Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen, with some FOOD PHOTOS!
Part of the 2010 USA Trip Series
After exploring the sights in Maine, Hui-chen and I awoke to perfect weather for traveling back to New Hampshire. We headed out Route 302 from Maine into New Hampshire and went through those beautiful small towns along the way. The country side was absolutely beautiful!
Once we got into New Hampshire, we found the Coach outlet. We’ll show you what we bought in a later article.
This part of New England is know for it’s small towns and shops such as these.
It’s also known for wonderful scenery. Every turn brought a new vista before us.
We kept on Route 302 and eventually ran into Route 16. But our destination was on Route 302.
Our route took us through the famous Crawford Notch.
Hui-chen had never been here before so we stopped to take a look. This is the lake at the Notch.
The mountains on one side of the notch.
And the mountains at the opposite side of the Notch, forming a natural passageway through the White Mountain range.
New Hampshire is called “the granite state” for good reason! Here you can see that the mountains are made of granite.
Crawford Notch is a quiet place to relax when you’re on the road into the White Mountains area.
Soon it was time for us to head back on our way. I hadn’t yet told Hui-chen exactly where we were going.
I just love this part of New Hampshire.
Suddenly as we were driving along Route 302 Hui-chen saw this large white building. The high peak on the right is Mount Washington.
She asked “What is that place?”
I told her that this was our hotel, and she was thrilled! The Mount Washington Hotel is now owned by Omni Resorts and is officially named “Omni Mount Washington Resort.”
Our room was a pleasant blend of the old and the modern.
We had this view of the famous Mount Washington from our room!
We also had quite a view of the entire Presidential Range before us.
There is a nice swimming pool at the Mount Washington Hotel (but we didn’t go swimming).
Inside, the hotel is like traveling into a time warp….
I had stayed at the great hotel some time ago. To be honest, the place was a dump back then. Since Omni bought it, they’ve done a fantastic job refurbishing the entire hotel. We saw work being done while we were there and it was gratifying to see the Grand Dame being restored to her former glory.
This is the view out of the staircase window.
And this is the view out of one of the main windows at the rear of the hotel, from the Rosebrook Bar.
Since the dining room requires jackets for men, we decided to dine in the less formal Rosebrook Bar, where they feature lighter fare. This is Hui-chen enjoying the view out of the window.
From there, you can see the tracks of the cog railway going up the mountain.
I had a delightful drink called The Captain. Ok, I had several of them! The drink consisted of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, warm apple cider, and a cinnamon stick. Fantastic!
Hui-chen enjoyed an alcoholic pink lemonade that was very good.
In the background in this shot is a type of tuna Sashimi, and in the foreground is a Monte Cristo sandwich.
Hui-chen enjoyed the roast beef sandwich. Everything we had was very high quality and we can recommend eating at the Rosewood Bar.
The view out of the window is always changing due to the weather. Here we see just the very top of the peak of Mount Washington showing through the clouds.
Later we took a walk around the hotel to check it out. This is the main lobby.
There are bits and pieces of history all around you as you walk about.
Outside in the evening, the hotel is no less impressive!
The pool looked so inviting that I wish we had taken an evening dip.
Later we retired to the outdoor deck for a few drinks before closing time. This is an alcoholic hot chocolate.
And I have forgotten what this drink is, but Hui-chen says it was really good!
Earlier in the evening there was a small band playing easy listening music here.
Maybe one of our readers can tell us what this device is?
I love these old clocks! Walking around the old hotel one never knows what you might find!
We went to sleep early because we had something special planned for the following day. I’ll give you a hint with the next photo below:
Thanks for reading! We hope you’ve enjoyed traveling with us to the Mount Washington Hotel and surrounding areas. Our next article will take you on a unique adventure so you do not want to miss it! We welcome your comments, recommendations and re-tweets. Please use the Share This! service available right below the article for social media sharing.
MJ, What a beautiful photo ride around the country , and what a grand ole Hotel , I love going back to places where I’ve stayed before and see the changes , some good some bad , and It looks like they did a great job of remadeling the place , I don’t know why you didn’t take a dip in that lovely pool , and I would have loved to went up the Mt. on the Clog Railroad . Did you have a meal at the top and what kind of gifts did you buy at the gift shop .(a little wooded train I bet ) . Glad you had a great time and surprised the Misses too, thanks for the pictures and story too . Malcolm
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hi Malcolm, and thanks. we did in fact ride up the Cog on the next day, and we’ll take you there through photos, right to the top. we did buy a few touristy things of course. the train left only about 35 minutes later so we didn’t have time to take a meal up at the top, but we did get to see most of the things up there, and we of course took lots of photos. the reason we didn’t swim in the pool is because my sister has a pool in NC and we were going back down there for 2 weeks after our New England trip. so swimming wasn’t high on the “things to do in New England” list. thanks for your comments Malcolm, and please take care!
Again, your pictures are beautiful. New Hampshire is a wonderful state to visit. Would love to go again. I copied some of your pictures as Mt. Washington was hidden in the clouds the whole time we were there. The hotel lobby is fantastic to explore, as we had over an hour while waiting for the firemen and hotel management to run around looking for where smoke had been. (There were other guests that had been caught in the shower, besides me; but I took the time to dress and not appear in the lobby in a towel, except on my hair.) The hotel was built in the early 1900’s and was a meeting place for many national government agencies. You could almost feel many famous people wandering the halls and rooms. Breakfast in the dining room was a huge buffet. You had to take small spoonfuls of each in order to sample all the choices; but I barely made it halfway. One of the green teas they served, I keep on hand when I want to remember the time there.
hi Carolyn. thanks for your kind comments. i think you should go back to the Mt. Washington Hotel now that it’s been refurbished by Omni. the staff was friendly and attentive and we had a great 2-night stay there. sorry you had such a terrible time, what with the fire drill and all. you’re right about the history. as we were walking around i kept thinking about all the Presidents and other important people that have walked those halls. feel free to copy whatever photos you like. i’ve been to the summit at least 4 times, and one of those times was a washout in the clouds too, so i know how that feels. take care, Carolyn, and thanks.
I’ve never been to the Mt Washington Hotel… but from what I’ve been told its an incredible place… and your pictures make it look incredible. Even tho its been refurbished… the place looks amazing for a 108 year old place (it opened in 1902). It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
Great pics of Mt Washington from your room. You can even make out the weather observatory at the top. Back in 1934.. the highest non-storm winds that were ever recorded were measured at that location… 231mph or about 372kmh… making Mt Washington the home of the world’s worse weather. You were lucky to be able to see the summit from your hotel room… as the summit is usually in the clouds something like 300 days of the year
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hi Mike, thanks for your kind comments about our photos. it’s really nice there – you should visit if you have an opportunity. Hui-chen was very impressed with the whole area, hotel and mountains. thanks Mike.
I think I went hiking in that area once – somewhere in the White Mountain National Forest. Very beautiful around there.
About the “Watchmans Indicator”: I wonder whether it might be a recording clock? That’s a device to track employee working hours, which is one of the tasks a watchman used to do. (So that might have inspired the company name – or it might actually be the product name.) Upper row of numbers could be starting time and lower row finishing time – assuming the photographs angle is hiding three more numbers on the right. (May be wishful thinking, trying to make my theory fit…)
There was a “Bundy Manufacturing Company” in New York state, which used to make recording clocks. They merged with others into the “Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company”, later renamed into “International Business Machines”.
Stefan, that area is a fantastic place for hiking! sorry to say i haven’t done much there. 🙁 i was thinking the same thing you were about the Watchman’s Indicator, that it is a recording clock for doing the rounds. thanks for your comments.
Wow! What a beautiful place. The pictures are excellent as usual. Small country towns are gems most of the time, like stepping back in time a little.
It is good to see a place that looks pretty well pristine.
The hotel; what a beautiful place! I cannot believe until 1999 they used to close in the fall and reopen in the spring. It is good to see they have restored it so well. That really is a credit to the Omni Group.
It is like a time warp, the hallway, the carpet and the arm chair is a ripper. Must have been a pleasant surprise seeing the improvement since you were last there.
The Captain sounds like a very good drink, and the alcoholic hot chocolate for a cold winter night.
Thanks for sharing again my friend and another excellent post of a beautiful place.
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Brunty, i really miss those quaint New England small towns like that, and the mountainous regions of New Hampshire. fortunately there is lots more in this series, so we’re not done yet. in our next article we’re taking “the Cog” up to the top of the mountain, and you don’t want to miss that! as for the hotel, it’s very gratifying to see it restored like that. walking down those halls and strolling through the lobby really was like going back in time. i could imagine past presidents and other dignitaries walking around with us. to their credit, Omni has saved the hotel and they are to be commended for that. i understand that the restoration was done as considerable expense too, so it was no easy task. i was wondering where they found that period type carpeting though! i wonder what it’s like to stay there in the winter! thanks Brunty and take care.