What's Wrong With Their Home?

December 27, 2017

That's the question people might ask if they took a look at our travel schedule in 2017! Luckily, we love our home...but we also like to explore the world. We especially love to explore it with people we love and meet new friends all over the globe. Travel is all about connecting with people all over the world, and we feel very fortunate to have met and traveled with so many incredible people. We are grateful to all the people who followed our adventures and those who shared their corner of the world with us! We especially want to thank the folks who shared THEIR trips with us in our GoSeeIt People interviews. (You can find the interviews here) We love hearing about your travels too! THANK YOU! We hope you have many safe travels in 2018 and wish the very best in the coming year!

Over the last year here are some of the places we've been able to explore. Click on any link to see more photos in our posts and learn more about each destination! (Next week, we will share where we are headed next!)

What A Year!

Shanghai, China

Savannah

Florida

Spring Break Cruise to Honduras, Belize and Cozumel

Some of the most fun we had all year, was acting like kids with the college kids aboard Rhapsody of the Seas. After years of hearing how grownups should avoid "Spring Break", we went tubing, zip lining, and dancing with the Spring Breakers and had a great time!

The rest of our posts from Honduras and Belize, including our Pack for a Purpose school supplies delivery to Roatan click here!

Vermont

NY Finger Lakes Region

Statuary in the Orchid House at the Sonnenberg Gardens

NYC

A trip to visit our daughter in NYC took us to some of the less visited places in NYC...Flatbush, Harlem, DUMBO. See our trip report here! And about the more popular places in NYC here and here.

White Mountains in New Hampshire

Venice

Slovenia

This small country offers environment from coastal to alpine, as is seen here at Lake Bled, as well as one of the prettiest little European capitals, Ljubljana.

Croatia

Montenegro

Corfu

Malta

A Maltese balcony on Republic Street flies the EU and Matlese flags.

Sicily/Mt Etna

An incredible day hike up Mt Etna with 3 mountaineers, wine and homemamde parmigiana!

Amalfi

Rome

Montreal

Who Knew Littleton NH Was Cool?

September 6, 2017

There is a medium sized town near our home that recently got very cool, at a time when most downtowns are struggling to keep their vibrancy and purpose. It started with a rail bike trail, and tasty flatbread pizza restaurant and was quickly followed by a charcuterie, a speakeasy and an artisanal ice cream store. Suddenly the town was "cool" and became a destination for these new hip businesses even while bouying the exsisiting businesses.

During a recent trip to the White Mountains, we discovered Littleton NH has undergone a similar renaissance. The Schilling Brewery developed in the newly christened "Riverfront District" linked by a covered pedestrian bridge (circa 2004) to a recently developed senior housing complex and the town's senior center and a park, joined existing businesses, such as Chutters Candy shop (a general store since the late 1800s) the Northern Lights Music Shop (40 years!) and the quintessential white steepled church on Main Street, to create a vibrant cool place to hang out.

Downtown Littleton, dominated by a quintessential white steeple, common to most old New England towns, also features some new and hip shops, side by side with old favorites like Chutters Candy.

The new River Dsitrict boasts the Schilling Brewery, with its popular outdoor patio. The Brewery has a new building under construction which employ more people in its growing operation. http://schillingbeer.com/

A covered pedestrian bridge was built in 2004 to connect a town park, senior center, and assisted living facility. Iconic covered bridges are tourist attractions all over Vermont and New Hampshire, the genius of Littleton was building a new one to create a destination and gathering place for vistors and locals.

On Maine street, Chutters Candy has been around, originally as a general store, for over a century and boasts the "worlds largest candy counter". All your old favorites are here, and the place proves that nostalgia is hip! http://www.chutters.com/

Also nostalgic and hip- the many used clothing and consignment shops you can find on Main St.

No one can deny the resurgence of Midcentury Modern design and Just L is a beautifully curated antique shop with a variety of furniture, home goods and brick a brac. https://www.facebook.com/MidModLiving/

Just L (roman numeral for 50- get it?) is set up more like a high end department store than junk shop. Popular with hipsters shopping for their homes as well as people of a certain age on a nostalgia trip. Our Bed and Breakfast owner said she likes to play a form of the old baseball card collecting game when she goes into Just L- "had it, grew up with it, mom had it"!

An ironic part of Littletons renaissance is a campaign to embrace the homegrown author of Pollyanna, a book written in 1913, about a plucky, down on her luck optimist, that most millennials have never heard of! The upbeat character graces banners and even crosswalks, and symbolizes the the "Glad Town". More events based on the book are held in June. http://www.golittleton.com/pollyanna.php

Destination dining can be found at Tim-Bir Alley https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Bir-Alley/111623692207551 Tim-Bir Alley was the reason for our trip. Chris, the wonderful inn keeper at The Rose and Lion Bed and Breakfast recommended we make a reservation for dinner. If you are looking for a centrally located bed and breakfast, (located nearby on busy, accessible Rt 3 in Whitefield) Chris and her family are wonderful hosts who seem to have a knack for knowing what each of their guests will enjoy, the ideas she gave us all weekend were spot on! http://thelionandtherose.com/

Tim-Bir Alley offers open spaces in an old building with real linens and caricatures on the walls. What really stands out is the farm to table beautifully presented dishes of contemporary American food. We had a meal we felt rivaled anything we could find in a major metropolitan city for a lot less money! The crowd couldn't be pigeoned holed; date night couples, plaid shirted hipsters and an interesting, chatty 85 year old consultant who splits time between NYC, Vermont and Shanghai was up introducing herself to everyone in the restaurant were there the night we dined.

After a delicious dinner, we left Littleton NH feeling like it was a place we would like to return to; fun, hip and nostalgic at the same time. While many rural downtowns are suffering economically, Littleton seems to have found a mix that appeals to all ages and is located in an area with 3 beautiful seasons to enjoy out of doors.

Photos and Story by: Kathy Klofft

Gone to the Dogs!

December 15, 2016

I recently saw a posting at a local college for "therapy dogs" visiting campus. I queried my FaceBook friends if "therapy dog" might be an oxymoron! Sometimes you just need to go to the dogs to get back to what's important! This reminded me of a trip I took a couple of years ago. After virtually ignoring my younger daughter for months of college travel and essay assistance with her older sister, I decided to surprise her with a bucket list trip to go out on a real dog sled! She had one weekday off after her high school exams, so we headed up Rt 93 in New Hampshire to have a couple of nights of adventure, including meeting sled dogs and a dogsled ride out into the White Mountains National Forest.

As we made our way north traveling from crowded super highways to the virtually deserted elevated two lane highway cutting through the New Hampshire National Forest, we felt the stresses of the flat lands slip away and when we arrived at The Mountain View Grand, we felt transported into a life sized snow globe tucked under the White Mountains.

The temperature was hovering in the single degrees, but the welcome at The Mountain View Grand was warm! Fortunately, being hardy New Englanders, we were well prepared for the cold. As I've always told my Girl Scouts over the years; "there is no bad weather, only bad clothes".

The Mountain View Grand is an historic hotel with a panoramic view of the Presidential Range and Mount Washington from the front porch and some of the guest rooms. Despite choosing a "bargain" room with a view to the rear of the property and the loading dock, we were still treated to distant mountain views and views of the resort's petting barn and cross country ski trails. We were very comfortable and the views were lovely in every direction!

We took advantage of the rest of the day to explore the property on our cross country skis. There is a skating pond, cross country and snow mobile trails, an indoor pool, as well as a barn and pasture full of petting zoo farm animals. When you arrive at the resort, you receive a full menu of resort activities beginning with daily barn tours to feed the animals in the morning and ending with s'mores on the fire by the skating pond! You can ski, skate, snowmobile, or snowshoe right on the property. If you don't have your own equipment, there is a facility at the edge of the skating pond that rents any of this equipment and will provide lessons. We were delighted to meet families from all over the United States including quite a few tots from warm weather climes experiencing snow and the ice on the pond for the first times in their lives!

Miles of trails designated as mixed, ski/snowshoe or snow mobile ring the property and if the cold doesn't steal your breath, the scenery will!

A petting barn full of domesticated animals is the site for farming activities at the resort.

That evening we enjoyed a nice dinner in the casual Harvest Tavern at the Mountain View Grand, deciding to enjoy the amenities of the resort rather than make our way into the ski towns nearby.

The following day, we had a morning sled ride scheduled at the nearby Muddy Paws Sled Dog Kennels. As we packed every piece of warm clothing we owned into our car, we noticed the thermometer in our car register 1 degree F! When we arrived at the kennels we saw that the dogs were kenneled outside, as they always are. These dogs are largely rescue dogs, taken in by the kennel when their owners can no longer afford to maintain them or when the get too old to be useful for transportation in northern areas where they rely on sleds. But the dogs can find new life doing short tourist trips, or be adopted by families.

We were encouraged to bundle up, and additional warm clothing and sleeping bags were offered if what we brought had not been enough. We went outside with our musher who allowed us to interact with many of the dogs. Although the conditions they live in seem harsh compared to our pampered pets at home, these working dogs are very well cared for and they were delighted by the prospect of being hitched to a sled and running. When the musher appeared with the harness, all of the dogs began vocalizing in excitement, the cacophony making it difficult to hear the musher! However, once the lead dog was harnessed, most of the dogs settled down, being so intelligent, they realized it was not their turn to run, since the leader dog was not part of "their" team. However, the rest of the dogs on the team began to get EVEN more excited!

The musher shared the process with us, allowing us to assist putting on booties and adjusting the harness. After spending about 30 minutes or so getting set up, we bundled up inside the sled under sleeping bags, adjusted our goggles and were off along the trails in the National Forest. A recent snowfall allowed the dogs to break new snow, which seemed to get them even MORE excited. We were able to see virgin snow with only moose tracks! Our musher warned us if a moose appeared to be prepared for a bit of a wild ride since the dogs got very excited by moose and it would be a job for him to keep them on task! Luckily, though we saw evidence of the moose, we didn't encounter one, and our chilly ride was over too soon!

After returning to the hotel, we hit the hot tub and indoor pool to warm up, and then ended the day out by the skating pond enjoying S'mores by the fire! There was no better "therapy" for us after a busy time than to reconnect with the help of the animals and to relax by the roaring fire!

Planning Your Sled Dog Adventure

Planning our sled dog ride was simple enough, I contacted Muddy Paws Kennels, http://dogslednh.com/ a sled dog rescue operation in New Hampshire to arrange a private tour of their kennels and sled ride on trails in the National Forest. After assuring they could accommodate us, I booked the Mountain View Grand in Whitfield, New Hampshire, because they were offering a midweek special rate that fit our budget. One could book the sled dog experience directly through the Mountain View Grand, and the dogs will come to you, however, I was very glad we we decided to go to the kennels. They were humble, but we got to see the dogs in their own element, and meet them all, not just the ones running our sled. We also learned later that because of the very cold weather, the lodge based sled trips had all been cancelled because although the dogs are very acclimated to the cold; it's unsafe for the dogs to get heated up on a run and then ride home in their unheated trucks.

Another option for dog sledding adventures is Mahoosuc Guides in Maine. I have not toured with them but can vouch that the Maine Guiding standards are very high and most visitors to Maine can expect Certified Maine Guides to be very professional and safe!

What to Wear: (or how to fake being a hardy New Englander for those from warm climates!)

warm winter boots and wool socks
wear layers, silk or poly pro base layer, then fleece or wool, followed by a water proof parkas and snow pants
a wool or fleece hat, neck gater, face mask and ski goggles
mittens with a fleece or glove liner are warmest, you can also purchase chemical pocket heaters and toe warmers
some comfy shoes for walking around the interior of your room or the resort so you don't track mud and snow everywhere.