As our travel had, of course, been cancelled for spring and early summer, I had a few days off that were scheduled to expire on July 1. We love camping, and certainly that had been our hope, but though originally scheduled to reopen at the start of phase 2, campsites didn’t end up reopening until July 1. We instead looked at a variety of cabins in New Hampshire near the White Mountains, and found the perfect fit. A little efficiency one-room cabin near Lake Winnipesaukee, complete with a fire pit, grill, and walkable to the lake.

The drive up was rough – not because of usual traffic now gone due to covid – but first because of a hailstorm (not common in New England!) and then because of the wild amount of Trump signs. Wondering what these two lesbians got ourselves into, we glanced nervously at each other and a took a deep breath of mountain air with a bit of the stench of Trump.

Day 1

We pull into our cabin, immediately unload the car and bikes, take a seat on the lawn chairs outside the cabin and crack open a beer. We hadn’t been seated but for a few minutes when the host’s neighbor came home, said hello, and then opened the back of his trunk. Boxes of fireworks tumbled out of his car. He threw the boxes back inside, kept out a couple, and slammed the door shut. Grabbing one of the boxes, he walked over to us, and started passing along handfuls of firecrackers. Wide-eyed and unsure of what to do next, we put them in a pile (we never used them).

It started to rain, and we walked a bit down the street to a restaurant with a covered outdoor patio (Dockside in Alton Bay). No sooner had we sat down did the skies open; seated comfortably with draft beer in hand (only the second since March), we enjoyed the sound of the rain on the lake and watched the lightning in the distance.

We ordered lobster rolls and a couple draft beers each; they had a phenomenal selection of local crafts brews than we enjoyed while watching the rain. We overstayed our welcome a bit and headed home in the rain.

Day 2

Monday we awoke to only some light rain! Thrilled at our good fortune, we hit the road to a nearby rail trail in Wolfeboro, NH. 12 miles each way, it’s a packed dirt trail that was perfect for our cyclocross bikes with wider treaded tires (wouldn’t have been as fun on a full road bike).

We rode nearly the full distance, turning around as we started to get hungry.

We grabbed lunch in the continuing drizzle on the lake on Wolfeboro at Garwoods, a nicely spaced out patio on the lake. One woman tied a sweater around her face because of the restaurant’s ‘masks required sign.’ At first, we were discouraged by the seemingly-inflated menu prices, but put that aside for the sake of our amazing view of the lake. But we didn’t pay for the view alone: I had the MOST DELICIOUS salmon sandwich I have ever had in my life. Come to find out later, they also have a great bloody Mary. “Top 5 of my life,” the man we met from DC-area said, but unfortunately, we didn’t make it back to try it ourselves.

After lunch we drove to Mount Major, but by then the downpour was so intense we decided that climbing a mountain wasn’t in the cards. Instead, we took a stroll on a snowmobile trail, which was flat and peaceful, through the woods.

On the drive back “to town,” we blasted the floorboard heat to try and dry our only pair of sneakers.

Day 3: Mount Major

Still.Raining. But finally time to embrace Mount Major, rain or shine. Fortunately, most of the way up we are able to avoid the rain. It’s a short hike by miles, but nearly straight up at the end. My favorite hikes are those with crawling on rock faces and turning around to see breathtaking views! As I straighten out to stand up at what I think is near the top (spoiler: it wasn’t!), I sigh with relief that the rocks aren’t wet and slippery (yet) as I take in the view of the lake.

We press onward to the very top, where we have a full 360 view of the mountains, the lake and all around. Three ways up meet at this point and all are well marked to find the right path back down. We had about 60 seconds of views before the cloud cover came in at incredible speed and, after another 60 seconds, the first crash of thunder.

Glad to have brought our raincoats (which were cumbersome on the way up), we pull them on and rush back down the mountain, moving quickly to get under tree cover before the first lightning. We decide to take the longer, less steep way down, to enjoy the woods and avoid the slick rocks now that the rain had begun.

Days 4 and 5 we are back “at work,” working remotely from the cabin while enjoying the view from the lake. Of course, it’s still raining, but in the evening we’re able to put our skills to the test and manage to light a fire with the wet wood, and get it hot enough to stay lit once the drizzle starts again. The fire pit was a huge perk of our stay in NH, especially since we had not been able to go camping yet due to covid, and, though we love rain, being unable to have a fire the first few nights bummed us out! We made up for it with three nights of huge fires.

On our last day, we pack up the car and, of course, it’s the first rainless day we’ve had yet, so we head north around the lake for another hike, West Rattlesnake Mountain. A shorter hike with spectacular views, it was a perfect hike to end on. As we passed Mount Major, cars were parked a mile up and down the road, beyond the huge parking lot. Rattlesnake Mountain had been busy, but not ridiculous. (We got a lot of stares for wearing masks…!)

It was a lovely vacation, besides the Trump signs, the one bad meal, and the inability for New Hampshire people to wear masks.

Covid-19 is real. It is scary. Wear your damn mask.

Lez-Travel Rating:

Despite the many Trump signs, we felt safe around Alton Bay. A huge tourist area, I expect the locals are used to people from all sexual preferences and backgrounds, and though we didn’t seem to be in a crowd of queers, no one gave us any reason to feel unsafe, or even uncomfortable. Even our Airbnb host, a Trump fan, knew we were married and could not have been kinder to us (not to imply that all Trump fans hate the gays).