Today is a rainy travel day. In reality, if I had to choose a day for it to be rainy it would be the one where we went from part 1 to part 2, from Killington to North Conway. I would prefer it not rain at all, but given we would spend a lot of day packing, driving, then unpacking, this was the day to rain.
I wake up and do more or less nothing, which kinda feels pretty good. Eventually everyone is up and I pack the car up in the rain, and we set sail and put Killington in our rearview mirror. Both the gift and espresso shops are closed, so there’s no final stop for anything on the way out.
Reflections on Killington
I’ve long been fascinated by Killington and the massive ski hill. We have driven past it many times on the way to, or from, Kingdom Trails. This was our first stop. Granted, it’s always been a landmark in the ski world and even before I skiied, I found it fascinating even if out of reach. So this was an interesting and fortuitous opportunity for us to land here this year. That said, I can imagine us coming back.
With the pandemic in full swing I don’t think this was a good representation of what the area would normally be like, but it was at times a bit of a ghost town. On that note, we took advantage of the great condo location, and the relatively quiet days we spent at the bike park and adventure day. I imagine that normally it’s far more crowded.
I do want to go back to ski, and that may or may not happen this year. My ski year was going well last year until the injury. But even though we’re in the middle of summer, I look forward to the snow and ski season ramping up. With Julia trying the downhill bike and this whole trip opening up her mind to what she is capable of, I think we have a next step this winter when the ski season rolls around. Probably not here as a beginner for her, but one day.
In all, I really liked it up here and I do look forward to going back. I can say that it wouldn’t shock me to find us back up here before the year is out for an overnight. Would I call it likely? Not really. But we have a way of saying, “Screw it,” and getting in the car and just going. You never know what happens.
Back to here & now.
I decide to check out scenic drives in New Hampshire and it turns out that with just a 6 minute detour we can do the top drive in the state, from Lincoln to Conway. And even though the clouds are low and visibility isn’t what it might be, the drive is fabulous. I have not been here in a long time, and I’m just as amazed as ever with the landscape.
Around 1:00, we stop in at a recreation area for lunch. We eat random things that are in the cooler such as bread, cheese, meats, and various fruits. We’ve pretty much taught the kids that you can eat meals whenever and however you like, which is something we did in Europe a bit. Funny, this is not how I was brought up so it’s a change in thinking for me. But it also allows you to shape your day to not be governed by meals, which is a bit of a problem for most Americans, I believe.
The drive continues to be amazing as we drive up & over a pass, and go into the clouds for a bit. The weather is too cloudy to see Washington but we’ll get to that tomorrow.
When we get close, I take a quick stop at Frontside Coffee for obvious reasons. Technically they have the word “roaster” in the name but I find it hard to believe this is a legit roasting operation. It pretty much felt like Panera on a smaller scale. The espresso is ok as is the coffee. Being so crowded, I likely won’t be returning tomorrow.
From there we drive a bit up the road to the Swiss Chalet, technically in Intervale, NH. It’s a decent hotel, certainly not Swiss nor a chalet, but it’ll do the job. Finding a place for 5 is always a tough one, and this town was no exception. So you have to take what you can get. We went from a full condo to a motel room, so it’s a different venue but this is similar to what we did with the family in Europe. Some places were full-on living spaces, and others were beds in a room. This is the latter.
With some down time I did some bike work, taking my bearing bolts out to try to isolate the click I found yesterday. I managed to pull them out and put them back, and I’m pretty sure I have figured out where the issue is. I can’t do anything about it as I will need to replace the bearings. Hammering on the bike at Killington just isn’t good for the long term prognosis on a lot of these parts.
That was bike item #4 of the trip and the first I could not solve. The 5th is D’s bike which seemed to pick up a click in the front end. This was an easy fix as her headset had come loose. Gotta love the 5 minute fixes. So far, Julia’s bike remains injury-free on this trip.
Meanwhile, Simon was out playing with the kids from the room next door. This was good as it got him to use some energy, but as we would find out later, it was not enough. After the bike work I showered up and we started to discuss dinner, which ended up being the Flatbread Company, pretty much a pizza place. We debated traditional pizza but went with this and it was a good call.
After dinner we took a trip to the food store with a detour to scout out the shuttle road for some future biking adventures. Some of the stuff here is pretty insane but the smart way is to shuttle up then ride down. These are 1200+ foot descents so you know they are legit. After that we went to Shaw’s for food supplies.
As we were leaving the store Julia texted me that the power had gone out at the hotel and as we drove back, we could see why. The roads were kind of a mess but compared to back home in NJ, we got spared here.
So we made the most of it and played cards by bike light. D won the game last night.
And like much of NJ, we went to bed with no power. This condition would not last, thankfully. But for the moment we were brothers in arms.
Day 7 in the books.
Traveling Normandy 