Tag: mountwashingtonhotel

Spring Weekend at the Mount Washington Hotel & An Announcement!!

On By careofmonIn TripsLeave a comment

Well hello there!! I apologize for my absence the past couple weeks. Things have been busy here as spring is gearing up and now that the sprint to April vacation has ended, I can relax a little and catch up! If you follow me on instagram, you might have seen my post  announcing that I am pregnant!! My husband and I are expecting a baby boy October 1, which puts me right around 17 weeks right now. I have been feeling great, still able to exercise, so far so good! I did stop riding around 10 weeks, so I have definitely been missing the barn and Chandraki, and we decided this month to take a break from my beloved 4000 footers in NH. The actual act of hiking is fine, its more the length of time and the multiple bathroom breaks that are rough! We are so excited for this addition to our family, I can’t believe how fast the first four months have gone by.

My husband and I celebrated our first year of marriage a little while back with a much needed weekend up at the Mt. Washington Hotel! This history and location of this hotel make it so special to me, and its just beautiful. We stayed at the hotel for a weekend back in early July when it was warm and green, but this time around, the landscape was very different. There was still quite a bit of snow up there, it even snowed while we were driving up! This time around we did dinner in the main dining room, and the food was just amazing. My husband got a duck special, and I got the chicken pot pie arancini. Their dessert menu looked great but I was craving just simple chocolate, so we went to Morsels downstairs for some candy and a chocolate chip brownie! I wholeheartedly recommend the breakfast buffet in the morning. It was delicious and there were so many choices, there was no way not to leave satisfied. Here are some pictures of the beautiful Mt. Washington Hotel 🙂

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Great Hall/Lobby of the hotel. The pillars, and the chandeliers, and the carpets, oh man, its so beautiful and just transports you to a different, more elegant time.
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Fireplace in the conservatory, arguably my favorite room
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Beautiful details of the ceiling in the conservatory
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Entrance into the main dining room.
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Looking out at Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Washington from the veranda
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Panorama of the beautiful Presidential Range
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Red, white, and blue 🙂
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There is an indoor pool and hot tub and as well as the outdoor pool, heated for these colder months.

When we are at the Mount Washington, we tend to just walk around the hotel a lot, exploring and enjoying the hotel and the property. Its so beautiful and there’s so much to do in the area as far as outdoor activities. Quite a few families were up there for spring skiing at Bretton Woods.

Here is my last post from this past summer at the Mount Washington, has more of the awesome history in it!

The Grand Mt. Washington Hotel

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Southern Presidentials Hike to End February

On By careofmonIn Hiking1 Comment

Oh man is this week kicking my butt! Between work, classes, homework, and wedding stuff, it feels like my free time is nonexistent! Today I finally took my wedding dress to get altered though, so that was a huge check off my list! Woo hoo accomplishment! This past weekend, we hiked Mount Jackson and Mount Pierce in NH. These are the southern most mountains in the Presidential Range and the trails start in the beautiful Crawford Notch area. Fun fact- Mount Jackson is actually named after Charles Jackson, the state geologist back in the 19th century NOT Andrew Jackson, our seventh president.

Jon, Mizpah, two friends, and myself set out on Sunday morning around 9 AM. Immediately we all put on our traction, three of us have crampons, and one of our friends just had microspikes. The trail was solid ice from melting snows. Wearing crampons is pretty serious business. You have to be careful of every step, making sure you don’t slice yourself or one of your hiking companions. Super scary with Mizpah running afoot. The day started a little gray, but over the course of the day, the sun came out and blue skies prevailed! We had pretty good views of the rest of the Presidentials. Mizpah had a great hike with the warmer temps and her claws were perfect in the soft ice. She will probably never hike the northern Presidentials (Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison) because of the rocky terrain, but the southern ones are ok. Her hut, the Mizpah Spring Hut, is on Pierce 🙂 Here are some pics from the hike!!!

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Crawford Notch Depot- station for the Notch Train of the Conway Scenic Railroad which will resume service on June 14th!

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Winter wonderland trails, like our very own Narnia
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View from Jackson- up on the left you can see Bretton Woods Ski Resort and thats the Mount Washington Hotel in the middle. The red roof is really easy to see up on the mountain, not so much in the photo!
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It’s really important to remember to bring food for yourself AND your dog. We bring a bag of Mizpah’s food for her to eat on the trail, and a water bowl!
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Yep, that ice is the trail, crazy!!
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For hiking on ice….here are my La Sportiva Nepal mountaineering boots, Grivel crampons, and EMS Gaiters (similar here) . Winter hiking is pretty awesome if you like to collect gear!
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The rest of the Presidential Range from Mt. Pierce- the ridge to Mt. Eisenhower looks so cool. Mt. Washington’s summit is in the clouds.

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Frozen waterfalls on the Crawford Path down from Pierce
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Picturesque little pup in her Ruffwear jacket and collar
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Had to take a quick snap on the way home of the Mount Washington Hotel and the Presi’s

My fiancé broke his toe the other day soooooo we might not be hiking again until April! Poor guy. I had already done these two mountains, but we were with a friend sort of new to hiking and wanted a short hike with nice views for him. This hike was about 6 1/2 hours. I still have 9 peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 4000 Footers. Goal is to finish by the end of this summer!

Hiking, horseback riding, trail running, swimming, biking…I love anything that gets me outside. What do you like to do to get outside? Do you have any outdoorsy goals for this spring/summer??

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