New Hampshire Winter Adventure
Winter Tourism in New Hampshire; who, what, why, when, and where? Day 1 Reflection:
(Pics to come trouble uploading)
The grind began at 8:30 Monday morning. Twelve members of the Winter Adventure group rolled out of bed, dressed in snow repellant attire, and proceeded to the cafeteria for our morning briefing. None of knew what was in store for us, but we all put on foot in front of the other and piled onto the bus, heading to Lincoln, NH. The morning was chilly, but we have all dressed appropriately so none of us had anything to worry about, or at least we thought. The group was debriefed at Alpine Adventures, a local zip lining facility that deals with approximately 35,000 tourists a year. We loaded in a six-wheel power mobile, a 1930s Australian military truck, and drove about a mile uphill. Upon arriving at the entrance, Branton was informed he could not zip line because he surpassed the requirements, but the rest of the group continued up. Despite being afraid of heights, Mike and Stella built up their courage and dove off the first landing platform. We went on a total of four zip lines, each one better than the previous. Brinley pushed herself to cross the bridges, and Stella’s pink snowsuit gave everyone hope that we would make it to the end safely. As we came to the last zip line, something incredible happened. Branton was told he had “permission” to ride the last zip line; his face lit up like a kid in a candy shop. All in all, Alpine Adventure was a courageous success by enabling us to have an experience most others are unable to acquire, acting as an exposure exercise ultimately allowing kids to embrace and conquer their fears of heights. After the adventure, we headed off to a local New Hampshire tourist center to learn more about vacationing in the White Mountains. After embracing and receiving information, we ventured out to Franconia Notch State Park and hiked the Artist’s Bluff together. We started the day as a group of strangers, but left Monday’s activities as a crew, the winter adventure crew.
I'm am very grateful for the project week that I am on. I have never been able to say, "I have free falled from a zip line at 1600 feet." Now, I am able to tell the stories of how I was walking on a bridge from tree to tree, though deep down I was very nervous. Along with that I went up a mountain via car which was a scary and cool expirence. I had a different mind set before I went into this trip. Being able to meditate on the top of a mountain was a very refreshing expirence. I feel people don't take in the feeling of zeroing out technology, and taking a breath of fresh air. As we hiked back the mountain watching people laugh and slide down the mountain made my day. All we cared about was having fun in the moment. We helped each other make it up the mountain, even if we didn't know one another, I felt all of us have started to create a connnection. -SG
The zipping was great, especially the last one that drops you before picking you up and taking you on the ride. The director of operations explained that he thinks they get more business when the economy is worse because people don’t travel as far. So instead of flying to Hawaii they drive up to New Hampshire. -MS
Given that I have grown up in New England my whole life, I was used to hiking in the snow, and being outside in the cold New England weather. Although, the new exposure to different hiking spots in New Hampshire was an every opener about how the scenery attracts tourist during the different seasons. -RA
Not only did I have fun, but I was able to get out of my comfort zone by experience something that I would've never
done on my own. -MT
I talked to them and asked them questions about how many people come through the area to this ropes course and how their business was and was not effected by weather change. The business however has slowed because of the economy not being as high and not as many people can vacation. I thought this was pretty interesting because in the article we read it said the decrease in visitors was due to the lack of snow by neighboring mountains. -JB
I learned a lot when we visited the tourist center. Mostly about the history of New Hampshire and the White Mountains. Finally, the hike was amazing and the view at the top was even better. It was challenging but funny at the same time because it was very icy. -BB
Zip lining was so much fun. My favorite line was the long one because you could see all the sights while just zipping through the air. The hike was scary but worth it for just walking for twenty to thirty minutes. It was also fun to see everyone almost fall off the mountain while trying to get down safely. Today was excellent because everything we did was fun and it was very interesting to learn about all the things to do in northern New Hampshire. -JW
I was surprised I had never been to Alpine Adventures because it was a town over from where I live. I was a bit scared because I had never been ziplining before but it was really fun. -BJ
After zip lining I thought back to all the fantastic views and imagined how awesome it would be to work there, being able to zip line all day. During our hike I noticed all the different animal tracks and was trying to decipher what animal made what tracks. BDToday was a day of firsts for me. I had never gone ziplining, or hiking in the winter. Living in the mid-Atlantic area, we don’t get much of an opportunity to go hiking up areas like Artists Bluff. So being able to hike in a place that I’d never get the opportunity to at home, helped show me a fun thing to do during the winter time. -AE
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