New England's Narrow Road

Bring the Kids to New Hampshire

While writing my page for the Wizzley contest: Things to Do With Kids in New Hampshire I discovered some places right here in my state that I had never heard of, like Stand Up Paddleboarding on the Saco River. Never heard of it, and I’m sure I am not coordinated enough to try it, but what fun!

I no longer have little kids (kinda happy about that) but I remember coming up to New Hampshire from Massachusetts for vacations. We had a little travel trailer and stayed at Newfound Lake camping with friends. We also hit Six Gun City, Storyland, and Polar Caves at some point. I did not include those places in my article. I was more interested in finding great outdoor places to visit since this state is very nature oriented and beautiful. But I included a few science centers as well.

I also didn’t want to forget about the older kids and teens who are harder to please when it comes to vacationing.

Where Would You Take Your Kids in NH? (newenglandsnarrowroad.wordpress.com)

My Thoughts on Trees and How They’ve Changed

tree branches in winter — Leafless Tree in Winter

I’ve always loved trees. They are just so amazing in many ways. But now that I live in a place where I have to burn firewood in winter, I look at trees differently. I look at a tree like the one pictured and think, “would that be great firewood or what?” Actually, I don’t know what type of tree this is, but probably it would be great firewood. If I had to guess, I’d say oak.
Without leaves, I have trouble telling an oak from a maple. The beech, with it’s smooth bark, and the birch with it’s white, are no-brainers, but the rest of them leave me baffled.
I don’t know how people go out and hook up their maple syrup collecting apparatus in Spring – and can figure out which trees are the maples.
Being a Florida transplant (even though I grew up in the northeast) I have to learn the tree types that grow around me. I have an acre of land now and out back I have a forest, with some trees that are dead or dying and when I have them cut down, I’ll use them to heat my house.
Trees are beautiful, but they were meant to be used and I don’t feel bad cutting down a tree to serve a purpose. It’s helpful to thin the forest and allow other trees to grow larger too. Then again, some trees are too beautiful to cut down.

♦The Chore of Stacking Firewood
♦Make Birds Happy With Homemade Suet

How to Remove a Tree (answers.com)
Halkias: A tale of two maples (vtdigger.org)

Teens and Halloween

Halloween is a fun time for kids. Everyone loves to dress up, and many adults attend parties where costumes make the event exciting.

But when the kids reach the teen years trick-or-treating becomes a problem. Kids in their early teens are just big kids for the most part and I always found it hard to tell them they were too big to go out and collect candy. If there are younger kids in the family it might seem unfair to them.

Instead of trick-or-treating have the teenager(s) stay home an pass out candy to the neighborhood kids, or send them to a Halloween party, or have one yourself (brave soul).

Most people who see “big kids” out on Halloween immediately assume that those kids are looking for trouble. Some are, but many just want to get one last year in as a trick-or-treater.

For many years my kids enjoyed these Easy, No Bake, Ghost Cookies which are simply Nutter Butter cookies covered with melted, white chocolate. If you are short on time and need holiday cookies, try making them.

Where Would You Take Your Kids in NH?

Cog railroad and mountains — Cog Railway cars at the top of Mt. Washington, NH.

I am working on an article at the Wizzley site where I occasionally write and there is a new contest coming up with the theme: “Things to Do With Kids”… and I chose “in New Hampshire”.

I have not lived here very long, and most of those years were not the type of years I could spend vacationing and taking my kids places. I plan to include the science centers – and a few of them I’ve actually been to, Ruggles Mine, lake cruises, hiking and the Cog railway, but if any readers know of any great places to take kids in NH, please let me know.

(This is my photo taken this summer. And to think we almost didn’t ride the Cog because of the threat of bad weather! Look at that view!)