Happy St. Patrick's Day - Owen and Ollie's

This was our first time ever going out for a St. Patrick's Day meal and celebration. A really great idea from my wife! The goal was to listen to some good Irish music, have different types of Irish food, sample some different beverages, along with being family friendly. After driving through downtown Lowell and seeing the VERY populated and congested pubs & restaurant we chose something a bit more quiet. Owen and Ollies in Dracut, MA met all our objectives and did not disappoint.

We expected a crowd so we arrived around 4PM with absolutely NO wait. Had our pick of a table. By the time we left at 6PM there was a small wait and a larger crowd in the open lounge area. We sat in the front .

For our Irish beverages my wife chose the Magner's Cider Beer. She enjoyed it so much she ordered another one! To stick with the St. Patrick's tradition I had a Guinness with my appetizer and a St. Patricks for dinner/desert. The Guinness beer is quite dark and different (for those who never enjoyed one). The St. Patrick's bear is a bit crisp.

Dinner

For dinner my wife and I ordered the Corned Beef and Cabbage special and I ordered the Bangers and Mash with the agreement that we would share.




I didn't care for the Bangers (sausage) while my wife enjoyed this when she had it with the brown gravy. We both liked the Mashed potatoes. Those were very tasty. The brown Irish bread that came with the meal was very good!

The Corned Beef and Cabbage was VERY good and tasty. The boiled potatoes and carrots were good too. Just what you expect at St. Patricks Day. PERFECT. We all shared. My 15 year old choose a non Irish meal - a cheese Pizza but didn't care for it. I have it for left over lunch tomorrow. I thought the sauce was a bit different (a little sweet). My 5 year old didn't like his pizza either. My daughter got a Chicken Caesar wrap. She enjoyed it. It was large enough that she has something for lunch tomorrow.

We all loved the Brown Irish soda bread.

We ordered desert. The kids had sundaes and cake. My wife and I split the Maple Pumpkin Pie trifle which was garnished with a gingersnap and walnuts. That was very rich but very good! We ate every bite.




The restaurant is in an old but renovated mill (near Beaver Brook) in the Collinsville section of town. From the outside it doesn't look like anything special. However it is absolutely gorgeous and modern inside. Most of the comfortable seating has a TV where you can play and watch Keno as well as watch TV if you choose. Very nicely decorated for St. Patricks Day and they had an Irish singer "Shamus Pender" . I absolutely loved the high ceilings and mill environment. Even though we were at the farthest point from the lounge we still got to enjoy the Irish music yet were able to have a nice conversation. This place is NOT loud. Perhaps its because of the very high ceilings The lounge area is very large, spacious, open, and modern. They have wifi as well. I have yet to bring my computer to a restaurant and don't plan to start now.

The service tonight was exceptional for a holiday! No waiting for anything!




Overall a great place and a nice setting for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. I love being Irish!!!

Doggie Travels - Campground Limits

We've been looking for NEW campgrounds to visit this summer in the northern New England area. I've been finding some of them have the most craziest rules such as NO Air conditioning, fires only for cooking in day time, but one that I find a bit outrageous is the number of dogs you can bring to a campground. Ames Brook in Ashland, NH, Mountain Lake in Lancaster, NH, and Flat Rock Bridge in Maine are examples that told me they don't want my business because I have not 1, not 2, but 3 small dogs (even explaining to them that they are well behaved and weigh less than the average dog).

Anyways... this got me to think about the following review that I read on TripAdvisor.com about the Hampton Inn in Colchester, VT that we recently stayed at.

Another plus was that they charged no fee for the dogs. Many of the other hotels wanted up to 75.00 pet fee which I find ridiculous. Sorry but I think kids do a lot more damage and disturbance than pets do in hotels. I have never seen a dog run up and down the halls knocking on doors and screaming. Dogs don't eat pizza in bed and dump soft drinks all over the bed. Dogs also don't stomp on the floors and pee in the pool.

Unfortnately in the 10+ years I have been camping I believe this is true for children at campgrounds as well! I have witnessed children being naughty in many situations! Leaving messes on common area picnic tables, children under 2 with no diapers in the pool, seasonal children loitering from one transient family to another, children chasing after campers as they are leaving the park, and the list goes on and on. My kids are not angels either so I know first hand of questionable behavoir.

Other than the seldom barker (and I do emphasize seldom) I have never seen a badly behaving dog. Most people that I know own 1 or 2 dogs at most. Should campgrounds start limiting children? Perhaps I can understand them limiting certain types of dogs. We had a pitbull / boxer / lab mix and in the end she didn't get along with people.

Anyways, why are dogs getting the bum wrap at campgrounds?

Cranmore Tubing

This winter we went tubing at Mt. Cranmore in North Conway, NH which is definately one of my favorite skiing locales for its long ski slopes with varying difficulty, high speed quad, and great views of Mt. Washington and the presidential range. Not to mention its is in a VERY convenient location! This year we decided to go snow tubing here instead of skiing. This worked well as my 5 year old (who isn't ready for skiing) could join in on the fun.

Tubing is $22 for 2 hours at Cranmore (a bit pricey when compared to King Pine ($15) and Pat's Peak ($16) and to speak the truth I can't say much about either of the competition slopes). Check with your hotel as I was able to get a discount tickets from our local lodging facility(cash only).



Cranmore does have two separate runs (with about 3 to 4 lanes each) with beautiful views (which may justify its slightly higher price). We arrived around 1030 and the second uppper run was just being opened.

There are plenty of tubes in your choice of blue or red to choose from. The staff is great and really friendly. They will help you get off spinning if so desired. I always said strait but ended up spinning anyways. Fortunately it is very minor so you won't get motion sick. Also will help you setup your tube for the lift. You can double up tubes. At one point all 4 of us went down. Now that was interesting!

The lines are very long here on a busy Saturday but tolerable. If you don't have to wait in line for the lift (about 5 minutes or so) then you will have to wait up at top. They may really consider how many people they allow on the course (or do better ticket checking). You of course can walk if up if you don't want to wait in line.

Overall tubing was fun but i think I prefer skiing better. I really did enjoy the pictures that I got so that was a big bonus for me. :->

Sleigh ride at the Farm by the River

My wife and I took a lovely kid-FREE late afternoon private sleighride from the nice people at the Farm by the River in North Conway, NH on one sunny but snow-covered late afternoon this past winter.

Krystal was our guide and the beautiful horses that pulled our sleigh were named Jim and Bob (how appropriate). LOL!

Our package was $99 which included a 45 minute sleighride with chocolates and nice bottle of Champagne. A warm blanket is provide as well. There was also a large group and another couple in a private open sled but they were appropriately spaced. The ride starts right at the farm and includes a 30 to 45 minute ride through the woods. Bring a camera as there is great view of Mt. Cranmore, Catherdral Ledge and the trail goes right up the side of the Saco River. You may even see tracks of live animals.

I'm not sure if I would recommend the inn for lodging itself but I definately recommend the Victorian sleigh rides. May look to go horse back riding there in the summer.

The Farm is located right on West Side Road.

Krystal was a great hostess and she gave us some insight about the area and the farm (including the story of the 3 legged wolf that resides on property).

NH Camping Show this weekend!!!

New Hampshire Camping show is going on this weekend!

http://www.ucampnh.com/campingshow2.php

The Hampshire Dome, Just off Route 101
Milford, New Hampshire




SHOW HOURS
Friday March 5th, 1pm - 9pm
Saturday March 6th, 10am - 9pm
Sunday March 7th, 10am - 5pm

ADMISSION

Adults $7.00 Children under 12 - Free with an adult

Hampton Beach Fire

We tend to visit Salisbury beach state park vs. Hampton Beach (although both my wife and I have great memories of Hampton in our distant past). We stopped by to check out the damage from the fire.

There was also a lot of roof/shingle damage from the excessive winds.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

We stopped in the Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, VT this past Sunday on our way home.

This is a country store with plenty of unique gifts as well as typical nick knacks. They offer free samples of certain jellies/spreads and cider. There is no tour per-Se during the winter but they have a video running of how they make the cider. Not sure if they offer a tour during the peak season (but they do offer bus parking -- so the place must be popular). Not too far from Stowe Mt.

I'm not a big apple cider guy but I can certainly say this was REALLY good! Even went back for a second sample and bought a 1/2 gallon for later on. Packaging claims that it is 100% apple cider with a note stating that all apples come from the Champlain Valley - NO imports. The only ingredients are Apples and Potassium Sorbate. Also bought some unsweetened Apple Butter - which contains "Whole Vermont Apples and Fresh Cold Hollow Cider". - Very good.

The fresh home made cider donuts (made on sight) are OUT OF THIS WORLD! We got a 1/2 dozen and fought over the last one.

It is an easy drive right off of I89 off the Waterbury exit. Worth the trip if you are in the area.

Ben & Jerry's Icecream Tour Review

*** This will be on Trip-Advisorsoon -- but thought I would share here ***

We last visited the area in 2002/2003 and sadly to say the tour hasn't changed much in 7+ years.

There is a minimal charge of $3 for ages 12 and up. Assume this pays for sample plus salary of tour members. However I don't believe this is a good value.

You start off with a short witty presentation of how Ben and Jerry got started with the company (with a bit of propaganda thrown in). I don't remember the presentation but wife said it is the same one from our last visit.

Then they take you to a room over looking the factory. The host goes so fast explaining things (which is coordinated with a movie that for the average person it is difficult to understand how ice cream gets made). Also because you are high up and crowded its difficult to see anything. Also nothing about quality control was mentioned. In the past the tour guide went slower and gave a better description than the movie.

The sampling room has only onesample now. Back in 2003 there was 2. No spoons available either so everyone is sticky at the tours end.

I also found the ticket taker and presenter to be a bit unfriendly (more smiles needed please) and the whole tour a bit rushed.

Ben & Jerry's is a fun place but the whole tour needs to be revamped to focus more on ice cream production. I didn't learn a thing.

Looks like most Trip Advisor members agree! Check out their review here .

Cabot Cheese Factory Tour

We stopped recently at the Cabot Visitor Center in Cabot, VT. This place is not all that easy to get to from southern NH!

In the main visitor center there is a gift shop and in the back of the store there is a table set up to sample many, many different variations of cheese (including some that I never even heard of). They also had dips and spreadable cheese to sample as well! Very good.

The tour is $2 (with children under 12 free). Assume this pays for the sampling.

At the beginning of the tour there is 5 - 10 minute movie which gives you the history of Cabot, its standards, etc. After the movie the tour guide takes you down a single hallway. On both sides there is glass windows to each part of the plant. We witnessed sourcream being packaged and cheese being made in a huge long vat. Although I must say not much was happening when we visited. This is a live working plant and the hallway can get busy. We exited the same way we entered.

Overall I thought the tour was good. However I did not get a real understanding of how their products are made. The place was much smaller than I expected.

We did pick up some colby jack and cheddar blocks along with some of the yummy dips.

Muddy Moose Review - North Conway, NH

*** The following is a review of the Muddy Moose Restaurant that is currently being posted on tripadvisor.com ****

Interior was very clean, "folksy", and "country" especially for Northern NH. VERY Well done!! We really enjoyed the atmosphere even though it was busy and a tad bit loud.

Service:

Service was EXCEPTIONAL! We were really impressed with how fast the waitstaff could clean a table and get the next party seated. I never saw anything like this! Food was brought out in a timely manner too (fortunately not too fast)! Our local waitress was friendly and very accomodating.

Food:

I had the 20oz Sam's Draft for bevarage (no complaints) and my wife had a mixed speciality drink. She thought it was somewhat syrupy and a bit too sweet and didn't finish it all.

The bread was VERY VERY good (served with REAL butter)! I do have to admit that I really missed not having a dinner house salad with the entree. It is NOT offered for any of the entrees . :-< (or not even offered for a $2 to $3 add on).

My wife ordered the Rib Steak for $20. Not good! It was very chewy and not very tasty. She should of brought most of it home for the dogs to nibble on. She states the baked potato and carrots were really good though. My dish has a better story. I ordered the Chicken and Broccolli Alfredo. Not much broccolli but there was plenty of chicken and pasta. It was pretty good and I ate every bite! No cheese was offered as a topping though.

My 15 year-old-son had the Ruby's Lake House Pasta. This was very good as I got to sample a portion of it the next day! I loved both pasta dishes. Daughter had the chicken caesar salad as her meal. VERY BIG salad!!! Plenty for her to enjoy and bring home to have for lunch the next day. My youngest son enjoyed his kids hot-dog and fries. The waitress even brought extra Oreo cookies for all the young-at-heart to share.

This place is loud but fun! We would definitely go there again... (beats Applebees and 99). We would probably try different menu options.

North Conway's Marriott's Residence Inn

*** Here is a review that I wrote about North Conway's Residence Inn on tripadvisor.com ***

We stayed during this past weekend 1/22 through 1/24 in a 1 Bedroom King suite with a fireplace.

The Marriott Residence Inn in North Conway, NH is a very modern hotel with very beautiful contemporary decor in your guest room and through out the hotel. I especially loved the separate desk area and modern kitchen with granite counters throughout the suite. Friday night after check-in I was able to make a quick delicious nutrious meal while the family relaxed watching the large flat screen TV and enjoyed the free wireless internet service (which was very good as well). Some Marriott hotels are now providing the option for upgrading the wireless to allow better access for VPN (this was not offered here as far as I could tell). The bedroom was exceptionally beautiful with the recessed lighting, soothing atomosphere and modern furniture. The built-in gas fireplace added ambience to the living room as well as some extra heat! I noticed that the bedroom seemed a tad bit cooler though when the fireplace was off. Not a problem with heating during the evening though! In fact I was a tad bit warm (if needed ask for an extra blanket... they will accommodate). I did NOT notice a noisy heating system like others reported.

Other than the granite counters the bathroom was pretty basic. The shower was not as hot as I would have liked it.

The pool area was immaculate! The hot tub was very warm, clean, and relaxing. Plenty of towels and the pool boy checks on the area constantly! Nice lounge chairs to relax in too. If you want to bring a beverage to the pool bring your own plastic cups (as there is not any in the room).

The 24 hour gym is AWESOME! There are 2 treadmills, 2 ellipiticals, a stair climber, weights and 2 different types of bicycles. All in a modern large space with plenty of room to SPREAD OUT!

There is a small business center which is near the elevators. The only complaint about this is that it isn't very private... so beware if you are typing in personal information. The lobby has a wonderful fireplace and plenty of seating. There are some semi-private areas with TVs. I would suggest they move the business center to this area.

The "Free" Breakfast was GREAT! I loved the blueberry "make your own" waffles with fruit topping. They also had scrambled eggs, sausage links, hash browns, and several other continental items (e.g., bagels). Plenty of coffee and juice too!

During the mid afternoon -- delicious chocolate / white chocolate chip cookies were served during our stay! They offer other night time features during the week.

The only complaint for this stay is that our room was never "made up" on Saturday!!! I never saw a cleaning attendant on our floor the whole day on Saturday. This made it a problem and had to constantly run to the front desk to get supplies. The trash was overflowing by the time we left. No laundry bags either. They could use a cookie sheet as well.

Pets are allowed! We brought ours and they really enjoyed the new "For Your Paws Only" store which is located in the next lot.

This hotel is also about location, location, location! This hotel is minutes away from Mt. Cranmore and Outlet shopping!

Lowell Devil's Hockey Review

This weekend we went to the Lowell Devil's hockey game at the Tsgonas Arena located in Lowell, MA. We went with my son's school and got discounted group ticket for $11 each.

Parking:

There are lots of parking locations in the local area. Not sure of off-street parking. The city of Lowell charges $10 to park in a city lot right next to the arena. Just a few feet away there is a private lot which cost us $5. Spaces in this lot are probably limited but we were in an hour early with plenty of room.

Refreshments:

If you plan on getting refreshments prepare to bring CASH and plenty of it! None of the vendors take credit/debit card. There is a JDCU ATM (near section J and K) but the line was rather long when we attended. Prices are rather steep as well. Some sample prices are the following: $5 - fried dough, $3.50 hot dog, $3.50 pretzel, $4.50 nachos and cheese, and $3.50 / $3.00 Pepsi brand drinks. For beer prepare to pay $5.75 for a Bud Light and $6.50 for Sam Adams. They don't allow you to bring any food or drinks into the arena.

Programs are $2.

Seating

I don't believe there is a bad seat in the house. Everything was clean upon arrival. During the game they offered tickets for some select games for $9. There was a piece of colored paper on each and every seat which detailed this. What a waste of time, paper, and ink. Everything appears to be modern, however the hockey scoreboard could probably use some updating.

Events

* Both teams come out to practice about 45 minutes before the game.
* For those that don't hockey there is 3 periods of 20 minutes each with a 20 minute intermission between the 1st and 2nd period and again during the 2nd and 3rd period.
* There was some events for the kids like T-shirt toss, chuck-a-puck, etc.

Overall it was great time the kids got bobble-heads (promotion going on at the time) even though our team lossed in the shoot out.

Pat's Peak Resort Review

Last weekend (on probably one of the coldest weekends of the year) my oldest son and I went skiing at Pat's Peak. Youngest daughter and her classmates went tubing at the cool tube park.

Rentals:

My son has long since outgrown his skis, boats, poles, etc. that we bought him about 5 years ago and with him still growing and ticket prices they way they are we decided not to purchase a new equipment for hims this year. For rental and lift tickets I used Pat's Peak secure online order form (the night before). Rentals plus lift ticket was $66. I was pleasantly surprised to find the equipment and tickets waiting for us upon arrival. Of course I got the boot size wrong but Pat's Peak competent staff adjusted this appropriately and we were soon making our 1st run. (My son now takes a size 12 in men shoes!)

Slopes

As usual we started at the easier valley slopes to warm up. The morning crowds seemed light and we found that the Downdraft triple only had a slight delay in the afternoon. They were not forcing us two to triple up which was nice. The chair ride up to the summit did get a bit cold especially with the wind blowing. During the ride up there is a new view of the snow-tubing field and the Nastar Racing. The "Puff" trail is a really easy trail. GREAT to learn on. The Turbulence Park Double lift provides a great view of the young snowboarders and ski-boarders contemplating and exercising jumps and other cool tricks. Some of the matching snow suits and gear these "kids" have are unreal. Who knew that you would be making a fashion statement when snowboarding!

At the other side of the resort is the Hurricane triple lift and double lift. Both of these seems to be a long but relaxing ride to the top. I sort of wished they would replace this with a high speed triple or quad in the future. However there is a nice view of the moguls (on the double black diamond Hurrican trail) and a chance to relax. The top provides a nice view of Central and Northern NH. On a clear day you can see Mt. Washington and surrounding mountains. Skiing Breeze, Zephyr, and Blast provide for nice family skiing (slightly more difficult than Puff). It is a very nice size trail (and the long lift ride does give older people like me time to recover ;->) East Wind and Lower East Wind is also a great trail and has become one of my favorites. Duster was literally very "dusty" when we visited with full SNOW making. This "out-of-shape" body (who hasn't skiied in 2 years) also went down two Black Diamond trails "Cyclone" and "Twister" and lived to tell about it! All trails had GREAT powder with very little ice. At the start of the Blast trail there is a nice small area to ski through trees glades. Lots of fun! Pat's Peak also offers a great beginners area!

Overall we hardly had to wait at all on the lifts.

Each lift has a temp reading. I've seem temps from 9 to 27 why we visited. I doubt it was 27 and I'm sure with the wind chill it was colder than that.

Resort

A cafeteria is available. We ordered some hot chocolate ($2.50) and some french fries ($3.50) after a few runs. Pat's Peak does allow you to bring in your own food and drinks as well. There is a bar and a resturant in a portion of the second floor. No outside food allowed.

Location

It's only about 1 hour from the NH/MA border which makes it a GREAT day trip!

Special

Pat's Peak has a great $39 Pay One Price for rentals and 3PM to 10PM tickets on Saturday night. Come early for this special. It was packed!!!

I've been hacked --- thanks Comcast.net!!!

Well I was reading and commenting on my Facebook family and friends status when I got a cryptic message stating something like "You need to be logged in to complete this action". "

Ok fb is being flaky as usual", I said... and attempted to re-login again without any success. A bit of shuffling around I quickly found out that password was changed for facebook. I then went to login into my comcast.net account (that I use to login into fb with) and was in shock when I found that password was changed as well! I reset everything with new passwords using my primary account.

Later that day I found out from some "friends" that Facebook had some hacking done so I dismissed this but didn't like how my comcast.net account was changed as well.

Two days later. I wake up with my early cup of coffee to check on my "facebook friends" before heading to work when I noticed that I could not login again to either account. After resetting some passwords and getting into faceboo I noticed that one of the applications that I use was sending status at midnight (2 hours past my bedtime). A scan on the computer found no viruses, spyware, or malware and I believed I'm heavily patch.

After some serious investigation and look. The vulnerability I believe was caused by three factors:

1. My Comcast email address to login into Facebook was EXPOSED on my profile page. It was also known by several other people as well.

2. To reset your Comcast password all you need to do is to answer a very simplified questions such as "Name of your favorite pet, favorite sports team, etc." These answers could be easily obtained by reviewing my fb. profile or even knowing and seriously what New Englander does not love the Red Sox. With ONE (and only ONE) simple guess, the hacker now has ACCESS to your email account on comcast.net!!!

3. The hacker can then easily RESET your Facebook password by typing in your email address and selecting "Oops... I forgot my password". Facebook sends an email to the main email account (which was just hacked into) and doesn't try to challenge you with any security questions.

Suggestions:

1. Never expose your email - facebook login account on your profile.

2. If you use comcast.net then make your secret question really difficult OR don't use comcast.net for email

Massachusetts - Support Scott Brown

NewEnglandCamper fully supports Scott Brown for US Senate!

Security is not something we can joke around with!

Scott's Latest Video Message

Disney's Animal Kingdom Pictures

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!

Breast Cancer Walk

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?px=12782997&pg=personal&fr_id=19925&s_src=PPCviewpage