Disney World 2/14-2/17/14

Jay and I were lucky enough to book a last minute surprise getaway WITHOUT kids this weekend. Caitlyn, our almost 20-year old daughter, returned a favor to us by watching all three boys for the weekend. We left on Valentine’s Day and returned on Presidents day, escaping another 10” of snow. We’ve gotten well over 50” so far and the groundhog says we still have 4 more weeks to go! Ugh!

Since we were booking last minute we stayed at CoronadoSprings Resort using about 92 of DVC points for a huge studio with one of the few king size beds! Coronado has a Mexican theme, we stayed in the Rancheros (7A) close to the pools, and bus stop 3 (literally out the back of the building). Little bit of a hike to the main building but the bus can take you around if needed. The resort was really quiet until Sunday evening. The facilities houses a convention center, by 4pm on Sunday night the place was hopping with people networking, on laptops, in meetings or on their cell phone. Thankfully, for me when I escape from work it means no children. Sadly, for Jay this is a reminder of work. (In fact, we heard his boss was actually in Disney with his family, hopefully he knew how to relax). Although it wasn’t overly noisy, the congestion of people at the hotel was reaching park status. However, we still managed to snag a hammock on the beach by the lake for a 2 hour nap in the sun. Let’s pause and go back to that warm sun and beautiful blue sky….

Ok back to reality, there were 3 places to grab food at the hotel. One quick stop were we grabbed a quick cookie and drinks. We ate the Pepper Market twice for Breakfast. I liked the cafeteria style serving, you got a card when you purchased items they stamped your card, pay on your way out. The food wasn’t that great, but then again we never really like Disney food. Just seemed like it was sitting out too long. We never had trouble finding seats despite the convention and it being school vacation week. There is also the Maya Restaurant, we did not eat there, as I don’t really like Mexican.

The staff at Coronado was typical Disney, everything was super happy, super magical, just the way I like it. We even got a ride from the walk outside our room to the hammocks, because that’s what lazy people do on vacation! =)

Although we did not use the pool at the resort, they had like 3 of them, the main pool was super cool Mayan Pyramid with water slide. Since it was February the pools laid empty most of the time other than the few brave souls who I’m guessing were from Northern US and thought 60 degrees was 90! That would be Jay’s people. Mine are still wearing hoodies!

So what do you do when you go to Disney without kids? Eat around the world of course, I’d totally drink around the world if I actually liked the taste of alcohol. So loosen the belt because on our first day there we gained 20 lbs! We started off at the Polynesian for the O’hana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. They stopped at our table despite no kids, we politely waived them away thinking… I’m only here for the waffles and sausages! Sausages! Let me tell you these things, they are the best sausages in the whole wide world. I love them! I can’t go to Disney without them. If you do anything, make sure it’s O’hana breakfast, even though O’hana means family, I really think it means SAUSAGES! After the family style breakfast of eggs, potatoes, Mickey waffles, sausage and bacon we headed to Epcot to work some of it off. (Thank you Disney Insider Tips for taking a picture of those beautiful sausages, I've yet to wait long enough to take a picture)

Ok let’s get the facts out the way, I read somewhere that the promenade of the World Showcase in Epcot is only 1. 2 miles from Canada to Mexico. They really need to make it bigger so I can work off more food or make more room, you decide. So we went to France for desserts, also Morocco, since I’ve never had baklava and it has nuts in it. Our oldest son is allergic to peanuts, we don’t dare try nuts so this was our opportunity. We walked all the way around to Mexico before trying anything else, where we split some nachos for the sake of me saying I ate Mexican! Are you proud Dad? We then walked back around since Germany was PACKED with Bachlorette parties, and I’m guessing all those convention guests? We made it in but if you want a beer plan on standing in line. We finished off our 7 hour day at Epcot with dinner in Morocco where I tried lamb for the first time. It was ok, I’m guessing lamb from anywhere else would be good, but in true Disney fashion it was blah. Other than those sausages and Mickey waffles the food stinks.

Few other noteworthy places we ate this weekend, Sci-Fi Dine In in Hollywood studios. CREEEEEEEEPY! The wait times for this place are outrageous, hour plus, so make reservations if you want to visit. They seat you in these car tables which is really just a row with a small lunch table in front of you. There are 3 rows per car, so we had strangers in front of us. But don’t worry about interaction as there is none. The place is eerily quiet because no one faces one another and there is a bad 50’s short films playing. $75 we got appetizer of Spinach and Artichoke dip served with Nachos, super yummy, never had it before. (I know there is a reason people call me oh one of limited taste buds.) 2 Diet cokes (cause I’m watching my girlish figure) and shared an Oreo cookie shake (again see girlish figure, well that if I had my own I wasn’t getting out of the booth it was so small). I got a burger for meal, and Jay got Shrimp Parmesan Pasta. Again, eh. The burger was big, not Triple D big lift those elbows up, but more like flying saucer big. Who knows maybe that was their theme? I will not go back, take my $75 to O’hana for more sausage.

Ok few Disney things I want to mention that have nothing to do with the hotel specifically. We got our magic bands here, loved them. We were told we could link our annual pass to them but didn’t cause we had limited time. With them we opened our room, used our fastpass + , and paid for everything. No longer digging for a wallet. I didn’t even bring mine which was nice for those days you have no pockets. It’s completely waterproof too. We also used the Disney Experience App for such an easy planning time. We booked dinner reservations, fastpass+, checked wait times, park hours etc. Only thing is it drained the battery on my Samsung Galaxy S4 fast. So if you plan your day online, instead of constantly checking it we took a screenshot to be able to check our fast pass times.

So something new to me at Disney resort was the new RapidRefill system. Normally we have a full kitchen and don’t purchase the cups at the resort restaurants. So this may not be new to you. The souvenir cups you can purchase now have day limitations on them that vary by pricing. The regular cups your purchase were allowed 3 refills by a certain time, I think it was like an hour but limits how much you can put in your cup per refill. I took a sip when I was filling the cup went to add more before I sat down, wouldn’t let me for another 2 minutes. I’ll link more info on this as I don’t have all the details. I can understand their point but really, you charged me $3 from the vending machine for a 20oz coke that wasn’t even that cold, you think I can steal an extra sip?! I guess this is why Disney makes millions and I don’t.

What we liked about Disney: This time, was walking around Epcot shopping and eating. And Sausages!

What we liked about Coronado Springs: The room, king size bed, larger room gave us some space and the décor was pretty not gaudy.

What we didn’t like about Disney: This time, convention. We saw Disney in a different light.

What we didn’t like about Coronado Springs: The Convention Center! Too many people working when I’m trying to relax. Now if I had to go to a family daycare convention I’d be MORE than happy, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. 

Orlando, FL Hilton SeaWorld 11/22-11/29/13

Yes, we went to Disney and did not stay on property. This time we stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation club as part of timeshare promotion. Long story short, we decided not to purchase it for several reasons.

The entire Hilton experience was a disaster from the moment we tried to book in Myrtle Beach but never had availability unless we wanted to go in winter. So we booked in their alternative location of Orlando, (Vegas was the other option). We tried to book a two-bedroom, what we got was what is called a lockout unit. A lockout unit is when they combine a one bedroom with a studio thus creating a two bedroom via connecting doors. Although this wasn’t horrible, still gave us plenty of room and bathrooms. A lockout unit is not a good idea when you have small children. When we first arrived the kids ran into the room and closed their door. There is no doorknob on our side for privacy reasons when unit isn’t being shared by the same family. So we would have to exit the hotel room and enter from the other outside door. Thankfully, our 8 year old was with our 1 year old and was able to open the door. A simple fix was to throw a small hand towel over the top of the door to keep it from closing all the way. However, that also meant we couldn’t close the door at night and was left with being quiet as not to wake the baby. Since my sister was traveling with us, and she has no kids this was a little bit of a hassle for us. Especially since the dining room table was DIRECTLY outside their door. Brings new meaning to a quiet dinner.

Overall the room was clean and comfortable and well stocked. I can’t say the same for the property directly across from the Hilton. There was a convenience/gas station right on the corner, and bus stops along the route both left liter everywhere. At first I thought maybe an animal got into the trash but it was pretty much there every day we came and left. The Hilton property itself was very clean, the pool was fun and the kids spray area and playground were fantastic for us with mixed age groups (8, 4, and 15months). The parking area was tough. You had to fight for a spot anywhere near your room. 

The location was pretty close to Seaworld, the entrance was just down the street. In fact, we could see the fireworks from our balcony which was fun! As I mentioned earlier there was a convenience store on the corner that my sister would walk to easily. Short commute to Disney, I don’t think traffic was ever a factor.

If you are curious on why we didn’t purchase with Hilton, we have several reasons. Mostly, it was super expensive, THREE times the cost of our Disney time share. While we were in our meeting we asked for a few minutes to talk alone.  30 minutes later our sales associate still hadn’t come back so we sat listening to the SUPER LOUD woman at the table next to us. She was complaining about the lack of room whenever she wanted to book using her Hilton timeshare. Booking this timeshare deal was such a nightmare for us that we already regretted the little commitment we had already made. This just confirmed their lack of availability. When our sales associate finally returned we decided to address to our concern. The minute I said “I don’t know if this is the right plan for us…” her tune changed she was completely uninterested in anything we said. She suggested getting someone to discuss other financial options for us. The ‘financial’ woman came over, I explained what we overheard and what we experienced; these were our concerns not just the price. She said she’d be happy to log into her account to show us the availability. This is all while answering her text messages right in front of us.  When we did ask about the price because we weren’t willing to pay the outrageous package she dismissed us like children who got in trouble with the teacher. We walked out disappointed because I felt like they should be honored to have our business not like they were doing us a favor! We’ll upgrade our Disney (DVC) long before I purchase with Hilton.

What we liked about Orlando: Obviously, we’ve been to Orlando many times, as our other time share is in Disney. So I’ll rate the area we stayed in, Seaworld. So close to Seaworld, walking distance to stores. Easy commute to Disney as well.

What we liked about the Hilton: Location was fantastic and it was clean and stylish.

What we didn’t like about Orlando: Seaworld area, outside the Hilton the neighborhood seemed a little sketchy. Trash in the streets put us off.

What we didn’t like about the Hilton: The onsite restaurant was overpriced, the staff was non-existent. We never saw anyone except when we pulled into the gate. 

P.S. I just want to comment this was the first time we went to Disney on Thanksgiving, it was so packed we left, it wasn't enjoyable. This was also the first time I've ever seen K-9 officer at Magic Kingdom. (I did see one again when I went again in February '14 which I'll post in a few minutes). I do NOT recommend visiting Disney on Thanksgiving. =) 

Burlington, Vermont 7/26-7/28/13

Last minute plans lead us to Burlington, Vermont. We actually went on a recommendation of a client who suggested if we like our hometown we’d love Burlington. And we did!

We stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton in South Burlington. The hotel was clean and cute, however for our size family it was tight. We were only there for the weekend. The room had two double beds, chair, desk, standard hotel room. We did have a small fridge that was nice with small kids. We only went with our boys, 8, 4, and 10 months. We were on the main level so no worries or stairs or elevators with the kids. We were also down the hall from the indoor pool which made getting there so much easier. Being empty when we went was a plus for us too! Hot tub was just that a hot tub, no jets were working but that was ok since we couldn’t really use it with 3 kids. There was a small fitness room but you know we didn’t touch that. There was plenty of shopping and restaurants nearby, definitely a great location.

Since we weren’t there long we really only had Saturday to spend sightseeing; we found some information about a hot air balloon festival and craft fairs. We headed over in the morning only to see the craft fair, the hot air balloons wouldn’t be filled into much later in the day. It was rather small and typical craft fair but they had hands on musical tent for the kids. My kids LOVED it. There were so many new and exciting instruments they could touch and play. Some we didn’t even know what they were. We couldn’t pull them away. They were also excited to see what the locals referred to as the MARBLE MAN! All marbles, all shapes, all sizes. There were many other types of vendors but I think what surprised me the most… BOOZE! Yep, lots of alcohol. Not just wines, but hard liquor and beers and everyone was offering samples. We don’t really drink but we liked that it was offered. I think another thing I enjoyed was a lot of the artists had signs that said PLEASE TOUCH. As a mother of 4, 3 being boys, I’m use to people cringing when we walk in to any place with glass. Artists ENCOURAGED the kids to feel it, see it, and sense it! They talked to the kids not just the adults. It was truly a different kind of craft fair for us. However, we made our lap in about an hour.

Since lunch time was approaching we decided to hit the farmers market literally a block away. Again, lots of things to taste, touch and see. Kids had fun playing in a crazy tree on property. However, of course it’s a Farmers Market they didn’t want anything to eat there. So we plugged in the waterfront into the GPS and drove towards it. Only to be detoured by a MASSIVE farmers and artist Market. We found some parking, walked up to it. So many things to see and buy but the kids wanted to eat.

We ate at a little pub called Scuffer. It was fairly empty as most people were eating outside. Callan who is only 10 months old, had the best grilled cheese it was almost as big as him. ALMOST being the key word. Declan loved his chicken fingers and Shamus was on strike only opting for chocolate milk. The staff was friendly despite a family of 5 invading their pub.

We walked the lunch off through the market, enjoying a slush or Popsicle; looking at street vendors and artists. No horns honking, people yelling, or someone trying to sell you something you don’t want to buy. No homeless people begging for money or thugs sitting on the corner. Political groups telling you are wrong, doomed or immoral. It’s truly a beautiful place and we hadn’t even seen the water yet.

We walked down to the water front. You could take a dinner cruise, have a picnic (cute bakery up the street with garage doors opening the shop right up, great idea), or visit the Aquarium that’s right there. One of the things we liked also was a lot of people rode bikes. I know a lot of people hate bikers. I’m definitely not a bike rider or a hater of bikes. Lord knows I can barely ride to the corner on a bike. But it’s nice to see that people use alternative methods for getting around, keeps traffic light and environment clean.

What we liked about Burlington: Everything, really I don’t think there was anything we didn’t like

What we liked about the Doubletree: It was super clean.

What we didn’t like about Burlington: We didn’t stay

What we didn’t like about the DoubleTree: Full size beds, 2 fat people, make for bad night sleep.

North Conway, NH 5.24-5.27.13

One of the reasons Jay and I started this blog was that when we decided to start camping with our very young children we had a hard time finding tips and tricks to camping with them. It has emerged to cover all our traveling as finding hotels that are kid friendly is our goal. We own a timeshare in Animal Kingdom Disney World (DVC) and Eastern Slope Inn (ESI) in North Conway, New Hampshire. Both timeshares participate in the RCI program. We purchased the ESI after camping at Cove Campgrounds a few times in the past and fell in love with North Conway. In addition to our weekly timeshare rentals we also purchased what is called the PEP program. It allows owners to stay 21 days a year without using their timeshare weeks and for a housekeeping fee. Ok now that we have a little background, let’s chat about what we did last weekend.

Memorial Day weekend 2013, we used part of PEP program and stayed at the Eastern Slope Inn. It is a beautiful white building located right in the heart of downtown North Conway. Right across the street from my favorite place, White Mountain Cupcakery, winners of Cupcake wars and home of the best Snowball cupcake ever! … Back on topic, ESI has a pool, playground, Flatbread Pizza all located on site. It’s close to shopping, hiking, the Cog railway and stands proudly in front of the Saco River.

Last December we used our PEP program for a weekend getaway and stayed in the Main Inn (hopefully, more on this stay later). However, this time we were located in Randall House which is located right next to the main inn. We had a 1 bedroom, 2 bath 3 levels with a great little balcony that overlooked the center of town.  Master bedroom is located upstairs with a Jacuzzi tub right in the suite. However, there was no door to the room so consider the little ones walking in if you use the tub. The second floor is open room with a murphy bed located in the combined living, kitchen and dining room. This layout is similar to the layout we had in the main inn but is located on the second floor. This is no way handicap accessible. However, Stroller accessible has options. There is a main foyer that houses two rooms such as 3A and 3B.  Then each room has its own keyed entrance. Ours lead us into a nice foyer again with peg hooks on the wall. Perfect for leaving a stroller, ski or snowboarding gear as well. Sadly, we do not have any pictures to show you as I forgot my camera and we left early.

Why did we leave early? Mother Nature was very mean. It rained Friday, Saturday most of the day. It lightened up a little bit on Saturday just enough to get out and check out the craft fair on the main lawns of the railway and playground. Sunday didn’t look any better, so we left Sunday morning, headed to Kittery Trading post for some shopping then back to Boston. That is why I have no pictures. 

I do want to mention a few restaurants and places we visited in the past.

Peaches: We had brunch here one time while camping, so yummy. But there is always a wait at breakfast. But I’d say it’s worth it if you can keep your kids entertained. No way is this place stroller friendly on the inside, but there is outside seating.

Merlino’s Steakhouse: This place is terrible, don’t waste your time. The food was horrible. Although our waitress was super nice she’d disappear for a while. Downstairs is loud with the bar and upstairs was a lot of stairs with three small kids. I won’t even link it for you.

Moat Mountain Smoke house & Brewing Company: This place has a lot of character, the food is outstanding. The only word of caution is that you better be prepared to wait when it’s normal lunch/dinner hours.  The BBQ Ruben Reuben is to die for.

As mentioned we love White Mountain Cupcakery, this is stroller friendly. However, I’d be doubtful it’s allergy friendly as they sell peanut butter cupcakes. I love the snowball, it’s white cake, raspberry filling and coconut covered buttercream frosting, yum! 

There is also an array of the big chains, McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts etc.

Since I’m not sure if I’ve blogged about it in the past, I’d like to also mention for the stroller friendly options, Diana’s bath is stroller/hp accessible. It’s hard packed gravel (I think) up to the bath where you can picnic and take a dip in the ice cold mountain waters. It is located right down the street from ESI.

What we liked about Eastern Slope Inn: Location, by far. It’s right in the center of everything. Being a member also we get to use the facility anytime we are by it.

What we didn’t like about Eastern Slope Inn: Multiple floors and open staircases; something to consider when you have little ones.  The other thing about the layout is that the roof was tilted in on the second floor. If you tried to get in or out of the bed, you either had to crawl over someone or risk banging your head on the incredibly low ceilings.

What we like about North Conway, NH: Everything, always something to do. (StoryLand and by Mt Washington road is down the street).  The most shops are have very nice people who can give you advice (Eastern mountain) to just local talk (the jewelry store we visited)

What we didn’t like about North Conway, NH: Traffic and crowds, during holiday weekends it gets crowded. We’ve been during July 4^th, Memorial Day weekend, and Father’s day weekend which also lands on Bike week.

Final thoughts: We love North Conway; we will be there MANY, MANY,MANY more times. Hopefully with a camera, nice weather, and more reviews on stuff to do, places to eat, and what to see. 

Gatlinburg, TN 4/14-4/19/13

As usual its April vacation break and we are off on another adventure. This time we were heading to Gatlinburg, Tn. This is our first time to Tennessee as a family. I (Sarah) have been to Nashville a few times with Caitlyn long before I was married to Jay. Jay has never been. In search for vacation using our time share points we kept coming across Gatlinburg. Unsure what was even in Gatlinburg, I asked a friend. Dollywood she said. I’m sure the Great Smokey Mountains felt a little shafted.

Jay drove down with the two older boys, while Callan and I stayed behind with Caitlyn. I had a Calculus test on Saturday. We flew out of Boston on Saturday, meeting up with the boys in Baltimore. Jay’s parents live in Gaithersburg, MD so this is often a stopover for our many road trips. It’s about 8 hours from Boston, hour from Baltimore and thirty minutes from DC. We left Sunday morning to head to Gatlinburg.

Arriving at our hotel was interesting. I shed a few tears as we drove down what the locals call Rattlesnake pass. A few times we didn’t think our minivan would fit the narrow road with steep drop-offs and no guardrails. We finally made it to Tree Top Resorts (part of the RCI exchange) in one piece.

We stayed in a two bedroom suite close to the pool and no one behind us. Our suite was so clean and everything was waiting for us as we requested (high chair and portacrib). We had a full, nicely stocked kitchen, living room/dining room combo. Table easily sat 8. Gas fireplace in the living room with a balcony that overlooked the pool and you could hear the river rushing by. The boy’s bedroom had twin beds, no TV, for our TV addicted children. The master suite had another private balcony, with Jacuzzi tub however, the bed was small, had to be a full, definitely not a king. Our room had an older TV, but if it still works then who cares. Like most time shares housekeeping came at additional cost if you wanted daily service, which we did not use. Since we are good at reusing and reducing we didn’t need to exchange linens for the 5 days we were there. There was an indoor and outdoor pool. Neither was busy, and sat empty most days. You have to bring your own towels but we usually do anyways. It was clean and had two pools 3’-5’ and then a smaller 1’ pool which was awesome for our little ones. There is also a hot tub. There is a lighted footpath behind the main resort. We decided to take it not realizing it’s EXTREMELY steep and narrow. HOLD ON TO YOUR LITTLE ONES. There are no rails again and very steep drops. One false step and you’re done.

Tree Top Resort Gatlinburg, TN

The resort is set back off the main strip, don’t worry you don’t have to go Rattlesnake pass (Sherman Calbo Rd.) It’s a quick drive to downtown Gatlinburg, you could probably walk it. There is no free parking in town, so plan on paying $8 or take the free trolley. There is a Hard Rock Café and several other restaurants in Downtown. However, downtown was bit dumpy and touristy for our liking. Seemed like every step someone was screaming at you to grab discount tickets with them. The stores weren’t cute or quaint, too many trashy t-shirt shops and arcades, nothing unique at all. More like the strip outside Disney World, they should take advice from North Conway, NH.

We visited Pigeon Forge often, the grocery stores and Wal-Mart are there; as well as several restaurants and more neon flashing touristy sites. We did our traditional mini golf game. Again, it wasn’t packed so we were able to take our time with the kids. However, it’s not accessible. So stroller was tough.

We wanted to hike but realized in the rush of the very busy week before we forgot the Kelty back carrier for the baby. We were able to find 4 accessible trails online, which none of the locals told us about.  The morning we planned on going it rained, of course. So we opted for the auto roads through the mountain. We started just outside of  Gatlinburg Main Street and followed the VERY narrow winding road called Cherokee Orchard road and drove over 5 miles throughout the Great Smokey Mountains. Again was a little nerve-wrecking for Declan and I. Shamus fell asleep as did Callan. We got to see some very pretty waterfalls, great views, and some fantastic old Mountain homes. I’ll attach pictures. When we came out the bottom by Ely's Mill we were surprised to realize it was right at our Resort.

On our last full day we decided to visit Dollywood. The lines were minimal, and park was typical local amusement park. (NO Disney size park). There are two parks but the Splash Country was closed. We were able to visit all the age/size appropriate rides in one day, but now I wished we could have done it in two. I was exhausted and got sunburn due to lack of shade. The food was terrible and prices steep but overall not waiting in line was fun. But I’d definitely recommend taking two days to do it. Especially if you go early enough in the season were lines were minimal you can ride twice.

There was also a car swap in town the weekend we left (we stayed Monday-Friday) so the main road in Pigeon Forge was lined with everything from Model T’s to a modified boat to drive on land. Everyone just sits on the strip with the hood of their cars up. They were riding golf carts, scooters and bikes up and down visiting all the cars. It was great to see.

What we liked about the Tree Tops Resort: Everything but the beds.

What we didn’t like about the Tree Tops Resort: The beds, too small and rolled to the middle.

What we like about Gatlinburg: The Mountains. Definitely a great hiking spot, wish we did more.  Dollywood was fun too.

What we didn’t like about Gatlinburg: the touristy feel, and the food. We didn’t find one good place to eat, so disappointing in the south.

Final thoughts: We probably wouldn’t go again, I wouldn’t mind stopping by but I doubt we’ll plan a trip down here again.  If we did come, it would be to buy that '47 Willy’s pickup for sale.

Lack of post does not mean lack of travel!

I know it’s been a while since we posted. But we’d like to get back into. For now we’ll start with today and move forwards, we’ll update past post as time permits. A lot has changed his we last posted. The kids are now 19, 7, 4, and our newest member Callan was born in September.

Caitlyn (19) still isn’t a fan of road tripping nor will she camp with us. Teens! Declan (7) would much rather fly and I think we are slowly realizing he’s not a hiking kind of boy. I wonder if the fear of heights has anything to do with it or maybe the lack of internet connection. Shamus is now 3 almost 4 is up for anything and everything.  Callan is only 8 months as I write this post. So far he is NOT a fan of the road trip. He took his first Flight last Friday from Boston to Baltimore, other than the 2 hour delay he did fairly well. 

Mount Monadnock, Jaffrey, NH 10/16-10/17/2010

Jay and I went camping this past weekend in Jaffrey, NH with NO KIDS! I know you’re jealous! We went for one night with the intentions of checking out the difficulty of climbing Mount Monadnock before we brought Declan out there next summer.

We stayed at Gilson Pond/Monadnock State Park ; its 2 miles down the road from Monadnock park entrance and has a path that connects to the Cascade Link on the mountain trail. It has about 35 campsites with some remote sites. So remote we couldn’t even find them without trekking over mud and water.

They don’t book online, I don’t know if it was due to the season or if they ever do. But we were allowed to drive up and in pick our site before purchasing. We picked A5, as it was the closest to the bathroom. We could cut through the back of the site to get there but you had to hop over a little ditch. A young kid could hop it too! The bathrooms were the best I’ve ever seen. It was cleaner then some hotel or mall bathrooms! They also had showers for a few with individual stalls and doors. Which I liked if you had kids, gives you privacy. There were also two double wash basins on the outside of the bathrooms for washing dishes etc. I noticed a little shop too but it was closed the entire time we were there. It sold like t-shirts and camping supplies, no food or anything like that. More like a gift shop.

The campsite came was big enough for our 3 room tent, our van and extra room. It had a fire ring, picnic table and electrical hookup! It wasn’t super private but it was very quiet. But it was also out of season. They had plenty of Pit Toilets which I didn’t dare look in, plenty of water supplies and playground.

As for Mount Monadnock definitely wasn’t something for our timid little 5 year old. In fact we only made it to the Cascade link as there was a steep rock path that made me nervous I’d get up and not down. It had snowed the night before and all the water was rushing down making it slippery. They have two paths white dot and white cross trails. The white cross trail was supposedly easier but a gentleman coming down said it was very wet and we didn’t want to go that path. We took the steeper path which was quiet the workout for this fat girl! Someday I’ll make it to the Summit!

We decided not to pack food since it was just the two of us and we knew it was going to rain, and it did! (Which btw the tent stayed dry and sturdy even with the wind advisory) There really wasn’t any place to eat other then McDonalds, which had the friendliest staff EVER! =) There was a Market Basket in town. Keene isn’t too far off but I recommend BYOF.

The Fall Colors were beautiful. The views were fantastic.

What I liked about Gilson Pond Campgrounds? Pretty much everything but mostly the bathroom!

What I didn’t like about Gilson Pong Campground? We couldn’t book online.

What I liked about Jaffrey, NH? Mount Monadnock & the McDonalds

What I didn’t like about Jaffrey, NH? There wasn’t anything there other then Mount Monadnock.