Postcard from New Hampshire- 1

14-15 June 2012

Milton, NH

Are you old enough to remember the 1949 movie "Mighty Joe Young"? Probably not, but I do. That's the ghosted reference for this park: Mi-Te-Jo Campground. There's even a 5' chainsaw-carved statue of the big guy himself, dressed in camping gear, right outside the office. I would like to think this Mi-Te-Jo (Young) is not commemorating the 1998 remake which was even worse than the original!

This is a family campground which carries with it the usual baggage of kids running around everywhere and having a good time. And there's a lot for everyone to do with a softball diamond, hoops, beaches, swimming in the lake, basketball court, tennis court, trails everywhere, pavilions for entertainment when it rains, eating areas. But the main thing is you need to keep an eagle eye when moving the rig or driving your truck/towed cuz kids (mostly unsupervised) seem to pop up out of nowhere.

The park is gorgeous with maple, beech and conifers seemingly mixed randomly... I'd never have expected them to be bed partners but they all seem to thrive here side by side. The surrounding forests seem to be a similar mix.

There's no pavement anywhere. Camp sites parking surfaces are often a coarse sand (probably has the usual coarse gravel below the surface) which drains pretty well. They'd had rain the day before but the surface was no problem to walk on, though I did see a noticeable track from our rig's tires.

We're in a huge, double-wide site (#95) which is a little low in the center, so we're not level. If we were to be here more than these 2 nites I'd have to disconnect, run in the slides and get a board under one side.The park isn't as much a bargain as we've had, but now we're in the tourist area where families come to get away from their city life. It was $43/nite. Plus, if you use your A/C, add another $3/nite. The latter is on the honor system. They have an 8-year waiting list just to get a seasonal renting site. From the look of it, families have had the same site for decades. There are no permanent residents as the park closes in the winter so the owners can head for warmer weather in Florida!

The town of Milton is a small and pretty community arranged along the river which connects lakes above and below. The park is on the lake formed north and above the low weir (a low dam with constant flow over the top) that's situated in the middle of town... just across from the pizza place (you knew this was coming, right?!).

There's not a lot of choice for eating in this town. And, other than a convenience store, there seems to be no grocery store. So it's slim pickin's if you come here without the larder packed. We were told you can get a good breakfast at the CITGO station; there's the 3 Ponds Tavern if you want to find a watering hole; and there's ice cream at the marina store... parking area is outside the entrance, then cross the bridge on foot. We'd just had pizza in Brattleboro, VT, but thought what the hell. Then we spotted calzone on the menu and I was encouraged. Unfortunately my spinach & feta calzone was over done and needed a decent knife to cut the bottom crust. But the owner, a cranky old toot like me, apparently thinks it's silly to provide anything but the wimpy 4" plastic picnic-ware that is too flexible to cut thru anything tougher than coconut cream pie filling. What a disappointment, The flavor was good, so it was a shame to ruin it by being too cheap to provide non-takeout guests decent flatware. So if you come here, bring your own knife and fork! (Why didn't I just pick it up? It was too hot to hold in my hand!).

Way too much whining about food. We'll do some site seeing tomorrow, then we'll be off on our last leg to Durham, ME where we'll connect with kids and grand kids. Yee haw! It's been 3 years since we last saw them.

Another day

The bridge to ice cream!

There are 7 of these lakes in the area

We were told we could walk to the nearby marina where they offer ice cream. Have to cross a bridge to get there. The bridge turned out to be a steel & wood structure that has been closed to cars but is still used by pedestrians. We took the dogs too, which gave them more exercise than they've had in a long time (us too!).

The girls with their new best friend