This was our last weekend in New Hampshire before the youngest goes off to University. It’s interesting to think that M and E are fourth generation to be at our summer camp on the river. When you’ve been coming to a place literally since before you were born, it’s easy to take some things for granted. It’s also easy to explore many parts and settle in on some favorites.

We decided it might be lovely to revisit some sweet spots before leaving. The three of us woke early on Saturday morning and drove an hour through very picturesque Kancamagus Highway to reach Lafayette campground, the trailhead for Lonesome Lake. We hiked up the familiar trail, stopping to admire mushrooms, slugs, caterpillars, fungi, lichen, and spider webs. And what felt like record time, we reached the AMC hut. The record time came from walking as three full grown adults, instead of cajoling, shepherding, bribing, and otherwise luring small children up to the lake.

We barely got a glimpse of the lake before the clouds decided to join the party and sock us in completely. It’s not unpleasant to be in a cloud, so we were OK. Sure, it can be a bit damp and gray, but otherwise walking in clouds is kind of neat. Meredith liked it as it felt like the weather she is moving to on Wednesday.

We popped into the hut and instantly started reminiscing of our many family hikes. The food, the songs, the record books, the history. The time Meredith was recruited to become a beaver in the evening performance. The time I had an allergic reaction when Saturday’s vegetarian lasagna included Thursday’s leftover green bean almandine. The first time we heard Wagon Wheel when the croo played it gently as a wake up revelry. I stood at the screen door of our bunk house, Meredith on the hip, swaying to the song that would soon become one of our family’s staple. It doesn’t feel like 17 years ago.

After relishing our PB&Js — easily the best hiking food ever — we made our way back down, paying even closer attention to the spider webs, now so much more visible in the gray mist, with moisture droplets dancing across each strand.

Once at the bottom we then made our way to another location that saw many visits from the Underhill children over the past 15 years: the Squam Lake Science Center, in Holderness, NH. Even just typing the name makes me smile. That place is wonderful. We had many, many days spent exploring there with the children, but haven’t been in probably a decade. I’m pleased to report it has continued to thrive and still provides an excellent day of learning and thinking, and experiencing nature and science in the natural world.

Upon arriving, and then upon leaving we got to chatting with one of the workers, Denise, an older woman, who was friendly and sweet. She was genuinely so lovely and kind. She took great interest in Meredith’s university plans, and seems so delighted that we would come back for a nostalgic visit. It’s worth noting that the science center, like the hike, goes so much more quickly with adults. It’s actually fun and enjoyable and not at all exhausting as it is chasing a 4 year old and an 8 year old. 10/10. Would recommend.