Must be Monday!

It seems I do so much to get ready for a vacation that it takes all week to relax and then it is time to come home and clean up after the vacation, now I need another one;)

One thing that is fun on a vacation is shopping and buying some goodies to bring home. I spent more time outside and enjoying nature but we did hit a few stores along the way.

In Jackson, we found Flossie's General Store. They had a lot of different gifts and local items. I got some Christmas items, a miniature handmade creche and angel chimes that move with a candle flame. I also found more balsam, so I will be making lots of pillows this year. In Center Harbor I stopped at Keepsake Quilting and bought a little wool pillow kit and next door they had yarn and roving, white to dye myself and the beautiful dyed roving will go into some art projects.

On the way home we stopped at Calefs in Barrington NH, which has food related items and Bill got a sandwich and some goodies for my son. Next door is Elfmade and Company, primitive heaven, candles and scents and I was in heaven. I had to smell all the different scents, they have them in bowl fillers and the matching sprays are available so you can use that when the scent dissipates. I got lemon merringue and it smells so good, as well as coconut crunch, I love candy smells. A few small items for gifts and some scented items for my son, he loves their candles. I also got a large primitive pump bottle for the kitchen, now I have something nice to keep my dish soap in.

Across the street was a store that was like an over stock store. Lots of Carhartt clothing and miscellaneous items. I found primitive picks at a fraction of the cost and some fun potholders, great place to find some bargains. This is a great place to stop if you are in the area, a lot of fun gifts in one place.

I will use the blue picks in the basket, in the beach room.

I decided I wanted to put some of the scented filler in the beach room, but I didn't have something to hold it in. After church we went down to a gift store that sells a lot of beach items and I almost gave up, when I spotted this shell shaped pottery dish, hidden behind some other items. It is the perfect blue green shade for the room.

And a few more photos from our trip. This was a stop along the Kancamagus, a historical homestead with a walk through the woods to a pond and you can visit the home and grounds, as well. This was such a peaceful place, I would love to live here.

And for those of you who have never gone over a covered bridge, this is what they look like in the inside. If  you ever travel along the Kancamagus, you must stop at the ranger station and pick up a map. It is only two dollars and it shows all of the scenic points and trails along the way.

Vacation Fun!

Yes, we are actually having fun this time. It is hot and we are wearing ourselves out, but in a good way and we need that. Yesterday we spent the day riding down the Kancamagus Highway and hitting every scenic point, waterfall, covered bridge and park that we saw, way too many;) We only visited them and walked on the short ones, too hot for long hikes.

Since we have been traveling around in circles, up and down the roads, we have seen a lot of beautiful places and just enjoyed the ride and being in the moment, so I will share a few of our highlights.

You cannot capture the pure beauty of the mountains or the feeling of being up on a mountain top, staring out at nothing but mountains and valleys, it is breathtaking and awe inspiring.

One place I wanted to visit was a river walk, where we took the kids. This is where I took the photo of the family, walking down the path and Danielle turned and looked back, we used that photo as our good bye photo at the wake. I felt a sense of peace and joy, being in an area where we once were together and I know she was with us in spirit.

We had a long day and I was tired and over heated, and the sun was coming down. It was so close to setting that I wanted to stop at the lake to watch it. Bill took the wrong road but we found it led to a public swimming area. So while I was taking photos, Bill jumped in with Bean and I went in too. I think this was the best part of the day, watching the sunset and swimming together in the lake as it made it's final descent.

Bean of course loved it too, he finally got to swim with us and no leash.

Today we went for a ride in our area, around some back roads, to see an old church and some lakes. The area was beautiful and it was a wonderful church on the water, but no place to stop or stand for a photo.

We took the road along the backside of the Saco river today and got to enjoy being close up to mountains and cliffs, towering over the farmlands below. I saw a sign for the ledges and thought, why not check it out. I am deathly afraid of riding up mountains where there are ledges and steep drops, but the road  up was all through wooded areas and it was wonderful. I was able to stand at the top of the ledges and look down on the valley and the distant mountains.

We got to our main activity for the day. Diana's Baths. It was an easy hike along a well maintained path to the falls. We walked along the paths until we found the perfect spot, nicely shaded for sitting and a small pool to cool down in. Of course Bean was in Heaven, he wanted to play in the water all day, but it is cold and he was shivering, so we had to make him play in the shallower water for awhile. It was the perfect place to spend and end the day, just sitting and relaxing with views of the falls and mountains.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our adventures, tomorrow is another day, we shall see where the road leads us.