White Mountains Getaway

The White Mountain area has several ski resorts ranging in difficulty and degree of vertical drop. The towns people tell us the ski season isn’t nearly as busy for them as the warmer months are for climbing, kayaking, and hiking. As for the slopes, we thoroughly loved having no crowds around us. At times while we were skiing, we had the mountain to ourselves. As soon as we made it down the mountain, we were able to get right back on the ski lifts without a wait!

The White Mountains are a beautiful site and the surrounding towns invite strangers from around the globe. This is an area we would gladly return to.

Quick Tips:

All the towns in the area are very well kept. The stores, restaurants, hotels, and inns are very inviting and nice inside and out. The people are also friendly and informative.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you’re flying into the area, we flew into Boston’s Logan Airport. In snowy weather, you’re looking at a four hour drive to the White Mountains. You can take either 95 North to 16 North or 93 North to 25 East to 16 North, then 302 runs directly into the towns.

To take a trip around the White Mountains, 302 is the road to the north, 3 to the west, 112 to the south (or as the locals call it the Kancamagus Pass) and 16 is to the east. There is a road that cuts through the middle if you do not want to drive around the mountains, but it is closed during the winter season.

Don’t forget to look for moose while you’re there. On every road you’ll see "Brake for Moose" signs and "Moose Crossing". However, we didn’t see a one. I think it may be a ploy just to have you buy moose souvenirs in the shops!

We had a one bedroom, but it was considerably larger than that. When you entered the building, we went up a set of stairs to our door. Upon entering the room, if you walk straight ahead down the hall, you will run into a large bedroom with a full size bed, chair, closet, and TV along with a full bath. Rather than entering that bedroom, you could turn right and go up the stairs (yes, a multi-level room). At the top of the stairs if you turn left you are in the living room/second bedroom. There is a couch, chair, closet, washer/dryer, TV, and a pull down full size bed in this room, along with another full size bathroom. Turning right at the top of the stairs takes you to a large eat-in kitchen with wooden table and six chairs and large TV and another full size bathroom off the kitchen. This was a very large unit with plenty of room for us all to move around, and we never had to wait for the bathroom or shower!

The room upkeep was adequate. It was clean but could use some "newness". The one item I would change would be the sheets and pillowcases – they were rather thin and could stand to be replaced. There were skylights in the upstairs area which added fresh light, but this unit didn’t have a balcony, not that it was needed. They do not offer daily maid service, but with the washer and dryer in the unit, we could wash our own towels.

This resort is considered a four-season resort offering downhill skiing across the street at Attitash Bear Peak, alpine and water slides, indoor and outdoor pools, workout facility, tennis courts, and hiking trails. Check in is after 4pm and out before 10am. There are three floors in each of the buildings with no elevators.

To arrive from Boston, take 95 north to Rt 16 north to 302, and the resort is on the right. You could also take 93 north to 25 east to 16 and 302. Depending on the weather, the drive will be around three hours.

The location of this resort was nice being within reach of skiing and within a few minutes drive to stores and restaurants. We would gladly stay here again should we vacation in the White Mountains another time.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Good

Inside the restaurant, tiffany lamps hang from the ceiling adorning every booth along the outside of the large room with lighted fans over tables in the middle. The restaurant happens to sit next door to the road leading to the mall. Well, they call it a mall, but I wouldn’t consider it that. It does have a JC Penney but all else is a bookstore, Indian gift store, music store, and a dollar store. It does, however, have a seven screen movie theater. The location of this restaurant makes it great for dinner and a movie night. We found the movies ran about 6:30, 7, or 9pm and there were no matinees.

Fandangles has good food – don’t miss the turkey!

This was by far the most expensive dinner we had during our stay. I prefer a small filet, but the smallest available was 9 oz. for $23.95, which comes with either potatoes, rice, or pasta. I will say the pasta side was a nice change of pace. If you’d like a salad, it’s an extra $1.75. A kid’s steak is $7.95 and was very tasty, but they also offer the typical chicken nuggets, pasta, and other items kids enjoy. For an appetizer, if you enjoy mozzarella sticks and intend to share, you should order more than one order. When it arrived at our table, there were only three mozzarella sticks for $6.95. If you enjoy warm specialty drinks, they offer a multitude of varieties such as Hot Banana Rum and Hot Candied Apple, each for $5.50.

Steak is not the only thing on the menu at this steakhouse. They also offer 11 Italian Entrees and five fish and poultry dinners along with ribs and chops.

The atmosphere was very nice. We were seated in the greenhouse dining area, which was glass enclosed from top to bottom. Strings of white lights lit everything up around us.

This was a nice meal with a bit of a more formal atmosphere than the other local establishments. For a family of four, we chalked up a bill of $90 before the tip.

On the outside, the building was fairly contemporary looking. The interior, however, had the feeling of a log cabin with a cozy lit fireplace at one end, antler chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, a bar area on one side and booths and tables on the other. The décor was that of a ski lodge with a couple of moose heads hanging on the wall. With all the moose New Hampshire is supposed to have, these were the only two we saw during our visit!

The menu consisted of some typical favorites with a few oddities from the "Wilderness". If you have a taste for wild boar or buffalo, head to the Muddy Moose! My favorite, however, is their "Muddy Moose Rack of Spare Ribs". You have a choice of either their own Muddy Moose trail sauce or traditional barbecue sauce. I sampled both before ordering and went with the traditional sauce. Their special sauce had a sweet, blackberry flavor and wasn’t bad. I just preferred the other. These ribs were wonderful. They fell off the bone and were so amazingly tender. But make sure to leave room for dessert. The Wild Berry Short Cake is out of this world. It’s a fresh homemade biscuit smothered in wild berries and topped with whipped cream - MMM good!

Make the Muddy Moose your first stop while in the White Mountains. You won’t be sorry!

Deciding to take an excursion to nearby states for the day, we first ventured into Maine, then back across New Hampshire and into Vermont. Upon entering Vermont on Interstate 93, we stopped at a roadside information area to check out local dining establishments because it was nearing lunchtime. The local gentleman said up the road a ways, about a half hour northwest, was a tiny diner known for their good home-cooked food. So we took his word, jumped in the car, and headed for the Miss Lyndonville Diner.

It’s a small old-fashioned diner that seats 82, and all 82 seats were occupied by I believe the entire town. It was full of locals and everyone knew everyone else. While we were waiting on a table to open up, we read the many clippings and newspaper articles about the restaurant that adorned a bulletin board by the front door. It spoke of the owners opening a diner in 1937 and the fire that hit in 1979 and gutted the place. It spoke also of the reasonable prices and that they would rather serve seven people at $4.95 a meal than four people at $7.95.

The décor was typical of a "diner" – stools around an old-fashioned counter, plenty of stainless steel and pastel blue. Tables and chairs squeezed in near the counter area and booths in the back section.

For a family of four, we got out of there for around $29. The Yankee pot roast was quite tasty with mounds of roast beef smothered in gravy with potatoes, carrots, and onions on the side.

My recommendation – it was worth the drive.

The food at Delaney’s is very tasty. They have a wide variety and large appetizer menu. For your main meal, you can get burgers, home made pizza, sandwiches (swordfish, chicken, sirloin, turkey, corned beef), plenty of pasta, surf and turf, and what they call "coast to coast" which is steak, chicken, ribs, and pork chops. There's a separate kids menu for $5.95 which includes a soda, a Hoodsie (ice cream), and either burgers, chicken, spaghetti, hot dogs, or grilled cheese.

The building looks a bit like a hole in the wall and looks somewhat small from the outside. Looks must be deceiving because there are many rooms inside. The interior is decorated with old wooden signs from the area and an old western theme.

Great Food and Good Times are what they advertise, and we would agree.

The gentleman that owns this restaurant also owns Zeb’s General Store in town. So you’ll find Zeb’s Root Beer and Vanilla Cream Soda on the menu. However, here they are $2.25 a bottle and in the store he only charges $1 a bottle!

As for the menu, they have the typical steaks, seafood, pasta, and sandwiches. I tried the French Dip for $8.95. Wow, not the typical French Dip I was accustomed to, it was much better. Instead of thin, lunchmeat type roast beef, this was actual thick roast slices. I even had to take a few pieces off because it was so large. Very, very good sandwich. They offer a separate kids menu for $4.95, not including the drink. One of the desserts on the menu that the kids just had to try was very unique. I have never seen this in any restaurant before – smores. They actually bring out a small flame and enough graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows to make four smores. The kids thought that was just great!

The staff here is so incredibly friendly and make you feel right at home. I wish we would have had more time and could have made it back to this place one more night for another dinner. It was good, inviting, and fun to walk around looking at all the memorabilia.

As you walk in the door, you’re quick to notice this is not only a pet gift and supply store, but also a dog bakery! Some of the items in the glass bakery case actually look like human treats with the cream filling and chocolate covered pieces. Well, we all know it’s not real chocolate, they use carob which has the appearance of chocolate but is safe for your dog. You can purchase "chocolate" covered bones ($2.49), éclairs ($1.99), smores, dippity doo dads, swirly lollipops, ice cream sandwiches (two cinnamon carob biscuits filled with a yogurt center) and the list goes on and on.

They have other items for sale too such as greenies to clean your dogs teeth, breath mints (which one of my dogs could benefit from), toys, bowls (which they call dining accessories), and basic pet supplies.

We were told all of the items from the bakery will keep for up to four weeks. When we arrived home, the dogs could smell the treats and sat immediately without even being told in anticipation of their new treats! Every town could use a Four Your Paws Only.

It’s worth a visit even if you don’t intend to purchase anything just to look around and dream!

The elevation at Bretton Woods is 3,100’ with a 1,500’ vertical drop. There are 76 alpine trails and glades (31% beginner, 41% intermediate, and 28% expert). They have snowmaking capabilities on 95% of their trails. Their hours are 8:30am - 4pm, however, during the peak season they also offer night skiing to 9pm on a few green runs and their terrain park on Friday, Saturday, and holidays. The half pipe and terrain park here is much smaller than Attitash, but gives plenty of opportunity for freestyle skiing or snowboarding. It even has its own lift that goes directly to the top of the terrain park (the B Lift Double Chair). The resort offers six lifts with three of them being high speed quads.

Pricing here varies by weekday and weekend. The ranges for lift tickets are $49 - $57 for adults, $39 - $46 teens, and $29 -$34 juniors (6-12). Make sure to ski here on Wednesdays because they have a two for one special that runs each and every Wednesday. Night skiing is $19 for adults and juniors with a twilight ticket (2pm - 9pm) running $39 for all. Ski rental prices are $28 for adults and teens and $22 for juniors. If you’re interested in snowboarding, it will be $33 regardless of your age.

The base lodge is currently undergoing renovation and expansion but is still open for business. The first part of the expansion was completed in December of 2002 with the remaining due to be finished the Fall of 2003. In addition to expanding the lodge, they are opening more runs with 12 trails and another high-speed quad. There is also future expansion planned to take place on the mountain next door (Mt. Stickney). The lodge offers both indoor and outdoor fireplaces/pits to warm your chilled bones. There is a cafeteria and restaurant indoors with plenty of seating and glove warming machines everywhere for .25/two minutes to get your gloves toasty warm before venturing out in the cold again. The cafeteria offers burgers, fish, pizza, fries, mozzarella sticks, plus other items. For a family of four, we spent $45 for lunch each day.

If you intend to stay in the Bretton Woods area, I suggest checking out the Mount Washington Hotel. It is across the street and a few minutes drive to the slope, and is a large, exquisite, grand hotel. They have plenty of amenities here such as massages ($40 - $70), kids kamp, snow tubing ($5 per hour), indoor swimming pool, ice skating ($5 per hour), and sleigh rides ($45-$70).

This ski resort has received many accolades in magazines and ski reports. Child Magazine rated Bretton Woods in the Top 10 for skiing families. Ski Magazine rated them #1 in the East for weather, #1 in NH for grooming, snow quality, and lifts and #2 in North America for family programs. They have, however, began to add more challenging terrain in recent years in an attempt to appeal to a wider range of skiers.

Something unique about this mountain is the "Top o’ Quad" restaurant serving lunch. Take the Bethlehem Express high speed quad to the top of the mountain for lunch with an out of this world view.

For beginners to intermediate skiers, I highly recommend Bretton Woods. It’s a beautiful area, plenty of ski acreage and pleasant slopes.

Bretton Woods is located on Rt. 302 in Bretton Woods, NH, 603/278-3320.

Most of the towns around the White Mountain area are within a 10 - 20 minute drive of each other. If you’re staying in Bartlett, the first town you will encounter to the east is North Conway. From there if you go south you will end up in Conway, or going north will send you to Jackson. Both Conway and Jackson have small stores and restaurants, but we found North Conway to have most of what you needed.

Bartlett

This town houses mainly resorts, small hotels, and the Attitash Bear Peak ski mountain. The resorts found here are the Attitash Mountain Village, Attitash Marketplace Motel, Grand Summit Resort, and Hotel and Sky Valley Motel and Cottages. For shopping and eating, a trip into North Conway is necessary.

North Conway

Coming from Bartlett, the stores line Rt. 16 with most of the restaurants just past them. This is where most of the action is for eating and shopping, but there are also plenty of hotels and small inns. There is a small grocery store on 16 just as you enter North Conway where you can pick up food and supplies. But be aware this is a small town and nothing is open 24 hours – they close at 8pm sharp!

Mountain Tops – a clothing store (t-shirts, sweatshirts) that is the only store we found offering t-shirts showing the White Mountains and ski phrases such as "White Mountains – Live fast, ski hard" and "White Mountains – Ski naked, it adds color to your cheeks".

Zeb’s General Store – The owner of this establishment also owns the restaurant in town called Decades. This is an old fashioned store selling 100% New England products. They have a 67’ long candy counter with chocolate fudge the kids kept coming back to buy. The first floor is comprised of mainly food items, teas, maple products, syrups, fruit spreads, honeys, soups, pasta, spices, condiments, Zeb's bottled sodas (the vanilla cream soda and root beer are great and are a $1 a bottle), and of course candy. They also have a room upstairs comprised of souvenirs like t-shirts, mugs, and plenty of items with "Zeb’s" imprinted on them.

The Five and Dime Store – this is a bit of a cheesy store but some items in the front were nice. They have several types of small cedar boxes for keepsakes and cards and old-fashioned heavy cotton dish towels. We purchased a few for $3.99/each with the Coca-Cola emblem and designs on them.

Dondero’s Rock Shop – If you’re a rock enthusiast, you will enjoy this shop. Rocks of all sizes, shapes, and price ranges of your choice. We purchased a beautiful blue rock wind chime for $25. The most entertaining part of the visit, however, was the owner. He performed a few tricks with us using different rocks. These were optical illusions of a sort and gave us a good laugh for the day.

Tanger Factory Outlets – These outlet stores are open until 6pm every evening. The outlets found here are those such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Zales Jewelers, Bass, Hanes, Liz Claiborne, Brooks Brothers, plus many others, too many to mention.

Restaurants in North Conway

There’s a wide variety of cuisine offered here. My other journals tell details of the restaurants we dined at, but here’s a list to show what all is offered and the choices you have.

Banner’s Home Cookin'; Bellini’s Italian Restaurant; China Chef; Decades Steak and Seafood; Delaney’s (variety); Fandangle’s Steak, Seafood, Sandwiches; Flatbread Pizza; 1790 Homestead Restaurant (variety); Horsefeathers Pub and Eatery; Maestro’s European Cuisine; Mario’s Italian Restaurant; Merlino’s Steakhouse; Muddy Moose (variety); Red Parka Pub Steakhouse and Pub. They also have a couple of chain restaurants such as Applebees and Friendlies, but with the other options, we had no time for either of these. I suggest picking up a Dining Guide in town at any local store. This will give you a map showing the location of each restaurant with a menu and pricing.

Everything you need on your stay is within your reach between these towns. Familiarize yourself with the main roads of 16 and 302 and you’re all set to go.

The vertical drop at Attitash is 1,750’ with the elevation at 2,350’. Trails consist of 20% easiest, 47% more difficult (blue), and 33% most difficult. The green slopes here compare to the blue ones at Bretton Woods down the road. This mountain is more vertical. They have snowmaking capabilities on 98% of their slopes, but annual snowfall averages 142" per year.

Along with the typical ski slopes, in the middle of the mountain is also a new superpipe noted as the longest in New Hampshire. The superpipe is a 500’ inground pipe with its own special grooming machine. There is also a freestyle terrain giving those interested in jumps and tricks plenty of choices with ramp jumps, rail slides, spines, banks, and rollers.

For lift tickets, the pricing is adult $49, teen $44, and juniors $32. Check out their website here for specials such as a $5 savings per ticket by purchasing them online. There was one day they told us of a four for one special that was Internet only. The local video store in North Conway has internet access for .15/minute and any copies for .25/each. It took less than five minutes to get on the website and place the order to get three free lift tickets. Then instead of going to the ticket window at the mountain, you go inside to Guest Services for any Internet orders and they give you your lift tickets there.

At the window they were running an end of season special of $39 per adult instead of the normal $49. To rent skis, pricing is $26 for adults and teens and $19 for juniors with snowboards running $33 for adults and teens and $27 for juniors. If you only rent equipment for one day and decide later you would like to extend your rental, go to the ski rental desk prior to the end of the day and ask to do so because it will save you money instead of renting again the next day. To do this, however, you must take the ski equipment with you. So if you do not have a vehicle it will fit in or anywhere to store the skis, this option may not work for you.

Also by logging onto their website, you can check out their calendar of events. While we were there they put on their Annual Red Parka Pub Regatta. In this event, individuals and teams use whatever items they can to get down the mountain the quickest. We saw kayaks, plastic kiddie pools, and a lot of home made vehicles. Everyone dresses up crazy and has a really good time. The most entertaining was the Flintstone Mobile with Fred driving and Wilma, Barney, and Betty as passengers! They didn’t do very well…their car toppled over!

Over the past eight years, the resort boasts it has spent $35 million to improve and expand the resort and mountain. The lodge at the base of the mountain is nice. They offer a cafeteria, pizza station (get your sodas in the cafeteria and not at this station – they are twice the price here for some reason), and pub. The cafeteria offers grilled cheese, burgers, fried egg sandwiches, fries, onion rings, and other items. To give an idea of price, at the pizza station three slices of pizza and two sodas were $16.

There are plenty of hotels and inns in the area, but if you want to stay "slopeside" you’ll need to reserve space at either the Attitash Mountain Village directly across the street or the Grand Summit Resort and Hotel at the base of Bear Peak. If Bear is closed though, you’ll have to drive over to Attitash.

Attitash is a family friendly mountain that boasts uncrowded slopes and short lift lines with great skiing and riding, fantastic service and snow so good it’s guaranteed! Feel the Attitash experience.

The ski resort can be found on Rt. 302 in Bartlett, NH, 603/374-2368 or 877/677-snow (24 hour snow phone).