The Trek East - Part 3: New Hampshire

The final leg of my journey brought me to rural Goffstown, New Hampshire, to visit my son Tim and his family.  Their acreage includes a cozy house,

a horse pasture for horses Harley and Lucy,

a great little climbing tree,

a deluxe treehouse, a few acres of woodlands, and (my favorite part), a beautiful babbling brook.

 

Our first outing took us to the Robert Frost Farm near Derry, New Hampshire. 

 

 

 

I have always been a fan of Robert Frost’s poetry – Mending Wall, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and The Road Not Taken are some of my favorites.  The grounds at the farm include a wonderful hiking trail through meadows and woods.

 

 

And here is the stone wall (one of many in New Hampshire) that inspired the poem Mending Wall – “good fences make good neighbors.” 

The grandkids enjoyed the old climbing tree.  I was a tree climber as a kid, too.  One of my favorite spots was a comfortable cranny in a big old weeping willow tree at the edge of our garden.  It was a perfect, shady place to read on a hot summer day--and I loved the soothing sound of the wind in the willows.

 

 

 

I got the kids a beautifully illustrated paperback compilation of Frost’s poetry, which they enjoyed.

 

  

We lunched at a wonderful Mexican restaurant, then headed to Goffstown to see Garrison’s elementary school (1st grade) and Madeline’s Mountain View Middle School (5th grade).  There really is a mountain view!

 

 

The next day we took a longer road trip, heading northeast to Hanover, New Hampshire, where the kids played on the Dartmouth campus green. 

 

 

We also toured a lovely art museum and ate a fantastic lunch at EBAs (Everything But Anchovies).  

Then we crossed the river to Norwich, Vermont, and visited the King Arthur Flour Company’s bakery and visitor center.  The flour mill has been in operation since 1790.  

After that we headed East into New Hampshire’s beautiful Sunapee / Lakes Region, near the foothills of the White Mountains. 

 

 

 

The kids took a chilly swim in Newfound Lake, where the water was crystal clear.

 

 

 

The next day, after hugs all around, Tim went back to work, the grandkids headed off to Melody Pines Day Camp for their end of summer camp “Olympics,” and after a lovely brunch and a trip to the library,  DIL Carrie and I went  to the airport, where I began my trek home to Nebraska and my transition back to the workaday world.

 

TTFN

LeAnn