Sunapee, NH (USA)

Last night, I spent a lot of time researching maple syrup places that might be open, since we'd struck out during our tour of the White Mountains.  When I told Mollie about my plan, she replied that she was excited to explore some more "essentially NH" places.  Despite this sentiment, I had to wake her up at 0845 this morning so we could depart for our day at the place I'd found near Lake Sunapee.  After getting on the road, we followed I-89, NH-11, NH-103 and NH-103A and arrived at Harding Hill Farm just after 1000.  I was glad to find that we were some of the first people who'd actually visited the new Sugar House for a tour.  We got the royal treatment and were shown each of the stations along the way from tree sap to different shades of finished syrup.  Family members (young people, third generation) took us to huge vats that had been filled with tree sap collected (with 2500 taps, 15 miles of connected tubing and trucks) from 30 acres of maple trees.  It takes over 40 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of maple syrup and we learned about the reverse osmosis machine that removes about 50% of the water from the raw syrup.  The family then heats the syrup over a wood fire to evaporate more of the water, fine tuning the sugar/liquid content until it reaches a certain temperature and density.  It then goes through a series of filters and is cooled.  By the time our tour guide poured the finished product from the spigot, the maple syrup was so pure and delicious (free samples).  Before we left the sugar house, we were shown small vials that represented each day's color/sugar-content/quality.  As the temperature in the area increases, the trees react by producing different levels of sugar - we were apparently right in the "sweet spot" (pun intended) of where the balance was really good and our taste test proved that.  The crowds started growing immediately after we finished the tour but we were the only ones in the little store - we met some more family members who told us more about the business and proud tradition of creating yummy syrup at the farm.  We bought some syrup (1030) made during the 2021 season, some syrup aged for six months in Bourbon barrels and a small vial of maple sugar.  Just like she does when I really get into the engineering of how grist mills work, Mollie kept pointing out that maple sugaring was right up my alley.  She's probably not wrong - I love learning the "how it's made" of things like this.  Mollie wanted to check out the "oreo cows” that were up the hill from the sugar house so we walked there under a warm Spring sun.  We also walked for a little while on a nearby snowmobile trail before returning to our car.  Overall, we were quite impressed with the operations at the Farm - it was even nicer to meet the friendly/energetic family who runs it (one was a Virginia Tech alum who enjoyed talking to Mollie).  We then drove south to see nearby Mount Sunapee Resort and Mount Sunapee State Park - both were packed with people.  Following the recommendation of the Harding Hill owners, we continued a little further until we reached the little village of Newbury.  We took NH-103A and soon located “The Fells” (1115), the historic home of the historic home of John Milton Hay (private secretary of President Lincoln, Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt).  Even though al the buildings were closed, we were able to take a walk on the grounds for a while.  The weather was very nice and Mollie enjoyed taking pictures.  The home, located on the property of the John Hay Natural Wildlife Refuge, has been preserved to keep the land around the lake from being developed. We were two of only a handful of visitors enjoying the quiet estate, and wandered around on the various trails that we could find. Mollie wrote later that she "spent a minute sitting on the back patio of the home soaking up the sun before catching up with dad to explore the 'Fairy Village' trail that we kept seeing signs for. The weather this weekend has been spectacular, and allowed us our first special animal sighting of the season - chipmunks! They're not a rare sighting, but after seeing virtually no animals all winter, I was excited."  Both of us talked about ideas for activities nearby after Spring weather truly arrives.  I told Mollie we should try to get lunch at a restaurant I’d seen by the lake during a previous visit and she agreed.  I drove us (via NH-103B) to Sunapee Harbor and we ended up having a delicious meal at The Anchorage (sat down at 1230).  Our table was located on the deck and we had a nice view of the melting ice on the lake.  After finishing lunch (1315) we walked around near the harbor and Mollie found another Little Library (we both got books from there).  Reluctantly, we departed the Sunapee area in search of gas for my Subaru.  This led to a funny exchange with Mollie about how I was always trying to get the best deal "when a good deal should be enough."  When I found the cheapest price and a bonus discount in Grantham (at Irving), she had to “eat her words" (1330).  Before returning home, we stopped to visit the nearby Eastman Golf and saw how the cross country skiing trails had turned into a melted mess.  I was sad but Mollie said she was glad that snow was going away for good.  We then drove home (via I-89), arriving at about 1500.  Mollie added a blog entry about our day (it was really good).  Meanwhile, I got our new outdoor furniture assembled - Mollie then spent several hours studying on the deck in the warm sun.  Another great "family day" in the Granite State!