Hike up Mt. Washington

After getting up, hungry and excited, we went to the breakfast room for the booked breakfast. Due to the beautiful weather, breakfast was moved to the beautiful terrace above the river.

However, the breakfast itself was not as nice: the booked 'continental breakfast' includes a hot drink, cornflakes, and muffins. Everything else, like bread, jam, pancakes, or eggs, has to be ordered separately. Of course, for cash.

After the hearty breakfast, we started the approximately 30-minute drive through the White Mountains to the base of Mount Washington. The White Mountains are very reminiscent of the Black Forest, with valleys and steeply rising, densely wooded mountains on both sides.

They even have Black Forest houses here.

The weather was very changeable after noon, with sunny moments alternating with heavy cloud cover. At the bottom of Mount Washington, there is a toll station where you pay your fee for the 8-mile drive to the 6,288-foot summit. There you also get a sheet with instructions and a CD in German. Useful hints include the advice not to start the drive if you suffer from acrophobia. There are also instructions on what to do if the engine and brakes overheat.

The next eight miles showed that the tips make sense. After a short, moderate start, the road went uphill with gradients of up to 12%. And all this on a very narrow road with oncoming traffic. And, of course, without guardrails. That would be boring, as Americans are certainly not softies. When the tree line was reached and you could see the abyss directly at the roadside, I grabbed the steering wheel a little tighter.

During the ascent, the CD played in the CD player, which gave the best German-language story about the road. Among other things, the road allegedly has a very low accident rate compared to general traffic in New Hampshire. Well, everything is relative.

Finally, the V8 engine paid off. The car climbed the slopes and purred like a kitten.

When we arrived at the top, everything was covered in fog. Of course, there is also a visitor center here, where we learned that the weather on Mount Washington changes every minute. That's true. First it was cloudy, then sunny, and finally thick fog rolled in.

The highest wind speeds ever measured on Earth (230 mph) were recorded here. Because of the extreme conditions, everything and everyone comes to the mountain to test products and materials (NASA, US Army, Air Force, Aldi).

The effects of the financial crisis were evident at the summit. The crime rate has increased so much that people even chain their houses here to prevent them from being stolen.

In the visitor center, we could once again conduct anthropological studies. Short pants, white legs, and white tennis socks are fashionable among the residents here. A very popular combination is thick fleece jackets, functional shirts, hiking pants, and flip-flops. There are also many talking mirrors here that shout at people: 'You are 5'5" tall and weigh 550 pounds. Please tattoo yourself everywhere and wear size S leggings. Then go out into the world and show yourself!'

And people listen to their mirrors...

However, there were also many young people here who climbed the mountain on foot in groups. Respect...

And finally, a message to Alex: The eagle has landed!!!😉