Blue Hills- South Skyline Trail

28 August

Camping in New Hampshire

25 August


Summer is so much more fun with a baby. And by fun, I mean exhausted. (Just kidding. Kind of.)

We finally got out for an overnight in New Hampshire. After having to change the date of our trip several times, we were eager to have this experience. We were also nervous. The last trip during which we tried to sleep in a tent with River ended with a deserted camp as night fell, and a overtired baby awake long after his bed time.  For me, if we could get through the night, that would signify a successful trip. 

We were staying at Fransted Family Campground in Franconia, New Hampshire. The last time we camped here, I had been pregnant with River. We couldn’t get the same site abutting the creek as we had last time, so we took the one site they had left. And I am so glad it happened this way. We never would have known that there was a campsite, up a dirt road and off all by itself far back in the campground. We had complete privacy, which is a huge bonus for a nursing mom and a baby who sometimes cries when he awakens in the night.

We were enchanted with the campsite. However, we quickly learned that bringing a baby camping is a lot of work. There were far more mosquitos than we would expect at the end of August, and my full time job was keeping them off of River. My part-time job was making sure River didn’t eat any wood chips, rocks, dirt, or whatever else he found on the ground. Bud had to undertake all camp set up all by himself. River was in his element, though. He loves to crawl in dirt, pull up the grass, crunch up the leaves. While he played, noisy red squirrels chased each other up and down the trees around us. 

As it was still light out, we let River stay up a bit past his bed time. Bud made us a fire to try to keep the mosquitos at bay, and we ate dinner around the picnic table. I learned that River loves turkey sandwiches. I gave him little bits of bread and deli turkey, and he could not get enough. Eventually, we began to wind down so River could get to sleep, but it quickly became clear that sleep was not to be easily attained. It was hot, humid, and still light out, and River seemed very overstimulated by his new environment. He was also overtired, and was beginning to cry. Thankfully, we were not camping directly near anyone or we would have quickly overstayed our welcome. 

We stripped River down to his diaper, Bud rubbed him down in water, and we tried to read him a book, nurse him, sing to him. Poor babe just wanted to sleep, and was so frustrated that he couldn’t. He kept trying to fall asleep on me as his bed, but he is not a tiny baby anymore, so this was not an easy task. Finally, he did sleep, sprawled over me like a blanket. We were happy he was asleep, but we knew it was not sustainable. Skin-to-skin, we were sticky and hot, and I knew he could not be comfortable. He did sleep a couple hours this way before finally waking up. At this point, I transferred him to his pack and play and we crossed our fingers that he would nod off. He did, thankfully. He slept until 5:30am, and woke cheerful and ready for the day. 

The second day of our trip, we thought we’d try to hike South Twin with River. However, by the time we reached the trailhead, temps had reached the mid-80s, and it was just too hot to hike with a baby. We decided to pack up camp, as temps were to continue into the night, and take the success of the previous night as a win. On our drive back, we stopped at The Basin and dipped our toes in the cool water. If you’ve never visited The Basin, it’s right off the highway in Franconia Notch State Park. It’s accessible to anyone- a short stroll on a paved trail to a lovely creek. It was quiet when we visited, probably due to the heat, which also contributed to our keeping our visit short.

After leaving the Basin, we began our long trek home. River was great on the car ride. We made quite a few stops to give him breaks from his car seat, but he mostly kept busy babbling to himself and playing with his car seat toys. When we finally got home, we ordered River’s favorite, spaghetti and meatballs from Nick’s Pizza (best local pizza and pasta in the area!), took a short walk, and we all three slept well that night from our successful little camping adventure.