July 2012. Yes it was hot. Yes it was crowded. Yes it was FUN! ***COMPLETED***

[solana131]

Happy Anniversary! Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks so much....I'm sure we will. I have been checking out all the yummy restaurants around the hotel for dinners. Oh and you will appreciate this since you are from Scotland....I just found out they are having a big festival in the area this weekend. New Hampshire Highland Games! Fun fun fun!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Oh my gosh... and you are staying at the Little Mermaid section of AoA??!! So jealous! Can't wait to see your TR about that trip.

Yup! And we got free dining! I'm so glad I went ahead and got the Disney Visa so that I could get one of the rooms for that promotion.

 

[204charity]

Awesome! Maybe we will be there together! I'm not sure on dates yet. Would like to surprise him with a birthday trip. His bday is on the 7th which is a Thursday next year....so I could have his party on the Saturday and leave on the Sunday of that next week. I have to figure it out.

But yes, EMHs were our friend that's for sure. And I'm with ya on the not showering twice a day. It was hard to go for 5 days, but bring enough outfits for two weeks

Yes, we are looking at that same week, we'd probably arrive in DW on the 7 or 8, but we would definately be there for some of your trip. If that happens - no excuses - we HAVE to meet!

 

[CJS MOMMY]

thanks for sharing

 

[CJS MOMMY]

oh and i love food porn too!

 

[solana131]

Yes, we are looking at that same week, we'd probably arrive in DW on the 7 or 8, but we would definately be there for some of your trip. If that happens - no excuses - we HAVE to meet!

Awesome! Yes, we have to meet up. Just need to solidify my plans and I can get a ticker going here

thanks for sharing

oh and i love food porn too!

Thanks for joining! And I promise to have more food porn in the near future

 

[solana131]

We interrupt this regularly scheduled trip report to show you what a wonderful weekend I had!

My husband and I went away for our 10th anniversary this past weekend. Jackson, New Hampshire is a beautiful picturesque little town about an hour away from home. Our little guy stayed with my parents for the weekend and was just as happy as us to get away for a bit

On Friday, I picked my little one up from school and we went home to pack. My Dad came to get him around 2:30 and DH (Bill) got home around 4:30. I had the car all packed, so he changed and off we went. We were staying at The Lodge at Jackson Village.

Looks like a normal small motel, doesn't it?? Well this place was just wonderful. It was just a small (28 rooms) two story motel-looking building. But the rooms were very B&B feeling with the floral wallpaper and comfy furnishings.

The Lodge has a bunch of different room types. They have King, 2 Doubles, 2 Queens, 1 Queen and 1 Twin, etc.... Then you can choose from just a plain bedroom, or one with a fireplace, or a jacuzzi. I really wanted a jacuzzi, but they were all on the first floor, so I opted for just a King with a fireplace.

We had a cute little balcony

Overlooking their gorgeous lawn

And to the other side was a pretty little bubbling brook/river

This was why I chose this resort. I wanted to be able to sit out on our balcony in the morning sipping coffee and listen to the river going by. It was a little chilly for that, but we did enjoy it in the afternoons instead.

This is the back of the Lodge from the river. Our room is on the top far right. We had a corner room closest to the river

The river looking north

The river looking south

They had a bunch of adirondack chairs and picnic tables dotted along the waterfront so guests could enjoy the outdoors.

Okay, that's it for now....I have to at least pretend to work a little. Be back later

 

[solana131]

They did have a pool, but they had stopped heating it after Labor Day, so it was a little too chilly for my blood. But it was very nice and if we ever go back there in the summer, I can see spending a lot of time here.

They had a nice tennis court (if we were more talented, we might've tried it out) and a pretty trellis walkway from the river to the office area.

Going in the back door from the pool, they have a huge fresh brewed, single serve coffee maker that we took full advantage of each day. And keeping with the B&B feel, they have a gorgeous common room with a big fire place.

This room had a collection of comfy seating areas and lots of puzzles, books, and games for kids to enjoy.

Walking out the front door, we spotted a quaint little gazebo and pretty gardens.

This was a metal moose sculpture they had in one of the gardens. We liked him. He was our friend. We called him Frank.

There are plenty of restaurant choices in Jackson, not to mention the hundred million choices down the road in North Conway area. But we chose to have our anniversary dinner at the Red Fox Tavern and it was amazing. Both Bill and I ordered steak tips and they were delish. Sorry, this isn't Disney, so I felt a little weird taking food pictures. But trust me, the meal was wonderful!

 

[Angies1274]

Great update! Glad you enjoyed ToT! It's one of my favorites! Sorry about the bad advice you got though...

Happy Anniversary! (belated) It looks like you had a great time! The Lodge you stayed at looks so pretty and relaxing.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

What a beautiful place to celebrate your anniversary!!! I just love going to places like that. My DH and I haven't done a B&B in several years....

 

[solana131]

Great update! Glad you enjoyed ToT! It's one of my favorites! Sorry about the bad advice you got though...

Happy Anniversary! (belated) It looks like you had a great time! The Lodge you stayed at looks so pretty and relaxing.

Thanks! ToT was great...and I'm not sure I could ride it back to back, so the bad advice wasn't really a bad thing

What a beautiful place to celebrate your anniversary!!! I just love going to places like that. My DH and I haven't done a B&B in several years....

It was beautiful! It was the perfect place....I love the feel of a B&B, but I don't like the whole socializing with other guests that normally takes place at a B&B. So this was perfect. If we went down the far left staircase, we were in the main lobby with the common rooms....so we could socialize if we wanted. Or we could go out one of the other two doors and just walk to our car and take off. Worked out well for us.

 

[solana131]

The original plan was for us to have Friday night to ourselves, then go get our little guy on Saturday morning. So we got up early and went to the best little breakfast place in the world, Peaches in North Conway, NH. Yum! I had apple butterscotch pancakes and Bill had a western omelette. Then we grabbed our weekly groceries so we wouldn't have to do that later. We went home, fed the cat, put groceries away then called my parents. Well....Bradey wanted nothing to do with us at all! He wanted to stay with Grammie and Grampa So that's what he did.

Bill and I drove back up to Jackson, ate some fresh baked cookies in the lobby, then drove up Pinkham Notch to Wildcat Mountain ski area. We were going to take the gondola up to the summit and look around. This was such a wonderful idea! It was only $15 pp and they provided lunch for us. Here we are at the bottom of the lift.

Going up...

And at the summit some 4,029 feet above sea level!

We were directly across the valley from Mount Washington, so here's a picture of that with the observatory on top. We could see the flash of light coming off cars as they drove up the Auto Road, but it didn't come out in the pictures.

We ate our sandwiches then looked around a little up on the summit.

Then it got windy and chilly, so we made our way back down.

I tell you, the trip back down with the wind picking up was a little scary for me. The little gondola was swinging back and forth and the wind was howling through our vents. Not fun!

So after our near death experience We drove back down the notch and stopped at a few water falls and scenic viewing locations and made our way back to the Lodge. We grabbed some warmer clothes then headed back out to see a little of Jackson Village. We drove a very short way up the road to Jackson Falls.

Such a beautiful place. I had my senior pictures taken here back many many years ago.

I tried to convince Bill that we should just go get subs and eat there, but he wanted to try another restaurant, so we looked around a bit more...

And then went out to eat at Moat Mountain Brewery in Conway. It was okay, but nothing like the night before. We both got burgers and they were a little dry and tasteless. I might try the place again and order something else because it was just packed and the people just kept coming, so it must have something good

 

[solana131]

After dinner we were going to do some shopping, but the traffic was horrendous, so we turned around and headed back to the Lodge. We took a walk around the Village Loop through Jackson.

This little covered bridge was so pretty, I just had to get a shot of it. This one is actually for the golf carts at the Wentworth Golf Club and in the winter it is a great XC skiing place.

This is the covered bridge that Jackson is famous for...

It was a nice night and we had a great time walking around the little village seeing the sights. There was a wedding going on at the Wentworth and we had fun watching them get their pictures taken in the golf course. I thought their town library was adorable, so I snapped a pic of it on our way by.

We made our way back around to the Lodge as it was getting dark. We had brought a couple DVDs to watch and we tucked in and watched Harry Potter for a bit before falling asleep.

In the morning, we got up early and headed home. We were anxious to see our little guy. I don't like being away from him By the time we got there to pick him up he was ready to go home. We had a great afternoon hanging out at home with some friends.

So that's our anniversary weekend. Back to the regularly scheduled trip report soon....thanks for letting me share our great weekend!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Congrats on the 10 years! And it looks like a lovely spot to spend a weekend. Nice pictures!

 

[KatMark]

Great updates, Suz. I love that you had such an enjoyable morning at AK (I love that park). I'm glad you enjoyed EE (Mark loves it, I sit it out) and that you got to see my favorite Tigger, Pooh and Eeyore.

for TOT! Isn't it wondefully themed (by far my favorite ride in all of DW). Glad you got to do the Backlot (I hear it will be going away soon).

Happy Anniversary a little late; your weekend away sounds wonderful.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Suzi,

Subbing on...

You are a supremely awesome Aunt... and Dani deserves a lot of credit for getting into Bates... It is a great school! I hope that she is enjoying it...

(I'm going through the whole college app process right now with my DD and it is crazy and a lot of work... I wanted her to look at Bowdoin and Bates... but she doesn't want to be quite that far north... the Boston area is her northern limit...)

I'm enjoying your tr... you have a great attitude about the heat and crowds...hey even if its hot and crowded... you're at Disney...

The first day of school prayer... weepy... I hope your little man is having a good year so far...

That part of NH is very lovely... We've driven up Mt. Washington and ummm I was a little scared... the weather changed pretty dramatically by the top and it was hard to see... not good... I think I'd rather look at it from the distance...

I've only been to Southeastern Maine, well up to Portland... and from what I've seen of it- it's lovely as well...

Looking forward to the rest of your tr...

 

[RHMH]

Solana - Great pic's of N.H. DD and I enjoyed your weekend trip report. Reminded us when we went to Durango Colorado and then drove to the Grand Canyon.

DD and I need to take a couple of side trips next summer..

 

[DMGeurts]

Ack!!! Suzi - that was the perfect anniversary trip - and exactly what I am looking for... Except - I would like some palm trees please.

Everything sounds so wonderful! Your anniversary dinner sounded amazing, and that little hotel sounds glorious!

Glad you had an amazing anniversary!

D~

 

[Disneychix]

Happy Anniversary!! What a nice mini-trip!

 

[Chicago Mo]

What a fabulous mini trip!!! Weekend getaways are awesome!!! SO beautiful!!!
What did you buy?