Once again I was awake way too early, at 4:30. I facebooked and snacked and killed time as much as I could, before waking Nick for breakfast. We had decided to try a new to us place today.
We got ready and drove to the Sunrise Shack in Glen, less than 15 minutes up the road. This is a place we have driven by dozens of times and always noticed that the parking lot is full. So while it doesn’t look like much from the outside, we decided we needed to try it.
We were glad we did. Nick had stuffed french toast that involved raspberries and cannoli cream and I had a seriously delicious breakfast sandwich. The food was great, service was great, and Covid standards were top notch. There is a reason this place is always busy! We would happily eat here again.
We then returned to the resort to read and nap for a bit. I know, polar opposite of my typical vacations, but after the last nearly a year, it was so nice to sit and read.
Eventually we (ok, mostly me) decided it was WAY too nice outside to sit inside (seriously...40* in northern NH, in February!), so I ate the remaining portion of my sandwich from the day before, and we got ready for some snowshoeing.
Our resort had a “nature trail”, so that’s where we were heading. Neither of us are strong snowshoers (it’s exhausting!), so I have an incredibly difficult time with the concept of paying to use (ungroomed/minimally maintained) trails, when we aren’t going to snowshoe for long at all. So...out back behind the resort seemed like a great option!
We both got a good laugh when we got the snowshoes out of my car. Several years ago I replaced my previous pair of snowshoes (yay for LL Bean’s crazy warranty/return policy), which had straps that wouldn’t stay secure for more than about 8 steps. Well, those replacement snowshoes hadn’t yet been used. They’d been hanging in the garage for 4 or 5 years. When I pulled the plastic pieces off of them that keep them together, I found a hornet’s nest on one of them. OOPS. Guess I should use those more.
We walked down to the trail and got set up on our snow shoes. Since it was my first time strapping into this pair, it was a process, but eventually all the straps were set, and we were off. This nature trail was nice. It ran along side a field and the river. It was probably about a mile loop, and reasonably flat. It was a gorgeous day, and thanks to periodically stopping for pictures, we were able to complete the whole loop. Seriously guys, if you haven’t snowshoed, it’s exhausting!
We returned to our unit for a bit, and then decided to head over to the Met. The Met is a coffee shop (and during non-Covid times, an art gallery too) in downtown North Conway. It was less than a 5 minute walk from our resort, so we walked over there. I got a thin mint hot cocoa (as in peppermint hot cocoa...not lowfat) and Nick got a chai latte. We then snagged the open igloo outside to enjoy our beverages and people-watch.
Once we had finished our beverages, we wandered a bit, checking out the views and the shop windows. The downtown North Conway shops decorate their windows seasonally, all year.
As we approached Zebs, we realized there was no line! So we headed inside. Zebs is a super popular country store, and with social distancing in effect, the line just to enter the store can get quite long. I hadn’t been in Zeb’s since October 2019. This is particularly unfortunate, because right before lockdown started, I had a serious craving for their fudge. Obviously that craving had gone unanswered. So I was particularly excited to have found the right timing to get into Zebs without a wait.
I’ve never walked out of Zebs empty handed and today was no different. I got cookie mixes, chocolate covered animal crackers, did some birthday shopping, and...I got my fudge! Cookies and cream and peanut butter fudge for the win!
And yes, Zebs had gotten in on the decorating, and even left up their Christmas decorations outside.
We walked back to the resort and relaxed and read for a bit longer, before it was time for dinner. Tonight’s dinner was at Moat Mountain Brewery. This is one of our favorites, and, sadly, is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So, if we were going to stick to our plan of doing takeout on the weekend, which we knew would be busy in town, tonight was our night.
The Moat has consistently awesome food, a stout that Nick loves, and they have had some of the best Covid precautions in the industry since restaurants were allowed to reopen. They’re always busy, so we got there shortly before 5. This worked well. As part of their procedures, you wait outside until they’re ready to seat you, or process your takeout pickup. The line was already several deep when we got there. For proof of how busy they can get, note the markers way down the sidewalk, and the benches.
The line stayed appropriately distanced and moved quickly, and pretty soon we were seated in our favorite room. Moat is in a giant old house, and our favorite (and seemingly most frequent, despite never asking) place to sit is on the closed in porch. There’s a pellet stove out there so it’s always comfortable, and it’s great for people watching.
Dinner was fantastic, as always. Nick had a brisket meal, which is what he always gets, and a stout. I had a Mexican bowl (chicken, rice, beans, guac and cheese) and the night’s drink special, a Hawaiian sangria. It was all great.
After dinner, it was back to the resort, where I actually finished my book (The Midnight Library by Matt Haig...read it), and we just generally relaxed (and took extra long showers because we could!), before crashing for the evening.
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