NH Lake Winnipesaukee

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Located in Central New Hampshire, the Lakes Region is predominantly rural. Yes, we have moose here; also ravens, loons, foxes, wild turkeys, grouse, bobcats, deer, and bears. . . and I'm talking up and down my road! Jaime got off the school bus a few years back to find a bear sitting there! He enjoys hunting in these woods and I am amazed at how well he knows them because it is entirely too easy to get turned around in there.

We also take our liberties very seriously. Examples are no sales tax and no state income tax, no seat-belt laws for adults, no gun laws to speak of, and no helmet laws for motorcyclists. Speaking of which, we host a yearly gathering each week preceding Father's Day called Motorcycle Week, during which 200,000+ bikers come to the Lakes Region and make it a wild week! Anything goes, and it's one of my favorite times here.

We also host the first of the Offshore Powerboat races (this background is of the '95 race).

Our NH place was in a "resort area" and in the summertime, we had wall-to-wall tourists - around 10 times the normal population! Added to this we had NH International Speedway a few miles away, so race weekends were very busy as the drivers flew into Laconia airport and the big semis brought in the cars. In stark contrast, the day following Labor Day everything stopped and the peace and quiet was so welcome.

There wasn't much of a break, as the "Leaf Peepers" descended on us in late October. Imagine this: you are driving along and in front of you a car stops right in the middle of the road (no signal and does not even bother to pull off onto the shoulder), and the people take pictures of the leaves! Busloads came up - from neighboring states that have their own leaves, so I just don't get it. Anyway, that season was relatively short. The last of the "snowbirds" would leave in October and then it really becames "still" in the wintertime.

Winter was long and if you ever want to experience "CabinFever" - spend the winter months in NH! The ski areas began where we lived (Gunstock was 5 minutes from my house) and they extend up into the White Mountains. Waterville Valley has a great snowboarding park, as do most areas now. Further information on NH skiing can be found at http://www.goski.com/rusanh . In summer, all these areas cater to the camping, hiking, and biking crowds.

The 4th season we had there...no, not Spring (that was the 5th season) - our 4th season was "Mud Season". Not a nice time, but it is during this period that we had ice-out...and more bugs than you can imagine. Then came Spring - warm, still quiet as the tourists were not up yet (just some Weekend Warriors) - and we started all over again.

The word "winnipesaukee" comes from an Abenaki term meaning "lake around islands". The lake itself is about 12 miles by 22 miles, with 200 miles of shoreline. The land you see in the background of the photos below is actually three islands (Sleeper, Rattlesnake, Cub) with the “Broads” (a wide and rough expanse of water) beyond them (on the other side of Rattlesnake). With water depths of 100 feet and more, one can find good salmon fishing (yes, we have landlocked salmon), as they prefer the cooler waters. This lake feezes over in January and the ice depth is usually 3 to 4 feet, with “ice-out” in late April. A fly-in is featured in Alton Bay every winter with many small aircraft landing on the lake, and there are several ice-fishing derbies for the foolhardy who enjoy the biting wind-chills.

Me personally, I choose to view the splendor of Winter from a warm spot, preferably in front of my computer<g>.

As you can imagine, boating is actively pursued in these parts. In fact, we host the first of the APBA Offshore races. 1999's race is slated for June 3-5.

Winter Sun

Once the water freezes over, the ice can reach a depth of four feet, but there are always some weak spots called 'reefs'. The circles that you see around the docks are the result of circulators (bubblers), which keep the water from freezing and consequently tearing the docks away from shore at ice-out in late April.