Part 1 of my trip report

Well,I finally made it to North Conway and I must say I am shocked! I%26#39;ve been coming here just about every February for the last 20 yrs. I%26#39;ve never seen it so dead. I guess it isn%26#39;t recession proof. The first thing I noticed was all the stores that have closed. Yes, LL Bean opened a new store but almost every store in that same complex is gone, Wendy%26#39;s is gone (not that it matters) and the plaza across from Friendlys and next to Friendlys are empty. Settlers Green has lost 7 stores according to the sales clerk at Yankee Candle. This is school vacation week and the mountains should be packed. Not quite. The hotels all have vancancies. It%26#39;s just crazy. Today it snowed almost a foot and as we walked downtown (going to Zebs) there were just a handful of people out and about.

We got here on Sunday. Went to Shannon Door%26#39;s Pub for dinner. A nice restaurant in Jackson. It was pretty busy as it%26#39;s a small place. After dinner we headed back to our condo at Stonehurst Manor. Woke up bright and early and headed off to ski King Pine. It%26#39;s an okay mountain. No wait for lift lines so we managed to get a lot of skiing in. I bought 12 lift tickets ahead of time on skinh.com and saved 87.00. I bought 4 to KP and then 4 to Black Mtn which I skied on Tuesday. It wasn%26#39;t bad. A little icey but again not crowded. It was going great until I fell while getting off the chairlift and hurt my knee and my neck. My first fall in over 5 yrs. I%26#39;m still sore but skiing nonetheless. That night we went to Nestlenook so the family could ice skate. It was so beautiful all lit up with white lights. Free hot chocolate and a nice fire. My son paid 3.00 to skate. There were people getting ready to take a sleigh ride. I%26#39;ve done that before so we decided to pass.

On Wednesday we went to Cranmore. The mountain was icey in a lot of places. We were going back at night to see the fireworks but it started to snow. Woke up this morning to a foot of fresh snow. We decided to go shopping and spent about 5 hours doing that. Just looking mainly. Went to Delany%26#39;s Hole in the Whole for dinner. We all enjoyed our meals and as we left it%26#39;s still snowing. Should be great powder skiing tomorrow.

We will probably just eat dinner at the Stonehurst Manor. We wanted to go to the 302 Smokehouse but just didn%26#39;t make it there. Maybe next time.

Part 1 of my trip report

You are right about how quiet it is. During Xmas week, we never had any wait at Attitash or Wildcat. Never had a problem getting a table for dinner and had no wait for a table at Peaches!!! (it was busy but not out the door like usual). Hope that your most serious injury is only your ego.

Part 1 of my trip report

Thanks for the report and I%26#39;m sorry to here about your fall. Things have been slow most of the winter here except for event weekends but one notices alot less traffic. The economic downturn has affected the entire U.S. I was in Naples, Fl and was stunned by the number of vacancies and stores that have closed. One good thing for you was not having to wait in lines.302 Smokehouse is great so please come back.

Thanks for the report!

Did you happen to notice what stores were closed at Settlers Green? We were in North Conway the first week of Jan and it was the same. No cars, the parking lots were empty, the restaurants were slow. We heard stores were closing but were curious as to which ones actually closed.

No, I have no idea which stores have closed. The sales clerk at Yankee Candle told me about it and she didn%26#39;t say and I really didn%26#39;t ask.

Well, glad you had a good time. And how sad that things are not looking up here. I love this area. It is hurting all over, ski resorts here in MI report business as being way down, also. Stores have closed in the resort areas here, too. And restaurants..that surprised me the most, because their parking lots have always seemed busy, but when you get in the restaurant, well, they are not all that busy. We, ourselves, have stopped eating out for the most part. WE are taking our lunches to work every day now. It is hard because we enjoy going out to eat; and we miss giving them some business. Good luck to all of you in the coming months.

OK, I am done complaining...lol.

I found a lot of parking lots jammed at the restaurants but once inside the same thing. Not really crowded. I think a lot of people were at the bar relaxing after a day of skiing. The three restaurants we visited we never had to wait. I%26#39;ve given up going out to eat myself. I limit it to once a month. It%26#39;s just to expensive for a family of four

and the food subpar at best.