This weekend is Labor Day weekend so I had Monday off work. On Saturday I was thinking about how terrible it would be to waste this holiday weekend so I made a plan. Even though I was a bit tight on money. Oh well! I bought the tickets at about 12:45am and the next morning I set off.
The next morning I struggled to wake up at 7:25am. It wasn’t as early as some of my New Mexico trips, but never-the-less I was tired. The plan was to leave at 8:15am. Mom shot me a text soon after I woke up that said “want me to come?”. At this point my strategic plan was in jeopardy of coming apart, but we left right at 8:15am. Right on time!
The first stop of the day was Clark’s Trading post in Lincoln, New Hampshire. I had heard from a work friend that there was a really cool bear show, so at 12:45am I impulsively bought a ticket. It would take 2 hours to get there. The drive up was typical NH driving. Mountains, lots of pickups, and billions of trees. The first showing of Clark’s bear show was at 11am. I wanted to get there earlier to explore the park so we got there at 10:15am. Upon getting there it was plainly apparent that Clark’s Trading Post is basically just for little kids. Whiny annoying kids. š We checked in with our tickets and since we were early decided to try out the train ride before the bear show. Since I never actually looked at the schedule online I wasn’t sure how long the train ride was. The program said 1/2 mile track so I swallowed my worries and hopped on board.
The whole point of the train was to share the story of “The Wolfman”. Ah, so just for kids once again. First we left the safety of the Clark Trading Post and entered the territory of the Wolfman. Not long after that, we saw him. He had a cap gun rifle that he shot in the air every once and awhile and smoked. The story was that he had a gem mine and that he was being protective of it. When the train goes through his territory he thinks everyone on the train is out to steal his precious gems. A well crafted story. I got to see his house, the gem mine, and the epic army jeep he drove. To scare him away you have to close your left eye and scream: “SCRAM YOU OLD GOAT!”.
On our way back I was relieved when the conductor said that the Wolfman can’t follow us across the covered bridge because he is not only afraid of heights, but also can’t swim. Wew!
Next up was the highly anticipated bear show. There was a pretty surprising amount of people there. At Clark’s Trading Post there is a bunch of bears in captivity and they have a good life. Don’t worry about them suffering by not being in the wild. I will admit I had mixed feelings throughout, but I have to admit the show is exciting and impressive. It started out with a black bear named Victoria. She came in and sat down on a chair swing set. Next, the handler swung Victoria back and forth. She looked like she was having the time of her life. Victoria also walked around a bunch, raised an American flag on a flag poll, and checked the mail only to tragically discover that New Hampshire has high property taxes. Before she left she played some basketball and a bit of hockey. Next to enter the arena was two somewhat small cubs. They both took turns riding a scooter, balancing on a barrel/ball, and using the swing set. The reward for all the bears was ice cream! The handler even took a bite of it using the same spoon the bears had been using! Gross!
After the show Mom and I went to have a quick bite to eat at the snack bar. Getting lunch wasn’t in the schedule, but we were running early so I permitted it. Midway through lunch a carnival organ started playing out of nowhere. With a look of utter disgust I exclaimed “What the duck!” and immediately Mom burst out laughing. (Duck is substituted for something else.) After a quick lunch we went to the trading post to collect souvenirs. At about 11:50am we left for the next destination of the day.
After driving along a twisting turning mountainous road for an hour we arrived at the Vermontasaurus attraction. There isn’t much to it, but it does make for a good photo op for BB8. It’s been awhile since I’ve taken BB8 out on an adventure. He will be returning with me to Philmont this upcoming summer! No worries! We were there for a little less than five minutes before we set off to the first of two national parks for the day: Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site!
I had been before when I was a kid so I had the stamp…but it was in the wrong national park passport. So I had to get it again, but this time in my new book that has all the other stamps. Basically Saint-Gaudens was a really famous sculptor who made really famous statues like the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on the Boston Common. (That is the one across from the State House.) I wasn’t sure if we could go in the buildings because of COVID, but luckily they were open as long as you wore a mask inside. Next we did a self guided tour of the gardens, which mom found fascinating. Meanwhile I was just like “whelp that’s cool.” Overall I’d say it’s worth a visit, just make sure the buildings are open.
The last stop of the day was the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Site. It didn’t take long to get there and soon we found ourselves staring at cows and sheep. I was a bit confused because I couldn’t see the iconic mansion anywhere. Just a bunch of cows! It turns out that the mansion is across the street. The farm is technically not part of the national park site. We walked up the big hill and into the visitors center where the Park Ranger went over the map of the grounds. Only the house porch was open to visitors as the house was closed because of COVID. There are 20 miles of trails on the property, but we decided to just do the short Junior Ranger loop since it looked like it was about to rain. When we were done with the hike we decided it was time for dinner. I had picked the Worthy Burger restaurant in Woodstock, Vermont. It was indeed a worthy choice after all. We had deck seating outside in the misty rain, which was actually not bad.
After dinner we headed back home. Since I was pretty wiped from driving all day I had Mom drive home in the rain. Overall this trip was worth it. Better than playing video games on the couch all weekend. I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next time!
Trip Stats
Predicted miles driven: 362 miles
Actual miles driven: 376 miles
States visited: 2 (Vermont / New Hampshire)
Hours of driving: 7 hours 32 minutes
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