The Balsams

Our room, and Gary

Lou, Carol and Gary

The beautiful staircase

I love this saying

Me!!

Dinner time

The view outside our window

The hotel from across the lake

This is a ski area on the way home

Crawford Notch

This was the Old Man of the Mountain

So we went to The Balsams for the weekend with our friends Lou and Carol. It is always nice to go there and be pampered and waited on. I didn't know this but the resort has it's own power source and it is steam that I think they keep going with wood chips. So most of the hotel is warm and cozy, the rooms and gathering rooms. There is one hallway that is freezing cold, I don't know why but we had to walk through that particular hall to go to our room. Brrr. The weather cooperated enough to get us up there, but we had to cancel the sleigh ride we were supposed to go on Saturday morning. It was snowing, which is fine, but it was also really windy so that the temp with the wind was below zero. Gary is just getting over his nasty cold and was still coughing quite a bit on Saturday so we just decided not to do it. Instead we all went out for the day, shopping. If you have never been to the Balsams, shopping is a grandiose word for it. You have to drive at least 30 minutes to get to the little tiny town of Errol, and they have a sporting goods store, with an attached convenience store. You know I am desperate if I am shopping in a sporting goods store!! and you would think I had never seen a convenience store the way I walked around that!! There is one little restaurant across the street that we had eaten at the year before and I did not want to go back this year. I swear we heard the banjos from Deliverance playing when we were there last time. So instead we drove all the way to I think, Colebrook. Not sure if that was the name of the town. Where we ended up for lunch was a little place that also was the video rental store. I played it safe with grilled cheese, and it was ok. When we got back to the Balsams we headed for the lounge and had some hot drinks. Mine was called a Hot Apple Pie, and that is exactly what it tasted like. Anything with whipped cream on it is good in my book. We played Polish Poker for a few hours in there, and good thing we didn't play for money, cause I did lousy. Then it was time to change for dinner. Jackets are required for the men, but they usually have them off after their first glass of wine. Dinners were so-so. It is a really classy place, but the food was lacking this year, mainly in warmth! My dinner was cool both nights, however, the desserts made up for that! The weekend was over way too quick and we came home yesterday afternoon. It is always good to come home though, and I really missed my soft bed!