The forever lasting car ride was brutal. I never imagined an hour and half could seem like such a long time. With either Maura or Rob Dandreo driving, Elaina and I try to wait patiently until we either stop for lunch, or until we just get there. We get extremely fidgety because we know what we’re expecting for the weekend. We eventually stop for a quick lunch break and walk around to calm ourselves down. Then we continue our way toward the lake house area. At some point in the car ride after Elaina and I have distracted ourselves, her parents tell us that we are right down the street. If we didn’t keep ourselves busy, we usually would’ve already known that we’re nearly there due to the rocky and bumpy dirt road leading to neighborhood of houses. After a few minutes, we’re finally in the driveway. The reason why I love this place so much is because I find that not being in the city 24/7 is irresistible. It’s amazing just being in a small, empty, lively New Hampshire town with no worries, even if it’s only for a weekend. I love spending time with the Dandreo family because Elaina is one of my best friends, and her family is the most caring, giving, and loving family I’ve ever met. Her parents always make sure we’re always on the go so we’re not bored. When we enter the house I feel sudden warmth like the sun because it’s such a cozy house. It’s the kind of house that you see in movies; it’s flawless for a lake house. It’s not a fancy mansion; it’s the perfect size for a four person family and a few guests. It lies right upon a small cove with no houses surrounding it except for one neighbor. When you look outside her glass window wall in the living room, all you see is green and brown trees, and in the water at the middle of the lake you see tubers and boats and fishing and all sorts of activities. Once we unpack our things and settle in, the first thing Elaina and I do is go on the dock and feel the water. If it’s warm, we rush inside to throw on our bathing suits. Even though it would be an impulse to just jump in the free water, we would never because we’re terrified of the life underneath. There are snapping turtles, fish, beavers, and many more. So instead of swimming in the cove, Rob usually takes us out on the boat and we ride around for a bit until we find the perfect spot to stop. As we’re at a halt, we can hear the whispers of the waves in the distance after a boat rockets through the waters. It’s really calming and you fall in love with the sound. Once we relax and just hang out and have a soda or snack or something, we take our cover-ups’ off and jump off the edge of the boat. When you jump in the depths of the lake water, it instantly feels warm at the top, but you start sinking into an icy pit of refreshing water. Once we do that continuously for a while, we head back to the house for a late lunch/dinner because by late afternoon, we’re all as hungry as a pack of bears. Her parents always have the best tasting, mouth watering lunches and dinners ever. They’re either always fancy or ironically something you’ve been craving. When we finish our delectable dinner and small talks with the family, we head outside to the dock and get the paddleboat to journey around the cove. It’s really fun and we have inside jokes and bonding time. After a while of paddling around, we head back to the house to get ready for the night. We go inside and Maura asks us if we want to go out for ice cream. We obviously say yes and then we hit the road. I get a triple chocolate fudge ice cream, and Elaina gets mint chocolate chip. On our way home, we pass an eerie looking dirt road, so we decide to be courageous and drive down there. Our surroundings are as black as coal as we head down the unpaved road, and we consider heading back. But as we were saying that, we see the most frightening, ghostly house we’ve ever seen. We’re terrified at this point because we think some ghost is going to pop out and kill us. We then speed the other way down the dirt road and go as fast as the wind towards our house. Once we’re home, we realize it’s late at night and the sky is black. I am always shocked about the brilliancy of the stars-I could almost touch them with my hand. We head inside and Elaina and I tell everyone we’re going to bed. While we’re inside trying to get cozy and settling in for the night, we always decide to make a childish fort just for the fun of it. Once we finish it, it always ends up being the size of the whole entire room! In the morning when we wake up, I feel refreshed and ready for another exciting day. We walk into the spacious living room, and in the morning, you can hear birds chirping from every direction, but sometimes when they’re too loud, they can be as annoying as a pesky bug. After a tangy breakfast of fruit, or Dunkin’ Donuts or something of the sort, we get our bathing suits on and get ready for tubing. We head out towards the middle of the lake on the boat, and the first person hops on the tube, as terrified as a mouse being chased by a cat. As the person is whizzing around trying to be knocked off, everyone on the boat is laughing their heads off at them. It’s as if our boat is hovering over the lake water, and then finally, it slows down to a stop, waiting for the next person. After a few other people other people go a few times, we’re finally ready to stop. When we’re on the boat for hours, sometimes we wish the ground beneath us was as still as the dead. From there on, the day continues as the day before the same exact way, and we all never get tired of it. The next morning, we pack up our things, and head out the door, already ecstatic for the next time we come to the lake house.