Travel Blog ... Claremont, NH

This week I've got a couple trips planned ... I'm only in Claremont overnight, but I LOVE this hotel and wanted to share! It's brand new. The only hotel in town. The city has taken a deep interest in renovating a bunch of these old mills in the heart of downtown. The Common Man Inn just opened in one of them.

The hotel is right on the river and the rooms overlook the falls:



The rooms all have wood floors, antique(ish) furniture, flat screen TV ... it's awesome!

I plan to stay here anytime I return. I like it. Now if I can only figure out how to get to this hot tub!

Travel Blog ... New Hampshire/Vermont

I get to travel for work. Yes, get to. I like it. I'm allowed the opportunity to see new places & faces, while getting my lodging/car rental/gas/meals paid for. Could it be any better than this? Well sure, I could be doing it for fun rather than for work. But hey, it's pretty close to fantastic if you ask me.

This week I find myself working in Claremont, NH, which is right on the Vermont border. The place I'm staying at is the closest "chain" hotel I could find. It's in Brownsville, VT, and it's technically a ski resort. Snow skiing. As in, the-place-is-dead-and-creepy-and-there's-nobody-around. It's really quiet at night, and even though i wasn't hot (gasp! it's true, for once), i had to turn on the air conditioner so that i had a little white noise. But I shouldn't complain too much ... this is the view from my hotel parking lot:

The downside is the absolute lack of internet service. Already today I had to camp out at McDonalds and Chili's to allow myself a little internet surfing/email catch up time.

The people here are friendly ... what would a stay in Brownsville, VT be without a date proposition from a sweatpants-wearing, fanny-pack-sporting, 50-something man? And not just any date ... a "date" to walk around the empty ski-resort. Now if that doesn't sound like an invitation for date rape, I don't know what it is.

I walked out to my car today and realized it was the exact same model that Edward Cullen drives in Twilight. Imagine my delight! It's the Volvo C30 (he drives it in the movie, not in the book ...). I wouldn't buy it for myself, but it's kinda fun to test drive new cars through the winding, tree-lined roads of New Hampshire!

The area is awesome. I wouldn't mind coming back here on vacation sometime ... with someone else, of course. I'm thinking the fall season would be gorgeous ... with all the trees changing colors and all. Maybe I can swing a mid-semester check up on my new Claremont center?