Finally Here! Geneva Point Center on Lake Winnipesaukee, N H

Friday, May 29, 2015

We finally left Connecticut on Wednesday, May 13^th after spending the morning waiting for our credit card. It arrived shortly after we left. Argh....! Oh well, life as nomads has its small problems. Greg's brother sent it on. Since we are now stationary for a while, we can receive mail. And we ARE stationary! Until the end of October we are officially residents of Geneva Point Center.

We spent the night before arriving, camping at an RV park just off I-91 at the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border, and drove the few hours north on Thursday. We called Peter, the Executive Director, to tell him we were an hour out, and would it be okay to come early. The answer was “Yes!”, so mid-afternoon we rolled in. After driving along the northwestern shore of Lake Winnipesaukee we turned south onto the Moultonborough Neck and near the end made the turn that took us to Geneva Point Center. The staff came out to greet us and we felt instantly at home. After a short walk with everyone to the staff RV park, we drove the rig into our space and got settled.

Campsite at Travelers Woods of New England in Massachusetts just south of Brattleboro, VT.

Our quiet, shady camp at Geneva Point is close enough to the lake that we hear Loons calling most nights.

Our fire ring and view toward the lake through the maple, oak, and birch forest.

We have the end spot in the 6 site RV area, and are nestled into the woods at the edge of the property. Rick and Cookie are our nearest neighbors across the path. Beside them are four more staff cabins, the Winni Nest for the younger staff to hang out in, and across the field more staff cabins for those same youngsters. Across the paved road are the old inn, the administrative buildings, and my shops. Farther on is the green with the chapel, meeting house, and the barn. Scattered among the almost 200 acres are various cabins and accommodations, and trails to the three beaches. We currently eat our meals in the meeting house, but will shift over to the inn's dining hall when we are at fuller capacity.

Wooster Cabin in College Row is one of dozens of simple 4-bunk cabins for families or groups

Most cabins have a half bath and room for 4 to 8 bunks.

The Barn, circa 1870s, has a nice recycled gymnasium floor for dances

This was the Winnepesaukee Inn in 1885, we just call it the Inn

The front door of the Inn

The Inn porch is very popular on hot days

Looking at the lake side of the Inn

Looking across the upper campus at the Chapel

The Meeting House has a modern kitchen and banquet facilities

We have been extremely busy since we arrived working and getting settled in. Hence no posting. Greg has been busy on the grounds and maintenance crew. He is thrilled to be driving the dump truck and tractor. His expertise has been helpful as the crew has been putting in water and sewer for a 13 site RV park for guests. Otherwise he has been hauling brush and doing whatever labor is asked of him. Happy, happy Greg! A no stress job, just dig holes and haul brush!

So far, Greg has spent much more time with a hand shovel than running the tractor

The heavy wire for the new RV park electric service

The RV park in progress

All of the RV campsites will be backed into the woods

Cleaning up leaves and brush with the little but handy dump truck

I was quickly introduced to the ice cream shop, gift shop, and the guest laundromat. Since Geneva Point is a non-profit that markets to other non-profits for camp and conference experiences, it needs to fund raise. My shops are a place to earn extra income for the center to fulfill its mission. I've had lots of work to do cleaning, organizing, researching merchandise to sell and just wrapping my head around how things are done here.

The Winni Scoops ice cream shop

The Gift Shop adjoins the ice cream shop

Beginning to inventory the gift shop

First look at the ice cream shop

Left over Gift Shop merchandise

Ice Cream Shop memorabilia

Waiting for ice cream

Our dozen or so co-workers are great. We are tasked with getting the whole place ready for the summer season. Long hours, and lots of esprit de corps help. Soon the summer help arrives. Lots of international students and local youth. I will have a young man from England, and a young woman from Ireland, as well as a few local boys part time to work in my shops.


As our neighbor Cookie says, “This is a great gig!”. We thoroughly researched work camping opportunities since this was to be our first one. We are living in a beautiful place in the New Hampshire woods with the largest lake in the state bounding the property. We have full hook-ups; water, electric, sewer, cable and wifi access. All our meals are provided, and we are paid for full time work. Greg is working six days a week. I just made the decision, with the director, to cut back to five days a week. Too much for me. This way I will be able to keep up with my writing. Our expenses have been cut back. Since we are parked until the end of October we are not spending on diesel, propane or camping fees. They are feeding us, so only a small food bill for odds and ends, and we will be too busy working to spend on eating out or other impulse buys. Our fixed expenses remain the same, but now we have some income to offset them.

The main driveway in front of the Chapel

The historic chapel

The front entrance of the Chapel

Since we bought the car to tow, we have transportation to travel a bit, so later in the Fall we should have more time to explore. Everything slows down here after Labor Day when wedding season kicks in on the weekends. We expect to have a great experience here and are already enjoying making friends with our fellow workers, interesting retirees who want to contribute their efforts to running a remarkable place.

One of the lake views

Wildflowers near the shore

The Lifeguard shack at First Beach

Canoes and rowboats for guests

Looking from our beach at some of the many islands in Lake Winnepesaukee

Some of the Geneva Point shoreline

I hope to keep up better with the blog as we get settled in. I'm sure there will be interesting stories to tell and beautiful photos to share!

The Prayer Tree decorated by the Kazakh Family gathering

The Labyrinth offers contemplation and easy escape if you get frustrated

Hearth decoration in the main room of the Meeting House

Moving Northward and the Farm to Forest Trail

Monday, May 11, 2015

Babies grow fast...sigh...and life continues to progress. The past few weeks took us back to Maryland and brought us time to learn to be grandparents, share the new grand-daughter with the extended family and help my almost 90-year-old Dad meet his first great-grandchild. He gripped her smooth, plump little leg and felt the onward march of the generations. He can now remember 7 generations of his family. He's waited a lot of years for this moment.


As the sandwich generation in our families, we are making choices based on our needs as a couple, but keeping those decisions informed by our need to be part of the older and younger generations in our timeline. We left the Outer Banks of North Carolina as the weather turned and drove up to Northern Virginia in order to get north of the rain. Stopping for three nights at Prince William Forest Park, which is a national park near Quantico Marine Base, we found it almost empty. No hook-ups, and half price with my senior discount, it's a huge park, with a secluded campground far from the entrance. It provided us a short respite in the woods before we tackled the Washington, DC suburbs. Greg was feeling primal and built a fire from the wood left over from another camper. We hiked the Farm to Forest trail along Quantico Creek and enjoyed the Spring woods. Greg explored the roads and trails on his bike. There is quite an extensive system of old abandoned farm roads through the woods, plus a paved scenic loop.

Nice camp site in Prince William Forest Park

Cooler than 60, free firewood - time for a campfire!

Pleasant hiking in the Virginia Piedmont

New leaves following a hard winter

Small stream filling up with Spring rain

Lots of new ferns for spring

Luxurious skunk cabbage along a small stream floodplain

Apparently Quantico Creek had a beaver a few years ago, but no recent activity

Wednesday, April 29, we braved I-95 and the Washington Beltway to make our way to our daughter and son-in-law's house, and reunited with them and the baby! We enjoyed their company and began the rounds of appointments. We had an early Mother's Day celebration with the extended family. After 6 nights we moved over to Greenbelt National Park, where we had stayed last Fall when we visited. It also has no hook-ups, and we used the senior discount. Both parks are mainly a convenience for visiting the area, and much less expensive than the few local RV parks. It's nice to have a nice spot way back in the woods to escape the metropolitan congestion.

Its hard work training a new Grandpa!

Unfortunately, Greenbelt Park's best known feature is ticks, supported by wall-to-wall squirrels and many deer.

After more appointments, it was time to say goodbye and start north. We left Greenbelt Park the morning of May 9, and drove the interstates, (ugh...our least favorite roads) to Connecticut for more family visits. This time Greg's side. Spent Mother's Day on Greg's brother's boat on Long Island Sound rafted up with our niece's boat and lots of family members. Gorgeous weather and a great floating BBQ!

Moored in a quiet cove along the Connecticut shore

Grilling for the hungry crowd

Working hard just staying out of the way!

Tomorrow we leave for Geneva Point, New Hampshire. We are due there on Friday, May 15^th, to begin our first work camping experience. We've had lots of good wishes from friends and family who are excited for our coming summer experiences. Hopefully a few will come visit! We are looking forward to seeing our nephew who lives a few hours away in Vermont. Ahhhh...summer in New England, what a great place to be!


Last minute change of plan - We are not leaving until Wednesday. Our credit card company can't seem to send us a new card, being replaced due to fraud, and now is promising Wednesday...we'll see...