Saturday 2 July 2005

East Coast Vacation - Day 2

St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

We had decided during the planning of this vacation to spend two nights in St. Johnsbury for two reasons: 1) to give us a chance to decompress from the long drive on Day One; and 2) to act as start or gateway to our East Coast vacation. Well, make that three reasons: 3) Adam had discovered there was a lot happening tourism-wise in this area, so St. Johnsbury was acting as a base for information collection for future vacations.

There was no itinerary for the day. Options included visiting a local museum and planetarium or a trip to Littleton, New Hampshire (a 10 minute drive southeast). The weather forecast for today was a warm but dry day. No humidity and no oppressive heat. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and headed out to Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire (this was to be a stop on Day Three as we headed towards Bangor, Maine). It was an excellent choice. Santa's Village is about 35 minutes east of St. Johnsbury on US-2. By the time we arrived the place was alive with excitement - and Corbin was more than willing to add to that excitement. He loved the place. With no oppressive heat and humidity to wear you down, it was an enjoyable experience for all. It was one of the best outings the three of us has had. Corbin went on almost all the rides including the roller coaster, ferris wheel, log flume and multitude of other rides. We caught a cheesy show with a talking Christmas tree and four elves. But Corbin liked it and that is all that mattered. After almost 5 hours in the park, we left tired but having lots of fun.


We headed back to the hotel via a side trip south to Littleton, New Hampshire. Main Street in Littleton has won numerous awards. The place was busy. It was late in the day and Tina and Corbin were tired so we drove through and headed back to St. Johnsbury via I-93. At the hotel Corbin was itching to get back into the pool, so we spent some quality family time in the pool (which is advertised as heated but is nowhere near being heated). We had supper had a local diner. The food was good, but on the pricey side, especially after you convert to Canadian dollars. Food in the US is either dirt cheap or expensive. Seems to be no middle ground.

With Santa's Village off the list, we are making totally new plans for Day Three. Possibilities include Littleton, the Aerial Tramway at Cannon Mountain and/or the Slide Ride at Attitash. Any of these would include driving through the White Mountains area - an amazing range of mountains and valleys. Stay tuned to find out what where we went.

No comments: