Windrifter status
 

The Windrifter is indeed still there and still a timeshare. There is the main property right on South Main Street and smaller lakefront property on Lake Street downtown.

The Golf Course is under separate ownership, but people staying at the Windrifter can play there. Not sure if its public or private. And yes, there is an indoor pool.

The "Drifter"
 

silliness
 

One "tradition" that has developed for us is as we go by the big BARK sign on the way into Alton, I do...bark :laugh: : that is. All the tension flows away and silliness and fun now reign. Anyone know what that sign is for anyway?

Also...always make your bed before you leave on Sunday and leave the laundry in the bathroom ready to be done when you come back on Friday night! :look:

I thought I was the only "loony"
 

I have also started to BARK, that sign just struck me when I first saw it. I believe they're offering mulch, but I saw it "differently" too.:laugh:

thanks bbs2 and ghfromaltonbay, now I've gotta bark every time I see that sign.

This time of year we like to load up and head over to Center Harbor to visit the "girls" in their winter homes. Its funny how much we miss them when they aren't tied up here, and we still all stop each time one of them leaves or arrives during the summer and take a minute to enjoy it. The Mounts all dressed up in her Christmas lights and the kids were excited to see SANTA behind the wheel. Now if the Winni Flagship Corp. would show a little love to the Sophie and Doris with some lights of their own.....:D

What a terrific thread, Coley - this has been one of the best threads and I have truly loved reading everyone's comments. One used to think about the fun little things we did as “lake traditions” and wonder that if anyone ever heard us, would they think we were nuts, and after reading all the replies to this thread, found that we were not. I now have the great good fortune to live here full-time so don’t have to say “goodbye lake” and “goodbye camp” anymore. Our family rented here for 20 years before I bought here but these were some of our traditions below, arriving and leaving. I do have to comment, though, about the “Indian” on the top of the hill that Aquadeziac spoke about. Wasn’t there a teepee too with a spotlight shining on it, just adjacent to the Indian? As a small child with a very vivid imagination (including an imaginary friend), and inspired, I’m sure, by the Indian statue, I solemnly told my parents every time we passed by it that I had “come from the Indians”!

Arriving:

Getting excited the nearer we got to the lake and swiveling our heads back and forth, trying to take in all the changes from the year before…Meeting our relatives at Frankensundae’s in Meredith (which we called Frankenstein’s) for a sandwich and ice cream…Stopping at Jojo’s on the Moultonborough Neck Road on the way in to pick up ½ gallons of Weeks Ice Cream – particularly their coffee fudge…Unlocking the cottage or “camp” as we called it (we grew up with our own cottage on Cobbetts Pond in Windham that we called “camp” too) and putting up all the blinds/drawing back the drapes to “let all the good air in” as we called it…Making my bed up reversed (pillow at bottom, feet at top against the headboard) so that I could lie awake every night with the drapes back, the window open, all nice and cozy in my blanket, and listening to the sounds of the lake and if you were real lucky, for a loon’s call…Quickly unloading the car and putting the stuff away (always so much fun) and then racing to be the first one asleep for a nap that first day (how delicious!)…Hoping that we would see a loon out front and (we never failed to see one)…That first night, going out to the deck that ran the length of the house – with its built in seats with open backs and climbing into them backwards so that your feet hung out over the side, resting your head on your arms on the top board of the seats, and listening to Taps from Camp Tecumseh, sighing, and trying desperately to hang on to that first day, knowing the 2 weeks were going to fly by…Putting our handmade “Camp Loons R Us” calendar on the refrigerator and writing in who was arriving when.

Leaving:

For years we always made it a point to clean the camp on the last day till we wised up and had someone come in and clean it while we took all the remaining ½ gallons of ice cream down to the lakeside and ate them…Saying “goodbye, camp” and “goodbye, lake”…Hoping that a loon would appear that last day (like the Thayers in OGP) and it always did…Trying to catch the very last view of the lake (from the 2 scenic views on Route 11) and then Alton, and stopping for a hot dog and ice cream at Shibley’s. One thing we did as small children when we had our camp at Cobbett’s was to be lucky enough to stumble across a blanket at home that we had had at camp, inhale deeply of its fibers, and announce to everyone “Smells like camp!” Our parents would groan and mutter "it's only musty" and we'd yell back "uh uh, it's camp!"

pretty soon
 

Does your dog look at you like you have a screw missing when you bark? I kind of assumed it was bark mulch that they were advertising.

One really important tradition of each arrival is to clean and fill the bird/chipmunk feeder...have to keep them fat and happy through the winter so we see them in the spring!:D

This is a great, positive thread that makes me realize just how truly fortunate we are to belong to such a place. For us its only been three years but it feels like always...

Happy New Year Everyone...only 12 more weeks until...:cool:

This is a great thread, and i am glad to know we are not the only people who say bye to the lake when leaving. Right around Lukilani's Icecream on Paugus Bay when going home my fiance gets this look on his face :-\ half pout, half sad face this half pout sad face :-\ will remain until about exit 15 on 93.

We have friends that head up for the weekend to their own place near ours, so it is a race to see who is leaving work when, constant text messages U LEAVE? WHAT EXIT? TRAFFIC? PICK UP BEER the whole ride up.

I know that smell! I have a pair of shoes with that smell and I know it comes from the months they spend hanging out in our camp during the summer. Sometimes, when we go into a place that has that smell, I say to the kids, "isn't this great? It smells just like the Lake." To which my husband says, in disgust, "that's mildew you smell." :rolleye1:

I started the thread with our summer traditions but I have to tell you the kids have started a new one (now three years running) where we have to leave Danvers and go to the lake for lunch the week I am off between XMAS and New Years. Went up 93 to Meredith yesterday to have lunch at Guiseppe's and then took 109 to Wolfeboro to stop at the place we rent (with our friends permission), kiss the dock, and head to downtown for some window shopping before hitting 95 South and heading home. Boy, what I would give to be able to live up there year 'round....

Franken Sundae's
 

The 2nd person to mention Franken Sundae's I loved that place and use to go there when I was a little kid back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Today I go to Lilikulani's instead, but I surely miss Franken Sundae's.

Great Thread
 

Fantastic thread!

My wife's family (parents, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. - about 20 in all) vacationed together for thirty years during the same two weeks nearby in Gilmanton. Each of the individual families had their own "first night of camp" traditions, but my wife's family would come down the hill into Alton and have dinner at Pop's.

I've been coming to the lake since I was five years-old. My parents would rent a cottage just before the Black Cat Island bridge on Moultonboro neck. Just to make the long trip from Burlington, MA even LONGER - when we were ALMOST there, my father would stop to fill-up our plastic jugs with spring water from this little building on the side of the road. I'm sure the whole process took only a few minutes, but when you're young, and almost "at vacation" and have just spent the past 2 hours crammed in the "way back" of a 1976 AMC Pacer with a black & white TV pressing on your bladder the entire ride, it seemed like it took forever for those jugs to fill.

I accidently stumbled on the "Spring Water Building" about 15 years ago on a little road trip I took after I graduated high school. I saw it out of my peripheral vision as I drove by it, but the memory of it "clicked" as I passed it. I remember locking-up the brakes in my Olds Cutlass Supreme, taking a picture and just hanging out there for a while reminiscing.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pringWater.jpg

+1 on Franken Sundae, by the way (although my love for Common Man Ale and Rock Crab Cake Sandwiches at "The Town Docks" has far since replaced my ice cream cravings at my age).

My ice cream fix has lead me to Lilikulani's at Weirs area and sometimes JB Scoops or Dairy Queen.

What part of Gilmanton? My folks had a camp at Valley Shores for years and we used to camp there weekends. Funny, between that camp and the Weirs, growing up in Franklin, NH I spent a lot of time "vacationing" a half hour from my house!

So How Old Are You Now?
 

They were on Manning Lake. I was lucky enough to be able to join them for three years before the cottages went from two to 6-week rentals to make it easier on the owners.

I just turned 33.

Traditions
 

The first thing I do is walk out to the end of the dock and say to my wife and kids - I'm home! I dont live on the lake, don't own a house but have been renting at the old Saunders Bay Motel & Cottages since I was a baby and now my family and I come back to what is now Yacht Club Vista and rent a condo at the same place for a week. This year it was very strange as my son started college and could not come with us the last week in August! It just was not the same! So this year we are trying to move up to the begining of August, but we are having problems finding a place to rent that week (Most of the owners want to come up that week).

The last thing do before we head home is to take a swim and walk out to the same dock and say "till next year". The next day, at home, I am never in a hurry to jump in the shower as I don't want to wash the lake out of my hair.

Every year, on the inside of the kitchen cabinet door, we write down the day we opened the cottage in the Spring and the day we closed in the Fall.... on closing day, seeing the continuation year after year is just one more reminder that we'll be back.

I love this
 

So many great traditions. Coming to the lake is truly coming home. Someday it will be home..

I have a number of quirky, minor traditions that've accumulated over time. Too many & too obscure to list, since the Lake has been my only consistent "home" since birth.

But my twin daughters (now 15...how'd that happen?) have a classic, yet weird, tradition they developed on their own: Years ago, they acquired a small, cheap doll of "Burt" (of Sesame Street fame). Each year, before they leave the Lake for the last time, they "stash" Burt in a secure outdoor location -- known only to them. The location varies from year to year.

(See? I told you this was weird...)

Anyway, this has gone on for at least six or seven years, from the time they were 8 or 9 years old. In November of '05, when one of the girls and I were up to check progress on our "new" road, she dug up Burt.

Anyway, here's Burt hanging out on top of the TV in Melvin's Pine View Lodge that weekend (our water was off).

http://www.pbase.com/gfevans/image/52262324

In Perspective
 

I have been at the lake before I was born lol my mother was pregnant with me when they came to Weirs Beach in July1980 they stayed at the Howard Johnson's. I have been there each year since 1988 when I was 7 years old. I am 99 percent sure I will be up to the lake 3 times this coming summer. I read these forums each day 2 or sometimes 3 times a day and also the online Citizen once a day.

amen
 

Joann721...
Amen to that...only 9 more years for me!::eek:

So I'm not the only one.....
 

What a great thread. Now I know I'm not the only one who's completely nuts.

Have you noticed that the longest part of the trip is from the exit from 93 down the 104 to Meredith. I noticed it as a child and now my kids are noticing it. I remember feeling so gratified when they started calling out to each other to look from the top of the hill on Rt 3 to be the first to see the Lake.

The BIG tradition for me is to get everything unloaded and march off the dock. Usually I'm coming from California so my day has been full of planes and lines and car rental agents and whether or not i can remember what the toll is. So I get everything from the dock to the kitchen and into the lake I go. Sans clothes if possible. But this year, i was so glad to get to the island that - my neighbor had brought me over, and as he pulled away from the dock, I just plunged in. Luckily my cell phone was in my purse. And I have to swim down deep to the deepest coldest part I can find. I came back up and floated on my back, staring up at the trees. i must have sighed because my neighbor laughed and said, "That's renewal." ANd it's true, all the cares and frustrations and anger are gone by the time I surface.

I have to say, I admire anyone who can go in the water on ICE OUT or in May. It's like pins.

Well, other traditions include - going through the drawers and rearranging the pictures on the bookcase. It's a great walk down memory lane - you can hear people laughing and singing.

Sweeping out. Checking for carpenter ants. Getting the pine needles off the roof. Discussing for the fiftieth time with my sisters how we really need to get a chimney cap made - although the board and boulder system still works fine.

I try to bake all my bread when I'm here. When we first moved into our cottage (I was three) the kitchen was dominated by a big black cast iron stove. I like to get back to basics.

Having a cup of coffee in the morning sun on the front steps. Having a cup of tea and watching the Lake from the front porch. Looking for the moon as it rises above the point. Taking the boat out to the buoy with a glass of wine and watching the sunrise. Taking the boat out late on a starry night and turning off the lights. STanding on the front porch and going OOO and Ahhh over Weirs fireworks.

I don't cry when I leave, but i do try to take a last look to freeze the image in my mind. I now have a shot of my cabin on my cell phone. I love seeing it, but I'm not sure that I approve of it. Like it's better as a memory? Not clear on this one.

Well, here's to the Lake lovers all of stripes.

SED

Bark
 

OK, make that 3 loonies. I remember the 1'st time I barked at the sign when coming to the cabin with "Mee". She first asked what the #$%% I was doing and then why. I said I was just doing what the sign said. "What #$%#$^* sign ?" was the reply. It took a couple of trips but I eventually pointed out the sign to her. She stills says I'm "looney". Woof :D

I guess my only consistent "tradition" (aside from things I just have to do) are the swims. Must swim shortly after arriving, and must swim RIGHT before leaving.

This does not apply to Nov-Dec visits, or any time the lake is solid, but the wetsuit might change that.

Best Tradition
 

At least Burt looks pretty clean... Albeit a bit dismembered! Love the tradition your daughters have adopted. You have my vote for the best "Tradition":laugh:

Just Too Many Memories
 

I cannot pick just one specific memory to have a tradition related to the lake but if I had to describe one it is the first view of the lake. To see Winnipesaukee just brings peace to my soul. When I am at the helm of the Just Sold I am at the peak of serenity. It does not matter where I travel on the lake I always find something new or an old memory that brings me peace.

During the winter months I enjoy exploring the areas around the lake including the smaller lakes, ponds and brooks that are absolutely beautiful.

I know that I want to have my retirement and final resting place in the vicinity of the big lake. As long as I can captain a boat I will and nothing else in my life brings me so much joy and peace as boating and being on Lake Winnipesaukee. Just ask RG & McD they know how I feel and have experienced it with me.

Well, their tradition may end this year... Although they keep Burt's location secret each year, they've shared various hiding spots over time. But this year, right before we left, I saw one of the girls eyeballing a hole in a tree near the water. If that ended up as the final spot for '06-'07, the red squirrels will certainly appreciate the addition of Burts "innards" to their nests...

this says it all
 

Like diamonds thy waters
Like velvet thy trees
So pure is thy air,so soft is thy breeze
That I am loathe to leave thee and from God I implore
The grace to return again to thy shore
written in the 1940's and said to myself each time i leave the island

Great Thread
 

My folks have now moved to the Lake full time. But when their house was seasonal, my Dad and I would spend a long weekend openning the house for the season. We would putter around the house, putting out all the porch furniture and cleaning up any debris that fell during the winter, taking off the skylight covers and the chimney cover, etc.. Every evening we would go for a boat ride around Meredith Bay, and through the channel at the Weirs. Then off to dinner somewhere in the area. It was alot of fun, except for the year I got elected to go into the Lake in the first week of May to retrieve the flag pole that ended up in the lake from the end of the dock. Talk about COLD!!!! Now that they are there all year we try to ski a couple times a winter, and we play golf for that long weekend at the beginning of the season.

Grant's Children"s Hiding Place
 

"If that ended up as the final spot for '06-'07, the red squirrels will certainly appreciate the addition of Burts "innards" to their nests..."


Don't worry, with the warm weather this season the squirrels have much better stuff to munch on, as well as stuffing to build their nests with.

Are people "that" depressed up there with the warm weather? I guess if I didn't have to drive to work each day and encounter absolutely IDIOT drivers when there was a dusting of snow on the roads, I could have some sympathy. But I guess if you decide to live year-round in the Northern Tundra you kinda expect it to snow. BTW, Winter will begin on Monday! Wait for it, it will come! It will last longer than than all the complainers will want it to! Ice Out will be May 1st this year.:D

Jan 1 2007
 

What is the written definition of ice out ? If it's the first date of the calendar year that all the Mount's ports are free of ice I think it's already happened. :eek: 2007 .... the year we had 2 ice outs ?

ps - yes I'm being optimistic :)

Wow -- considering the relatively high lake temp and the downright balmy conditions to date, May 1 is quite a guess for ice-out.

I wonder if we'll have a lack of ice-in this year! Looks like we're still a few degrees above the average water temp for this time of year, and it's still unusually mild.

Then again, it's only Jan. 5 -- plenty of time for the weather to turn.

I feel badly for the owner/operators of ski places and the businesses that rely on their traffic. Same down here in PA. A friend in the Poconos has a brew pub near a major ski resort (which, in the summer, has a water park). The 50 degree temps are killing him. They can't even make snow at those temps.

Meanwhile, given the oil prices, I am not complaining about 69 degrees down here tomorrow. Just wish I could find a dive buddy...

It's something like when the Mount can travel between all its ports ice-free.

I remember cross country skiing across the Lake on the weekend on January 8 in 1982. Everything was solid. Wish I had those photos.

Anybody else?
 

Just wanted to refresh this thread - anybody else have any traditions to add? I have SO enjoyed reading these! :)

It's Not Unique Or Exciting...
 

...but it's mine (like all of you who have posted-it's yours and it has special meaning to you).

Every year when we open up the cottage and I step out of the boat onto the dock I say, "it's good to be home."

That's it. Sometimes people hear me and sometimes they don't and it does't really matter either way, because I hear it (in mind, body, and soul), and that DOES matter.

Sound familiar?
 

When I leave in Autumn, I grasp the porch rail and try to take in and memorize the a panoramic expanse of the now-deserted lake scene. The memory must last four/five months—until I return. :)

Upon arrival, I again grasp the porch rail, recall the beauty of a still-deserted lake :look:, listen for any signs of Spring returning, and inhale the delightful oxygen of a newly-stirring New Hampshire. :) :)

Then I go prime the water pump. :emb:

Tradition
 

My tradition is to wander down to the dock at sunset, after the kids are settled and toast the artist with a glass of fine cabernet, thankful for another day!:)

One more tradition
 

This is going to sound corny, but every year my husband and I ask ourselves why on earth we live in NJ and not in our little piece of heaven along the lake. Really, why do we live in NJ?????

Jersey Girl
(who would rather be Hamphire Girl)