pletchparadise: July 2010

July 1, 2010

Today is the day which begins our family Canal Zone Reunion exodus weekend. Rebecca has chosen the reunion event as a solo one, and it opens up the door for an annual Dad’s trip. This year, as last, we have been graciously been invited to a dear friend’s Lake house in New Hampshire, on the pristine shores of Lake Winnipesaukeee.
My morning begins at 0500, awakening in NYC to fly the last day of my 4 day trip. I must fly 3 legs to Orlando to begin the exodus to New Hampshire. We have great weather, and the flights go smoothly starting in LaGuardia, through Baltimore, Milwaukee, and finally terminating in Orlando. On our final flight from MKE to MCO, events unfold in an eerily perfect way, allowing us to land, and arrive at the gate 20 minutes early.
It is especially exciting to finish a trip with the anticipation of going on a mini vacation, and as the jet makes it way to its berth, to be greeted with waves from my family.
However, as I ascend the jetway to greet my family, Rachel is already in a tearful breakdown, and Dylan is not far behind. Both of my two sensitive kids will continue the rest of the day in a fragile state of emotional turmoil, Rachel with the separation anxiety of being away from mom for a lot of days, and Dylan’s desire to remain at the CZ reunion with friends and family. Ryan is as stable as a granite column, and greets the journey with youthful anticipation. After the hugs are exchanged, we make our way to the next gate, for a departure 15 minutes later, and board the plane to retrieve our seats. In our usual Dad’s trip protocol, Dylan and Ryan are seated next to one another, and Rachel who, clings to my arm like a tearful remora, and I are seated next to one another.
Fortunately, all the kids are able to get a bit of sleep on the flight, and I suspect that much of ther demeanor of depress is a result of some long term fatigue.
We arrive in Baltimore to make a connection to New Hampshire, and after a bit of gate confusion, from a now, nearly fatigued dad, we gain our seats as before. Even though the flight loads previously looked to be “wide open” on the computer access, both of the flights are very full. Not the least relaxing for a standby travel situation.
We happily arrive in Manchester, NH at about 8:00 pm, and all are relieved that the non-revenue travel experience has ended for this day with another successful outcome.
Our rental car is retrieved through Enterprise, and presented an interesting situation. The overly polite agent at the counter informs me that we have booked a compact, but they were running a special today that for on ly $10 more, I could receive an upgrade to a larger car. Since it did not matter to us, I declined said offer. He then went on to offer me a prepaid gasoline offer, which per gallon was “a bit less than at the pumps.” However, when I asked him the details, he divulged that that price was for a full tank, regardless of the amount used. Certainly a bad offer, to which I again declined. Now, the interesting part is, that when we got to the parking garage, another excessively polite agent greeted us with keys in hand for a “free upgrade” from compact since they were out of compacts at this time. Very scammy!
The car was nice though, and had only 3 miles, and nary a scratch. Unusual for a rental car, which I have come into the habit of checking very thoroughly prior to accepting. A certain result of many Central American rental experiences.
The weather in New Hampshire is crisp yet warm, a welcome change from Florida. Although it was nearing dusk upon landing, they must have had some rain to the East of the field for we noticed a gigantic rainbow in the NH sky. Moods of our young travelers began a quick transformation as the rainbow welcomed us on our rollout in Manchester.
A road trip would not be complete for our newly arrived adventurers without a stop to a local fast food restaurant. So it was to be, and other than a few spilled fries, as we neared the town of Meredith on the shores of Lake Winny only an hour later, the atmosphere had changed from anxious to giddy. After the serotonin pump up from the fast food washed down by some root beer, aided by the aforementioned fatigue syndrome, the kids were “off the hook” laughing as Ryan made belching sounds. It was the height of silliness, and difficult for me to suppress my laughter as well.
We got off I93 North, and passed some familiar sights, recalling the trip we had had the previous year, and making our way through Meredith to the “King vacation castle.”
A final turn down Loch Eden dirt road, and we had arrived. We were greeted by Jeff King, and his daughter, Heather, and Joe and Courtney Moran. Of course, the dog Bruschi, a great golden retriever led the welcoming party. Joe’s kids had already retired for the evening, Donovan and Brendan.
There was already a fire blazing in the backyard fire pit, as we claimed our designated sleeping areas. Dylan was preoccupied with gaining WiFi access, Rachel was over the top tired, and only made a partial fire pit appearance, and Ryan sat on my lap, as I sat with my two friends in an insanely clear night on the lake shore with a comforting fire blazing, telling hero stories of the King Poing past

July 2, 2010
Woke up this morning on a queen size mattress on the floor of the King Castle living room. I had contemplated a run this morning, but felt too tired to make it happen. Rachel slept on the fold out couch, and the boys each had a bed in the loft over the kitchen. The Moran boys were a couple of the first to awaken this morning. What a beautiful day this will be, such pleasant temperatures and a light breeze! Jeff , is the consummate host, and immediately begins to set us up for a breakfast of pancakes and bacon, and a few different kinds of yummy fruit.
Following breakfast, we all begin to assemble for our planned morning activity, which is to be a hike up Red Hill. All the kids are dressed out in shorts, a tshirt, a long sleeved tshirt, and a light jacket. The layering effect is taught today. We load up two of the cars, and make our way to the Red Hill Conservation area. At the parking area, is the trailhead for the hike up the mountain. It is a 1.7 mile ascent which ends at the mountaintop at a fire tower. Some of us are able to retrieve a hiking stick at a courtesy hiking stick rack which is a log section cutout with holes drilled in it. Such Yankee ingenuity. We let out on the trail, which begins in a gentle ascent, and quickly becomes a steeper climb. The description labels the trail as an easy to moderate climb, but it appears more moderate to steep. The boys take to the climb at a moderate pace, and Rachel is very clearly opposed to this hike. She stops, sputters, and complains all the way up, which turns out to be just over an hour. It is too steep, too long, too far, and all other sort of emotional obstacles which she must overcome to make it to the top. We lag far behind the rest of our group, but at long last, we make it to the top of the hill, and are greeted with clear views of the entire Lake region of New Hampshire from atop of the fire observation tower. A spectacular view in all directions.
We do a bit of refueling at the top with some Granola snacks, and after taking in the green mountain and blue lake views for awhile begin the trek down the mountain. The descent is undertaken by a completely different Rachel than the ascent Rachel, and I am almost unable to keep up with her as her stride is nearly reckless on the protruding roots, loose granite gravel, and gravel stones which make up the steep portions of the trail. However, she is happy, so lets not mess with that. I say…………… She chats along whilst holding hands with myself or Heather King most of the way down.
The descent was a mere 45 minutes, and pleasant at that. In all the roundtrip was a 3.4 mile hike covering 1350 feet of vertical, ending at over a 2000 ft elevation.
Arriving back at the King Winny homestead, we prepare a lunch of coldcuts . The boys all decide to engage in some fishing, as Dylan is persistent and unsuccessful at establishing a wifi connection for his ipod touch so he can text message his friends. It launches him into a broody pre teenage mood for most of the afternoon. Rachel is as happy as can be all wetsuit clad and in her life preserver, she proudly demonstrates the butterfly stroke to the neighbors next door. Most of the afternoon is spent swimming and fishing in Fish Cove, the King’s property location.
Later this afternoon, we take out Jeff’s boat, and the kids are treated to tube rides, and knee boarding. Although it is pretty choppy Ryan manages to stay on for quite a long time on both the tube and knee board. Dylan, fully entrenched in his somber mood of lonliness does not join us on the boat.
After the boat trip, we return for a couple games of horseshoes, more swimming and fishing, the latter of which turns out to be successful as some bluegill are landed.
We had a great meal of burgers, dogs, and corn cooked on the grill, all prepared to the highest King quality. The corn was out of this world, and was a nice meal lead in to the fire pit and smores (of giant marshmallows)cooked under the multitude of stars, as the cross cove neighbors began a near professional appearing fireworks show in Yankee splendor.

July 3, 4 2010
Rachel has taken up residence in the “girls’ room” on the top bunk, and the boys have taken over the loft over the kitchen as their designated sleeping quarters. I have the enviable use of the queen sized mattress on the living room floor. The kids have finally caught up on their sleep, and it is a miracle what a difference it makes in demeanor. I am happily awakened every morning to the sounds of the New Hampshire wilderness every morning, which have proven to be clear, crisp, and cool. What a nice respite from the Florida heat and humidity and the Central Atlantic triple digits.
Every morning, the crew pitches in for preparation of pancakes, fresh fruit, and bacon. Directly after breakfast, the kids are fast at play. Jeff has a paddleboat which is favored by the kids, especially Ryan and Donovan who like to paddle over to the “rock” and fish. It is a sunken and exposed boulder which they can stand on to cast their lines. Most of the fish they have been catching are medium sized bluegills from the “rock” and Jeff’s dock. They are having a blast doing it.
Dylan, has lifted himself out of his broody, sullen mood of missing his Panama friends, Canal Zone reunion, and cousins, however, he has still shrouded himself in his “slow to warm” temperament, and spends a significant part of his day reading.
Rachel has taken up with the next door neighbor’s granddaughter, Teagan, in from Oregon. She spends countless hours, clad in wetsuit diving off their dock and playing on the waterfront with her new friend.
The dads typically get some fun games of horseshoes throughout the day. Jeff has a nice horseshoe set up right down next to his kayak launch area on the water. It is a great opportunity for some nice KP bonding, and to tell some lies, since you know that “the older we get, the better we were!” Joe has a knack of dredging up stories with details that I am at a loss to remember, even as a participant in the event of yesteryear. He is a fun entertainer though, and a good yarn is about to be spun every time he expresses, “Oh, you don’t remember that…………………”
We have taken out the ski boat every day for some very enjoyable boating. Winepesaukee is a beautiful tree lined lake with scores of vacation homes lining the shoreline. The residents are big time boaters, and the boat traffic is pretty intense. Combined with the wake of the multitude of boaters, and the NH breeze, there is quite a sea state churned up in the lake. However, this does little to dissuade our hearty group of youth boaters from jumping on the tube for some launching over the bumps created on the lake.
After some tubing, we make our way over to Timber Island to drop anchor, and the kids swim to shore to play on the rope swing. Even Rachel, the adventurer she is gets in on the action. The boys, however, traverse the pyramid of stones set up to be used as a launch platform. It is as exciting to watch their acrobatic launches as it must be for them to perform them.
The evenings have been spent with a yummy meal from the BBQ, more fishing, and horseshoes. On the 3rd, we stayed up fairly late playing triominos, a 3 sided domino. Ryan’s true competitive nature was at hand, and he was aptly rewarded for his strategies with a victory in one of the games. On the 4th, the Pletcher family made a solo journey to the Meredith firework show, which was spectacular but short. It was a must, however, for kids combined with the 4th of July. The neighbors of Fish Cove also have their own spectacular “home” fireworks show most of the weekend evenings, and some of the displays would put a fierce rival to the public displays I watched as a kid. They are some good pyrotechnics for home usage.
Sadly, we must once again part ways from our friends after our annual 4th of July, reunion exodus weekend, but great times were had, and the bonds of our friendships have been strengthened.