Roadtrip 2011

It will be tough to find nicer hosts than the Cape family at the Barron Brook Inn. Our time in Whitefield was so much better because of their hospitality.

Beth and Jason Cape moved here from Georgia to open this place. It’s their first go at being inn-keepers, but you wouldn’t know it. Our experience was less like staying at an inn than visiting with friends. You can tell they’re good sports: one of Zuzu’s two art masterpieces now hangs next to the sign in the lobby. If your travels bring you this way, the kids and I would recommend this place without hesitation.

Kids on bikes, families in folding chairs, musicians atop the bandstand. Mayberry? Nah, it’s Whitefield on a summer night. I remember these concerts when I was a kid here. Though the crowd is sparse, this concert is a comforting reminder that even though so many things have changed, some continue playing to the same beat all these years later.

Our last summer vacation of youth is a sweet thing. It comes between Junior and Senior year in high school. College is starting to have definable features, but there is still fun to be had before the rest of our life rips us out of adolescence.

I had just been given my first car and mom saw the convergence of mobility, means and motivation as a perfect storm of trouble for me. She had a plan….

Coming home from school one day, I sat enjoying dinner in that stool on the right. Mom came over and sat on the other one. “I’ve been thinking,” she began. “If we opened the restaurant 24 hours a day this summer, we could make this a big summer.” Made sense, I agreed. “What I need, though, is someone I can trust to run the place when I’m not here,” she added, springing the trap. A cold chill ran up my spine as I learned how I’d spend that summer working 11pm-to-7am six nights a week running Grandma’s Kitchen. Turned out to be a grow-up experience that taught me lessons I still use to this day. Thanks, Mom.

Plans originally called for a visit to Santa’s Village. The $26-a-head admission fee put me off that idea. The idea of water rides also lost its luster for my little Texans who are more accustomed to more balmy water temps. So, we pressed on for Lancaster where we were led on a tour of local high points by Laura Arpin. She first walked into Grandma’s Kitchen looking for work 36 years ago. She’s been part of the family ever since. While enjoying a post-tour ice cream, we witnessed drama that will no doubt make the cover of this week’s Coos County Democrat. I just wonder if they’ll still give me my photo credit. Pictures tell the whole story:

My favorite shot in the sequence: the helpful person who hopped on the hood trying to add weight to the front of the car so it’s front wheels wouldn’t spin helplessly in mid-air. Close second fave: the guy “lifting” the back of the car. How about the policeman watching the whole scene unfold. Ay-yuh, It’s a scene so very, very north country.

Here’s a match made in confectionary heaven. Of all the hand-churned flavor choices at the roadside ice cream stand, Zuzu just had to become one with Spongebob Squarepants.