Region White Mountain Tour occurred in 2007. Top Notch weather helped to make this well organized/planned tour be one of our top ten tours through the years. The tour has the following vector file:
ColonialRegionJuneTour07Pict (.doc)
Text in the file is as follows (for pictures open the above link):
On Friday, June 22, seventeen people and 9 antique cars met in White River Junction, Vermont to begin a long weekend trip through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Those attending included Steve & Nancy Gray, Jim Blakeman, Bob & Sue Douglass, Don & Judy Whitman, Doug & Natalie Crook, Vince & Carol Ruops, Gene & Irene White, Greg & Darlene Eden, and Don & Jane Palmer.
The group met in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express to drive over to A.J.’s Restaurant, which features a very large prime rib dinner. As we approached the restaurant, it began to rain but we were treated to a beautiful rainbow. We enjoyed our dinner and then caravanned to Steve’s toy garage, which houses his car and many collectibles from his childhood. It was clean and organized and held many interesting “toys”.
On Saturday morning, we drove to the Enfield Shaker Village in Enfield, N.H. Here we toured the main house and grounds of the Shaker community, which were used until 1938. With a guide, we climbed the 8 floors of the house to the bell tower where we rang the bell and were able to look out over the landscape. After leaving the village we headed east on Route 4, where we caught a glimpse of a black bear. We arrived at the Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant in Meridith for lunch and what a treat we had. The restaurant offers three different sizes of turkey dinners. Even with the small size, there was plenty of food. Bob Douglass ordered the (huge) turkey leg.
After lunch, we headed to the other side of Lake Winnipesaukee to visit the Castle in the Clouds. The eccentric millionaire, Thomas Plant, built this historic mountaintop estate in 1914. Perched in the Ossipee Mountains, it offers a panoramic view of Lake Winnipesaukee. The old cars drove up to the Carriage House and then were shuttled to the castle. The Ruops and the Palmers happened to be in the right place at the right time and were allowed to drive their cars to the very top. An added attraction was the bride and wedding guests who arrived in the trolley. The ceremony was held on the porch at the top with the reception being held at the Carriage House.
After a delightful visit, we headed to North Conway to the Golden Gables Inn. We took some time to relax and then went to Flatbreads Restaurant for some organic salad and pizza (can you imagine that we were hungry again??).
On Sunday morning, individuals ate breakfast, shopped, cleaned cars, went to Church or just relaxed until our 11:30 departure on the Conway Scenic Railroad.The train headed north to Bartlett, where the locomotive moved to the other end of the train and headed back south. The scenery was breathtaking with views of the mountains, streams, and fields during our 2-hour trip.
After a lunch of make your own ice cream sundaes, we returned to the Golden Gables Inn to relax. At 5:00 we headed out to drive 30 miles to the historic Mount Washington Hotel for dinner. As the cars climbed through the White Mountains, the sides of the road were carpeted with white daisies. At the entrance to the drive into the hotel we stopped to enjoy the view of the hotel, Mount Washington, and the Plymouth cars. Once at the hotel, we spent some time on the 900 ft verandah, ate our dinner and headed back down the mountain (in the dark).
On Monday morning, we had breakfast, said our “good-byes” and all headed on our separate ways back home. We all extend our thanks to Nancy and Steve Gray and Jim Blakeman for the time and effort they put into planning and executing this wonderful trip.