Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Danforth Bay going downhill???
I was completely shocked to read about the conditions of my favorite campground that I was seasonal for three years (2006-2009) :
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23113917/gotomsg/23126892.cfm#23126892
My thoughts:
* Activities: The best activities staff in the past was during the Nick and Sharlene years. It would be very hard to replace these two quality people!
* Playground: A new playground was promised at the 2008 seasonal lunch. This project I assumed never got started. I assume this was because of the economy. I agree the playgrounds at Danforth Bay were mediocre at best! I'm not sure how they received a 5 start Woodalls rating with playgrounds like these.
* Cutbacks in Maintenance: This saddens me the most because Danforth Bay had A++ plus maintenance staff. I hope they kept Rick, Scott, and Alan.
* Overbearing Security: I disagree with the poster. More security was needed especially at night time including some local police presence. This is a BIG campground. I personally did not feel completely safe at this campground (especially leaving my camper alone) during my last few months there.
* Trash Trailers: I agree! This is gross and unsanitary! Danforth Bay needs to come up with a better solution!
I've also heard about the cuts in the office from other sources and the lack of friendliness. Again I assume its because of the economy.
I certainly do recommend Danforth Bay!
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23113917/gotomsg/23126892.cfm#23126892
My thoughts:
* Activities: The best activities staff in the past was during the Nick and Sharlene years. It would be very hard to replace these two quality people!
* Playground: A new playground was promised at the 2008 seasonal lunch. This project I assumed never got started. I assume this was because of the economy. I agree the playgrounds at Danforth Bay were mediocre at best! I'm not sure how they received a 5 start Woodalls rating with playgrounds like these.
* Cutbacks in Maintenance: This saddens me the most because Danforth Bay had A++ plus maintenance staff. I hope they kept Rick, Scott, and Alan.
* Overbearing Security: I disagree with the poster. More security was needed especially at night time including some local police presence. This is a BIG campground. I personally did not feel completely safe at this campground (especially leaving my camper alone) during my last few months there.
* Trash Trailers: I agree! This is gross and unsanitary! Danforth Bay needs to come up with a better solution!
I've also heard about the cuts in the office from other sources and the lack of friendliness. Again I assume its because of the economy.
I certainly do recommend Danforth Bay!
Monday, September 07, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Nantucket - The Beachside review
We visited Nantucket island to visit our daughter recently.
For those that don't follow me on Twitter here is the review of 'The Beachside' that I posted on TripAdvistor.
The Beachside @ Nantucket review now posted on TripAdvisor: http://tinyurl.com/nzsmgq
For those that don't follow me on Twitter here is the review of 'The Beachside' that I posted on TripAdvistor.
The Beachside @ Nantucket review now posted on TripAdvisor: http://tinyurl.com/nzsmgq
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Salisbury Beach State Park
Check out my pictures from Salisbury Beach State Park taken back in early June when it was sunny and warm in New England!
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/573140066IkjrUX
- Plenty of parking. Parking is $9.00
- Toilets and showers to wash sand off.
- Lifeguards
- Bring your own food and beverage!
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/573140066IkjrUX
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Stop the NH Camping Tax!
NH is proposing to place a 9% tax on campsites!
Here is some links:
http://www.wmur.com/money/19811369/detail.html
http://www.thatscamping.com/forum/index.php?topic=1266.msg9835;topicseen#msg9835
This will overall hurt the campgrounds and make camping vacations less affordable.
We need to fight this!
Here is some links:
http://www.wmur.com/money/19811369/detail.html
http://www.thatscamping.com/forum/index.php?topic=1266.msg9835;topicseen#msg9835
This will overall hurt the campgrounds and make camping vacations less affordable.
We need to fight this!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Trailer Outlet in Tilton, NH
Time for some endorsements.
Need a utility trailer? I highly recommend the Trailer Outlet in Tilton, NH (exit 20 off of I93).
I ordered a 6x12' trailer. The staff even put some tie downs in the floor for my golf cart. Everything was perfect during delivery! Tows like a dream. I was pleasantly surprised to find my SUV was fully equiped for towing.
The trailer outlet even provided me a temporary plate to take it home due to Mass' crazy law that you need the certificate of origin (even before you have it) before they will give you a plate.
Need a utility trailer? I highly recommend the Trailer Outlet in Tilton, NH (exit 20 off of I93).
I ordered a 6x12' trailer. The staff even put some tie downs in the floor for my golf cart. Everything was perfect during delivery! Tows like a dream. I was pleasantly surprised to find my SUV was fully equiped for towing.
The trailer outlet even provided me a temporary plate to take it home due to Mass' crazy law that you need the certificate of origin (even before you have it) before they will give you a plate.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Diana's Bath
5/27/09 - Bump - This is a popular thread.
Sunday - August 6, 2006 was a great day to head up to Diana's Bath in the National Forest near North Conway, NH (on West-Side Road).
This past Sunday was a gorgeous beautiful sunny day without a cloud in sight. We arrived around 11AM to a PACKED new parking area for Diana's Bath. Patty was trying to remember where the old entrance location was. Unfortunately there was no parking in the assigned spots so we had to park close by on the road (not too bad). NOTE: if you visit here and park in the parking lot it is a National Forest FEE AREA which typically charges $3 per use. There is handicapped parking available.
The .6 of a mile trail was VERY VERY easy with basically little to no elevation getting to the falls. A person on a wheel chair or pushing a stroller could be easily accomodated since the trail was laced with gravel and very wide.
At Diana's Bath, there was a good constant flow of cold, crisp, and very clear water over and down the rocks. The rocks (especially underwater) can be slippery and if you mis-step you can fall! Even I fell and got my shorts wet. Bathing suits, towels, etc. are recommended. There are several layers of rocks to explore. Please make sure your kids DO NOT throw the smaller rocks since this place is VERY populated. I was a little bit bothered by the couple who let their kids do this. Also keep your eyes and an extra hand always available for the little ones wading in the water. Many chances to fall in the current. In the river, this may be a dangerous situtation for children 4 and under.
There are only a few picnic tables. We found a nice shady rock to have our picnic on. There are NO bathroom facilities at Diana's bath nor are there any facilities in the parking lot area. I believe many people were using the nearby woods.
On a warm sunny day this location will be well populated with vacationers. Dogs are allowed so feel free to bring well behaved dogs.
Check out our pictures at the following link:
NEC's Diana's Bath Pictures
Sunday - August 6, 2006 was a great day to head up to Diana's Bath in the National Forest near North Conway, NH (on West-Side Road).
This past Sunday was a gorgeous beautiful sunny day without a cloud in sight. We arrived around 11AM to a PACKED new parking area for Diana's Bath. Patty was trying to remember where the old entrance location was. Unfortunately there was no parking in the assigned spots so we had to park close by on the road (not too bad). NOTE: if you visit here and park in the parking lot it is a National Forest FEE AREA which typically charges $3 per use. There is handicapped parking available.
The .6 of a mile trail was VERY VERY easy with basically little to no elevation getting to the falls. A person on a wheel chair or pushing a stroller could be easily accomodated since the trail was laced with gravel and very wide.
At Diana's Bath, there was a good constant flow of cold, crisp, and very clear water over and down the rocks. The rocks (especially underwater) can be slippery and if you mis-step you can fall! Even I fell and got my shorts wet. Bathing suits, towels, etc. are recommended. There are several layers of rocks to explore. Please make sure your kids DO NOT throw the smaller rocks since this place is VERY populated. I was a little bit bothered by the couple who let their kids do this. Also keep your eyes and an extra hand always available for the little ones wading in the water. Many chances to fall in the current. In the river, this may be a dangerous situtation for children 4 and under.
There are only a few picnic tables. We found a nice shady rock to have our picnic on. There are NO bathroom facilities at Diana's bath nor are there any facilities in the parking lot area. I believe many people were using the nearby woods.
On a warm sunny day this location will be well populated with vacationers. Dogs are allowed so feel free to bring well behaved dogs.
Check out our pictures at the following link:
NEC's Diana's Bath Pictures
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Gardening....
This year when not camping we will be working on our garden.
I built some garden boxes out of an old deck. We have tomatos, brocolli, squash, pumpkins, peppers, and watermellon.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Now on twitter
I'm now rambling along with others (i.e., microblogging) on twitter.
Not entirely sure if I like this capability yet but I'm following a few sites and even have some followers.
Check it out.
http://twitter.com/newenglandcampr
Not entirely sure if I like this capability yet but I'm following a few sites and even have some followers.
Check it out.
http://twitter.com/newenglandcampr
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Soulfest Announces Lineup!
Soulfest announced its lineup recently.
Camping is available at Gunstock Mountain.
The July 30th show is looking good to me as I'm a big fan of the Newsboys and also like Phil Wickham.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Merrimack Valley Christian Film Festival
The 17th Annual Merrimack Valley Christian Film Festival is starting this weekend at the Lawrence Showcase Cinemas!We are a big supporter of this ministry and this life changing message these films bring. In the past our families have been counselors and ushers.
Tom Saab, his family, and ministry team does a great job!
All movies are 100% free!!!
Tip: Some "sell" out so make sure you arrive early.
Dates: 5-12 April 2009
Location: Showcase Cinema, Lawrence, MA
This has been a tough year for many. Come to the film festival to get some positive encouragement!
Christ is Alive!!!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Road Trip 2008 - Gateway Arch
Our next stop on the way home was a visit to the Gateway Arch and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National park in St. Louis, MO.This memorial was amazingly tall! Much bigger than I expected in fact you could see it for miles when we first entered St. Louis from the west. We would have liked to have visited it during the evening but we arrived quite late in St. Louis to begin with.
Getting There & Parking
We found getting there a bit confusing. We ended up over the Mississippi and into a what look like a bad part of Illinois before our GPS corrected us and got us back on another bridge over to St. Louis (the picture above is from the Illinois side). When we had finally arrived, we had a car carrier top on our roof so parking in the garage was out of the question! Parking there cost about $6. We followed signs for the RV parking but that wasn't clearly marked either. We finally found parking in front of the arch.
Visitor Center
The main visitor center is located underground just below the Arch Structure. We arrived at 845AM and it was about 15 degrees outside. The entrance to the arch is located underground. The doors opened at 9AM (so we had to wait outside in the bunker). Security is very tight. Expect to go through metal detectors and have your bags check similar to the airport.
The area includes a large open lobby, huge museum, gift shop, old fashion store (to get coffee), and two movie theaters. This is run by the National Park Service and even have a junior rangers program which the kids were able to go through the museum, answer questions, and earn their Junior Ranger path.
For tickets there are several options. We choose to take a ride to the top and watch the Lewis and Clark movie. There is another movie about the making of the arch.
At the Top
Riding up to the top you take a small tram of 4 to 5 cars. Each car fits about 4 to 5 people and takes a few minutes to get to the top. Our family fit fine in one car. You get some amazing views of St. Louis out of small windows from the top of the arch on one side and some other views of the Mississippi and Illinois from the other side.
Pictures will be here.
Lewis & Clark movie
The Lewis & Clark movie was AMAZING! The 45 minute movie gave an accurate historical account of how President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark and crew to explore the land newly aquired from the Louisanna Purchase. It gave an account of new animals including the Prarie Dog and how the Native American woman Sacagawea.
Speeding....
*** BUMP -- due to comments ***
Late this past Saturday evening at Danforth Bay, I was walking the dogs with my daughter near my site and out of nowhere a speeding car turned the corner, swerved, and came very close to hitting us. The driver then proceeded to rush up the hill going well over the posted speed limit of 7MPH. We were a little taken back but AOK.
A few minutes later the same car rushed down the hill! I yelled "SLOW DOWN" with absolutely no reaction but fortunatley our favorite DBCR security guard was turning the corner and went chasing after the young driver and later gave him a lecture and lesson on how dangerous it is to drive in a campground with that is nearly full.
I later found out that Danforth Bay may be putting in NEW speed bumps but they may be delayed the grading job was unsatisifactory to the campground and since then the excess water from the severe storms has caused many of the roads to be in repair.
We have noticed from our site a number of "speeders". It is really concerning because we have 1 small child and other older children that are allowed to roam the park. With the campground now filled with LOTS kids running around, people on bicycles, walkers, etc. I have become more cautious when driving my car to my site or driving my golf cart around and obey the posted speed limit rules
It you are on vacation then SLOW DOWN on everything. I learned this on Ossipee Lake Road where I nearly escaped a speeding ticket (going 53 in a 30 MPH zone). The Freedom cops target this area. I've learned to SLOW down and enjoy the scenery and great weoods
Late this past Saturday evening at Danforth Bay, I was walking the dogs with my daughter near my site and out of nowhere a speeding car turned the corner, swerved, and came very close to hitting us. The driver then proceeded to rush up the hill going well over the posted speed limit of 7MPH. We were a little taken back but AOK.
A few minutes later the same car rushed down the hill! I yelled "SLOW DOWN" with absolutely no reaction but fortunatley our favorite DBCR security guard was turning the corner and went chasing after the young driver and later gave him a lecture and lesson on how dangerous it is to drive in a campground with that is nearly full.
I later found out that Danforth Bay may be putting in NEW speed bumps but they may be delayed the grading job was unsatisifactory to the campground and since then the excess water from the severe storms has caused many of the roads to be in repair.
We have noticed from our site a number of "speeders". It is really concerning because we have 1 small child and other older children that are allowed to roam the park. With the campground now filled with LOTS kids running around, people on bicycles, walkers, etc. I have become more cautious when driving my car to my site or driving my golf cart around and obey the posted speed limit rules
It you are on vacation then SLOW DOWN on everything. I learned this on Ossipee Lake Road where I nearly escaped a speeding ticket (going 53 in a 30 MPH zone). The Freedom cops target this area. I've learned to SLOW down and enjoy the scenery and great weoods
Friday, January 09, 2009
Fall Road Trip 08 - T-REX (Kansas City) review
Review of T-REX RestaurantOn Saturday December 6th we left the OKC Memorial and headed north on I35 (with hundreds of Oklahoma University Sooners fans heading north passing us at peaceful 75 to 80MPH for a game against Kansas City). Our next planned destination stop was to visit the T-Rex Cafe in Kansas City, KS.
Driving through Oklahoma and Kansas was very scenic. The land was mainly flat, many small oil drilling rigs, large farmland. The beautiful untouched prairies at the Flint Hills was simpy amazing. Wichita (the largest Kansas city) seemed no bigger than Nashua or Salem NH to me. If you blinked you might of missed it!
T-REX
Landy Restuarants, the same fine folks that bring you the themed Rainforest Cafe and the Aquarium restuarant also bring this very cool and exciting experience of dining with the dinosaurs and other sea and land creatures. If you love those places chances are you are going to love T-REX as well!
Atomosphere:
The atomosphere, experience, thrill, curosity, or whatever you want to call it is the main reason to visit T-Rex. We made a 100+ mile detour on the way home to have this dining experience (which we heard about at our recent Aquarium visit). The front of the building is amazing with life size dinosaurs statues and "pre-historic rock". Inside just about every dinosaur creature (fully skinned of course ;->) you can think about comes to life at some point. On two floors, T-REX has 7 different theme dining rooms so your dining experience is sure to be different if you visit often. There are aquariums, creepy-crawly things on the walls, and even a "meteor shower" every 1/2 hour.
Check out my pictures to see how this restuarant is themed.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569571323QcmUkQ
Grade: A++
Food:
We ordered quesadillas for an appetizer and sodas. For dinner my wife and I had a thin crust tomato sauce pizza with sausage, onions. The boys had a plain cheese pizza and my youngest daughter had the alfredo noodle sauce kids meal. The quesadillas were good (not the best I've had) but the pizza was only mediocre to put it politely. Well food is not the main reason to come here and we could have ordered some more of the expensive items on the menu. Perhaps higher quality???
Grade: C+
Service:
Unfortunatley the service during our visit was horrible. It was the 1st time I've left less than a 15% tip in a long time. We had to wait over 15 minutes to get a table and they had plenty of seating as the resturant was only 1/2 full and upstairs was mainly empty. It was a good time to snap some photos. The waitress was even worse as it took forever to get our food and when I asked for a drink refill it didn't arrive until the end of the meal. I ended up sitting at my table waiting for the waitress to return my credit card while my family shopped in the gift shop. This restuarant was staffed mainly by teenagers who in my opinion had very little experience. Quite a difference from the great service we got at the other Landry restaurant, the Aquarium in Nashville
Grade: D
Shopping
Great shopping area with lots of souvieners (no postcards though :-<). My wife let my youngest son "build-a-dino" sponsored by Build-A-Bear.
Overall we had a great time. The only problem I have with these "Theme-Restuarants" is that I wish they would provide some higher quality lower priced items on the menu
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Winter Cuddling....
Winter camping can be cold! We have been bundling up with the doggies in our beds on cold nights to keep them warm (vs. their crates). They learned and cuddled up together for a nap this afternoon on their warm and cozy dog bed.
Happy New Year!
Happy "Camping" New Year
Happy New Year!
Yay -- 2009!
I know 2008 was a difficult and not a very good year for a lot of people. I hope 2009 will be better for everyone. 2008 was the year of super high gas prices, bailouts, recession, tornados and wild weather, and a new president. For us, overall this year had its share of disappoinments as well but for the most part there was also many blessings.
As for camping with this last trip we have now camped every month of the year and on every major holiday! For holidays this year alone we added Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and New Years Eve.
We look forward to what God has in store for us in 2009!
Again, Happy New Year Everyone!
Yay -- 2009!
I know 2008 was a difficult and not a very good year for a lot of people. I hope 2009 will be better for everyone. 2008 was the year of super high gas prices, bailouts, recession, tornados and wild weather, and a new president. For us, overall this year had its share of disappoinments as well but for the most part there was also many blessings.
As for camping with this last trip we have now camped every month of the year and on every major holiday! For holidays this year alone we added Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and New Years Eve.
We look forward to what God has in store for us in 2009!
Again, Happy New Year Everyone!
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