hotel it's self was beautiful.
The second day we traveled up along Highway 4 into Vermont and then made our way over to New Hampshire. We stopped to watch a CP Rail train near Fort Ann, NY - it was fun seeing my first legit CP train since the merger with KCS. We passed through the super cute town of Woodstock, VT which was full of pedestrians who were browsing the local shops. I was suprised to see this many people out on a Monday morning in such a small rural town.
We continued onward and through Quechee, VT before heading towards Bradford, VT where we stopped at The Little Grille At The Mill. A very nice resturant beside a frozen stream and waterfall / dam.
The food was great, and it was neat being inside of an old mill. They had left a lot of the original interior in place, so that was fun.
We then headed to the cabin, which was only about 45 minutes away. It wasn't long before we were seeing white topped mountains on the horizion.
The cabin was amazing! It was a true log cabin, and very cute inside. The mountains were visible through the trees which was super cool. A lovely warm fireplace was the center of the action in the main area. And the cozy bedrooms with super comfortable beds was a big plus. I think Tigga would of wanted to move in, right then and there.
My son was happy about this place, and I think he thought it was our new home. He was well behaved and it was fun playing with him inside and outside! Gosh I so love being a Dad!
The next day we went to Mount Washington and rode the COG Railway about half way up which is as far as it goes in the winter. The track reached a grade of 34%, pictured below. It was an interesting ride at about 5 mph.
It was a super cool experience regardless, and we got to roast hot dogs, and have a lovely little stay up at the station, before returning. At Waumbek Station, where the train stopped the Temp that day was 34 degrees.
This wasn't bad. The Summit was apparently about 20 degrees with a wind chill of about 5 degrees I believe. Not a place I'd choose to visit for fun, especially because the visibility wouldn't of been too great. Tigga also purchased me a section of the actual rail from the COG Railway from the rail replacement that occured in 2020. It is fun to own a small piece of that historic undertaking.
We then explored a trailhead and pondered hiking it, but decided that it would be difficult with the little guy. We visited some gift shops and then had a nice dinner at a place called Nacho's Mexican Bar and Grill, in Lincoln, NH to celebrate my birthday.
We returned to the cabin and had some fun playtime with our Son before bed. We played cards and enjoyed some quiet time. We contemplated staying another day, but didn't really have any plans to make staying another day feasible. The only other thing we could of done was visit the ice castle, but we were unsure if that would be worth an extra ~$400 or so for an extra day with the added food and extra day of stay calculated in.
The next day we were able to head home, and did the whole trip in one day. We stopped in Fort Ann again, this time for food at the Battle Hill Brewing Company. Was good food! My son saw a lot of trucks driving past so he loved that! Driving was smooth and we made good time.