Today my kids and I are heading up to spend a few days in the vacation destination of my youth; Bartlett, New Hampshire. Land of the icy mountains and epic Red Parka Pub. I’ve been going there for over thirty years now, and it never gets old.
My parents bought a place mountainside at Attitash for insanely small money back in the seventies. The guy they bought the place from was a young real estate developer thinking big. At the time, he drove a BMW motorcycle and wore amazing fuzzy after ski boots. My brother and I thought he was the coolest. He’s done incredibly well for himself up there.
We spent our winter weekends up there, bringing friends - both family and individually - whenever we could. Our house was three stories and narrow and was notable for its metal circular staircase. It was perfect for sliding all the way from the top floor all the way to the bottom. You always needed to “touch wood,” before touching that railing or you would get a shock. And of course, in retrospect, that “touching wood” expression we created sounds really bad.
We had a stuffed moose - a friendly fake one - named “Mighty Moose,” that hung above our mantle for 20 years. He was surrounded by other accessories of the time, like a ssswwweeetttt macramé wall hanging and our pre-Atari pong game. That thing got much use given we only got one television channel in that before-cable-came-to-New-Hampshire-era.
My parents sold that place - damn them! - after I got married. We still went up to ski there every winter, and taught our kids to ski there. We introduced our closest friends to the place, who in turn bought their own place. They've made their own family magic up there. And it's still an amazing piece of my life. My kids look forward to heading up there several times a year, whether it's to stay with our "second family" or to just hang out for a weekend. They've learned to ski on these hills, and they've learned to kick back afterwards at the Red Parka, just like my brother and I did.
Today I'm back in my old woodsy hood, having just had a great dinner of teriyaki steak, the same thing I've been ordering at the Red Parka for all these years. My kids stuffed their face on popcorn from the bar as I used to. And now I'm snuggled in my flannel in front of my friends' wood stove with them, ready to begin our evening as we watch the beautiful snow fall.
Great friends, great kids, great place. Just great. :)
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