Castle in the Clouds

We went to the Castle in the Clouds, a historic mansion at the top of a mountain in NH. A millionaire in the shoe industry, had it built for his second wife. When he met her and fell in love with her, he returned home to offer his first wife one million dollars to sweeten the deal. Then Thomas Plant, who was 5 feet tall, married Olive, who was 6 feet tall.

The estate was built in 1913, with breathtaking views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the mountains. The house is an example of Arts and Crafts architecture in New England, with octagonal rooms, and many technological innovations of the era. The estate includes cascading waterfalls and miles and miles of hiking trails.

From the gate, it is a one way, two-mile scenic drive up this mountain, on a very narrow and very curvy road. Very very narrow and very very curvy. It is a pretty challenging drive so they don't let big motorhomes in. They let us in because Bella is only 22 feet.

On our way up the moutain we stopped to explore the waterfall and Bernie decided to get in the water (see pics). Then we continued to the carriage house, where you park, and then ride a trolley up to the Castle itself. It is quite a place to visit, there is so much to see and explore, you could spend the whole day there, and the admission is only $10 per person. We really enjoyed every minute of our visit to the Castle today.

From there we headed north to Lincoln NH, in the White Mountains. There are tons of things to do here and we hope to find somewhere to ride a funicular to see some more of these spectacular views, and get a chance to explore the White Mountains.

As we drove along Main Street we found a strip mall and we walked around visiting the many little stores there. We bought some groceries at the grocery store and lucky for us, this place has a laundromat so we got to do our laundry today.

We also went into a bookstore/internet cafe that was about to close. We met Andy, the owner. Bernie asked him if he needed any help with anything in the store. He said he needed someone for a few hours to help unpack books and organize the shelves. He said she could start tomorrow so we decided to spend the night in the parking lot here, so Bernie could be there as soon as he opens.