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I am flying up to NH tomorrow AM for a few days, after our initial family trip in the fall. I am coming by myself since I just want to be able to take some time without our little kids pulling me to playgrounds and screaming in a car , I want to walk around, look, observe and just get a feel. And I guess middle of winter is the time to do it :-)
So, I am flying to Manchester and will rent a car and drive to Exeter where I will stay in a hotel. I will go to POrtsmouth, maybe Dover but my main idea is to park a car and just walk around and walk around, talk to people, stop for a coffee you get a sense. Just a peaceful observation time :-) If I need to drive to somewhere, then to park the car and get out and walk and see the towns.
How are the roads? Are they clear? I admit while I am fine driving in my minivan back here, I am nervous about little rental car and snow. I saw there is snow in the forecast for Friday - how effective are your DOT staff in removing snow from roads? Major roads?
I saw there is a bus (Seacoster I think or something like that) that goes from Exxeter to Portsmouth. Anyone knows how reliable it is? The old European in me loves public transport so I was thinking of taking it? Actually I am thinking I could probably take a train fro Exeter to Dover! Yey.
I am staying in Manchester on the last night, by the airport. I came across website of the WIndblown cross country ski resort in Manondack valley. Anyone familiar with it? I was thinking of stopping by for a few hours of some x-country before I get to Manchester on Saturday. How would the roads be up there if it snowed the day before? Does it get crowded on the ski trails? Is is too much of a detour from Exeter to Manchester? (Extra hour is fine with me, I am used to being stuck in traffic, I guess I worry mainly about the road condition)
Any other ideas for Exeter, POrtsmouth. I also want to see some of the anemities beyond tourist downtown so I was thinking of going iceskating in the ice ring in Exeter, Maybe going swimming in the indoor pool in Portsmouth, Walking along the river in Exeter, catching a movie though I cannot figure out if there is a movie theatre in Exeter of just POrtsmouth. I saw the website of the Music Hall in POrtsmouth looks really neat, though maybe I catch a movie there.
Any ideas, comments, anything is appreciated! I should have posted earlier but time has slipped away from me :-)
All current snow reports show that we are getting a substantial amount of snow on Friday through early Saturday morning. Although this reporter is from a Boston station, I follow his reports as I have found them to be the most accurate - this is his latest prediction: MATTNOYES.NET - NEW ENGLAND WEATHER ANALYSIS: "Middle of the road" forecast for Friday shows snow substantial accumulation for New England New Hampshire is great at clearing roads, that shouldn't be a problem, but I would probably not steer too far away from your hotel on Friday if this storm comes in - keep your eye on the weather reports.
At the moment, where I am in Londonderry NH (near Manchester and Nashua), there are only patches of snow on the ground. I looked up Windblown, and they were closed on Sunday as they had 0" of snow. This weather event may give them plenty of snow to open, I would check back on Saturday: Ski & Snowshoe Conditions - Windblown Cross Country Skiing and Snowshoeing Area, New Ipswich, New Hampshire Since you are staying overnight in Manchester, it is not too far out of your way, but, again, the snowstorm will be the issue.
If nothing else, this trip might give you a chance to see what it looks like here before snow and after snow,, and give you a chance to drive in it. When you drive around on Saturday, pay attention to the people shoveling/snowblowing their driveways - you will see why on another thread I advised to get the shortest, most level and least shaded driveway they possibly can.
For xcountry skiing that provides rentals, Great Farm in Carlisle MA is closer to Manchester airport than Windblown. Also the roads to get there will be better after the storm since it's mostly highway from the airport.
The NH purists will now whine that Great Brook is in another state. I promise the snow is still white and pine needles are still green there.
You're packing a lot of activity into just a few days so I'm recommending something closer to save you some time and aggravation.
As C2ShiningC says, this is looking to be a pretty significant storm. Don't expect the roads to be clear DURING the storm. The plow guys/gals will be out doing the best they can but in storms like this they can't beat Mother Nature so to speak. When the storm winds down they will be out in full force getting the roads cleared ASAP.
So Friday...just plan on hanging around Exeter.
WMUR is the local Manchester television station and will be a good source of weather as is NECN (as noted in C2ShiningC's post).
Enjoy your visit!
This is all very helpful and yaikes, I am little worried here about the storm! You are right it may seem like a lot of activity but really, I just want to take it easy and look around. X-ski sounded like a neat half day thing to do on my way back to Manchester but I am not set on it if it made driving harder. There will be other opportunities I am sure :-) Just that while we get downhill down here thanks to snowmaking, we never get cross country since that requires real snow. But I will live!
You are right, I will plan my sched so that I visit Portsmouth or Dover on Thu afternoon, maybe Fri morning, and will plan to stick around and walk on sidewalks of Exeter on Fri afternoon and night.
On Friday late afternoon and night, plan to stay inside as all of us will be if the storm they are predicting materializes: 3"/hr. Sometimes it's not as bad as predicted, but still.
There's buses, they're reliable, but the frequency is not good. It might work for you since you can see more when you are a passenger than when you are driving. They have several routes going all around the Seacoast (Exeter, Dover, Portsmouth, Durham, more). Check them here.
I have chickened out after watching the weather and cancelled my reservations. I have been stuck too many times at airports and hotels due to snowstorms! I changed my schedule to early March - I know that does not guarantee there will be no snowstorms at that time, ha ha but still. Thank you everyone for your advise and stay safe and warm during the blizzard.
that's probably very wise. one weather map was predicting over 40" around Portsmouth!! Now, things are supposed to be clear on Sunday, but that's a lot of snow to move and I'd rather be out of the way of the plows.
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, I want to walk around, look, observe and just get a feel. And I guess middle of winter is the time to do it :-)
