Littleton, NH was my favorite stop so far, if I were to rate our destinations on a “vacation scale” not a “livability scale”. It is just amazingly beautiful in the mountains. There are so many opportunities to explore hiking trails, unique geographic features to see and countless charming small towns to see.

Before we even made it to our campground we started our adventure by hiking the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park. It is an awesome walkway built into the side of glacial gorge that cuts by waterfalls in the middle of the 6,000 acre state park.

Once we set up camp we started our exploration of the area by hiking the Georgiana and Harvard Falls Trail, a quiet trail that follows a rocky waterfall coming down a mountain for miles. The boys had a great time having the forest to themselves and playing with Remi in the rustic conifer forest.

During the week the boys and I took a trip to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium just over the state line in Vermont for a homeschool field trip. The museum had and awesome collection of animal artifacts, stem hands on activities and even a butterfly house we caught the tail end off. We were lucky enough to end the outing with a personal (because no one else showed up) showing in the planetarium where the kids got to learn all about constellations and the stories behind them.

We were lucky enough to have Meg for an extra day during the holiday weekend and we packed in a bunch of fun sight-seeing with her, starting with a hike of the Basin Cascade Trail in the White Mountain National Forest. It is another glacial formation area with huge exposed granite formations and a waterfall that feels like it will keep going forever as you hike up the mountain. It was challenging enough to keep the boys entertained as we crossed creeks, scrambled up rocky cliffs and navigated through the surrounding forest.

We followed that hike up with probably the best ice we have ever had at the James Beard Nominated Super Secret Ice Cream. Meg got her and I a six flavor sampler flight and it was just about impossible to pick a favorite. Even a late afternoon downpour couldn’t ruin the experience.

Next we tackled the tight caverns of Lost River Gorge & Boulder Caves. This is a 1.5 mile hike through a breathtaking gorge full of waterfalls and 17 tight caverns that you can crawl, squirm and squeeze through to see underground waterfalls and unique rock formations. Gabe proudly announced to everyone as he sprinted from cave to cave that this was the best thing ever and he was going to grow up to be a cave explorer (much to Meg’s dismay!).

On our last day together with Meg during the holiday weekend we took a nice long bike ride on the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail, just across the river from our campground. It was a very nice gravel trail and the boys thought it was super cool to see that one of the homeowners was working on butchering a Black Bear they had shot earlier that day while hunting.

Our last hike in the area was to make our way down a relatively flat trail to a step ravine (steep enough that you needed a rope to get up and down) that led to Bridesmaid Falls. Unfortunately we were rewarded for our efforts with just a trickle of a waterfall at the end, but that is how it goes sometimes!