Jackson NH

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I had a vision of horses running through the snow and pulling a sleigh. Now I really didn’t care if it was a one horse, 2 horse or a whole team but to get this “vision” captured in a photo I had to go in search of snow and snow with horse drawn sleighs. christmassleighride1920x1200

I did a google search and came up with a few places but the one that caught my eye was the Jingle Bell Chocolate tour in Jackson, NH.

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This is a Holiday event in the elegant resort town of Jackson, NH.

For a small fee you are driven in a sleigh drawn by a team of Austrian draft horses around Jackson to different inns and locations. Some mentioned are the Wentworth, the Snowflake Inn, The Riverwood Inn and Flossie’s General Store.

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At each stop you get to sample a chocolate treat. You also receive a holiday bag for leftovers and a jingle bell.

The catch is that you have to be staying at one of the Inns. The sleigh rides start and end  at Nestlenook Farms.

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I figured I might as well drive up because the photo I wanted wouldn’t be from in a sleigh anyway.

It was a 4 hour drive but it was a beautiful day. When I left Taunton it was sunny and the sky was blue however as I approached Jackson the weather began to change. It started to get really cold and clouds began to roll in. It even started to spit a little snow. I was also getting a little discouraged as I passed through North Conway. There was absolutely no snow on the ground! How would I ever get the picture I wanted?

Jackson and North Conway are in the White Mountains and the White Mountain National Forest so you can imagine how scenic the ride was.

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Arriving in Jackson you drive over a one lane covered bridge, (Covered Bridge #51) also known as the Honeymoon Bridge. Originally built in 1876  it has had improvements and upgrades over the years. The name “Honeymoon Bridge” comes from a tradition of lovers kissing under it for good luck.

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In the end I did not get my “vision”.  It will have to wait for another day and different conditions but I enjoyed my explorations, Jackson Falls, The Honey Moon Bridge and the horse drawn sleighs on wheels.

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If any of my readers are from the New England area and know of winter sleigh rides, please leave me a comment. I’m still looking for someplace to get that photo and now we have SNOW!

Jackson Falls

I may not have gotten the photo I had in mind when I drove to Jackson NH but all was not lost.

Over lunch at a local restaurant several people asked me if I’d been to the “Falls” yet. I told them no and asked where it was. Turns out, not far from the center of town at all.

So having chased the snowless sleighs around for a bit I decided to give that a rest and see if I could find Jackson Falls.

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Just after making the turn by the  Wentworth Inn ( I think that was the name) I drove up a hill.  At the top was a place to pull over . There were quite a few cars there considering it was quite cold and beginning to spit some snow flurries. It turned out to be a wedding party getting their photos done. I didn’t want to intrude so decided to drive around some more and come back in a little bit.

I completed a circle that passed lots of scenic farms and finally brought me back to the covered bridge.

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I figured that was enough time for the photo shoot to end because the bride had to be freezing but I was wrong. The bride and groom were still there. Most of the rest of the wedding party had left. Trying not to intrude I wandered downstream away from the photo shoot but when I turned to photograph the falls I couldn’t resist a shot with the bride and groom standing nearby.

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This is one of my favorites from that day’s adventures.