Mt.Washington has also come a long way since 1984. We are now a year-round alpine destination offering the best of all seasons. People now come to Mt.Washington for more than just the phenomenal snow. My family and I decided that we’d check out some other mountains this summer. We started off in a motorhome (named Bob), and headed east. Our plan was to stop at Sun Peaks and then head out toward Calgary to visit Julia’s sister and any other ski resorts along the way to check out their summer activities.
The thing is, sometimes the best intentions go awry. Or maybe I should say, the best laid plans get all messed up when you see the Rockies for the first time. WOW! So much for ski resorts. Bob seemed to have a mind of his own. Yes, we made it to Calgary but we kept looking out toward those mountains. It’s as if they were calling to us. Now we understand “the call of the Rockies”. I’m sure you can guess what had happened. When we left Calgary it was our intention to pass through Drumheller (where we’d already been before) and then head north to Jasper to begin a quick trek down the Icefields Parkway and then back to check out those ski resorts in the Okanagan we missed. Ha! Ha! Ha! It’s those best laid plans going awry again. We missed Drumheller and sped like demons north toward Jasper. If we really put the pedal to the metal we could make it all the way in one day!
Turns out that was a wise thing to do. You see, we’d checked the camping book and found a nice little spot in Pine Lake where we could stay after visiting Drumheller. So, when we scrapped the plans for Drumheller we also scrapped our plans for Pine Lake. So, here we are driving north at the speed of sound and these clouds start rolling in… grey and foreboding clouds… swirling clouds, really swirling clouds. Clouds that swirl so much that Julia says, “Rick, I think that’s a tornado starting!” To which I replied with a jab to her side and a quick glance back at the kids, “No, I don’t think so,
that’s just rain.” To which the children in the back chimed in, “How come it’s hailing?”
Bob kept his pace driving us steadily in the opposite direction of the storm while I squinted toward the furious sky, knowing that the wicked witch of the east was out there somewhere on her broomstick. Bob spent the night tucked away in a private campsite outside Hinton at the Folding Chair campground while the tornado that devastated Pine Lake wreaked it’s havoc. It wasn’t until the following day we received about four phone calls on our cell phones from worried family and friends that we understood the danger we could have faced had we not changed our plans. Thank God for the call of the Rockies!
Okay so it took us an entire week to drive the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff and to see all the amazing sights along the way. If you have never taken this road at a slow crawl and stopped along the way in as many places as you can, you ARE missing something. Trust us. It was an experience that enlightened and inspired us and we will do it again many more times.
We learned something in the Rockies. They have lots of snow, even in July. So does Mt.Washington… some years. We learned that our local ski resort is actually nicer in the summer than most of the other ski resorts around. Our Nordic experience is second to none. Our Alpine setting is one of a kind boasting both a mountain setting and an ocean backdrop. As corny as it sounds, where else in the world can you snow-play in the morning and go sailing or fishing in the ocean in the afternoon? We’re not the Rockies, but we certainly come a close second. Yes, I’m looking forward to 2001. The real estate market is picking up momentum on Mt.Washington with over 16 sales in the past 12 months. This is a drastic improvement over the previous four years. As our economy continues to improve, the mountain market will follow suit. There are still a few really hot deals available but once these are gone, they’re gone.
Mt.Washington’s expansion plans are going to enhance your mountain delights and I look forward to serving your real estate needs on the mountain and in the valley throughout 2001 and beyond!
Your Ocean To Alpine Realtor
Rick Gibson