Moose Hillock vs. Danforth Bay

Moose Hillock, Danforth Bay, two great, top notch campgrounds located in Northern, NH and a topic for discussion on That's Camping which led me to do some research

Here is my original campground ranking that I visited (last updated in early 2004) that I gave back way back when on my now defunct web page (newenglandcamper.com).

http://home.comcast.net/~newenglandcamper/camping/rankorder.html

Back then I thought the sites were slightly better at Moose Hillock but overall gave Danforth Bay the edge in the ranking because the quality and commitment the overall campground resort provides.

Since 2003 Danforth Bay has improved significantly adding in tennis courts, new pools, premium delux sites, and a number of special little touches.

Tuckerman's Ravine report from Austin :->

My 1st Video Feed on the blog and Austin's 1st report online!

Boy did he grow!

Austin - 2004	Austin - 2008

Mt Washington Hike - Part I 8/18/08

6AM - Leaving Camp

We left Danforth Bay Camping Resort in Freedom, NH. Believe it or not, Mt. Washington (Pinkham Notch base) takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes. In the North Conway / Intervale area on NH 16, Mt. Washington was completely covered in the clouds. This was a bit concerning as I was initially worried by the potential for afternoon thundershowers.

708AM - Arriving

After a quick egg and cheese bagel breakfast along with some coffee for me and water for my son (that's all he drinks) we arrived at Pinkham Notch base to party-cloudy weather. We parked and started "re-packing" our bags. Austin prepared 11 water bottles in his back pack! It was heavy. I had six along with lunch, snacks, cameras, and warmer clothing. To our suprise, we quickly realized that someone was sleeping in the bed of the truck that we pulled next too! We kept quiet but thought it was a little strange that people would "camp out" at Pinkham notch.

723AM - Starting Out:

We finally hit the Tuckerman Ravine trails after "repacking" our bags several times. Suprisingly there was no bugs to bother us, even more surprising since we were deep in the woods and the river was flowing high. We did not stop to take a picture or even to view the Crystal Cascades. If we ever return to visit Glen Ellis Falls (which is nearby - 5 minutes by car) we will make take the 5-10 minute hike to complete view this. The thought of finding my camera in the packed backpack was unthinkable at this early stage in the game

830AM - First View:

After about a mile or two climbing at a very moderate pace, we saw the 1st real view on the trail. I was suprised at the number of hikers that were descending from the mountain. Many of them appeared to have overnight gear while several did not. Makes you wonder !

909AM - Hermit Lake Summit

We arrived at Hermit Lake Summit. Just prior to this location we noticed the Lion's Head trail off to the right. The Hermit Lake Shelters (only legal place to camp on the East side of Mt. Washington) are also close by on the right side of the trail. Bathrooms (flush toilets) are available. Surprising clean but purell replaces sinks. No place to put trash (carry in/carry out). After a few pictures we headed along to the headwall.

1020AM - "Bad News at the Headwall"

At 10AM after some heavy steep climbing we stopped for 10 minutes to enjoy a granola bar and some water while overlooking the Tuckerman's Ravine waterfall. This break gave us some much needed energy to hit the headwall at a good steady pace. The view was awesome but I was a bit concerned on how wet the headwall looked. About 1/2 way the headwall we came in contact with an older gentleman who was using some hiking support tools. Apparently, he had recently heard from some other hikers (that we passed coming down previously) that there was a severe Thunderstorm front moving in around 1PM and how Mt. Washington was like a "lighting rod" and he wasn't "becoming a crispy critter". Well this was concerning especially since just a few hundred feet above us it was very cloudy and windy. The older hiker told us it would take about 1 to 1.5 hours to continue our journey at a good pace. However we would have to be confined to the summit. We took our chances and decided to continue on!

My Travel Reviews from TripAdvisor.com

What a July!

I have stayed in 4 hotels in over 14 nights in July for business travel and a weekend at Busch Gardens Europe (Williamsburg,VA) with 10 nights of camping at Danforth Bay.

Therefore I only spent a total of 7 nights at home in July! While That's Camping provides a great place for campground reviews, for hotels, I use TripAdvisor.com. I have even received some free novelty items from Trip Advisor.

Here are some of my hotel reviews from recent trips:

• Embassy Suites, Dallas, TX
• Holiday Inn Express, Harrisburg, PA
• La Quinta Inn, Williamsburg, VA
• TownePlace Suites Washington Dulles Airport, Sterling, VA

Happy Birthday

My daughter celebrated her 10th birthday today. In 1998 we were not camping, didn't own a camper, and were home bodies. That would all change in a few months when we bought our 1st pop up in early 1999 after visiting the NH camping show. Since then my daughter has been camping every summer! Her first trip was in early May of 1999. On memorial day 1999, she fell out of side of the pop-up camper while sleeping. Fortunately she was fine but it was one of the reasons (along with the lousy campground that we stayed at) that I started the now defunct website newenglandcamper.com

Hersheypark raises rates

Effective August 1st - Hersheypark raises rates by $2 to $49.95.
Is this the first time that a Themepark has raised rates in the middle of the season?

Busch Gardens Europe

We had the privilege to visit Busch Gardens Europe last weekend (26 July 2008) during a break on a recent business trip. Busch Gardens Europe is located in the historic Williamsburg / Jamestown area of Viriginia about 160 miles from the Washington, DC area. There is also a Busch Gardens water park nearby called "WaterCountry". We did not visit this park.

Upon arriving, we parked at the Pet kennel section of the park, which is in the same section as the preferred sites and the buses. This area is a very short walk to the main gate in the "England" portion of the park. At the kennel, we boarded our dog "Bailey" for a mere $6: he had a nice venilated, clean, and spacious living quarters for the day. However, unfortunately, the outside walking pet area was loaded with "doggie droppings" from inconsiderate previous guests. In any event, the short walk to/from the gate was appreciated since I had to return to give "Bailey" a walk later on in the day. The attendents at the kennel were very friendly.

Some additional highlights include the following:

ROLLERCOASTERS:

• Our first coaster was the Lochness Monster in "Scotland". This is an older steel rollercoaster probably innovative for its time but in todays standard a bit dated but still fun!
• We must of hit the park on a bad day because one of our "must see" rides Griffon promptly closed while we were in line and was never re-opened. From what we gather, a chain had broke (which made an awful noise) while we were in line. They had to evacuate people from the ride. Fortunately it was on the lift portion so noone was caught dangling.
• Then in the afternoon a similar problem happened to Alpengeist in the Germany section of the park. Another evacuation. This one was much more scary since it was near the top of the lift. Fortunately my oldest son and I got to ride that ahead of time (awesome coaster).
• I absolutely loved the highly rated Apollo's Chariot rollercoaster in the Italy setion of the park. The line for this was about 30 minutes but well worth the wait. Huge drops, smooth, and simply awesome. This coaster takes you well outside of the park!

GROUNDS / FACILITIES:

• The park is nicely themed and decorated with all types of plants, trees, flowers, statues, etc. The rides could be more themed though.
• Most bathrooms were really clean
• My worst complaint is that the park claims to be "smoke free" but they have "smoking sections" in just about every corner of the park and some in the middle of a themed area. Yuk! I guess things are different down in the South!
• The park terribly needs more benches as there are very few places to sit

FOOD:

• The food was really good. I had a delicious German Turkey Sandwich with delicous potato salad and some german cheese. Patty opted for the garden salad and the usual pizza, hot dogs, fries for the kids. Patty and I enjoyed our favorite beers along with a scrumpous desert. This was all located in the noon time Oktoberfest show at Das Festhaus. (Temperature controlled -- It was good to get out of the heat). We returned there around the 6-7Pm hour and there was not a table available for the show or dinner.l
• Were were a bit disappointed that Busch Gardens Europe did not offer a Hospitality Center with its fine Anheuser-Busch products (like they have at Sea World and and Busch Gardens Africa) since after a busy day it is nice to sit back and relax and have "happy hour" while the kids are off playing the nearby games.

KIDDIE RIDES:

• Our 4 year loved all the kiddie rides especially in the DinoLand part of the park and in Italy.. In fact I bet he went on more than the other two kids combined.

LINES, SHOPPING, MISC.

• Unfortunately, the lines were rather long so skipped out on a lot of the major attractions. To solve part of this problem, we got there EARLY and headed to the headliners. You can get into the "England" section of the park at 900AM and the "Scotland" section at 930AM.
• For shoppping, they had a lot of speciality stores (e.g., French pottery, German steins, Italian jewelery, etc.) but not many general items souveniers

Overall, I like Busch Gardens Africa (Tampa Bay, FL) much better for the live exotic animals and high quality shows (e.g., KATONGA). For rollercoasters and rides Hersheypark (Hershey, PA) definately has more to offer.

However Busch Gardens Europe was a lot of fun and something our family would return too.