Family Travel

Life is Grand in New Hampshire!
Our Publisher Offers an Exclusive Look at the Mountain View Grand in Whitefield, NH

by Joel D. MacClaren

If you are looking to get away to enjoy a wonderful family holiday, there are excellent destinations that don’t require plane reservations, taking your shoes off at a check point and getting patted down by security. New England has great travel spots, sure to meet every family member’s activity level and wide range of interests.

One of my favorite New England states is New Hampshire. Both the White Mountains and seacoast offer wonderful classic hotels, large enough to offer all the amenities, yet offer guests the individual attention they crave. Examples include the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa, the Mount Washington Hotel and the Wentworth by-the-Sea; the latter I had the privilege of working at for a couple years.

My wife and I took a mini-vacation recently to the Mountain View Grand in Whitefield, New Hampshire. This fine property boasts the AAA Four Diamond rating in both the lodging and dining categories. This is the seventh year they’ve been awarded that designation in the lodging category. Though originally opened in 1865, you may not be familiar with this property as it was closed for many years. Completely restored and re-opened in 2002, the renovation converted the hotel’s original 200 guest rooms to 144 to offer guests more spacious quarters.

We took advantage of all there is to offer in a winter getaway. Most of the trip was simply driving up I-91 and taking a right into New Hampshire. The trip through Vermont offers outstanding panoramic views most seasons of the year. Ours followed a recent snowfall so everything was covered by new, fluffy white snow. Upon our arrival, the public rooms were a welcome sight. Guests were relaxing in the hotel lobby by a crackling fire as someone played the grand piano. What is nice about the Mountain View is how convenient and accessible everything is from where you park your car to where you go to play.

Our room was nicely appointed with lots of crisp linens and overstuffed pillows. For me, it wasn’t what was in the room that made the biggest impression, but the view of the mountains out our window, which was fantastic. With 57 distinct mountain peaks that stretch from Mt. Washington to Franconia Notch, it is obvious how the hotel got its name. The stomping ground of Gold Medalist Bode Miller, Cannon Mountain is just a 20 minute ride from the hotel. But you don’t have to leave the property to have fun. Children can enjoy the Mountain View Farm located behind the parking lot with its goats, sheep, egg-laying chickens, llamas, alpacas, and horses all year round. Indoors there is a tremendous fitness center, indoor pool and spa.

Though the hotel was sold-out for our stay, we didn’t have any trouble booking our activities. Wintertime is a special time to stay at the Mountain View. The property is 1,700 acres on both sides of the road. There are all sorts of outdoor activities. The golf clubhouse across the street from the hotel is put to use as the outdoor center. Here they have skates, snowshoes, cross country ski equipment and helmets for snowmobiling, as well as where you sign in to dog sled.

After a wonderful breakfast in the Crystal Ballroom, we headed outside to go snowmobiling, our first outdoor activity of the trip. The property is full of fun things to do. Going over to the clubhouse, we passed a nice-sized ice rink for skating. Next to that is a fire pit outfitted with graham crackers, Hershey chocolates and marshmallows for s’mores. Though everything appears casual on the surface, it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into offering this level of hospitality! After picking out our helmets we sat down for a cup of hot chocolate. It was at that point I took a deep breath, and it sunk in: it’s so great to get away from the hustle and bustle and just relax.

You can take it easy for as long as you like at the Mountain View or step it up. My wife and I tend to enjoy keeping up the pace, and it was time to go snowmobiling. The group that preceded ours looked like they had the time of their lives as they hopped off their sleds. After an efficient course on the use and safety tips for using snow machines, we were off.

Our group of eight headed off single-file onto the marked trails for our two hour tour. I had no idea there’s a whole snowmobiling world out there! These trails go for miles and miles and oh, did we have company. In the time we were out, we saw hundreds of sleds. No wonder there are all the same kind of stop signs and markings you find on highways. We had perfect winter conditions on our day, but being this far north I suspect you can expect great snow for much of the winter. Upon our return to the hotel property, we passed quite a few trails that are exclusive to cross country skiers, a great idea so you can be away from the roar of engines.

When we got back onto the hotel property, we headed to The Tavern dining room for some lunch. We recognized our waitress as the mom who had dropped her daughter off to work at the Clubhouse. It’s a small world in the White Mountains. Lunch was served hot and efficiently as we needed to head out for our next adventure: dog sledding!

What an amazing experience. No roar of engines, just the gliding of a sled pulled by a pack of gregarious dogs. The dogs loved it, our guide loved it and so did we. We were back out onto the snowmobile trails, but I’m pretty sure we stayed on hotel property as we had the trails to ourselves. Except for our guide calling out to the dogs and the occasional bark, the sled soared silently and effortlessly through the woods. Our own mini-Iditarod.

We joined a cocktail party in the wine cellar before dinner and encouraged anyone who would listen to try the dog sledding. “Where else do you have the opportunity and it is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done,” was how I put it.

Dinners at the Mountain View are orchestrated by an executive chef; the hotel hopes to meet or exceed guest expectations. The hotel has an extensive wine list as we got to see first hand during cocktails. The hotel provides an accomplished wine steward who can recommend menu-specific vintages. Some of the small talk after dinner identified the chef as having been Rose Kennedy’s private chef at one time. Funny to think feeding the Kennedy clan is on par with a resort.

The Mountain View is only one of five dining rooms in New Hampshire honored with the Four Diamond award in 2009.

After breakfast on our next day, we headed off to Cannon Mountain to ski. It’s a big hill so we used their gondola for a number of our ascents. It holds 70 people and takes only seven minutes to reach the top of Cannon Mountain. Again, we had great snow so we got a number of great runs in. The crowd at Cannon seemed to be mostly a New Hampshire crowd.

We got back to the hotel in time for our spa appointments. The spa is located on the top floor so naturally it’s called The Tower Spa. Featuring a “menu” of over 60 treatments the Mountain View spa was recently named a top-five resort spa in North America and the Caribbean by a Condè Nast Traveler readers’ poll. This was a great way to relax after our day of skiing.

Our winter visit to the Mountain View was a lot of fun. We had time to relax and time to take advantage of the many activities the resort had to offer. One of our excursions included a visit to the Mountain View Farm where we met a young family who had been guests during the summer season. The children, ages 4 and 6, could not stop talking about the week they spent at the Mountain View and when could they return. They participated in the resort’s summer day camp program. This left plenty of time for adult golf at a nine-hole golf course, spa and outdoor pool. There is a large tennis court complex for guest use, too.

No story about the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa would be complete without mentioning the resort’s environmental initiatives. Like many hotels, the Mountain View encourages guests to participate in towel and linen reuse programs. However, the Mountain View Grand is the sole resort and one of only five companies in New Hampshire to purchase 100% of their power from “green” sources. In the fall of 2009, the resort installed its own 121-foot wind turbine, 100 percent privately funded, which offsets a substantial portion of the resort’s electrical consumption. It’s so new they don’t have exact figures. In the lobby is a panel with gauges indicating the wind speed and what power the turbines are generating. The hotel has also implemented an extensive recycling program, installed energy efficient lights throughout, irrigates the golf course and grounds from its own water tower and even recycles cooking oil to make diesel fuel.

Something I learned from my years in the hotel business is how important the employees are to a resort’s success. Here, the staff is incredibly friendly and act like they really like making their contribution to the guest experience. It even happened with our dog sled guide who isn’t even an employee! He simply loves the resort and, from the General Manager Christopher Diego to Rick McCarten, director of sales, to the front desk clerks and wait staff, everyone was happy to share their resort with us. The Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa is a great place for families of all ages. For more information, and to view some additional pictures online, visit the resort’s website at www.mountainviewgrand.com.