After our mini partial day in Maine we stayed at a little hotel in New Hampshire near the Castle in the Clouds. I swam in the pool-- the filter wasn't working and it was a bit cloudy looking but no worse than the bay and still smelled strongly of chlorine. I aqua jogged, so my head did not go under. We went to dinner at a local restaurant and shared a small pizza. In the morning we went to Castle in the Clouds. It was gorgeous.
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| mom takes a hike |
To get to the castle you drive up a one way road. Along the way are small parking/pull off areas that you can stop and hike. We stopped and hiked in our crocs. There were quite a few little waterfalls all in a short little stroll from the parking lot. We still have not seen the castle from the road or anywhere else. Must have to be in the right spot to view it from down the mountain?
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| view from part way to the castle |
We are probably halfway up the mountain and we park the car. From here they have you take a trolly from what used to be the stables, car barn... which is now a restaurant with a very nice view of lake Winnipesaukee. Very scary trolly ride with a "cliff" basically on one side and a very steep road.
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stable/troll stop
When we reached the castle we were taken into a sliding glass door-ed in porch and told the story of the man, Mr. Oliver Plant, that build the home. Interesting story but I won't bore you with those details of rags to riches and back to rags. They did own the mountain and all the land (about 6,000 acres) leading to the lake.
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| Castle from trolly drop off point |
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| castle view from part overlooking the lake |
Lots of neat shaped rooms, none were square or rectangular for the most part. I guess the Plant family also liked to take cruises so their closet spaces were designed more like drawers found on ships. The view from EVERY room was amazing. Seriously, if everyone had a bathroom that overlooked this we'd all be a lot happier.
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| view from the bathroom |
This was the shower. It was called a needle shower. Those bars had holes in them that would shoot the water at you from the sides in addition to the large overhead rain head. I loved the color blue/green they had as accent tile colors in the white bathroom.
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| needle shower |
We spent a long time at the castle wandering around and taking pictures. I always think it would be fun to live in a castle. This one has an amazing view and is definitely worth stopping by if you are in New Hampshire. Reminds me of Boldt Castle in the 1000 Islands but with its own twist and charm. Leaving the Castle we stopped at Lake Winnipesaukee and I put my feet in the water. Shhh but I took a rock to give my dad. Water was warm.
We thought about going on a boat cruise around the lake to take in the sights but upon finding out that the What About Bob? house was actually on a lake in another state made to look like a NH town. Disappointed mom and no boat cruise. We continued on to the Kancamagus Highway to make our way towards Clark's Trading Post for the trained bear show.
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