Long Weekend

Last weekend we took a long one went to Maine to visit my parents. Between visiting, we did lots of fun stuff with our Little One although Mrs. B. didn't know what I had up my sleeve.

My anniversary is coming up, so I wanted to surprise her and I planned out a fun Saturday of activities.

Upon awakening, I had the Mrs. dress for a short hike. Sensible shoes, shorts and a tee shirt would do. Shortly before we left the house though, I snuck out some dress shoes for her and the Little One and the make-up case. Then, we were off to explore the Lost River and Boulder Caves.

First, we had some shopping to do. I surprised them by stopping at a store and instructed them to get nice dinner outfits. I bought one for myself as well. Both my girls selected very pretty outfits at which time I informed them I had dress shoes for them and make-up too. They were nicely surprised and I was having fun with the whole mystery.

A one hour scenic drive, with intermittent stops for pictures, finally had us at the Lost River where we all enjoyed self-guided hiking through the magnificent gorge on precarious boardwalks. The Little One and I enjoyed climbing through all the caves that I could reasonably get my 6 foot frame through but the Mrs. took a pass on that. Good idea. It was tough on the body and a bit dirty too. After some quick shopping in the gift shop we were off again to the next surprise destination.

After another one hour plus scenic drive, we arrived at Wildcat Mountain were we had a couple beers on the wonderful deck before taking the gondola to the top and hiking around. It was a bit chilly and foggy, but still the views of Mount Washington and surrounding areas were fantastic. Plus, the foliage is changing up there, so the oranges and reds were quite vibrant. I think we must have taken a million pictures. Thank God for digital cameras where one can snap away and pare them down later.

After our exploration on top we descended and adjourned to the rest rooms to put on our dinner outfits. Of course, The Little One looked absolutely adorable in her cute dress and the Mrs. looked stunning as usual in her new outfit. I don't think I looked to shabby either, if I do say so myself. We could not promenade around long though, we had to make haste.

There was a reservation I arranged to have dinner aboard the Conway Scenic Railroad and time was getting tight. Its a nicely refurbished old rail car that takes a scenic 1.75 hour trip all while serving up a rather tasty dinner. We took extra time beforehand with my soon-to-be 5 year old to explain what was expected of a "young lady" on such a classy date and she didn't disappoint. Her recent trips to restaurants have been spotty so I was a bit nervous. But she came through big-time. Many times I caught Mrs. B. looking at our proper little girl with a smile and an aura of pride all the while enjoying the wonderment through her young eyes. As did I. There's simply no price to put on that. Dinner was good and the train was really cool and we had a blast.

Sunday, I had more plans for my girls, but this was not a surprise. We had been meaning to take the Little One to Story Land for some time and finally we were able to. Once again, the weather could not have been more perfect. Story Land is an incredibly clean park geared toward little kids. As an adult, I found much of the stuff pretty boring. The rides were lame (she's been on bigger and better ones) and the shows/attractions were trivial. Having said that, the rates are very, very reasonable and the Little One had a blast exploring all their fairy tale themed attractions while Mrs. B and I had fun secretly making fun of everything and everybody. We spent the whole day there before returning to my parents in time for one of my mom's wonderful meals.

The next day, Monday, we had more wonderful visitation with my folks before loading up for the 4 hour ride home. Such a a nice, long weekend. Absolutely perfect!

Sidebar: Ok, now you're all going to think I'm lying, but......On my drive up, at a toll booth, there was a lot of congestion because of some emergency vehicles. Well, they had JUST finished putting out a car fire. Can you belive it??? I've seen three in less than a week!!!