We’ve been at home for nearly a month now. Our county is holding steady at 29 confirmed cases, no deaths from the virus. My friend Michelle, who contracted the virus in Louisiana, is on the mend slowly. She was home with the virus and oxygen was brought to her at home when it was touch-and-go rather than having her in the hospital. It seems to have worked out very well. New Hampshire’s Governor Sununu announced today that school would be remote through the end of the year. However, he is allowing campgrounds to open. He has shut down vacation rentals, limited who can stay in hotels, but is allowing campgrounds to open. Something about being outside. Yet these people will be going to our stores, gas stations, outdoor activities, etc. Makes as much sense as labeling the WWE an “essential service.”

In an effort to get outside, I took my 4 year old granddaughter and 19 year old son to White Lake State Park. The idea was to walk the three mile trail that goes around the lake and pick up a few geocaches in the park.

Winter parking is outside of the toll booths that charge at the park during the season. There was a geocache located in this parking lot. My granddaughter spotted something new and different to her.

I had to explain to a 4 year old what a pay phone was as well as a phone book. We double-checked and it was no incoming calls. I know we sometimes have spotty cell phone coverage in the mountains, but I seemed to get a good signal here.

We walked from the parking lot down to the beach that’s open in the summer. Well, there was nothing stopping anyone from taking a swim now, but it would be a bit chilly. The air was only in the 40’s today, I could imagine what temperature the water was.

There’s a beach store here (closed for the winter) as well as restroom (also closed for the winter) and a playground.

From here we followed the trail on the south side of the lake to the next geocache. I was 50 feet from it when the trail became very wet. I left both of the kids behind and managed to find the container without getting my feet too wet.

That would be all we would find today. We arrived at the boat launch for the lake, which comes in off Depot Road. We found it under water, as well as the trail that continued around the lake. I could have managed to get around it, but I was worried about just how much of the rest of the trail that went around the lake would be under water still, so we decided to leave.

As we were walking back to the parking lot, one of the snow squalls came down out of the mountain. It made for fun while we walked. The snow wouldn’t last long and didn’t accumulate.

We only walked about 2 miles total today. I’m sad that we didn’t get to do what we wanted to do. I might try another spot tomorrow that’s usually crowded with people but might be empty due to the time of year and the restrictions due to the virus.