Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Eagle Mountain House (White Mountains, NH)

Sometime after Labor Day an interesting real estate opportunity presented itself to us. It was a little unusual, but given the location and the look of the place we were at least game to try. The deal was for a "condo" which was actually a room in the Eagle Mountain House, which is an old historic hotel listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a marvelous place, truly. The beautifully restored edifice sits proudly up along a country road deep in the heart of Jackson, NH in the Mount Washington Valley. It is a classic imposing structure with 2 huge porches complete with rocking chairs and tables, all with views of the impressive Carter Notch.It has a full restaurant, bar, game room, gym/hot tub/sauna, 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, and a pool... It was kind of dream come true for us, especially since I fell in love with the White Mountains during my UNH days many years ago. The biggest downside was the fact that it was 6 hours away, which made it less convenient for a traditional Friday to Saturday weekend. You never know until you try though, so we prepared Tracy (my VW) for yet another long drive into the wild, and decided to give it a go.

We head up early Saturday morning, with plans to stop halfway in Brattleboro, Vermont. The Traffic Gods were not smiling on us at the start though, and the drive out of NYC took about an hour! Thankfully though, the shaky start was followed by smooth sailing! Brattleboro is a beautiful town in the Southwest corner of Vermont along the Connecticut river. It has a long main street through town with a nice collection of shops serving up the wares of the local artisans and craftsman. Scattered throughout are also a colorful mix of restaurants and bars. We had a great lunch at some place I can't remember (damn that Diet Coke!), and after a fast break, we got back on the road to try and get up there before sunset. We decided to drive straight up Vermont and then cut across into NH from the north. We picked up route 302 and enjoyed a very scenic drive past the Mount Washington Hotel and the Presidential Mountain Range, through Crawford Notch, and eventually to Jackson. Jackson is a small secluded town nestled right in the heart of NH ski country, hiking, and all sorts of outdoor fun. You drive into town by way of a classic century-old covered bridge. The town itself is a is a sleepy little place, with a only a small collection of restaurants and shops, and a handful of beautiful old hotels. The slow drive took us over the Wildcat River and then up a steep hill that followed the river up past the Jackson Falls, which are partially visible from the car, and on to the hotel a little further up the hill. The whole area was gorgeous! We parked quickly and went to meet the couple we were going to buy the room from. We got as far as the front steps of the porch when we were approached by a lovely couple with a young teen aged daughter. I guess the NY gays must stick out like sore thumbs to the locals! Oh well! They were great though, and gave us a quick tour of the place before leaving us for our trial night. We definitely got caught up in the moment and the natural beauty of the place, and had a wonderfully romantic night. We took advantage of the remaining sunlight, and set out for a nice quiet stroll over the grounds along the Wildcat River before sunset. As the sun set, the air began to cool off dramatically, so we made our way back to the hotel and settled in for nice dinner at the restaurant. We enjoyed a nice glass of wine and a delicious hearty 3-course meal, before finally camping out on the porch. We chose a couple of rocking chairs at the far end of the porch near our room, opened a bottle of wine, and enjoyed the crisp (below 40 degrees) autumn air while looking at the stars! It was perfect!

The next day, we had a great buffet-style country breakfast at the hotel restaurant and met some colorful older women who were part of the Appalachian Mountain Club up for a week of hiking adventures! We bid adieu to the place early that morning comfortably stuffed. We stopped a quarter of a mile from the hotel at the top of the Jackson Falls we had driven by the night before. The falls are actually a beautiful collection of falls that crash over several sections of a gorge in the center of town. The air was clear, the sky was blue, and we were psyched to be in the country ... again! We definitely need a country and a city home! Dare to dream! Maybe one day when we hit the lottery! Our original plan that morning was to either go on a short hike or drive up the Mount Washington Auto Road which was just 20 minutes up the road. We opted for the drive since it was such a short weekend and we had a long drive ahead of us. We head up Rt 16 north towards Mount Washington, which is actually the largest mountain in the northeast at 6288 feet. A few miles shy of the autoroad I wanted to make a quick stop at the Glen Ellis Falls, a beautiful 65 waterfall I remembered from my UNH days. It is a 15-20 minute hike off the main road, and was a good way to get the juices flowing. The sun was high enough by the time we got there to set a golden light over the face of the falls. In fact, by the time we got there, the angle was so perfect we were even treated to rainbow in the mist at the base of the falls. After enjoying the moment, we head back out to the autoroad entrance. Sadly, we were not able to head up when we got there. Apparently there was an auto-race up the face that was going to last the better part of the morning. What is worse was the fact that the peak was below freezing that morning, so they were only going to let folks up about halfway unless the conditions improved. I wanted to show Phil the drive because it is stunningly beautiful. The weather that day was perfect, so visibility would have allowed us to see potentially as far as the ocean on the SE coast, Maine, Vermont, and even Canada from the summit! It also is a road that goes above the treeline, which is a very unusual thing for east coast mountains, and something a lot of people never get the chance to see.

Our Plan B was to drive home by way of the Kangamangus Highway through the heart of the White Mountain National Forest. This is a wonderful way to get a quick taste of the forest. We picked up about 1/3 of the way along its course headed west. The whole drive is about 34 miles and offers a great mix of natural beauty, from rivers, rocky cliffs, sweeping wilderness valleys, and mountain peaks. I highly recommend it as a quick way to get a flavor of the place!

I took a different road back through a section of the White Mountains I have never seen before. It was a nice change of pace. After passing through stretches of quiet country, and numerous small towns, we eventually caught up with the main highway back into Vermont. From there it was the same trip in reverse, without the traffic on the New York end!

Another whirlwind tour under our belts!
Good times...

Sign my Guestbook from Bravenet.com Get your Free Guestbook from Bravenet.com
HTML Web Counters
Computers