week in the life: a tuesday on vacation

 Last year, we were supposed to take the Cog railway up Mount Washington (6,288 ft), but we ended up bailing out on the vacation early and drove home in a downpour. Not this year! We grabbed a hotel breakfast (and then better coffees at Starbucks; Lil Momma got her favorite hot chocolate with a shot of caramel) and then headed to the train. 

It was a whole experience! They have a tour guide who both “narrates” your summit ride and return with what you’re seeing on the mountain including the NH range, flowers and trees, the Appalachian Trail, etc. We also had unusual clearness and could see Maine and Vermont!, but also about the railway itself: its history, how the biodiesel and steam engines differ, and how the tracks were built. It was so cool! Even the seats were at an angle to handle the up to 37% grade. 

Once you summit, you have an hour to explore the extreme weather museum, take a picture with the summit sign, and even have lunch! We wandered about after eating our included sandwiches and cookies and had a great time in the 47* weather - it was so cool and refreshing! We really picked an amazing day, the winds weren’t wild and we caught some great views - vs it being what it’s known for, which is having the worst weather on earth. The ride down was just as interesting as we saw different mountains because the cloud cover had changed. 

From there, we drove back to the hotel and took a tech break and then headed out for our traditional family mini golf game. In North Conway, we are Pirate Cove people and play by our family rules: we don’t keep score, we trash talk, and if you don’t get the ball in the hole after 4 tries, you can drag and drop it in. We were behind a large family who liked to stand on the green and chat after each hole (sigh) but we still had a great time. Lil Momma even got a hole in one!

For dinner, we ended up at another place we always land at, the Muddy Moose. The food is what you’d expect from the vibe, but we always end up there for quick service and enough on the menu that we each can find what we like. 

We’re back at the hotel now and the plan is to have more “snackuterie” for dessert and watch some Olympics before bed; I was spoiled for the results of the men’s 1500 but I can’t wait to watch!

Do you enjoy mini golf? We do as long as we don’t take it seriously. If we are playing “for real”, Lil Momma melts down at every missed opportunity, I stop taking it seriously, and the Mr. just crushes us, haha!