Lisa and I love what we call "DayCations". We start early in the morning with a loaded cooler, the dogs and a full tank of gas. Sometimes we have a destination in mind and other time (usually the better ones) we just end up going where the car takes us. One of our favorite destination spots is a well hidden, classic swimming hole called "The Ladies Bathtub" in Lincoln NH. We took off for The Tub early Saturday morning. The trip up was smooth and easy with a great new audiobook from the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. An hour and forty five minutes later we were hanging out on the Pemigwasset River under clear blue skies and had the spot almost to ourselves.
The dogs love this spot, bouncing in and out of the shallows and Zoe could sit and stare at the chipmunks and birds on the opposite shore all day. We hung out for about 3 hours and started feeling a little crispy. At this point I lost all sense of sanity and actually went in for a full dip. The water temp had to have been in the fifties, the river still being fueled by winter runoff from the mountains. It was hands down the coldest water I have ever been in.................YIKES.We then packed up and headed across The White Mountain National Forest via the Kancamagus Highway. "The Kanc" cuts across the valley via 28 miles of twisting and turning roads that climb and then descend a full 3000 feet. This is a beautiful ride any time of the year.
Upon landing on the Conway side of the forest we hit West Side Road and headed toward the White Mountain Resort. We had couple of drinks and a great dinner. They are a great customer of Dole & Baileys and the bartender Dave and The Chef took great care of us. We then took the slow route throught Tamworth and down Route 16 while listening to our novel.
A perfect DayCation!
