Camping in New Hampshire's White Mountains...

I wonder if they are called the White Mountains because of all the clouds... The clouds were ginormous, amazing things.  Truly spectacular sights to behold...but I could have done without all the rain.  Still, we had a great family trip.  Every time we asked Liam what his favorite part of the trip was his response was, "Spending so much time together, especially with Dad."

Within minutes of setting up camp, Finn was right at home.  Trucks, dirt, what more can a little boy ask for??





And after just a few more minutes, Finn found a buddy with similar interests.  In fact, all the neighboring campsites were filled with boys ranging from 2 to 12!  My boys were in heaven.

Our first morning was all rain, so we took the boys for a ride on the Hobo Train.  It was a bit touristy, but the kids loved riding and having lunch on the 100 year old train cars.

You can't really see it, but the mountain stream is rushing past our site just beyond the boulders.  We stayed at the Franstead Family Campground. (http://franstedcampground.com/)

It is, hands down, the BEST family I have ever visited.  The sites are private and clean.  The bathrooms and showers are CLEAN.  They have a covered activity pavilion with ping pong and foos ball.  There's mini golf, a playground, and a shed on a field filled with basketballs, baseballs and gloves, frisbees, dump trucks, volley balls, you name it.  They really thought of everything.  If you want to camp in the White Mountains and you have kids, this is THE place to go!  Not to mention the creek running through the campground with tubing AND a beach!  It was awesome.

So...here we are...at the top of Mount Washington, the highest point in the entire north east...and it's all rain and fog and clouds.  Spent 40 bucks to drive up the hairpin turns and scary cliffs...it was kinda worth it.  It was cool to be up there..but I sure would have liked to have seen SOMETHING.  Another time, I guess...

You do get a 'free' bumper sticker with your $40.

We did get one afternoon of sun and we spent it tubing in our campground.  It was awesome.  It was 'gentle' and shallow enough that Liam could run to one end of the campground and tube down to us, waiting at the beach area. 

There was even a small wading area where Finn could tube as well.

We started this hike in the rain and the weather cleared up a bit.  This was the Falling Waters hike in the Franconian Notch.  Beautiful hike...but I did fall in a small waterfall trying to get Liam across safely. 









Sweet Finny Finn...

So...after my shoes were soaked, I tried to dry them out by the fire that night.  In the morning I discovered that I completely melted them.  Awesome.

Here we are heading up to the largest waterfall in New Hampshire, Arethusa Falls.  It poured for most of the 3 mile, super steep hike. So proud of my little hikers.

Definitely magnificent and worth the trek!

We are heading down at this point.

Finn clearly had HAD enough at this point.  But he made it down and was rewarded by the train driving right through the parking lot!

Here's a nice shot of our site.

Our last day...I think Finn was pretty sick of the rain...poor little buddy.

Basically the view we had each day. 

I am sure we will return to the White Mountains.  There are endless hikes and tourist attractions there. It's only a few hours away and truly beautiful.  Today, I am glad for my cozy, dry bed.  :)