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New
Hampshire: Lincoln, Family Vacation Ideas - Tubing, Snow Angels, and Sweet Maple Syrup.  Find the peaceful White Mountains on a
map and you will find fun waiting. The Lincoln/Woodstock area offers a rich
family vacation menu. Activities include: hiking, snowmobiling, skiing,
snowboarding, snow tubing, moose watching, snow skating, snowshoeing, cross
country skiing, horseback riding, sledding, extreme snow tubing, train
adventures and maple sugaring. It’s also possible to getaway with the kids, have
fun and be totally random.
Go for
the snow. What Mother Nature does not provide the surrounding mountains will
create making the family skiing and boarding options plentiful. Altitude,
attitude and natural beauty mix to create the perfect family vacation
playground.
Three mountains and tons of fun.
Loon
Mountain with 45
trails and five tree skiing runs, mogul fields, steeps and cruisers and plenty
of choices for tots and beginners.
Waterville Valley has
52 trails spanning all skill levels; an Exhibition Park
featuring a 15-foot super pipe and a Little Slammer Park with a mini halfpipe.
Rounding out the trio is
Cranmore Mountain Resort
grooms 39 different trails, each presenting a different family
adventure, plus a 17-acre terrain park known as "The Darkside." A tamer choice
includes the "Other Side and the "Mini Pipe." Naturally they have created a
state-of-the-art Snowskate Park. (
Waterville Valley.
Try new
snow toys. Cranmore offers families snow toys that will change how you think
of snow. It’s the home of The Wild Cherry Pepsi Grand Prix Tubing Park offering
seven lanes of fast fun, two lifts, snowmaking, and night lights. They also
offer snowscoots – a half scooter and half snowboard, created for jumping and
carving. The popular snowblades offer cutting edge aerial fun and snowbikes used
with ski boards offer plenty of downhill excitement. Bonus points: Each snow
season they create a new version of “Cranapalooza” a high energy fun series of
events that provide live entertainment in tandem with snow fun. (Cranmore Mountain. 1 Skimobile Road, North Conway, NH 03860. 1-800-00-SUN-N-SKI or
www.cranmore.com)
Tubing with the tots.
To eliminate sliding panic and ensure that fun is on the repeat cycle, Loon
Mountain offers snow tubing space that fits the gentle yet thrilling category.
All ages are welcome but young kids feel at home. Bonus points: There is night
tubing for families with children at least eight years of age and 48 inches in
height. What a fun adventure, sliding at night with the kids.(Loon Mountain. Lincoln, NH 03251. 1(603) 745-8111, 1-800-229-5666 or
www.loonmtn.com)
Skate
or ride with the kids.  Loon Mountain leads the pack providing the very latest in snow sliding
options. Start with mini-terrain parks, ideal for family snow adventures. In
addition to the normal snow stuff they also offer intense (dare I say extreme)
ways to slide or ride K-tubes and snow skates or snow decks, It’s skateboarding
on the snow. Ardent mountain bike enthusiasts need not despair because they
offer Sno-scoots as well as the traditional K2 snow bikes, popular in
Switzerland for decades. Bonus points: From the
Comfort Inn Loon Mountain there is a free shuttle to Loon
Mountain. (Loon Mountain. Lincoln, NH 03251. 1(603) 745-8111, 1-800-229-5666 or
www.loonmtn.com)
It’s got to be a moose.
According to state tourism information the Lincoln/Woodstock area is one of
three that lends itself to moose
spotting. The Kancamagus Highway area of the White Mountains is a popular place
for moose spotting. Several tour operations offer local guides who can lead you
right to the moose’s favorite places, or take the kids and go for a moose
spotting hike. Moose
are most active at dusk and dawn. During the fall breeding season or "rut,"
moose are preoccupied and indifferent to what's happening around them -- unless
it's another moose. When the kids spot a moose, it's whisper time.
Ride the rails with the kids.
When not running the Santa Trains or the very popular Polar Express excursions,
The Hobo Railway offers family friendly excursions. A
unique specialty offered on most trains is
the Hobo Picnic Lunch which includes a choice
of sandwich, on a bulky bun, bag of chips, beverage, giant cookie and souvenir
"Hobo Bindle Stick. During the holiday season ride with the jolly old elf on a
rail run from Hobo Junction.
The tickets are available by lottery. Santa has a gift for each
child and hot chocolate & cookies are sold on the Santa Train. Better yet: New
in 2005 is the Polar Express departing from the same station on selected dates. (The Hobo Railroad. Take Exit 32 on Rt. 93, turn left at
end of ramp look for the "Hobo Hills Mini Golf" turn into road before it and you
are at Santa Trains at the Hobo RR.
Lincoln, 1(603) 745-2135 or
www.hoborr.com)
Taste the sweetness.
Maple syrup is New Hampshire and no trip to the state should be without an
encounter with at least one of the many by products of the forest. Just north of
Lincoln, Fadden's Sugar House along the western slope
of the beautiful Pemigewasset River Valley near Woodstock provides maple sugar
delicacies. For five generations the Fadden family members have been harvesting
and creating lusciously sweet award-winning maple syrup. (Fadden's Sugar House.
99 Main St., P.O. Box 58, N.
Woodstock, NH 03262. 1 (603) 745-2406 or
www.nhmaplesyrup.com)
Walk in the forest with
the kids. The town of Lincoln is surrounded by the White Mountain National
Forest lands. The shades of green cannot be counted in a day; natural beauty is
refreshing; the opportunities to introduce your kids to nature are countless.
Walk, hike or sit among the trees. Collect leaves, count birds, or track scat.
There is no better place to walk in the forest. Bonus points: Trail maps and
survival information may be found at their website. (White
Mountain National Forest. 719 Main Street Lanconia, NH 03246. 1(603)
528-8721 or www.fs.fed.us/r9/white)
Go off the road for fun.  Alpine Adventures based in Lincoln, conducts outdoor snowmobile adventures or
off-road tours in 12 passenger Pinzgauers, giving passengers a whole new look at
the White Mountains. Sign up for a tour and they provide the gear including
suits, boots, and helmets. Their winter
off-road tours include scenic trails, musical entertainment and photo
opportunities all on their private, 300-acre hilltop retreat.
Bonus points: They also offer horse
drawn sleigh ride packages during the coldest months and
go off -road year round. (Alpine
Adventures. 41 Main St., Rt. 112 Lincoln, NH 03251. 1-888-745-1919,
1(603)745-9911 or
www.alpinesnowmobiling.com)
Images provided by Loon Mountain and Alpine
Adventures, text provided by Travel Communications Inc. for FamilyTravelFiles.com. Copyright 2009.
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