And the second prize is...

When I was a kid, I wanted my mother to go on "Queen for a Day" and win something. Ship 'n Shore blouses. A clothes dryer. (Admittedly, a dryer would have been a self-serving prize, as one of my regular chores was hanging the laundry out, and gathering it in.) 

I never thought through what her sob story would be. She didn't really have one. But I wanted to see her in the fur stole, wearing a crown, holding that spray of roses. And coming home with some loot.

My father? He was plenty competitive and athletic. He could have gone on "Beat the Clock." 

Personally, I could see myself on "Password," "The Match Game," or "College Bowl."

Later on, when it was still possible for a normally intelligent person with a head full of miscellaneous info to win, I thought I might do okay on "Jeopardy." (That was back a long while ago, when there was less stuff to know. Now when I watch "Jeopardy," which I do on occasion, there's no way I can answer half the questions, which didn't used to be the case. Sometimes I can't even figure out what type of answer they're looking for...)

In my game show watching heyday, I rather liked "The Price is Right," and thought host Bill Cullen - always pushing up his glasses, like I did - was kind of cute.

But I never envisioned myself as a contestant, and certainly could never imagine myself a contestant in the current incarnation, when you have to do something or wear something or carry something that will capture host Drew Carey's attention.  

But Catherine Graham of Marshfield, Massachusetts, has always wanted to be on "Price." She's younger than I am, but she, too, watched as a kid. And maybe even saw Bill Cullen in action.

Anyway, last fall, Catherine was in California to visit her daughter, and applied to be an audience member - an item on her bucket list - and was contacted for an interview. She has a nice personality, the outgoing kind they look for, and she made the cut. 

So she and her husband flew back out to California in December to attend the show. 

There was no guarantee that she'd get chosen to actively participate, but luck was with her, and she was picked to be a contestant. She made it through a few rounds of good guessing (snagging a firepit and a loveseat), and then advanced to the round where you might win big. 

When Catherine Graham made it to the stage during a December taping of “The Price is Right,” her head filled with fantasies of the prizes she might walk away with.

A shiny new sedan with leather seating? A luxury cruise with a week’s worth of free massages? A trip to a tropical island, far from the harsh Boston winter?

That sure would have been nice. Instead, she wound up winning a vacation that she’s quite familiar with as a New England resident.

In a twist of fate that has sparked an outpouring of sympathy for Graham, the Marshfield resident walked away from her game show appearance with an all-expenses-paid journey up Interstate 93 to the faraway land of ... New Hampshire. At least she won’t have to worry about the hassle at the airport. (Source: Boston Globe)

Not that a trip to New Hampshire can't be wonderful.

New Hampshire has some gorgeous scenery and some very nice resorts. You can sign me up for a spa day at the Mount Washington Resort any old day. 

But the prize wasn't to one of the very nice resorts surrounded by gorgeous scenery.

It was to stay in The Hotel Concord, which looks like a fine little boutique hotel, but it's in Concord.

Sure, it's the capital of the Granite State, but I'm not sure what you'd find there to occupy you in Concord for five days. (Last summer, I spent a night in the capital of Vermont. If Montepelier's any indication of what life in a small state capital is like, it ain't much.) The trip did include a rental car, and New Hampshire isn't all that big, so you could drive to see the sights. Why, you could even drive to Montpelier, Vermont. 

Anyway, five days in Concord, NH, even if you're not from around here is not all that glamorous. Let alone for someone who lives next state over and has been there plenty of times already.

“I have been to New Hampshire a billion times,” said Graham, laughing about the odds of winning a vacation to somewhere so close to home. “It’s a beautiful state — I love it — but I would really like to have gone on a cruise around the world, or someplace exotic.”

When Carey announced the prize destination:

“It was so funny. My face says it all,” said Graham, who for a brief moment on camera looked like someone who had just been pranked. “I just laughed. [I was thinking] ‘Great. It couldn’t have been Tahiti, or Hawaii?’”

Graham turned down the plane ride and rental car - and hopefully won't have to pay taxes on those items. Come September, she and her husband will drive up to New Hampshire, where they can Live Free or Die to their hearts' content.

But what a prize! Maybe second prize was ten days in Concord, NH.