New Hampshire for Lunch

So - while we were plotting and planning our trip to Vermont, somehow I managed to get a destination in Vermont criss-crossed with a destination in New Hampshire.  Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont, in my mind got mixed up with Castle in the Clouds in New Hampshire.  We had even perused the menu at the Castle's restaurant and had our lunch picked out.  Imagine my disappointment when I realized the two were very distinct locations - and no where near each other.  Not that we could have added another stop on our Vermont agenda - so out of the disappointed came the idea for a day trip - planned around LUNCH!

We picked our day, plotted boxes in the area and as usual, headed off at 6am in search of coffee, tea and muffins.  Fueled to start our journey we hit the road and found our way to route 25.  We had recently gotten a message that a box we had attempted previously - had been found by its owner and replanted.  So our first stop was actually in Maine... off to pick some blueberries!  As we knew where the box was supposed to be - we navigated to the location (why we took that dirt road, AGAIN we don't know) with Teacup honking her horn to drive away any four footed locals who might be up with us.

Made it to the location - saddled right up close and yup - there's the box.  Woohoo!  Score on our first stop.  We pulled everything out, got ready for a day of team stamping up, cracked open the box and WTH???  Logbook and first finders prize (an Amazon gift card) but no stamp!!??!!  Teacup and I stared at each other in confusion.  What do we do???  This was our second trip... it had been out and active for eight months without anyone else looking for it (that we know of) - but what do we do?  We signed in, sighed and took the gift card.  Cause you know - we'll be back a third time to get the intended image (it's blueberries and we want the image!)  ***This morning - heard from the box owner, they realized their mistake - when removing the HH - they also took the stamp.  They put it back at 10:30, yesterday - but that was 3 1/2 hours too late for us.*** Oh well - off to the border.

Our intended day planner had 45 possible boxes on our list... we knew we wouldn't get them all, but since most of them were cemeteries, we wanted to have enough to try and find.  So we made our way to our first location and woohoo!  This time we scored.  Granted the box was just laying out in the open and not really elusive - but we had our first official ink at 8:11 am.  Feeling like we were back on track off we went in search of dead people.  Now - there have been towns where cemeteries have totally eluded us - but I had our list of visited plotted in order of location and they were mapped out on our trusty gazetteer.  We felt like we had a good day mapped out.

Our first cemetery stop was a success.  Found the school bus, found the box.  Next we were looking for a cemetery between private property and a "Bible" church.  I thought that was the name - so we zoomed right past it and had our first u-turn of the day!  Pulled up next to it, walked across the cemetery and pulled out the box.  Another one in the win column.  We headed off towards those golden arches calling to us... time for a quick stop to pick up Sweet Tea.  We had determined that the most expensive had been purchased to date in Falmouth, Maine - but West Ossipee topped the ticker!  Our liquid gold dang near cost us the kingdom!  But we were ready to head off again. So we pulled across the street and located our next location.  A defunct water treatment center?  With stadium seating?  Nope - an old water park... currently a mosquito breeding ground.  We followed the directions... Teacup headed into the woods at said location and no luck?  Back to the car to get the clues - back into the location... pushing, moving, rearranging debris.  Most of the boxes we were searching for hadn't been found in a couple of years - so we didn't want to give up too quickly.  Yup - about three feet away from it's intended location Teacup hit plastic!  Inked up and put back in its proper spot, we headed off for our next location.

Found the covered bridge - yup, it's up on blocks - not over the river... a very strange site for sure.  But it helped us find the location for our next cemetery.  We went towards the location and sighed... not a good sign.  Fresh chainsaw marks on one of the twin sisters.  :(  All around where the box was supposed to be had been recently cleaned out.  If this box had been out - like others had been, it was gone.  Our first MIA.  We paid our respects to a lost box and moved along.  Now this is where the fun/foolishness started.  I knew the Sportsman's Club was on the next street - so we tooled our way out there...(sorry dude, we don't pick up sketchy looking hitchhikers who look like a serial killer.) Found the location, found the signs, found the intended 'log' or what was left of it - but no box.  Bummer.  Another one off the list, but not as a find.  So we looked at our list and started to work on what was next.

We had a five box series that I knew only 2 were viable.  It probably would have helped - and saved us some miles/time had I denoted which ones... oops.  So we went to the first location, nuthin.  Navigated to the second, still nuthin.  The third one... amazingly enough heading down the road we had been on for the Sportsman's Club... we pulled over to let the local police drive by as we wiped out our trusty map to act like we were lost (sometimes it's not an act) and made our way to the box.  Teacup found the box... "I have a riddle for you... why did the turkey cross the road?"  "I have no idea."  "To get away from the Teacup looking for a box!"  "Didn't you see it running across the road?"  "Nope, I was busy trying to figure out our next destination." Box back in its place and no more turkeys running wild... we headed off for number 4.  I was sure this one would be MIA... it was at the end of someone's driveway and close to their mailbox.  Nope we didn't look remotely suspicious roaming around granite markers on the side of the road???!!!  But there it was - get out!  So we stamped it up and opted to attempt #5 on a different section of the loop... heading BACK to West Ossipee, we headed north to Chocorua (How do you say that???)

Next one was supposed to be high on a hill with a (lonely goat, oops - wrong state again.) big old billboard.  This one was a bit tricky - I was sporting flip flops (don't judge - we were doing cemetery boxing, I didn't think I'd need my trekking poles!) so Teacup climbed the hill - after crossing route 25 taking her life in her hands and they were already full of logbooks and ink.  Score, second one found and re-hid properly... this one was out sunning itself in the morning sun!  But we felt like we were back on track... or as close as we usually get.  Our next location had been listed as retired, but actually found twice since the last box edit... so what the heck.  We'll give it a whirl.  It was at an old Catholic Church... now named Rutabaga?  What kind of vegetable is that anyways?  Do we really want to eat it?  And why would you pick that name for an arts center in a Catholic church?  Do rutabagas attend service on a regular basis??  Consider us properly confused... but that aside - Teacup found the box!  Woohoo!

Next up - going to find Karly's bunnies.  We found our location and was saddened by the loss of a life at five years old.  After finding what we intended - we thought we should leave something else, specifically for Karly.  So we planted some 'flowers' in hopes to soothe her life lost so young.  Onward we headed.  We found our new location - which felt like it had just been rained on - luckily we had been dodging rain showers most of the morning - though some of the clouds looked positively ominous at times.  But off we trekked, getting wet toes (or at least I did) and quickly turning into the mosquito's morning snack!  There were supposed to be two in this location - but one was questionable.  We followed the directions - Teacup heading off for the one that had been found recently - and me searching for the one that was questionable.  Swatting as fast as we could with one hand while we dug around with our second... mine was quickly determined as MIA.  Off to help Teacup - tap, tap... she hit plastic!  We quickly stamped up and replaced the box... we had donated enough to the local indigenous fauna!  Back out and to the car - swapping the visitors out of the car that thought they wanted to move along with us.

We had one more stop in the area before we had to work our way to our lunch destination.  We had to cut our path in half - but lunch was our reason for coming to the area... unfortunately, nature had put all those mountains in our direct path - so we would need to circle around them to get to where we were heading.  But heading back into town we stopped to enjoy what was hailed as the most photographed and painted view in the area.  We pulled in, stopping on the correct side so as to not roust the local police for parking on the wrong side of the road - and yup - one spectacular view was in front of us.  Probably amazing in the fall for sure!  Teacup trotted off for the box - while I played photo taking tourist as our cover.  After an initial fight - Teacup managed to wedge the box free from its location.  But wait??!!  The image is all green??  Now we were in the Green Mountain state in May - and New Hampshire is NOT it.  So we took out our stamp cleaner and gave the image some proper color to represent to wonderful view before us... yup we are color rebels!  But I bet our image looks better than yours :)  LOL

So looking at the map - and heading south I told Amber how to travel.  Wait a minute?  How did we end up here?  Damn - left, right.  They are so confusing.  But since we were essentially traveling in an oval all day - circling the mountain - we just made it work.  And wouldn't you know it - found another box (that had been slated for the end of our day... it works.)  But Cora was in need of an assist.  Her logbook had been ruined... and needed a new one.  I had packed it (with little cats on the cover) and was ready to do my aid mission.  And Cora was charming!  But we wanted a cat that matched its new logbook - not plain black.  We ended up with a tiger cat!  Totally awesome!  All fixed up and put back in her location we continued south.  And wouldn't you know it - there it was Green Mountain Furniture!  Just like in the commercials... that we see over and over and over and over again.  Why this location doesn't have a stamp of a recliner at it is completely unknown to me... it screams plant me!  I just didn't have the time to carve a recliner - or I would have planted on there for sure!

Okay - looking at the clock, and realizing time was ticking away - we headed west on Route 171.  Now this is a road you do not want to try and navigate in the winter.  It was dark and winding in the middle of summer - we'd hate to try it in the middle of winter!  But we continued along in search of castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough.  It seemed like it took forever - but most of the road was posted between 30 and 40 mph - so it was about right.  We pulled up - and stopped.  Right in the middle of the road.  Going nowhere.  People were backed up waiting to get into the gatehouse to take the tour.  Now the tour was not on our list - we just wanted lunch - so we continued 2 miles farther west to the access road to our destination.  Up, around, up, around another corner, up, up past a closed brick gate house to OMG!  My younger sister would have been in heaven!  Rolling fenced in pastures as far as you could see.  People parked and hiking everywhere.  Lush green lawns that rolled on and on... but where the heck is the restaurant?  Well - cars had gone further - so, so did we.  Around the corner, past the pond, past the ice cream stand and up and around the hill towards another stone structure - the old paddock.  We drove around - with Amber letting me out to ask a question at the gift shop - to make sure we were in the right location - and then went and parked.

Now this joint was JUMPING!  We went in and gave our names to the hostess.  We had a 20 minute wait - I had planned for that since they were only open for limited hours.  Unfortunately - or later fortunately - they only had the patio open.  I so wanted to eat at one of the tables in one of the stalls.  They looked adorable!  But like so many destination seasonal locations - they clearly didn't have enough staff for the amount of people wanting lunch.  But we were willing to wait.  We pulled up a high hat chair, kicked back - and I gave Amber that look.  "We have a 20 minute wait, then we'll be eating lunch.  We should get a cocktail!"  It hadn't taken a lot to convince her - so I headed towards the bar to find a cocktail list.  Not beer/wine drinkers - we needed something fru fru... a girly girl drink with juices and fun names and laced with forbidden alcohols!  Two people were seated in the dining room which left two openings at the bar.  I grabbed one of the seats and hailed Teacup over to belly up to the bar.  We ready through the list and she ended up getting something with 'blue' in the title, rum and juices.  I got a Clydesdale - which was alcohol shaken with alcohol and laced with Hershey's syrup.  Dessert in a martini glass!  The bartender was wicked busy - everyone wanted something - so we finally got our libations and cheers!  Yum, yum! Chocolate laced fire in a glass :)  Just what the day called for.  So we waited and chatted with those next to us who wanted to know what we had ordered.  Watched as other equally fun things were mixed up by the bartender and then made our way to the patio for lunch.

Now we had been kind of questioning patio dining in the mountains.  We had been fighting the wind all morning (having to rescue clue sheets that had blown out our car windows twice!)  But once out there - it was magical!  The views spectacular!  The breeze - minimal.  The atmosphere - picture perfect!  We had our menus in hand - and as we had searched their website for updated menus - but didn't them - we were kind of worried that what we had wanted wouldn't be there - but woohoo!  Tom Foolery was still on the menu.  We'll take two of those - and order of onion rings to share - and I need a ginger ale (Yeah - my drink was long gone, while Teacup was still navigating through hers.)  we sat back - waiting for our lunch and enjoyed the atmosphere around us.  Okay - as a person with a Food Service Management BA - I probably knit picked what was going on a little bit... but at one point the manager did come out and started to bus the tables.  The wait staff was busy hustling food, lots of beverages and taking photos of all sorts of groups of people visiting.  The patio was charming, they had lovely latticed planters filled with yellow and purple flowers (black thumb here, you're lucky I knew they were flowers,) and an overflowing pot of lush basil (yup - that one I know - you cook with it!)

Lunch arrived - pretty quickly I might add - and we tasted.  It was so worth the trip.  The sandwich was hot, tasty and satisfying.  The onion rings were crunchy and hot.  Everything you wanted in a perfect lunch.  While we still say the best sandwich we ever had was in a country store in the middle of Hope, Maine - this one had alcohol and a killer view to sway it into the top spot as a destination location for lunch.  I will say - the slaw was kind of disappointing... Teacup mentioned it was left over greens shaved on a mandolin and tossed into a ramekin.  Yup - it needed help.  But it was crunchy, cold and not wilted... so okay - we came for the sandwich - not the slaw.  (Tom Foolery is a hot turkey sandwich with melted brie, bacon and a cranberry chutney on grilled artisan bread.)  Gobble, gobble, gobble.  Tom never tasted so good.  Okay - now that lunch had been had - we needed to get back to work.  A quick stop at the gift shop - I picked up a hat pin, Teacup a purple shirt. Add a couple pricey chocolate bars and we were off to find the box that was supposed to be here.  We found the starting point - after which things got sketchy.  We back tracked - we went forward - we had people looking at us like we had two heads (even with me snapping photos as a diversion.)  When you look like you want to climb into the woods in the middle of a parking lot filled to capacity with people going in a hundred direction - people look at you funny.

We went and looked at the gigantic trout (didn't see those but saw LOTS of well-feed ducks.) and took photos of the bronze statures nearby.  We plotted around looking to get a bead on where to go... but came up elusive.  I had a box I wanted to plant - so Teacup fetched the car - still looking to see if we needed to pursue the box further - and headed off to find my location.  With people everywhere - horseback riders going back and forth on the trails, carriages being pulled up the road, and cars driving everywhere... I opted to head to a spot that was a bit quieter.  Over by the horse stables it was a little less frantic.  I headed off down a trail - waited out two muggles - and found a spot.  So if you happen to head to Castle in the Clouds (lunch is recommended - just give yourself enough time.) there should be a box that's a bit more straight forward to find.  We bid adieu and headed back down the hill... on to our next box.

Next up was a total unknown.  It was listed as adoptable on LBNA - but we were going to give Chilli Willi a try.  After all - how hard can a find at a boat launch be?  Well - first you need to find the boat launch.  And since were we now boxing backwards to how I had plotted our trip - we were also looking for cemeteries in all the wrong places.  We pulled off - nope, wrong cemetery... continue along.  Who can afford these freaking mansions???  I want to know what they do for a living!  Made it to the boat launch - and it was well guarded by the launch host.  Didn't know anything existed.  So we pulled it - found the sign referenced and parked.  The locals removing their boat from the water gave us a weird look - no wonder.  We were clearly parked in a no parking area.  So we moved the car and went off looking for the box.  We found poor little Willi nestled up to a rotting log, quickly being consumed by decay.  So we pulled him out, dusted him off - and since he was an adoptable box - moved him to a new home.  Feeling satisfied as our rescue mission was a success - we headed off to our next box.

Still in search of Shaw Cemetery - we headed off looking, and driving, and turning around.  So the local dead people are starting to hide from us... but wait!  We need that pocket park.  Another u-turn and into  the pocket park we travel.  We found the park to be charming.  James D Sutherland Memorial Park is a hidden gem.  Lots of benches, lovely flowers, a picnic table by the water when you can drop your line and do some fishing.  We found some lovely Lady Slippers - hidden only by one oak leaf.  They were elusive... but Teacup is amazing and can find anything!  Even under a solitary oak leaf!  We stamped up, hid it better than we found it and moved along.  A quick look at the map - and noting signs - we took a turn down one road - still looking for Shaw Cemetery... nothing.  So take this road which leads to this roads which takes back to Route 25 and from there we can get to our next boxes.  Okay - good as done.  We turn down the first road and what the heck??!!  There's this HUGE white statue up on a pedestal up on a hill at the corner of someone's house.  Of course you need to stop so I can take a photo.  So I hop out of the car so Teacup can do another u-turn so I can get a photo of "Niobi" - a statue that was rescued and refurbished after they had found it headless.  She is a gleaming white goddess that takes you by surprise as she's huge and completely out of place in this countryside setting.  But we bid Niobi goodbye and ventured along.

Okay - so our next two clues are supposed to be close to each and on the same road.  One mentions not feeding the reindeer (what???) and the other references a Chapel.  Well - as would be our luck - we found neither the chapel or the reindeer, but we did find the cemeteries.  The first one had us rambling through the cemetery needlessly - just to bring us back where we parked... but oh well.  No worries.  The second had us driving up a driveway clearly marked no trespassing, private property.  We took a deep breath and turned into the driveway anyways.  Followed it around the corner - not feeling real good about it - and found the location.  When I read that 'the residents might come over and chat with us' Teacup and I opted to pass on even looking... Had the box said - Planted with Permission - first in the clues - we might have felt marginally better.  But truly - we don't have a great track record of chatting up the local indigenous inhabitant outside of Maine.  I don't think they understand our syntax.  Maybe our accents are too thick.  Maybe we dress funny.  But we never seem to make them understand us - so we tend to avoid them at all costs.  Never did see any reindeer...so with one find and one pass we headed northward.  We wanted to collect a couple more before our clock ran out of daylight.  Off to find a covered bridge.

Now - as you might remember - covered bridges tend to be a bit elusive for us.  But i had an address for this one.  And it's supposed to actually be over a bridge and FUNCTIONAL.  How hard could it be to find a bridge??  The bridge - not so hard.  It was the elusive next cemetery.  And the roads - I think I lost my kidney on one short dip/turn we had to take.  And people LIVE on these roads?  Granted - some of the houses had views to die for... but traveling the roads could literally kill you in bad weather.  We were pretty sure that their taxes were being put to work in far off untraveled parts of the universe.  But we are but visitors to this strange land.  So a bridge under our belt, dead people intent on hiding, and the roads becoming questionable - I tried to navigate us back to a paved surface.  We did manage to find one cemetery on these back roads - one that was more well-maintained than some we have seen in urban settings.  We collected our image - and tried to piece together to destroyed box (we didn't have anything remotely large enough to hold its contents - and then arranged the rocks around it to hold everything in place.  So if you happen to be anywhere near Pease Hill Cemetery - it desperately needs a new lock n lock.

We finally made it out to Chinook Trail - aka Route 113A.  Our next destination would have been easier to get to via the cross roads - but we might never have made it - so we took the long way around and sound this charming little chapel on the corner of the road.  And wouldn't you know it - we fell into one of our cemeteries.  Since it was so accessible - we pulled in and stamped up.  Continuing on - and running out of time - we had 3 more on our list of 18 left that we absolutely had to get before heading home.  So off we went in search of Ordination Rock.  I thought the rock was on one road, the cemetery nearby - and anything smaller than the Titanic I just can't seem to see from across the street.  So we found our way into the cemetery and picked up a cute little sheep.  We saw this one big rock - thought it might be what we were looking for - but no, just a head/headstone.  Took another look around and determined that Ordination Rock was not in the cemetery.  Back to the car we went out to the cross road and took a left - thinking that it had to be near the cemetery with the same name.  Half a mile later - nothing.  U-turn to head back - we thought we'd try the other direction.  And wouldn't you know it - right across the street from the new section of the cemetery - there it was.  Just about as big as a house (well mine.)  So we pulled over - I climbed to the top with the compass (shake, shake, shaking from the height) and took a compass ready for the box.  Now on top of Ordination Rock is a monument.  And why kids insist on carving into the monument, writing on it with sharpies, etc is beyond me.  If this was in my town - I'd block it off to prevent it from being the party destination of destruction that it has turned into.  The knife gouged letter can never be removed without doing worse damage to the monument - and it's just heartbreaking.  But we climbed back down and found the Hidden Creature we were looking for.

Two of the three off our list - back out to the main road again... I feel like I've been at this intersection before... maybe once, twice possibly three times before.  We headed south - with intentions of looking for box #5 in the series from earlier - but the police were busy talking up a local with their lights flashing - so we thought it best to continue to our last box.  The Littlest PO.  We punched in the address in the gps and followed its directions.  Found it easily enough and it's darling.  I'd feel claustrophobic working inside it... but it probably works well enough for the town.  Our final find under our belt - we turned around and started heading west on Route 25.  We had an hour, plus to get home and we'd had a successful day so far.  But wouldn't you know it... back the way we were headed - we ended up looping back the way we started!  First south to get to the west - we started to turn - and there across the street was the biggest freakin boom box I had ever seen! The sub-woofers on that thing were  ginormous!  One last u-turn to take photos and then we started back towards Maine.

We breathed a sign of contentment as we crossed the border - welcoming us was the sign Maine - The Way Life Should Be.  Yup - we agree.  We drove along - noting how quiet all the towns were for a Saturday night.  Seems rolled up the sidewalks and tucked everyone in early.  We wanted one of the new shakes at Dunkin - but couldn't find a Dunkin until we hit Cornish.  After visiting the Riverside Cemetery across the street and leaving a little something behind - we went over to Dunkin.  Sorry - no can do.  Might have a sign out front advertising them - but they weren't making them tonight in Cornish... so we ambled along.  The restaurants we jumping with business.  Seems everyone wanted pizza.  The ice cream places were quiet (probably would be busy after dinner was over - but it was a chilly 70's - so maybe not.)  Some kid was swimming in the Limerick Rapids - where is her parents???  It's darn cold out to be swimming in the rivers!  Finally found a Dunkin making shakes in Standish and each ordered a medium chocolate - yes to the whipped cream - no to the sprinkles.  He handed them to us and holy Hannah!  A medium in Dunkin eyes is a large in mine.  But they hit the spot - satisfied our craving for dessert (okay - so it was technically also our dinner) and we headed home.

Finally home in Brunswick - it was another glorious adventure in the Team MudCup mobile.  Wonder where the next one will be?  Until then - here's wishing everyone a safe and Happy 4th of July!  have a great day!  Enjoy your family!  be thankful for your freedom - and if possible - get a little bit inky!