Trip Report - New England Fall Foliage Sep 2022 - UPDATE 1/22/23

[Grifdog22]

After we finished our second hike, we headed to the Franconia Notch State Park Visitor Center (and Gift Shop!) to wait for the folks on the long hike to join us and do some souvenir shopping.

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After that, it was a little more than an hour to our hotel for the night, the Grand Summit Hotel at Attitash. It's a ski resort during the winter, and was a nice enough hotel, but they were in the middle of re-painting and redoing a lot of the exterior (including ladders and people outside the back of my room when I arrived. Fortunately, they were gone by the time I went to bed. But the ladders were left.) But it was only for the night, and we were continuing on to Maine in the morning. Apparently they have replaced this hotel with the Omni Mount Washington Resort, which looks like quite an upgrade on the website.

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I honestly for the life of me can't remember what we did for dinner that night. The handbook says we went to a local restaurant, but apparently it wasn't that memorable!

Next up: Day 6: The Maine Stay.

Sayhello

The Omni Mt. Washington is a HUGE hotel upgrade and a really nice place. The Bretton Woods accords were negotiated and signed here - and they have a tiny place which recognizes this. We like winter trips here the best - the skiing is very good, as is snowshoeing and horse led sleigh rides. The hotel suites are the last of the remaining roaring '20s resorts left - working (gas) fireplace, large suite lounge, a bedroom bigger than three at the Marriott, with two additional small bedrooms for kids off the lounge. Two separate entrances into the room. Wonderful restaurants and resort activities. And yes, you are at the base of Mt. Washington. Tobi - you need to go back just to visit the hotel!

 

[sayhello]

The Omni Mt. Washington is a HUGE hotel upgrade and a really nice place. The Bretton Woods accords were negotiated and signed here - and they have a tiny place which recognizes this. We like winter trips here the best - the skiing is very good, as is snowshoeing and horse led sleigh rides. The hotel suites are the last of the remaining roaring '20s resorts left - working (gas) fireplace, large suite lounge, a bedroom bigger than three at the Marriott, with two additional small bedrooms for kids off the lounge. Two separate entrances into the room. Wonderful restaurants and resort activities. And yes, you are at the base of Mt. Washington. Tobi - you need to go back just to visit the hotel!

Sounds amazing!! Thanks for that. Well, looks like future trips will definitely benefit from this change!

I've added it to my list of places to go! Although I don't ski anymore (not with my back -- my back surgeon said I could only ski if I promised I would never fall down, and if you know how I skied, that wasn't happening!)

Thanks!
Sayhello

 

[Mathmagicland]

We got a fascinating explanation of the life cycle of maple sap to maple syrup, and the various grades of maple syrup. While the explanation was going on, there was another guy just working away, filling those tiny little leaf-shaped bottles of maple syrup that you see in all the souvenir shops. BY HAND. He had a tank full of syrup with a spigot attached, and sat there, placing the bottle, turning the spigot on and off, then placing the cap on the bottle. I would have assumed something like that would be automated, but nope. Done by hand! Crazy!

Nice pic! They must have been finished with this part by the following week when we were there as we did not see this.

I’ll add a comment about the syrup - while those little leaf-shaped bottles of syrup, and bottles of other sizes, are in all of the gift shops across New England, the only place to buy the syrup made and bottled at the Trapp Family Lodge is at their on-site gift shops, either the one at the hotel (which has all three varieties they offer and in all sizes) or a few items in the smaller one in the bierhall. There aren’t really plans to hit the hotel gift shop after this tour, though Mike did allow 10 minutes of very quick shopping for syrup only after a few folks asked to do so.

If you are thinking of bringing back some syrup from this trip, wait to get it here during your free time, and have both delicious syrup and a memento of your visit to this stay and their on-site maple sugar shack. It tastes just as good at home, though without the wonderful views.

 

[Titanium]

The Omni Mt. Washington is a HUGE hotel upgrade and a really nice place. The Bretton Woods accords were negotiated and signed here - and they have a tiny place which recognizes this. We like winter trips here the best - the skiing is very good, as is snowshoeing and horse led sleigh rides. The hotel suites are the last of the remaining roaring '20s resorts left - working (gas) fireplace, large suite lounge, a bedroom bigger than three at the Marriott, with two additional small bedrooms for kids off the lounge. Two separate entrances into the room. Wonderful restaurants and resort activities. And yes, you are at the base of Mt. Washington. Tobi - you need to go back just to visit the hotel!

I have relatives from that area and I remember hearing about all the police and federal agents in the area during the Bretton Woods conference.