We are getting really good at packing up and getting ready to leave early in the morning. This morning Carole and I were dressed with no place to go by 6:30. The breakfast buffet wasn't being served until about 7.
The buffet was excellent, of course. In addition to the usual cereals, oatmeal, fruit, scrambled eggs, muffins, toast, etc., this morning there was also an omelet station, bagels & lox and an egg lasagna. Good eats!
Luggage was loaded onto the bus at 7 and the passengers were boarded and ready to pull out by 8. I must say that everyone has been really good about being a few minutes early. We've never had to wait for anyone. That makes our tour director, Steve, very happy. He's a nice guy. Very informative with quite a few corny jokes he will tell during his information sound bites.
We were bussed up the mountain to about 2000 feet and then got into vans with a congenial driver who told us about the mountain and the observatory at the summit.
The weather did not allow us to go to the observatory. There was snow and ice with 60 mph winds gusting to about 80 mph. The temperature was about 21 degrees with a wind chill factor of about -7.
But we did get to what they call the 6 mile point. We were asked if we wanted to step out of the van. Dee and Wanda stepped out first and we took their photo right outside of the van door. Then they got back in and Carole and I stepped out to have our photo taken. None of us stepped more than 2 feet from the van and the driver was holding an arm to guard against a mishap. I don't have a photo to post here since they were taken by camera, not by phone.
The observatory is manned year round by weather observers. Mount Washington recorded the highest surface wind speed ever observed ( a human was there to observe it). The wind gusted to 231 mph in 1934. That's a lot of wind!
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