Over the weekend I went on a camping trip to Errol, NH. For those of you who might not know where that is you can check out the South Eastern side of Canada and head south a bit into NH. Needless to say it's the middle of nowhere. Errol has about four stores and one of them is LL Cote which is where you can get groceries, fishing gear, hardware supplies and just about anything else you could imagine. You might get a kick out of their website. There is also one gas station, one restaurant and a post office. What you lack in creature comforts they certainly more than make up for this in gorgeous wilderness, spectacular wildlife and remarkable people.
I grew up in NH and I camped, hiked and fished all of my life. That is until I moved to Washington, DC 10 years ago. I can't believe how quickly I forgot how to operate in the wilderness. The rest of the group all played the part of Jack Palance while I was billy Crystal (minus his love of the Yankees). Unfortunately for us it rained most of the weekend but that didn't stop us from getting into some serious remote fishing holes. We fished Akers Pond, Round Pond and hiked about a mile and a half into the wilderness with waders, tubes and fishing gear to get to Sweat Pond. The hike was well worth it because the pond was beautiful and luckily filled with trout. Unfortunately for us the weather did not want to hold up for us and after a few peaceful hours of wading in my tube and flailing around with my fly rod the heavens opened up on us and we were forced back to the cabin.
There's really two things that stood out about the cabin. The first is my introduction to game called Baggo. Some of you might know this game as Cornhole. Who knew there was an American Cornhole Association? Not this guy. Anyways it's a fantastic game where you toss bean bags into opposing cut out holes. I can't do the description any justice so check out one of the two links to see what I'm talking about and get yourself a set ordered today. These things even have beer holders built into the targets. One of the best drinking activities ever created. The other thing that really stood out was the introduction of the potato cannon. This thing is made with some PVC piping, a gas grill starter button and some hair spray or in our case some starter spray although I have seen it done with aqua net as well. Basically anything that's really flamable that you can spray into the pvc tube. Here's a video that shows how to create a potato cannon.
By no means do I recommend anyone try this at home but it was a ton of fun and I can't wait until next years fishing trip, but mostly for the potato gun.
I also wanted to give a special Shout Out to Patricia Moynahan at the National Car Rental in Boston. I left my suit coat in my rental and she found it, notified me and shipped it via fedex. Not only do I get to pick any car in the lot using the Emerald Aisle but they also generally care about their customers. Thanks Patricia and thank you National Car Rental!
