Right after we moved to Massachusetts we started hearing about Storyland in New Hampshire. It's a theme park geared toward young children and other parents told us their kids loved it. We had last weekend open and the weather forecast was good, so off we went in our camper van.
Once we cleared a huge traffic jam at the New Hampshire border for the Boston-Portsmouth Air Show, we had a pleasant drive up to North Conway and Glen, NH. This is the heart of the White Mountains and very close to Mt. Washington - the highest peak in the Northeast.
We arrived at Storyland about 3:30. If you enter after 3:00 your ticket is good for another day as well - we planned to be there 3-6 on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday.
The girls loved it. Audrey is the perfect age for the place, and Charlotte will be next year. The rides are all scaled down to kid size: a roller coaster that is "real" (same construction as a big coaster) but is short and never goes all that fast; a ferris wheel with enclosed "balloons" instead of open seats; etc.
We had a great time exploring the park and riding rides until closing time at 6:00. Then we headed to the Green Meadow Campground right next door. What a peaceful place! Maybe it was just the contrast with a theme park full of bright colors and noise, but the campground seemed wonderful.
We hung out for a while and the girls played on the playground and made some friends (of course). Then we set off in search of dinner. When we got back it was dark and we took the girls out in the meadow for some excellent stargazing. The Milky Way was out in almost-full glory (the sky wasn't completely dark yet) and we could see lots of constellations and several planets. Audrey always amazes us with her observational skills and she pointed out several satellites. Then we set up the van and we all fell asleep.
We set the alarm for morning to give us time to get breakfast before being at the Storyland gate when it opened. We were second in line. I learned a lesson: do not ride the Tilt-a-Whirl first thing in the morning with a full stomach. I was nauseous to varying extents for a few hours afterward.
Both girls had little breakthroughs of their own. Charlotte was leery of the balloon ferris wheel and wouldn't go on it at first, but eventually she gave it a try and of course it was then her favorite ride. She also tried the Turtle Twirl (Tilt-a-Whirl - she cried) and even the roller coaster. Audrey hopped right on the roller coaster and loved it. She was most afraid of the Bamboo Chutes (log flume ride) but eventually tried it and then that was her favorite ride. We all had fun on the raft ride, on which one could get pretty wet. But it was a hot day and our clothing dried pretty quickly.
We covered pretty much the whole park and around 3:00 we started heading for the gate. Of course that took almost an hour - lots of "just one more"'s. We were OK indulging them, after all that's why we had come.
We headed home a different way, via Bear Notch Road and the Kancamangus Highway to I-93 in Lincoln, NH then down 93 all the way home. Traffic slowed at times but wasn't as bad as I imagined it could be on a Sunday evening heading back to the city.
The trip was a blast and I'm sure we'll go back for a weekend next summer.
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