Friday, June 23, 2006

Santa's Village

Hello to all of you, my dear public. Back again after too long away. I wanted to record the events of the day, my last day of vacation, spent with Kid 1 and Kid 2 at Santa's Village in wee Jefferson, NH.

Kid 1 is 8 and Kid 2 is 5 and Santa's Village is a throwback to the 50s, a family-owned proto theme park with, you guessed it, a Christmas theme. It's perfect for small kids and not too hard on the grown ups. The place has more Christmas Kitsch than you can shake a stick at and they are not adverse to separating you from a dollar but it is also obvious that they are not there to rip you off. For your $21 admission you get a clean, safe, friendly little park, staffed by nice kids and retirees. Everything is immaculate. The soft ice cream cones we bought cost about $1.50 and were too big for kids to eat.

Kid 2 is not adventurous but today he went on the Rudolph Rollercoaster and the Yule Log Ride, the too "scariest" rides and loved them. I was telling some friends about it last night and noting the happy contrast to Walt Disney World: a nightmare of eight-dollar lollipops behind a sea of strollers and the new semi-disabled on their Rascals.