Lake Traditions
 

I was wondering if anyone had any lake traditions to share. I know that when I show up at the home I rent in Wolfeboro for one week each year on Jockey Cove, I kiss the dock when I arrive and leave.
I thought I was soft but I was talking with someone at work today and he tells me that on the day of ice out every year, he drives to his summer home at Suissevale from Tewksbury MA and jumps in the water and goes under-no matter what the temperature-he has done this for ten years or so.....

Lake Traditions
 

Well - I sure don't do ice out - but Memorial Day each year - no matter the weather - I go in - and under - and Columbus Day I repeat the process to end my season of swimming in the Big Lake!

We also watch On Golden Pond once a month (at least) during the winter - and then on Sunday night of Memorial Day we watch it one last time before we put it away for the summer!

I alway take a leave from the ground in the late fall when we close down for the winter and put the leave in the corner of a picture frame in the living room, to await spring. Don't now why, but just always have. (crazy)

It's the way I am
 

Although it is a debatable inanimate object, I always say goodbye to the Lake whenever I am leaving for an extended period of time.:)

Tradition
 

I just sob uncontrollably when I leave. It usually stops sometime in Barnstead.
Aside from telling the same stories on the trip up (it makes my kids nuts, so I make sure to do it now), the only tradition that I have is going down to the dock and taking it all in when I first arrive.

Me to!
 

RumGuy, I know the feeling had it since I was a kid.

Add our names to the list.............
 

I forgot about the crying bit-its crazy how many people mention this, but add our car to the list-it usually stops at the Alton Traffic circle....

Stories
 

One of the stories that my kids know by heart now is the airplane that used to be in the swampy area off of 28, near Green's Marine in Hooksett. Anybody remember that? Or how good the Chinese Restaurant (also in Hooksett )smelled when you drove by.

Never fully unpack
 

When I leave I also say goodbye aloud to Sandy Point & Lake Winni. Arriving home, I always leave a few small items in the duffle bag that I use as my main luggage. That way, I already have a few items in the bag in anticipation of the next trip back!

A late neighbor of ours at Sandy Point always made up the bed with fresh linens before closing up for the season in October. He said that guaranteed he'd be back in the spring.

always great when we get to Meredith center and first see the lake. real tradition is going around the house, yard and dock to see if everything survived the winter.

We have a tradition that we didnt even realize we had...
 

Reading these posting I realized that we do the same thing every weekend. Friday night when we arrive in Alton Bay - we stop in the parking lot- if only for a few minutes and just look at the lake. Sometimes we get out of the car sometimes we dont. We then proceed to Meredith. On the way home we do the same thing... pull in the parking lot. Park or at least pause for a few minutes - take a deep breathe and drive home to reality. Strange huh !!!...
I love the idea of a Leaf... I'm going to do that next year !! :banana:

wasn't there some kind of Indian Post Store in Hooksett.

happenings
 

Ever since we could speak, as we drove into the Alton Bay area it was I see the lake first. We used to put our hands over my Lil sisters eyes so she could not see the lake first. And then their is I see the Mount first.

So many family memories on the lake. The work my father and Grandfather did year after year after year on the boat house. Taking the Bobbi B a 26' lake launch thru sallys gut., and other areas.:emb:

Every summer I get a coffee shake and fries from Sawyers and dip the fries in the shake. Once is enough each summer; this year I waited until Labor Day weekend, but looked forward to it every time I drove past or stopped for something else. Tastes exactly the same as it did every summer when I was a kid!:liplick: :liplick: :liplick:

Also, every time I boat into and out of Smith's Cove with my kids (which is often), we wave to the lawn-ornament little boy with the fishing rod and a small fish at the end of the line sitting on a rock near the log-cabin style house. And every time we say "he moved." :D

Here is the Key
 

I never say good bye to the lake. Although I don't live at the lake all year around. Mainly because with out water no one would be able to stand my odor after a few weeks once the lake froze and the water was out of the camp. But I make excuses all year long to go over at least for a day and do a little something at the camp. That way I am never gone to long, and it never seem like I have had to say good bye.

On the other hand, I am always trying to be the first on the road to have my boat in!!!!!!!!! The one year around resident always seem to beet me though

Lake Traditions
 

I love all of your traditions. We come into Alton from off of Route 28. We never, ever, drive the quick way to Echo Point by taking the highway towards Wolfeboro. I swear my husband slows down the closer we get to the bay just to torture us.

I, too, sob like a baby when we leave. My husband and kids think I am nuts.

I guess our tradition is a relatively new one. Most evenings, we take the boat into the bay. My boys play mini-golf at the Blue Jay while my husband and I read the Weirs Times or one of the other free papers. Then, we get ice cream at Shibley's and walk back down to the town docks to sit, eat and look at the boats. We head for home just as the sun begins to set.

Our other tradition, if you can call it that, doesn't even involve the lake. After my husband returns to Jersey, my boys and I stay for a week or so. We always drive up to Mount Washington one day and stop at Dondero's Rock Shop in North Conway. They love that! Another day, we drive the Kancamagus Highway, stopping at the turnouts so we can take a dip in the freezing water.

I will miss it when my boys decide they are too old for mini-golf or swimming along the Kancamagus Highway or, even worse, too old to spend their vacations at the lake. :( That's when it is time to retire and finally move up there once and for all. :)

Jersey Girl

I don't remember the airplane but I sure do remember The China Dragon, best Chinese food (and drinks) around, and the Indian Cliff Gift Shop. I think the Indian statue is still up on the side of the hill.

The many years that we were seasonal at the lake we always played the Narada Wilderness CD on the stereo as soon as we arrived at the cottage. It let us know that we were "home". The thought of waking up and having coffee at the lake almost always made me jump out of bed in the morning. When we left my wife always said "goodbye lake". Closing weekend was always a teary affair with the following summer an eternity away.

So many traditions
 

Reflecting back I guess the points for being the first to see the mount on each of her rounds would be the first. Jersey Girl they never get too old. My own are 40 today and still on vacation each year with me along with the grandchildren. We all love it, a special place to each of us and my parents before me. Now we look forward to making homemade Baileys and enjoying it on a screened porch, hearing the loons singing their song and the moon rising.

I see it!!
 

We never say goodbye when we leave the lake because we never expect to be gone long.

However, as kids, when we were driving to the lake we always competed to see who could see the lake first and yell out "I see it!". We learned all of the spots where you might get the first glimpse of the lake.

My wife continued the tradition too and now often beats me if I am not paying close enough attention. The kids just think we are silly.

Traditons of A New Yorker
 

I go to NH 3 times a year and I have a few traditions

1. Stare at the Lake Winnisquam when I get to route 3/11 or whatever its called in Tilton going toawards Laconia, its the first sign of beautiful water when I get there

2. Walk on the Weirs Boardwalk and realize you have made it

3. Eat dinner at Galley in Laconia followed by a Hot Fudge sundae at Lilikulani's

4. Wake up in the AM and smell the fresh NH air ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

5. Enjoy each day there and realize life is good at the Lake

Ill will be doing these traditons for my 19th yr at the lake in July 2007 and I am only 26

"Twisted" tradition...
 

Upon arrival, I twist-up a monsterous doobie and pay hommage to the Great Spirit. (One day I'll get a Peace Pipe.) Then...I go see the Medicine Man down at the Tavern and marinade myself in several Martinis....crazy tradition, so I'll always blame it on my Native American blood!

I hope your boys never tire of the LAKE! We/I arrive on Rt.11 and as the car approachs Parker Marine and the first glimpse of the bay comes into view I am back to the little boy in the back seat of dad's car. After over 45 years I have not grown tired of the lake. Perhaps in the future I can retire to NH but intil that time its trips north.

Now I will break into the song from "Fiddler on the Roof"....Traditions, traditions.....:rolleye2:

Mount One!
 

More than 20 years ago, an older gentleman that lives on Long Beach at Lake Shore Park, used to shout out Mount One! every time the the Mount came into view.. (even if it was just a speck coming into the Broads). It caught on with everyone who was at the beach and became a fun game for all the kids, and adults at the beach. If you happen to be on the beach.. someone will still yell Mount One!... more than 20 years later.

In our family, we expanded the contest to any time you see the Mount... driving into the weirs, going by the Scenic drive on RT 11, or out on the lake in the boat. The game is to be the first to spot her.... silly, but it has become tradition in our family.

Great Topic...

Traditions I Love
 

Good stuff. Been a Winnipesaukee boater, off and on, for 30+ years and I don't have tradition.

I can recall turnning down Robert's Cove Road on Saturday mornings and seeing the lake for the first time (on that trip). That's such a nice view. I can also recall seeing white caps from that spot and getting excited 'cause dad always like to take the old wooden Grady White Catalina out to play in the white caps. That was such a nice boat...

Our "tradition" is Weirs Beach pizza (eaten at those rickety little tables), followed by an ice cream cone eaten while sitting at a boardwalk bench. This is something we like to do many times a Summer, and dates back many, many years to when we were dating as teenagers (actually, I suspect that the tables are the same ones we ate at 35+ years ago!)

Silver Duck

"The Mount"
 

Funny, we have a similar tradition in our family. Every time we see the Mount (and we're there all summer and see it several times a day) one of us yells "the Mount" and then the rest of us chime in "the Mount." I guess it's getting kinda old.

Reading through the posts, I notice that so many of us had traditions when we were younger at which our kids now roll their eyes or we simply don't participate. When I was a kid, we had certain things that the whole family said as we passed certain landmarks on the way to the Lake. Once we got off Rte 93, all the kids were on the edge of our seats trying to be the first one to yell out the familiar phrases. I thought we just didn't do stuff like this anymore until I reread what I wrote above and pictured my kids yelling "the Mount" several times a day.

I always like to make Heaths grocery my first stop, even if nothing is needed, I just like to stop their and get a few things. Then it's onto the lake house. The first thing, probably like many, is to walk down to the lake and just stare and take it all in. One tradition of mine is to thank the lord for having the privlage of being at the lake. For me, it is heaven on earth. My dad told me the other night that he has thought about selling the house in Mass and retiring on Winni. It just about brought a tear to my eye.

Tradition
 

Whenever I turn off of the Moultonborough Neck road on to Kona Farm Road the radio goes off and for the next two and a half miles I just take it all in. All the way to our beautiful dirt road. This helps me to remember to never take the Lake or life for granted.

Misty Blue.

Oh yea...

Whenever I visit Pine Island Guy's place, I leave a little clue for his webcam.

Great Thread!
 

What a great thread to start, Coley!

I have truly enjoyed reading everyone's "Lake Traditions"!

Some of my Lake Traditions have been listed already, as they are common, but here goes:


stoping at the rest ares off rt 93 to get the Weirs Times and the Laker

when arriving, we always stay on the highway (rt.93) as long as possible (exit 23) to get there the quickest; but when we leave, we always go the "long way" winding around the lake via rt.3, so it takes longer to get to the highway!

always look forward to the 1st glimpse of the small lakes on rt 104 in Meredith, then as we make our way to the cottage in Moultonborough, we always stop in the parking lot of the docks in Meredith and just look out at the Big Lake, then we continue on and stop in Center Harbor too (usually the Mount is there!)

when we arrive at the cottage, I always 1st walk out to the edge of the dock, look over towards the Castle in the Clouds, and just sit and take it all in, perhaps a Loon will be in sight or in ear shot ("the Loons Norman!") :D

a more recent tradition - dining at Peking Tokyo is a must!

going to the Old Country Store in Moultonborough, always a must stop, even if i don't buy anything, just have to go there!

I always say "good bye" out loud to the lake and the cottage when leaving, even if only for a little while

each night that we are at cottage (and not out doing something else) I always have to go down to the deck on the Lake with my camera and watch the sunset and try to get that "perfect picture"! nothing beats a sunset at Lake Winni! :D

and as Mets3007 stated in his #5:"Enjoy each day there and realize life is good at the Lake"

Oh how I love it at the Lake!! :)

Mount One
 

Our family has the same tradition as Steve A.! The first person to see the Mount on her daily rounds yells Mount one! Then the next person says Mount two!
It was probably the same person that started two family traditions because our Winni family roots also come from Lakeshore Park!

Some traditions are better than others...
 

I have an "ice out" ritual that I would argue is even more stressful on the body's central nervous system than jumping into a freezing lake.

I make it a point to visit the lake with a full ice cube tray and ceremonially toss in 2 to 3 (depending upon recent and forecast weather conditions). You see, the full tray represents the annual allotment of free time that Little Miss Winni has set aside for me in the coming year - and each year she demands her share of attention. Some years are better than others, but I'd just as soon she didn't as demanding and she has been in the last two.

I do relish a challenge though...

Keeper

Mount One!!
 

I logged onto the Bear Island cam one day just in time to see the Mount cruise on by on the way to Center Harbor. The whole office thought I was crazy when I yelled out "Mount One" !!! (old habits die hard, even though it goes back to the 60's & 70's when my daughter was young &, by the way, her father came from Lake Shore Park)

Mount "Washing Machine"
 

The kids have always been thrilled to see the Mount coming into Wolfeboro Bay. When my daughter was first learning to talk, and she'd see it in the distance, she'd yell out its name, but it came out sounding like "the Mount Washing Machine". Makes me smile to think about it.

Growing up, as my folks would drive into Wolfeboro from Alton, my brother and I would strain ourselves to be the first one to see the Windrifter sign and yell out "I see it!" (The Windrifter was our first "residence" at the lake.) 30 years later, and I still yell it out it in my head, even though the Windrifter isnt our final destination any more.

When leaving, I always have to take a detour down to the town docks to see the lake "one last time" even if leaving only for a week.

Great thread!

Windrifter
 

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...windrifter.jpg

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...neralwolfe.jpg
Waterbaby: I'm pretty sure it's a time share now with an excellent golf course and indoor pool....