As happens after every summer up here in New Hampshire, traffic has fallen to a fraction of what we saw prior to Labor Day. That is something we generally look forward to as it means we have an easier time getting around. We don’t have to deal with so many distracted drivers – those paying more attention to their phones or in-car entertainment systems than actually driving – that we see all too often with folks from away. Not that there aren’t New Hampshire drivers who drive distracted. I think we’ve all seen more than a few all throughout the year. But the incidents multiply tremendously during summer and most of the miscreants are not from here.
Another upside to the departure of summer traffic is that it is easier to patronize our local restaurants since they aren’t filled with summerfolk. There’s not much of a wait, if any at all, at our favorite eateries. One downside – most of the ice cream stands have closed with only a few still open and those will be closing on Columbus Day weekend. (Yes, we’re weird up here in northern New England because we like ice cream year round. For us it isn’t just a summer treat.)
Most of the boat traffic traffic on the lake is gone. It’s just the locals out there enjoying the good weather (and making up for the poor boating weather June and July). I have been out on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout more in the past 4 weeks than I have during May, June, and July combined. I plan to keep up my boating until the end of October, weather allowing. There are more than a few foliage tour trips planned on the lake to get a view of the colors from a vantage point most the leaf-peeping tourists never see. And then the boat will be pulled from the water to be winterized and stored away until next May. For me and the other die-hard boaters here in the Lakes Region summer will finally be over.
It will be relatively quiet here for a couple of months, interrupted only by Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. The folks from away will return for winter activities – skiing, sledding, ice skating, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, pond hockey, and ice fishing. While there won’t be as many folks here as we see in the summer, there will still be quite a few. And with them will be the traffic and the crowded restaurants again. It is expected. After all we are a tourist area.
We’ll deal with the heavy snow, freezing rain, sleet, sub-zero temperatures, with wind chills to match. After all, that’s winter up here in New England. We’re used to it. We revel in it.
Once we get through winter we start preparing for the coming summer.
The cycle starts again...and we love it.
