The Clueless Abroad - Ingo's first trip to the US (Northeast) - Trip Report
Nov 16th, 2007, 08:50 AM
#42
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,906
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
eigasuki - that's a shame that you didn't have nice weather at least on one on your drives. You missed a lot! ;-)
Bob - I will add her address later. I thought the link to her condo's website is sufficient.
Friday, 5 Oct
We awoke to another day with wonderful weather. Blue sky and record temperatures. After breakfast we drove to Jackson, wandered around, saw the covered bridge, took plenty of photos. We drove up to Pinkham Notch Visitor Centre, parked the car there and got some information about the area there. I bought an AMC hiking map for the White Mountains (ok quality) and off we went - hiked through the woods west of the notch road towards north. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see much of the scenery since it was all forested. But still, we enjoyed the fresh air (a bit too warm for fall, though), the foliage and the exercise. At some point we decided to head over to the other side of the notch road from where we could take the Wildcat gondola up the mountain. I wanted views!
Good decision. The gondola ride was very enjoyable and from the top we had awesome views of Mt. Washington, the hills in the north and into Canada, to the other side we saw the hills of Maine and even the Atlantic coast. Did I mention the weather was gorgeous? Wait for the pictures! We had picnic up there, then relaxed some more in the sun, took the gondola down and realised that the car was parked at the Visitor Centre one and a half mile down the road. My mother had enough and decided to wait at Wildcat while my father and I hiked back.
We picked up my mother at Wildcat and drove further to the place where the Mt. Washington Auto Road starts. We pondered the idea of driving up, but it was quite late and we agreed that *if* we'd do it we would want to spend a lot of time enjoying the views, taking photos etc. We also enquired at the information centre about guided tours, but decided against it. So we just had a look at the small museum, located in an old barn, where they had old coaches/carriages that had been in use on that road long, long ago on display. Quite interesting.
Back to Jackson we had a quick look into the lobby of the Wentworth (we had considered staying there). Very nice, upscale. We bought some more stuff in the grocery in Glen, then headed home to the apartment. I checked emails, then made use of the pool and jacuzzi, self-cooked dinner and a bit TV and out.
Bob - I will add her address later. I thought the link to her condo's website is sufficient.
Friday, 5 Oct
We awoke to another day with wonderful weather. Blue sky and record temperatures. After breakfast we drove to Jackson, wandered around, saw the covered bridge, took plenty of photos. We drove up to Pinkham Notch Visitor Centre, parked the car there and got some information about the area there. I bought an AMC hiking map for the White Mountains (ok quality) and off we went - hiked through the woods west of the notch road towards north. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see much of the scenery since it was all forested. But still, we enjoyed the fresh air (a bit too warm for fall, though), the foliage and the exercise. At some point we decided to head over to the other side of the notch road from where we could take the Wildcat gondola up the mountain. I wanted views!
Good decision. The gondola ride was very enjoyable and from the top we had awesome views of Mt. Washington, the hills in the north and into Canada, to the other side we saw the hills of Maine and even the Atlantic coast. Did I mention the weather was gorgeous? Wait for the pictures! We had picnic up there, then relaxed some more in the sun, took the gondola down and realised that the car was parked at the Visitor Centre one and a half mile down the road. My mother had enough and decided to wait at Wildcat while my father and I hiked back.
We picked up my mother at Wildcat and drove further to the place where the Mt. Washington Auto Road starts. We pondered the idea of driving up, but it was quite late and we agreed that *if* we'd do it we would want to spend a lot of time enjoying the views, taking photos etc. We also enquired at the information centre about guided tours, but decided against it. So we just had a look at the small museum, located in an old barn, where they had old coaches/carriages that had been in use on that road long, long ago on display. Quite interesting.
Back to Jackson we had a quick look into the lobby of the Wentworth (we had considered staying there). Very nice, upscale. We bought some more stuff in the grocery in Glen, then headed home to the apartment. I checked emails, then made use of the pool and jacuzzi, self-cooked dinner and a bit TV and out.
Nov 16th, 2007, 10:24 AM
#45
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,906
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You won that bet, Mimi! 
Thanks, dandj, the pics will come a little later, but I'll try to start posting them Sunday or early next week.
Saturday, 6 Oct
We drove to Crawford Notch State Park. First stop was the Willey House Site. Sad story - in 1826 massive mud slides descended the home of the Willey family. The family ran outside, but they were caught by the slide and died while the house was spared. There is not really much too see there, but it makes a nice stop with a gift shop and a lovely pond that makes for a good picnic place (also good for fishing) with photo opportunities.
Next stop was Silver Cascade. Unfortunately, a result of the long time w/o rain, the brook was just a trickle. I can imagine, however, after some days of rain or in spring this must be quite a sight. Anyway, I took some nice photos (the foliage was spectacular, the sky deep blue) and off we went.
A few miles from there we spotted our destination of the day: Mt. Washington Resort. It's quite a picture from the Road 302! The golf course in the foreground, the large, white hotel building in the middle and Mount Washington plus its neighbours towering up in the background. Clearly to recognise was also the cog-railway up to Mt. Washington, with steam clouds marking where exactly the locomotives were at the moment.
We parked at the Bretton Woods ski area/activity center, bought vouchers for $8 each, good for any purchase at the Mt. Washington Resort, and hopped on the shuttle that took us to the hotel. Reminded me of Grand Hotels that I have seen all over Europe. Elegant halls, tastefully decorated salons. The terrace with great views of Mt. Washington. We saw the originally preserved room where in 1944 the plan for the plan for the world's post-war economy was signed, which included establishing the IMF and World Bank. Loved it.
The plan was to have lunch at their restaurant. We learned that many others had planned the same - that gave us another half hour exploring time while we waited for our table. When the call for the table came I jumped up from the armchair where I had dozed - and forgot to take my digital camera with me. I realised the fauxpas when I arrived at the table and ran back - the camera was gone. Shock! I frantically ran around and after five minutes asked at the small gift shop next to the certain armchair. And really, a guest had seen and handed over the camera to the staff there. What a relief! My sincere gratitude goes to an unknown honest person!
Back at the table it took a few minutes to bring blood pressure and pulse down to normal. No problem, however, since the service was slow. We had a waitress who spoke French and Spanish beside English, of course, but again no German ... she was quite funny and nice, so we didn't complain that she was really slow (probably had too many tables to serve). Anyway, we ordered a soup for each of us (very good), then had a chocolate cake for dessert. Yummy and beautifully presented! We used the vouchers for the check.
Back by shuttle bus to the car, then drove to the cog-railway station. I was dying to see it - I am a big fan of old trains, especially mountain/cog-railways (my friends from the Europe board know that!). And it was a memorable experience. It is the oldest (1869) cog-railway in the world and it also looked like that! The locomotives are really ancient - I'd say it is the essential steam train experience. Coal dust, the smell of coal fire, huge clouds of steam hanging over the locomotives, the engines huffing and puffing, covered by oil, grease, dust ... rustic old railroad cars, guys in dirty work clothes ... what a difference to Switzerland or Germany, where everything is cleaned up. But I loved it. Oh, did I mention the railroad tracks? LOL - I thought the would crash every moment.
It had begun raining and we decided we better drive back home. And right we were, the road across Crawford Notch was slippery. We made it safely back to the apartment, had supper etc.
Thanks, dandj, the pics will come a little later, but I'll try to start posting them Sunday or early next week.
Saturday, 6 Oct
We drove to Crawford Notch State Park. First stop was the Willey House Site. Sad story - in 1826 massive mud slides descended the home of the Willey family. The family ran outside, but they were caught by the slide and died while the house was spared. There is not really much too see there, but it makes a nice stop with a gift shop and a lovely pond that makes for a good picnic place (also good for fishing) with photo opportunities.
Next stop was Silver Cascade. Unfortunately, a result of the long time w/o rain, the brook was just a trickle. I can imagine, however, after some days of rain or in spring this must be quite a sight. Anyway, I took some nice photos (the foliage was spectacular, the sky deep blue) and off we went.
A few miles from there we spotted our destination of the day: Mt. Washington Resort. It's quite a picture from the Road 302! The golf course in the foreground, the large, white hotel building in the middle and Mount Washington plus its neighbours towering up in the background. Clearly to recognise was also the cog-railway up to Mt. Washington, with steam clouds marking where exactly the locomotives were at the moment.
We parked at the Bretton Woods ski area/activity center, bought vouchers for $8 each, good for any purchase at the Mt. Washington Resort, and hopped on the shuttle that took us to the hotel. Reminded me of Grand Hotels that I have seen all over Europe. Elegant halls, tastefully decorated salons. The terrace with great views of Mt. Washington. We saw the originally preserved room where in 1944 the plan for the plan for the world's post-war economy was signed, which included establishing the IMF and World Bank. Loved it.
The plan was to have lunch at their restaurant. We learned that many others had planned the same - that gave us another half hour exploring time while we waited for our table. When the call for the table came I jumped up from the armchair where I had dozed - and forgot to take my digital camera with me. I realised the fauxpas when I arrived at the table and ran back - the camera was gone. Shock! I frantically ran around and after five minutes asked at the small gift shop next to the certain armchair. And really, a guest had seen and handed over the camera to the staff there. What a relief! My sincere gratitude goes to an unknown honest person!
Back at the table it took a few minutes to bring blood pressure and pulse down to normal. No problem, however, since the service was slow. We had a waitress who spoke French and Spanish beside English, of course, but again no German ... she was quite funny and nice, so we didn't complain that she was really slow (probably had too many tables to serve). Anyway, we ordered a soup for each of us (very good), then had a chocolate cake for dessert. Yummy and beautifully presented! We used the vouchers for the check.
Back by shuttle bus to the car, then drove to the cog-railway station. I was dying to see it - I am a big fan of old trains, especially mountain/cog-railways (my friends from the Europe board know that!). And it was a memorable experience. It is the oldest (1869) cog-railway in the world and it also looked like that! The locomotives are really ancient - I'd say it is the essential steam train experience. Coal dust, the smell of coal fire, huge clouds of steam hanging over the locomotives, the engines huffing and puffing, covered by oil, grease, dust ... rustic old railroad cars, guys in dirty work clothes ... what a difference to Switzerland or Germany, where everything is cleaned up. But I loved it. Oh, did I mention the railroad tracks? LOL - I thought the would crash every moment.
It had begun raining and we decided we better drive back home. And right we were, the road across Crawford Notch was slippery. We made it safely back to the apartment, had supper etc.
Nov 16th, 2007, 01:42 PM
#47
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 12,820
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Guten Tag, Ingo!
What a wonderful trip report! As other posters have mentioned, it's great to read about the impressions that Europeans have of the U.S.--or at least one part of the U.S.
You make it all sound very tempting.
What a wonderful trip report! As other posters have mentioned, it's great to read about the impressions that Europeans have of the U.S.--or at least one part of the U.S.
You make it all sound very tempting.
Nov 16th, 2007, 03:40 PM
#48
What fun reading this report and your impressions of the US! Especially so having had the opportunity to meet you in Cambridge at the Fodor's get-together.
Your experience getting settled in New York and ending up in Port Washington sounds quite stressful. I spent many late nights as a teenager on the Port Washington branch of the Long Island Railroad, and for years had nightmares about missing the last train home. Glad you enjoyed your stay there though, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your report (and pictures).
Your experience getting settled in New York and ending up in Port Washington sounds quite stressful. I spent many late nights as a teenager on the Port Washington branch of the Long Island Railroad, and for years had nightmares about missing the last train home. Glad you enjoyed your stay there though, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your report (and pictures).
Nov 18th, 2007, 03:30 AM
#52
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,906
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Karen and Bob,
I am glad you enjoy the article. The part where y'all are involved will come soon! Thanks for the reading and the comments so far.
Thanks also to the others who commented. And yeah, too bad we didn't get to chat as much as wished at the GTG. Maybe next time
Here's a little treat for now: I posted a few pictures. Started with some Berlin and NYC photos - enjoy!
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/339201/index.html
More to come soon.
Ingo
I am glad you enjoy the article. The part where y'all are involved will come soon! Thanks for the reading and the comments so far.
Thanks also to the others who commented. And yeah, too bad we didn't get to chat as much as wished at the GTG. Maybe next time
Here's a little treat for now: I posted a few pictures. Started with some Berlin and NYC photos - enjoy!
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/339201/index.html
More to come soon.
Ingo
Nov 18th, 2007, 11:43 AM
#60
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,906
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks to all for the comments. Glad you like the pics. Grassshopper, I knew what you were waiting for ;-)
Vttraveler, two days were not enough in VT. I definitely plan to go back.
Let's continue with the next chapter:
Sunday, 7 Oct
We awoke to more rain and deep hanging clouds. While we discussed during breakfast what to do that day it suddenly stopped raining and the sun broke through the clouds. Yeah! So we stuck to our original plan: hiking. I had seen on the AMC map that there was a supposedly beautiful small lake to find near Bartlett - Sawyer's Pond - a half-day hike.
We drove towards Crawford Notch. Unlike recommended we took unpaved Sawyer River Rd. only about 2 miles, then parked the car. I suspected that the parking at the end of the road was crowded (I was right!) and so we decided to hike the remaining 2 miles to the start of the actual hiking trail. Only three or four cars passed us on the way, so that was no problem. Past the gate at the end of the road we turned left, crossed a bridge across Sawyer River and hiked about one more hour through the forest to the pond. It was a breathtaking sight: dark blue water, foliage at peak, azur blue sky. We only met very few other hikers: some guys that had obviously camped at the tent platform sites or the shelter, two more families with dogs, a young couple. Where the hell were all the locals and tourists on that gorgeous day?
We decided to head towards the other end of the lake, maybe doing the full circle, and followed an unmarked, narrow path through the woods near the shore. We only made about half of the circle, then the underwood became too thick. Fortunately we found a nice picnic place, rested and had lunch. We hiked back on the same path/trail and drove back to our apartment.
We had a reservation at the nearby Bernerhof (www.bernerhofinn.com) for dinner. We were curious about the "German-Swiss" food that they advertised. We pondered the idea to walk there, but didn't feel comfortable to walk the road 302 w/o (and no sidwalks!) at night, so we drove the five minutes. Very friendly and competent service. We had original German beer (Paulaner), Wiener Schnitzel with red cabbage and Rösti (they were so nice to serve the Rösti instead of the Spätzle) for main course (not as good as you can get it in Germany/Switzerland/Austria but better than just ok) and delicious cake for dessert.
Vttraveler, two days were not enough in VT. I definitely plan to go back.
Let's continue with the next chapter:
Sunday, 7 Oct
We awoke to more rain and deep hanging clouds. While we discussed during breakfast what to do that day it suddenly stopped raining and the sun broke through the clouds. Yeah! So we stuck to our original plan: hiking. I had seen on the AMC map that there was a supposedly beautiful small lake to find near Bartlett - Sawyer's Pond - a half-day hike.
We drove towards Crawford Notch. Unlike recommended we took unpaved Sawyer River Rd. only about 2 miles, then parked the car. I suspected that the parking at the end of the road was crowded (I was right!) and so we decided to hike the remaining 2 miles to the start of the actual hiking trail. Only three or four cars passed us on the way, so that was no problem. Past the gate at the end of the road we turned left, crossed a bridge across Sawyer River and hiked about one more hour through the forest to the pond. It was a breathtaking sight: dark blue water, foliage at peak, azur blue sky. We only met very few other hikers: some guys that had obviously camped at the tent platform sites or the shelter, two more families with dogs, a young couple. Where the hell were all the locals and tourists on that gorgeous day?
We decided to head towards the other end of the lake, maybe doing the full circle, and followed an unmarked, narrow path through the woods near the shore. We only made about half of the circle, then the underwood became too thick. Fortunately we found a nice picnic place, rested and had lunch. We hiked back on the same path/trail and drove back to our apartment.
We had a reservation at the nearby Bernerhof (www.bernerhofinn.com) for dinner. We were curious about the "German-Swiss" food that they advertised. We pondered the idea to walk there, but didn't feel comfortable to walk the road 302 w/o (and no sidwalks!) at night, so we drove the five minutes. Very friendly and competent service. We had original German beer (Paulaner), Wiener Schnitzel with red cabbage and Rösti (they were so nice to serve the Rösti instead of the Spätzle) for main course (not as good as you can get it in Germany/Switzerland/Austria but better than just ok) and delicious cake for dessert.
