I’ve just come back from a week in New Hampshire, so expect a bunch of blog entries about New Hampshire attractions over the next few weeks.

But I wanted to kick-off this week with one of my favorite rides of the whole vacation…

A trip on the M/S Mount Washington boat that cruises around Lake Winnipesaukee.

I boarded the boat with my family on Sunday at Weirs Beach. It was a gorgeous sunny day, with a gentle breeze on the water. The cruise took 2 and 1/2 hours to make the trip down to Alton Bay and back.

The three decks of the M/S Mount Washington provided stunning vistas of the mountain ranges overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee. These mountains include the Belknap, Ossipee, and Sandwich ranges – the foothills of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire and one of the cleanest. Houses surrounding the lake take their drinking water directly from the lake without any filtering. The lake is entirely spring fed.

The current M/S Mount Washington has been cruising the lake since 1946, and in it’s heyday would cruise from Meredith to Wolfeboro to Alton Bay to Weirs Beach. These days it alternates during spring through fall between Weirs Beach to Meredith, or Alton Bay. The lake freezes over during winter and the boat is docked at Center Harbor.

They serve food on the boat and this day we decide to take in the champagne brunch, as it’s a Sunday specialty. It was good but not exceptional value.

The jaunt up through Alton Bay was relaxing, with plenty of waving to people on the banks or on their boats enjoying the summers day along with us. The M/S Mount Washington is a popular favorite on Lake Winnipesaukee as it’s easily recognizable… and the biggest boat on the lake.

You feel like you’re on a very special boat with all the attention you get from other boaters, as they too wind their way through the channels and around some of the 276 islands within Lake Winnipesaukee shoreline.

If you’re ever in the area of Lake Winnipesaukee then take a few hours out and take the M/S Mount Washington cruise. It’s a wonderful way to experience the lake, and appreciate the vastness of the scenery. I did take lots of picture but I have to say none did the lake, or the ship, justice. They were both too large in real life to be captured as a mere Kodak moment!

If you’d like to learn more about the M/S Mount Washington and the lake visit my Lake Winnipesaukee page at the web site by clicking here.

As always you can heaps more ideas and suggestions for things to do in New Hampshire on your vacation by clicking here.

Cliff Calderwood
New England Vacations Guide.com
Expert New England Traveler
Author of The Guide “10 Secrets For Booking on Travel Web Sites”
(This FREE ebook will save you A LOT of money)
Platinum Writer for EzineArticles.com

Related posts:

1. How a “Lost Boy” in the Lake Winnipesaukee Relay Race was Found
2. Fall Foliage Dinner Cruise
3. Lake Champlain – The Sixth Great Lake
4. Canobie Lake Park – The 100-Year-Old Theme Park
5. Special Independence Day Celebration at Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa