The worst weather in the world

 Since we were in Lincoln, NH, a mere 70 miles from Mt. Washington, if the weather cooperated, we HAD to drive to the summit. With Randy’s interest in things meteorological, how could we not go there?

The morning the weather looked promising—not fabulous, but definitely promising—off we went. At 6288 feet, the “mountain” in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains is the highest in the Northeast. I’m not at all sure who “owns” the road, but it cost us (and anybody who drives up the mountain) $33—$25 for the driver and car and plus $8 for each passenger. We did get a CD (our car CD has broken and we can neither play nor remove any CDs), a bumper-sticker saying, “This car climbed Mt. Washington,” and explicit directions on how to drive the mountain road. They gave pretty good advice on mountain driving and it appears that most people obey the rules. We, of course, needed no instructions on mountain driving.

Driving up (and down) was pretty much like any mountain road I have ever driven and as we got closer to the top, the weather improved tremendously. So much so that we could see for miles and miles, not as far as they promise on a really clear day—the Atlantic Ocean to Québec but certainly to Maine and Vermont. We had stopped and bought our lunch at a marvelous deli in the White Mountains, called, naturally, the White Mountain Deli, so we found a convenient table and ate with the entire panorama surrounding us. After, we wandered around the area for a while, saw the old hotel which had bunk beds and communal dining, clambered over some rocks to take each other’s picture next to the Mt. Washington elevation sign. We had to go down eventually—the sign says we must start down by 5:45pm.

Oh, yes, the title of this episode: The worst weather in the world. Not my claim, but Mt. Washington’s owners seem to be inordinately proud of their terrible weather. Highest wind ever recorded on earth (!), 231mph. High temperatures are not their big thing as the highest ever recorded on top of MW was 72° and none of their thermometers have any number bigger than 72. But low temperatures are another thing they are proud of: average annual temperature is below freezing; they get an average of 15 feet of snow every year; they have awful pictures of all the building totally covered in ice and snow (the buildings aren’t even recognizable as buildings). They put their slogan, “The world’s worst weather” on all the snowplows that are discretely scattered by the side of the mountain road.

Driving home several things occurred to me: Why are the motels advertising that they have phones? (When I see that and some of the rundown motels, I start humming the theme to Deliverance.) The tourist bureau says this is the time to see moose; where are they the rest of the year?