Brynna's First Hike

The moose family decamped to the White Mountains for the weekend, basing ourselves out of the lovely Nereledge Inn in North Conway. We started off our mini-vacation with a wonderful meal at Flatbread, just a quick walk up the road from the Inn.

Parental attempts to catch up on sleep were foiled by Brynna on Friday night. Completely out of character, she screamed and screamed and screamed, clearly in some sort of distress (tummy? gums?). There were serious midnight conversations about leaving and driving back to Concord because we were feeling so bad about the noise waking up other guests. After much rocking and shushing and many false starts when we tried to set her back down, we succeeded in putting her to sleep between us around 2:30 AM.

She woke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, though (in contrast to her parents). It was a bright, sunny, warm (20s to low 30s) Saturday, and we decided that an attempt on Mount Willard would be reasonable. Mt. Willard has the best views for the least amount of work (about 1.4 miles to the summit, with a gain of about 900 feet) in the Whites.

First, we had to get Brynna suitably bundled up. First, an extra fleece sleeper:


Daddy, when you and Mommy say "we're going on an adventure," why does that always mean taking me out in the cold?


She doesn't seem to mind too much, though:


Then came her Baby Buff neckscarf and some additional help for warm toes:


Brynna had a nap on the drive over to Crawford Notch, and then it was time to add her Dartmouth bunting on top, along with another hat, and my Buff, and to snug her into her backpack. Here she is with Alex, trying to hitch a ride on the railroad:


At the trailhead:


Demonstrating the little mirror that lets Alex keep an eye on her:


We got about halfway up when Brynna started to fuss a little. We checked her hands and found that they were a bit chilly, so we decided to turn around. It was a quick zoom back down to the warmth of the Highland Lodge.



After some hot chocolate (me), coffee (Alex), and warm milk (Brynna), we drove up the road a bit farther to the Mount Washington Hotel. It was such a beautiful day that we couldn't pass up the chance for a great view of the Presidential Range.



It was just wonderful to be in the mountains again!