NH whirlwind tour 1/27/20 - 1/31-20

indiggio · January 28, 2020

1/27/20

It’s the wife’s birthday month <sigh> and she decided she wanted to see NH, so with Loon on the Ikon pass, the destination was set!

Woke up at usual 0’dark thirty, had some breakfast, packed the car and departed about 6:00am. Leisurely and uneventful drive up to NH. Decided to drive up to Wildcat to see if we could get a view of Mt. Washington, but it was socked in, so just decided to head to the studio AirBnB at The Lodge. I think it may be smaller than GSS’ “house”!

Pretty much the entire ride down from Wildcat to Lincoln flurries were falling, so conditions were looking good for tomorrow. Hopefully the knee/leg will hold up!

The wife had found Rek-Lis brewing up in Bethlehem (yes they pronounce every syllable), so we made our way up in the flurries. We ventured up the Notch and then over hill and Dale and arrived at the brewery. Not a big place and quite crowded for a snowy Monday night.

Mondays have a $10 beer & pizza deal, so we got that and an order of poutine, having two Wik-id IPAs. IPAs were good as was the pizza and the poutine was great. Also had their Gentleman’s stout and wife had a boozy Stuff of Kings Belgian Strong Ale. All in all, worth the drive.

Mt. Washington from Wildcat

The Lodge at Loon

Studio room

Wik-id IPA at Rek-Lis

Pizza and poutine

**toast21602** · January 28, 2020

Awesome! Have fun and post the train pictures!!!!

**Shadows** · January 28, 2020

Bethlum

indiggio · January 29, 2020

1/28/20

Woke up to a cloudy sky with flurries still falling. Made way over to the main resort area, which was virtually empty for a Tuesday. Pretty much all of Lincoln is pretty devoid of traffic during the week, but with all the condos & townhouses around here, I think this place is just a mad house in the weekends.

Pulled into the lot and to our surprise, there’s a real steam train that shuttles people between bases, cool! The sound of the steam whistle echoes throughout the entire valley when it gets underway.

After booting up, made my way over to the Kancamagus lift, looking forward to seeing the 8-pack, but nope, it’s still just a quad. Looking at the sign says “Coming December 2020”, bummer. Oh well...

It was snowing pretty good up top and there was a couple of inches everywhere and the snow beneath was grippy, as it was kinda warmish and damp.

Having a bum knee/leg, I took it easy, but still tried some blacks, all of which are groomed to perfection and the skiff of snow made them even better.

I ran through all the pods and couldn’t find nary a bump line anywhere. I also took a run through the Loon Mountain Park that has some pretty wicked booters and landings.

The leg was giving me grief, so headed down to catch up with the wife. We took the steam train down to the gondola station and hit the Paul Bunyan bar for a beer and to check the place out. It was quaint, but kinda weak in comparison to other apres bars.

Headed back to the lodge to hit the hot tub. Afterwards we hit the shops in town and then to the Woodstock Station Inn & Brewery. This is a cool place, but a little on the pricy side. Had a couple IPAs, Cajun fried pickles and a Cuban wrap sandwich, all of which were very good.

Loon parking lot

Steam train

Top of North peak

Paul Bunyan bar

Just for @mbike-ski

Woodstock Station Inn & Brewery

Cajun fried pickles

Edited January 29, 2020 by indiggio

trackbiker · January 29, 2020

Stopped at Rek-Lis a few years ago on the way back from Bretton Woods on a weekday. The brewery at that time was a small shed in their back yard. One of my friends called to see if they were open and the owner said, "If you stop by I'll open." Their new place is cool and their beer is good.

The Woodstock Inn has a nice smaller bar down a short hallway off to the side near the middle of the building. You can usually get a seat there when the place is crowded.

Mixilplix · January 29, 2020

I will be in Lincoln from the 7th to the 14th...Loon and Cannon are on the list and maybe Wildcat....

momskeeztoo · January 30, 2020

Wildcat is a fun place.

indiggio · January 30, 2020

1/29/20

Out the door and into the freezer! Bluebird, windy and frigid kinda day.

Got to the mountain at 9, far more crowded this morning, for a Wednesday. The sound of the train whistle echoed off the adjacent peak (I’d never get tired of hearing that!)

Up the quad and down to the gondola, the wind was howling at the top and the snow was firm and windblown, but still grippy.

Uo the gondola and down to the peak to peak quad to check out the South side for a while. Ran the South pod For a while, nothing spectacular, just fast, fun runs. On empty days here, these runs are pretty long and fast, with lots of rollers.

It had to be cold because toes were, so headed back to lodge to warm up. Headed back out for a few more runs off the quad and had had enough.

Met the wife at the car and decided to go on a hike down by the river. Poked around down by the river’s edge, checking out various wildlife tracks and the river boulders.

Made our way to the Paul Bunyan for beer thirty. Sun was beating, so hung out in the deck and watched people come down the super pipe.

Apres started at One Love brewery. This is a cool place in that the building was a converted lumber/paper mill that now has a few shops. One is a clothing shop where they’re seeing the clothes right there! One Love have some interesting throw-back beers that were quite tasty.

Next stop was Black Mountain Burger that’s stumbling distance from The Lodge. The place has a good selection of beers and a bunch in rotation. We had a delicious TIPA and a chocolate peanut butter stout for dessert that tasted just like Tandy Takes. Opted for their vegan burger creation of the day because I was feeling adventurous and waffle sweet potato fries. It came with a Cajun mayo that was very tasty.

Bluebird shots

Paul Bunyan & super poor

One Love brewery

TIPAs at Black Mountain burger

Dessert!

indiggio · January 30, 2020

8 hours ago, momskeeztoo said:

Wildcat is a fun place.

Been there a couple of times, but never skied it.

indiggio · January 31, 2020

1/30/20

Time to say goodbye to Loon/Lincoln. Was a fun little mountain for a couple of days of skiing.

Decided to try out local eatery for breakfast, Flapjack’s pancake house. Cool place that has a model railroad running throughout up near the ceiling with some interesting menu selections. I opted for The Hooverville which was egg, sausage and cheese in a stack of pancakes. Delicious!

Packed the car and departed for Portsmouth because the wife wanted to go there. Arrived at the “hotel”, The Ale House Inn. It’s a converted warehouse that was used by the Portsmouth brewing company back in the day and is now the inn and apartments.

After getting settled in, it was time to go off on the Portsmouth brewery tour! First stop we found was Earth Eagle Brewings. A cool brewpub with a New Orleans feel with skulls and Absinthe fountain. Had a couple of good IPAs and hatched a plan for the rest of the evening.

The wife’s phone battery was getting low, so we headed back to the car to pick up a battery and ran into the presidentIal candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s supporter. We thought he was just gonna hand us a pamphlet, but instead told us she was gonna be at the Gas Light Pub that night for a town hall meeting. Well, the plans just changed!

Headed to the Portsmouth Brewing Co to sample a couple of their beers and then headed to The Franklin Oyster House for happy hour. We slurped down a dozen raw oysters and a couple of beers, both of which were delicious. Hard to beat $1.25 oysters.

From there we made our way to the Gas Light Pub for beers and a pizza before the town hall and then made our way up to the top bar. Shortly thereafter, Tulsi entered the room and greeted everyone with an Aloha, but me already a bit lit yelled back, A-Lo-Ha, in true Hawaiian fashion. She got a kick outta that, called me out and thanked me.

After her speech, they had a very short Q/A (I had a question I wanted to ask, but time ran out), followed by a meet & pic. That would be my chance! The other day she was snowboarding at Cranmore, so I would use that. We got in line and up came my chance. I shook her hand and told her that I was the greatest skier on the mountain and asked her if she would consider switching to skiing. She replied that she “was willing to try anything once!”

After pics we were leaving the bar and then I got stopped by some reporter who said “she liked my energy and would I mind being interviewed”. Visions of @GrilledSteezeSandwich ran through my mind. Needless to say it was an alcohol-fueled energy. I doubt they used any of my answers!

I didn’t know what to expect out of Portsmouth, but now I’m glad the wife wanted to go there. It’s a neat little mini-Boston that’s got a lot of history, breweries, pubs, shops. I’d definitely go back for a longer stay.

Flapjack’s