Vacation

It seems funny to live in a vacation area but, when the time comes for a vacation, to go somewhere else. It seems that a big part of a vacation is going somewhere you are not used to seeing. In our case, since we live near the ocean, we head to the mountains of New Hampshire. Our kids love Santa's Village in Jefferson New Hampshire so we usually go there once a year. It's relatively inexpensive and it's only a five-hour drive away.

You'd never know the park is so pleasant by looking at it from the highway. But once you enter, at least for us, it is like entering a magical, imaginary realm. You have to like Christmas music and Christmas themes but, if you do, there is a little bit of everything there. There is Santa, of course, and reindeer and elves and lots of friendly workers. There are amusement park rides that range from a small roller coaster and a log flume (picture here from the top of the drop) for older children and adults to toddler rides like cars that need to be steered but can't go too far. There is a wonderful scale train you can ride and "flying" sleighs to show you around the park. There are a lot of shops and food stalls that are reasonably priced, too. And, if you like live music, singing and dancing, they have professionally produced Christmas-themed shows.

For us, it is a relaxing time in a comfortable surrounding that we only see a limited number of times. If you go at the right time, like we did the week before summer officially starts, there are almost no lines and it seems like the park was opened just for us. The weather is usually cool and dry even into later June. We talk every year about trying other places for vacation but every year we return to Santa's Village. At least for the last seven or eight years. Here's one more picture from the top of the Ferris Wheel. You can see the White Mountains in the background and a few of the buildings in the Village through the trees below.