On Tuesday we drove over an hour to Moultonborough, NH to go to Castle in the Clouds for horseback riding. I horseback rode when I was younger, for girl scouts. I remember it being fun and me being pretty good at it. On this trip, I was under false pretenses that it would all come back to me and I would impress my husband with my skills, knowledge, and ability. I could not have been more wrong.
We arrived a little early for our appointment. We were able to walk through the stables and look at the horses. We had to sign a waiver which told us horses are 3-4 times faster than humans, a whole lot heavier, and they have minds of their own so if we died or were seriously injured it was not their fault. This freaked me out, and not a little.
While we were waiting to head out, one of the guides brought out Zeus. This is the biggest horse I have ever seen in my life! I would never sit on it, let alone ride it. While he was out, a 2 year old girl got on top of him for a picture, which they charge for. It was scary for me! She was excited, and her mom was ok, but all I could picture was that
We chose helmets and met with our guide who would be taking us out. I don't remember her name. She was nice, she rode a black horse named Bumblebee who definitely had a mind of its own. One of the guides told us they had a horse named Bandit. He was newer to the farm but he was "a really good boy", he just needed some direction, oh and "don't touch your heels to his sides, you have to ride with your feet straight out or else he will start to gallop". I knew right then that horse wasn't for me!
(this is Bumblebee)The guides decided Bandit would be a good fit for my husband, and he seemed ok with that too. It still made me nervous because I was afraid Bandit would take off and my husband has never ridden before.
They decided the horse for me would be Bri. She is mild-mannered, older, and slow. Great, thanks a lot guys, I'm the girl that needs the slow horse! So we got on our horses in the saddles, there were 5 of us riding including our instructor. The line of horses went like this: instructor riding Bumblebee, then two older women, one riding Colt and I forget the other horse's name, then me on Bri, then my husband on Bandit. Well, Bri did not feel like moving with Bandit behind her. Since Bandit was new to the group of horses, Bri did not trust him and she would not budge, even with me kicking my heels into her sides. I suggested Bandit go before Bri, which he did, then Bri decided she would move. So we headed out of the gate, down by the water and then into the woods. By the water was a pavillion under which people were eating a picnic lunch that Bri wandered off and decided she wanted to eat. I had to steer her back onto the trail. This occurred many, many times during our trail ride. I think she had ADHD.
So we are riding along on the trail, it's pretty rocky but flat, and Bri is lagging behind the group when all of a sudden Bandit starts trotting. Bri sees this, and it's like a chain reaction. She surges forward and my reflexive reaction is to shriek! The instructor turns around, says, "pull back on the reins! Don't scream!" worried that I am going to freak everybody else's horse out. My heart slamming in my chest, I pull back on the reins, Bri settles in, and our ride resumes. She did this at least 3 times to me. She would see Bandit trot, my husband gracefully riding atop him, and Bri would lurch forward, one time almost pitching me off over her head and into the ravine we were riding next to. Needlesstosay, after the first time I was nervous. After the second time my body was rigid and I stopped enjoying riding. I was hoping our hour would go by quickly. By the third time she lurched forward, my hands were sweating on the leather reins, it was difficult to swallow or breathe, and I was tempted to get off the horse and have the instructor grab the reins and walk back myself.
We stopped once because a high maintenance horse decided she had to stop on the side of the trail to poop. I don't know why she couldn't be just like the rest of them and poop as they were walking through the woods. Bandit did that twice with us behind him, no regard to cleanliness, no consideration for Bri and her rider behind him, just a switch of the tail and then a lift and then out it came. DISGUSTING.
At one point Bri and Bandit started whinnying to each other. Then again, and then again. I was hoping they would wait to get back to the stable before deciding to get it on.
After the horse debacle we drove up to the other section of Castle in the Clouds was, where the real castle was, to get lunch at the Carriage House Cafe. On the way up the mountain we stopped to see "The Pebble". The Pebble is a
We stopped for a photo opp and then continued up the windy one-way mountain road. Again we stopped at a scenic overlook, to catch a glimpse of the giant Lake Winnepesaukee. Apparently New Hampshire has the biggest everythings: biggest horse, biggest pebble, biggest lake.
By the time we got to where we could park at the Carriage House Cafe, it was almost 1:30 pm and we were hungry. Not to mention, we had dinner plans back in Meredith NH at 5 pm so we needed to eat so we could get hungry again for dinner! We walked at least a half a mile from where we parked to the cafe, which also overlooked Winnepesaukee. We wanted to sit on the patio to eat to enjoy the view but there was a 45 minute wait, so we decided to wait 15 minutes for a table inside instead. We asked the hostess if we could get a drink and sit at one of the many empty tables on the patio (why were there empty tables and a wait?? Improper staffing by management? Poor wait staff that couldn't handle a few tables?). We went to the bar to grab a drink. I asked the bartender if they had a drink menu (no) but she said the drink special of the day was a Peanut Butter Cup (too rich for my taste) and then never explained to me what was in it. My husband asked what beers were on tap (no) and then we got carded. My husband had left his wallet with his ID in the car and the bartender refused to serve him, probably because I looked about 10 with my hair in braided pigtails. We got a couple glasses (paper cups--really??) of water and sat outside to enjoy the view.
After about 15 minutes the hostess came to tell us our table was ready inside. As we sat down, we realized the restaurant was an old converted horse stable, which was disgusting but charming and unique at the same time. The waitstaff was jumping. The place was pretty full, I will give you that. However, the inside of the restaurant had the smell of fish, the kind of fish restaurants put on special because it's turning and they don't want to lose money. The kind of fish that you would never buy yourself. The place reeked of it.
Our waitress was nice at first, she was pleasant but sweaty and I could tell she was pretty busy. What turned me off to her completely was when my husband, who had a view of the waitstaff working but my back was to them, told me he had just watched her plate a dessert (with her hands) and then LICK HER FINGERS. Deplorable. I had a moral dilemma right then and there of whether or not to tell management. The fact that she did it right out in the open in the middle of all the patrons told me I did not want to know what she did when she was out of the eyesight of the customers and management.
The next time she came back to our table it was to take our order, and as she was standing there she wiped sweat off her forehead: WITH THE SAME FINGERS SHE HAD JUST LICKED. Now I was trying really hard not to be disgusted. I knew that if we left there was nothing around for miles to eat and I was hungry. But my appetite had died down.
There was a confusing aspect about the menu as well. I ordered a portobello mushroom burger for my meal. At the bottom of the menu page it said "above served with coleslaw and french fries". The guy at the next table got his meal and complained there was no coleslaw. The waitress told him he was wrong, his meal did not come with it, but she brought him some anyway. Since he had said something, when my meal came and there was no coleslaw, I said something too, thinking there was a mistake on the menu. I did not get coleslaw. Rather, I got the waitress coming back to tell me at the bottom of the page, the words "french fries and coleslaw come with above items" is only for the specific items right above those words. How confusing and annoying. I really wanted some damn coleslaw!
On the plus side, the food was really good! My mushroom burger came with the exactly right number of french fries, not too many, not too few. It was the perfect amount. My portobello burger came grilled with a balsamic reduction (nice touch to reduce the dressing), tomato, lettuce, and chunks of bleu cheese that had melted on the burger. It was very tasty but also very messy. There was actually grease dripping from the burger.
My husband had the Croque Madame, which was full of meat and cheese. It had a smoky flavor and nicely melted cheese.
The prices were good. Since we had no booze because hubby didn't have ID, the food cost us about $18, in total $21 w hen I threw in the waitresses tip. The only reason she got one is because I have waitressed, I know it sucks. But to see her do the things she did, right in front of us, and then she dropped the check and never returned for it (we got change from the bar in order to pay our bill), now that I think of it I wish I took my $3 back.
We came home from our adventures that day and took a delicious, much needed nap after the hour ride back to camp. Later on, we met my dad, brother, and step-mom at Hart's Turkey Farm in Meredith for dinner. I have been going to Hart's every year as long as I can remember. The food is always consistent. The waitstaff is usually well-trained. Well, not that night. I think our waiter was brand-new. He seemed to only have 2 tables, and ours was only a 5-top. That should be no problem, if you know what you're doing. I do remember his name but I am not going to call him out. It's been a month since we were there, hopefully he has learned and improved or moved on to bigger and better things. I tell you what, though, waitstaff can probably make a killing working there. The place is huge and they are always busy (we were there on a Monday night at 5 and had to wait for a table!)
Our waiter never brought my husband the beer he ordered. He came out to tell us about 20 minutes after we placed our order that they ran out of the crab legs my father and I had ordered (MAJOR BUMMER, but probably a good thing since if they ran out by 5:30 pm on a Monday night, they were not just ordered, they did not just arrive at the restaurant, and this was probably another restaurant pushing old fish. We were probably saved from food poisoning by that fact). I told the waiter I would order the broiled fisherman's platter. Then I changed my mind and when he came back 5 minutes later, I said "If the cook hasn't started my meal, can you please change it to the small portion of broiled scallops?" I wasn't that hungry after lunch. He never came back to tell me what my meal was going to be. Awesome, I like surprises (not). Turns out I got the scallops, but my husband's meal did not come out with ours. He forgot the side of sour cream that he specifically asked me for with my potato. Finally my husband's order came out. The food was good, the service was horrendous.
After dinner we went down the street to a park on the water in Meredith. We had driven by this area on the way to Castle in the Clouds and I had told my husband I really wanted to stop on the way back from riding to take some pics, it was gorgeous there! On the way home, though, we were too damn tired to stop so I was happy my dad suggested going there after dinner. While sitting there, we noticed a restaurant at the end of the lake, attached to an inn. It was named Lago. I thought it might be Spanish food and wanted to check it out. Usually our last night in NH we eat at the Homestead Restaurant in Bristol but this place was pretty! It had outdoor seating, flowers, umbrellas, it was on the water, it looked classy and elegant, and I HAD TO EAT THERE! My step-mom and I went to check out the menu. It was reasonably priced, Italian (I'll settle) and we decided to eat there Friday night instead. I was SO EXCITED!
When we got back to our cabin it had started to rain. I was pretty sure we would find a bunch of leaks in our roof, like every year, but was pleasantly surprised to find none. We went to my aunt's cabin and my Russian husband taught everyone a Russian card game called Durak. It's fun but confusing at first. Some people couldn't quite grasp it but I was addicted and kicking butt in the game!
We went to bed at 11:30. I was up at 3 am, again, having ANTMARES, dreaming they were crawling all over me in my sleep. I was very cranky again the next morning from this!
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