JEFFERSON INN PROVIDES PERFECT MOUNTAIN GETAWAY  This column originally appeared on Wicked Local.

Having spent much of the summer conveniently enjoying someone else’s yacht, I decided that a little hiking was in the works, so I traveled off to the tiny town of Jefferson, New Hampshire. I made a reservation at the Jefferson Inn and appropriately reserved the Monticello room. The room has a comfortable queen size bed, a Jacuzzi, a small turreted nook for reading, and a plethora of books about Thomas Jefferson for those who wish to brush up on their history. 

Jefferson, New Hampshire is in the northernmost part of the state. In an earlier column (Sailing into a Life with Coffee), I mentioned having my first ever cup of coffee at a bed and breakfast in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. To add a little geographical perspective, Jefferson is significantly farther north than North Woodstock. To get here, you pass the Kancamagus Highway, Franconia Notch State Park, Cannon Mountain, and venture into several small towns along the way like Twin Mountain and Bethlehem.  Suffice it to say, you must be careful of moose potentially crossing the road. Almost four hours up from Boston, it is north. Enough said, eh. 

I checked into the Jefferson Inn and was quickly given a short tour by Gwen Higgins, who is the Jefferson Inn’s proprietor along with her husband, Eric. Guests are welcomed by a sign as you walk into the interior of the inn that says, “Enter as Strangers, Leave as Friends”. The inn is situated in a sprawling New England farmhouse high up on a hill. There is a large barn outside and a tractor up by the house out back where Eric and Gwen reside. There is an easily identified note at check in that conveniently tells you what the WiFi password is, a definite sign of the times. Coffee is readily available as are a variety of baked treats in the dining room. 

“We’ve been here for twelve years,” said Gwen. “My husband was a Navy pilot who flew F-14 fighters.  He’s from Concord, Massachusetts originally, and I’m actually from Western Pennsylvania. We wanted to change our lifestyle, and this was it, and it was a beneficial place to be for our boys growing up.” I mentioned to Gwen that they must be extremely busy during the autumn season and that it must be her favorite time of year in the mountains. “I enjoy all the seasons up here,” said Gwen. “I like that things are always changing, even when the trees have no leaves and everything is just bare sticks. I like the fact that the weather is always different here every season.” 

Breakfast requires you to sign up for a specified time, and I opted for 7:30.The first morning I was happy to find a sunny table by a window in the brightly decorated dining room. By the time I had helped myself to a cup of coffee and a small bowl of fruit, Gwen politely served me a plate with a tasty breakfast burrito. The second morning she served French toast with bacon, which was thoughtfully prepared in an equally delicious home-cooked style. 

The television in the common room had plenty of channels and I easily found the Red Sox-Yankees game which made me feel right at home. I entered into a pleasant conversation with a guest who joined me watching the game who had come up with his wife from Stoneham, Massachusetts – close enough to be neighbors after traveling several hundred miles to the Jefferson Inn. 

Activities in the Jefferson area primarily involve either driving or hiking the White Mountains, which was my central motivation for traveling to the area. I embarked on a climb to Tuckerman’s Ravine, the easiest ascent up Mount Washington (not to underplay the difficulty or seriousness of the climb). I have been all the way up Mt. Washington twice before, and I knew that with limited supplies Tuckerman’s Ravine would probably be all the hiking that I could or should handle. Despite muddy detours, steep rocky inclines, and ominous dark clouds hovering at the top (always dangerous at Mt. Washington) I happily completed my mission. I returned to the Jefferson Inn covered in mud, ready to make necessary use of the Jacuzzi that I was lucky enough to have in the Monticello room. Gwen, in fact, had insisted that I take the room with the therapeutic hot tub when I originally told her that my goal was to come up and climb Mt. Washington.  Her recommendation was extremely well noted. 

The Jefferson Inn is a comfortable bed and breakfast nestled in a beautiful location in scenic New Hampshire, and is as much of a place to romantically share the beauty of the mountains as it is to, as Jefferson might say, declare your independence. 

For more information, call Eric and Gwen Higgins at 603-586-7998 or visit their website at www.jeffersoninn.com.