<p>This much anticipated event of the autumn season typically draws sustaining members from the region and neighboring states for a great time!</p> <p>It&#39;s the perfect way to meet fellow sustaining members!&nbsp;</p> <p>All sustaining members are invited to our <strong>Potluck </strong>on a beautiful autumn day by spending the afternoon at Mad River Lodge. This is an event for sustaining members to kick back, relax, share a meal and swap stories of their time in the woods! The Mad River Lodge is a great venue with breathtaking views of Sandwich Dome and colorful fall foliage in the Mad River valley.</p> <p><strong>We are expecting a large turnout.</strong> We will enjoy a fun-filled day of playing, socializing, eating great food, and meeting up with old friends and making new ones.</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><strong><em>Location</em></strong></span></p> <p>The Mad River Lodge is privately owned [Mike and Jon&rsquo;s house], near Waterville Valley and approximately 3 miles off Exit 28 from Interstate 93. It is easily accessible to most of the major urban areas in New England and Quebec. It is approximately a 2 hour drive from Boston, 2 &frac12; hours from Portland, 3 hours from Providence, 3 &frac12; hours from Montreal and 5 hours from New York City. &nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><strong><em>Please Post Pre-Event Activities</em></strong></span></p> <p><strong>Before the event, we welcome members to post hiking trips nearby!</strong> <a href="http://www.waterville.com/hiking/" target="_blank">Waterville Valley itself offers a number of hikes</a> including Goodrich Rock, The Scaur, Snows Mountain and Noon Peak. Moderate hikes include Jennings Peak, Mt. Tecumseh and our adopted trail, Mt. Osceola. Closer to the Lodge is the ever popular Welch/Dickey Loop and the much easier Yellow Jacket/Smarts Brook Trails. If you would like to run one of these hikes but need help, contact us!</p> <p><a href="https://www.gayoutdoors.org/page.cfm?typeofsite=events-insert" target="_blank">&gt;&gt;Click Here to Post an Activity</a></p> <p><span style="color:Green"><strong><em>Beer/Wine Blast ~ 3:00PM</em></strong></span></p> <p>We&rsquo;ll start off the party with our traditional Beer/Wine Blast! Bring a six pack of your favorite local craft beer or vintage wine to share in our communal cooler and sample what everyone else brought! We&rsquo;ll have name badges and it&rsquo;s a great way to meet the gang. Relax on our property, enjoy the spectacular views, or take a short walk to the Mad River to hang out by the water. Socialize and meet other sustaining members!</p> <p>If you prefer to bring cheese/crackers or a veggie platter instead of something for the Potluck, we&rsquo;ll have a table set up so you can share with everyone.&nbsp;</p> <p>We highly recommend to bring a lawn chair if you would like to sit. There will not be any tables for you to eat from. &nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><strong><em>Potluck ~ 5:30 PM </em></strong></span></p> <p><strong>Bring something tasty to the BBQ/potluck to share. Please focus on main dishes since we usually have so many appetizers and dessert that it gets thrown away; packaged food usually does not eaten. </strong>You can use our gas grill if you need to grill something, oven to bake/warm up something, our stovetop for cooked pasta and we&rsquo;ll have lots of outlets if you want to plug in a crock pot.<br /> <br /> Main entrees is where we typically fall short so please make this your first choice to contribute to the potluck. Vegetarian dishes and a description of the ingredients are appreciated. Pasta dishes are a good second choice. And everyone loves salads: potato, pasta or garden salad!<br /> <br /> We usually have way too much dessert so please make this your last choice for the potluck. Please refrain from contributing packaged bakery items, bread, soda/lemonade, etc. Homemade food always gets eaten and we usually end up throwing away the packaged food.<br /> <br /> We will provide paper plates, plastic utensils, napkins and serving utensils.</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><strong><em>Campfire ~ 6:30PM</em></strong></span></p> <p>After the potluck we&rsquo;ll light up a fire to keep everyone warm.&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><strong><em>GOtoberFest Fireworks ~ 7:30PM</em></strong></span></p> <p>Later on, it&#39;s relax time watching the alpenglow off of Sandwich Mountain followed by FIREWORKS!!!</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><em><strong>Must Register on Website</strong></em></span></p> <p>The event is a great way to come out and meet sustaining members. <strong>Everyone must be a SUSTAINING MEMBER and register on the website in order to attend so we can communicate additional details as we get closer to the date.</strong></p> <p><span style="color:Green"><em><strong>Dogs</strong></em></span></p> <p>Dogs will be allowed if they get along with people and other dogs. Please put them on a leash when we are eating so they are not begging for food.</p> <p><span style="color:Green"><em><strong>Lodging and Camping Options</strong></em></span></p> <p>This a fundraiser for GO so if you wish to stay at the Mad River Lodge Saturday night in one of our bunk beds, all proceeds will be given to GO. <span style="color:rgb(51, 51, 51)">The cost will be $50 for Saturday night.&nbsp;</span>If all eight bunks are taken, that means a $400 donation.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We will also allow tenting at $20 per person or $35 for a couple with these proceeds also donated to GO. Otherwise, there are <a href="http://www.waterville.com/lodging/">many lodging options nearby in Waterville Valley</a> which is ten minutes away. Unfortunately, the nearby White Mountain National Forest campgrounds will have closed for the season. &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Rain date would be the following day, Sunday October 14th but we would be starting at Noon and have to skip the Campfire and Fireworks. We would also not be providing lodging/tenting for Sunday night.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>So come and enjoy the lovely and secluded natural environment of the Mad River Lodge 5 private acres along the Mad River&hellip;the gorgeous mountain fall foliage&hellip;a delicious Potluck, campfire and fireworks! Put the dates in your calendar! We&rsquo;ll see you there!!!</p> <p>Your hosts,</p> <p>Mike and Jon</p>