Escape! Travel to New Hampshire

No matter how much you claim to love living in the city, I'm sure you're often tempted to hit the road and disappear into the wilderness. I know I am. I sometimes question my inability to fall asleep without a subway train rumbling by.

I recently followed one of my escapist temptations and steered my VW Bug toward New Hampshire's Lakes Region. I attempted to travel light, but after a bit of research, I found my car quite stocked:

1. Fishing Rods (there was a bass out there with my name on it).
2. 1 Tent (I actually booked a New Hampshire Hotel Room, but felt as if the trip deserved a tent)
3. Costco-sized bag of Trail Mix (aprox. 10 lbs.)
4. Extra Fluffy Down Pillows
5. A laptop with EVDO broadband card (we all gotta stay connected somehow)
6. A hammock I picked up on the way out
7. My flatmate Alan (aprox. 245 lbs)
8. A suitcase filled with clothing and a wool jacket.
9. Hiking boots
8. Alan's stuff (mostly consisted of two thirty racks of beer)

We filled the silence of the five hour drive with Bruce Springsteen's greatest hits. You know you've crossed over to the Granite State's highways when they become lined with a surplus of gun shops and discount liquor stores. More blatant were the thousand or so bikers that cut past us on Route 93.

They growled by on packs of silver and black Harleys; I imagined them off to some grass-and-dirt battlefield to clash with a rival gang. Turns out it was Laconia Motorcycle Week, an annual June rally for the displaying of bikes and girls and the consuming of copious amounts of beer. Alan wanted to go, but I decided against it.

Just as the sun dipped below the horizon we arrived at beautiful Steele Hill Resorts, set amongst 500 acres of unspoiled fields and hardwood forests, and perched proudly on top of New Hampshire's lakes Region. We were hungry from traveling, and were provided a fantastic meal in Steele Hill's restaurant which offered stunning views of Lake Winnipesaukee and Lake Winnisquaum.

I lay awake that night, amazed at how quiet the world was outside of the city. A symphony of crickets had replaced the subway trains and drunk revelers. I fell asleep well-traveled and ready to catch my bass in the morning.

A New Hampshire Wedding

My brother just got married. Growing up, the thought of marriage always seemed so far off in the distance. As kids we had bigger fish to fry, like raking up a giant piles of leaves and jumping into them over and over again. We grew up in New Hampshire.

Between my brother and a few of my best friends getting married in recent years, I have had the chance to go home and visit. I couldn’t imagine a better setting to make a commitment to the one you love. After thinking about it for a few weeks, I decided to put together a list of the top 5 things that make New Hampshire the best place to get married. Let me make a case for my home state…

1. Views: I grew up on a mountain in the Belknap range overlooking Lake Winnisquam and Lake Winnipesaukee. There are only a few things in life that we don’t take for granted after a long time. The view of rolling green mountains and the stretching lakes has never ceased to amaze me. Naturally my brother chose to get married in the Lakes Region area. His wedding venue was a resort perched up on a small mountain with a panoramic view for miles around. This area has to be the absolute best location for a scenic New Hampshire Wedding.

2. Unique Venues: New Hampshire is home to a variety of settings and unique locations for weddings. From the seashore and mountains to the small lakeside resort towns like Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, the state has a range of settings to host your dream wedding.

3. Foliage: Anyone who lives in New England already knows that between Vermont and New Hampshire we have the best foliage season in the country. After living on the west coast for a while, I began to appreciate all those blazing reds and bright yellows that seemed to carpet the woodlands through out New Hampshire. If anyone even considers a New Hampshire wedding, I strongly suggest getting married in the fall. Your wedding pictures alone will make your friends jealous.

4. Nature: I have lived in cities for going on 9 years now. When I decide to get married it will be out in the country away from the noise and the smog. Having spent many days out on the lakes and in the mountains, I am thankful for having that foundation. True nature is in it’s own right religious. A background of birds and trees beats horns and sirens any day for me.

5. History: Weddings are ceremonies that date back to the ages. They are a product of history. Historic settings lend themselves well to marriage and New Hampshire is not lacking. If a historic setting is important to you, I recommend checking out a location like the Mount Washington Hotel. This grand old hotel was host to world conferences where presidents like Roosevelt would make international treaties in the latter days of world war two.

If you are going to tie the knot and live in New England, I highly recommend checking out one of the many scenic venues in New Hampshire. With almost certainty I can tell you that you won’t be let down and you will remember the moment for the rest of your life. Like I said, all the pretty pictures won’t hurt either.

Tips, Deals and Trips: Blow off steam without blowing your wallet.

If you look at a recent graph of the stock market it is difficult not to think about a roller coaster. Every day someone I know is either on the verge of losing their job or knows somebody who was laid off. Simply put, these times are stressful. I think my brother put it best, “Everyday I wake up and worry about how I am going to take care of my family.”

After thinking about the current economic dilemma for a few days, I came to a conclusion: If we are going to have to tighten our belts, we may as well blow off some steam doing it. During the most stressful financial times it is important to remember that there are so many deals available from companies trying to drum up business. Frankly, we would be foolish not to take advantage of them.

Let’s start with food. There is nothing like a good meal to help us relax. There are a number of restaurants out there trying to push a new dish or get people through the door. As we all know, the internet tends to bring information to the masses. One site I have found helpful looking for great deals on restaurants was a blog called Money Saving Mom. The author, Crystal Paine, is a mother of two that knows a thing or two about stretching a dollar when it comes to going out to dinner with the family.

Getting places is another area that we could all use some savings advice. As a part time global warming preacher myself, I always recommend using Google Transit to navigate public transportation and make the most of your day-to-day traveling budget. If you do drive a car then you may have noticed the dropping price of gas. The one problem with price drops is that some locations tend to have stickier prices than others. To make the most out of your gas budget I always tell people to check out Gas Buddy to find the stations near you with the absolute best prices.

Taking a vacation is the next area where I pride myself on saving a buck or two. Generally speaking I try and go ‘somewhere’ every few weeks. Many times we end up staying near home, but at least we are out of the house. I am personally a big fan of camping. I think every family should go out camping a few times a year. One site I rely on for tips on great camping spots is GreatCampingSpots.com. The site has a ton of resources on finding and booking the best campgrounds around the country.

If you are looking for a more pampered vacation or just don’t feel like breaking out the tent then I have a few tips for you as well. Generally when I make the decision to reward myself with a real getaway I try as hard as I can not to break the bank in the process. While it may sound generic, Orbitz.com has some great deals on the Orbitz Deal Page. They do a great job of pulling together some interesting cost effective trips. I must confess, my family also owns timeshare. In the long run we feel like it ends up saving us money because we travel so much. There are quite a few sites on the web that offer Cheap Vacations in return for attending a resort presentation for timeshare. Many times these deals include extras such as free rounds of golf, dinner for two or even theme park tickets.

As a self professes rollercoaster junkie I can’t leave out great deals on theme parks. If you are looking for great ticket deals on major parks, check out this recent About.com article. The author tells you all sorts of tips and trick for scoring great deals to the top parks.

With all these great channels to blow off steam without blowing your wallet, make sure you take some time to smile. Life is too long and these times will eventually pass. Make sure you get your proper dose of rest and relaxation.

Bet your bottom dollar

I bought a bagel this morning and for the first time I pocketed the 75 cents instead of dropping it in the tip jar. What is this world coming to? A few weeks back the idea of saving a few quarters for parking was a far cry from my opulent lifestyle.

With the sky falling around our ears helmet sales must be going through the roof. The times are tough and need I say quite stressful. Many of us are feeling the crunch. People use a variety of outlets to channel the pressure in their lives. One of the most common is taking a vacation.

While it may seem counterintuitive to consider a vacation in such rough times, I propose that taking a vacation is all the more important. And while we all want to save our pennies (or quarters in my case), I submit that you can unwind and still keep some coin in your pocket.

There are a few new travel sites on the web that bring together the best of both worlds. Most of these sites are tied to the timeshare industry. The word timeshare might conjure up images of used car salesmen figures, but these day most of the vacation ownership companies are quite legitimate and concerned about their public image. Many offer great mini-vacation packages including extras like free golf, dinner for two or even gas certificates in exchange for attending a resort presentation with you significant other. One of these websites that recently caught my eye is Vacation-Offer.com.

My fiancé and I went on a ‘Romantic New Hampshire Weekend Getaway’ and I have to be honest, despite my initial concerns, they didn’t hold the romantic part back when we arrived. Charlene and I actually had a great time and the breath-taking views were not a garbage pit like I was worried about. We actually enjoyed a dinner like they said with a killer look over the lakes, mountains and foliage.

When it came to the tour, there really wasn’t too much pressure to buy, although after the time there we honestly considered it. I would definitely recommend going on a trip like this and I know I will give another location a try in the near future. Maybe the Myrtle Beach Golf Getaway, the pictures certainly looked nice.