There’s something special about a Christmas cookie that inspires visions of festivities soon to happen. Waking up to the aroma of warm buttery cookies with a hint of peppermint drift through the air giving me vivid memories of baking cookies with my mom as a child.
I quickly snapped back to reality realizing that we soon had to head out. As I gathered my jacket and gloves and headed out to the cold frigid air that frequents New Hampshire at winter time, I reminded my husband that he’s driving since I wanted to take pictures of the beautiful snow.
The year was 2013 and had been asked to come to New Hampshire to write about the famous Mount Washington Valley Inn-to-Inn Cookie Tour. We were being hosted by an inn at the south end of the valley in Chocarua, NH, named Riverbend and were excited… well, beyond excited… for this opportunity!
Each inn had decorated according to a specific theme and bake two different kinds of delectable Christmas Cookies for over 250 lucky ticket holders! Can you imagine baking 500 cookies at one time? Not me! The innkeepers at Riverbend had told us that they started baking quite early the day before the event and well into the evening hours, with little time to sleep as the Cookie people were arriving at 10:00 am that day!
We were both pretty excited to visit the all of the inns and see how they were decorated. But on top of all that, we were going to get to sample 36 different kinds of cookies, (that year, 18 inns participated in the event)!
My mouth watered uncontrollably as I envisioned tasty chocolate chip morsels surrounded by mounds of cookie dough, still slightly warm from the oven! I wonder if I could actually eat 36 cookies basically at one time!
I would find out soon enough!
Seeing the snow gently covering the trees added to the excitement of tasting more cookies then I had ever imagined! My husband gently reminded me that I would only be sampling 18 cookies since we promised the boys that I would bring some home for them. And, my husband gently reminded me, again, that he would be sampling the other cookie, rather than make me eat them all! I wouldn’t have minded at all!
Driving from inn to inn also gave us a chance to explore Mount Washington Valley, from Crawford Notch, to North Conway, down to Crystal Lake, with shops and snowy scenery all the way.
The parking lots at the inns were jammed packed with cookie chasers and sometimes we even had to park in the streets! I scrambled to the doors anticipating all of the cookies had been given away! But, lo and behold, each inn had enough cookies to even satisfy the Cookie Monster!
While munching on my cookie, I enjoyed touring the different inns and talking to the innkeepers about their decision to own a B&B! Most were either close to retirement, or already retired, and had dreamed of owning an inn one day where they would meet travelers from all over the world. And that they did!
But, for some, they hadn’t realized how hard it was to manage an inn. Yes, meeting the different people was fantastic, but the daily ins and outs of cleaning the rooms after the guests left and coming up with a different breakfast than the day before proved to be a little more than they had imagined. That was when they decided to either hire a cleaning crew to help with the daily requirements, or putting the inn up for sale.
Luckily, the inn where we were being hosted seemed to be a hold out, as we quickly began planning to make this tour part of our personal Christmas tradition.
But, back to the cookie tour as promised! We were only about half way through the Inns and knew we were not going to finish in one day! Thankfully, we had another full day of cookie hunting on Sunday and couldn’t wait to devour many more exquisite cookies! And receive the recipes, too!
Sunday was going to be another day filled with anticipation of what kinds of cookies we would be tasting! I found myself getting out of bed a little slower than the day before but attributed it to all the driving we had done on Saturday. I was clueless as to why I felt like I had been hit by a fast moving semi but I managed to pull on my boots, pack my earmuffs and off we went!
At about the third inn, (with six remaining if we wanted to get our special Christmas ornament that was promised to us only upon completing the tour of all 18 Inns), my stomach really let me know that there was not going to be any way that I could consume even one more cookie! My husband decided that he could take over my quota but I wasn’t really happy with that decision. So, I took some Pepcid, decided not to drink any more Wassel and I’d have room for more cookies!
That did not happen!
Upon seeing me clutching my stomach in what appeared to be sheer agony, one of the innkeepers asked if they could help. I proceeded to tell them that I really wanted to sample all 18 cookies and be able to tell others what I thought of them, but it wasn’t going to happen. It was at that point that I found out I wasn’t expected in to eat all the cookies during the tour, or even half of them. All I was really expected to do was visit the inns, participate in the tours and vote on the one that was decorated the best!
My stomach started to churn!
Maybe we should have tried just a few of them, but not all of them since we probably wouldn’t feel much like doing anything else, especially try out one of the highly recommended restaurants in the area.
With our cookies in hand, we raced to the last inn and dropped off our stamped cards showing that we had visited every inn on the tour. We voted on the best decorated house, received our specially crafted ornament, laughed at the number of cookies, (and 10 extra lbs. we gained), and prepared for our long drive home when we heard the innkeeper state, “You’re the last ones here so why don’t you take the rest of the cookies with you and maybe eat a few on your drive home okay?” Not gonna happen this trip!
That was 20 years ago. We’ve returned every year since then to sample cookies (not gorge on them), see the decorated inns, and visit the innkeepers that have made us feel so welcome. And we did it, not as travel writers, but as two more of the Cookie Munchers!
Over the years, we’ve stayed a many of the inns that have participated in the tour, but one inn that impressed us the most was the Inn at Ellis River. We met the new innkeepers who were filled with the vitality that I wish I still had. Both of them had suffered through years at the corporate side in Boston and had decided that they had had enough! After visiting the inn, (which they finally bought), they knew that it would eventually become their new forever home!
And, it is now our “Forever Inn” that we continue to visit each and every year as long as we can enjoy mountains, snow, and of course, cookies.
For more information: www.nhcookietour.com
LINDA EAGLESON is at
heart an essayist, exploring the world around her and her feelings about it for most of her life. She lives a simple life and finds joy in simple things like a comfortable chair or an unexpected explosion of dandelion blossoms. She loves the outdoors and enjoys bringing her experiences to her readers.
Linda’s works have appeared in the Westerly Sun and in the pages of Rhode Island Roads, Jaunting, and Northeast Traveler. She has also presented her work at poetry slams and open readings across the state of Rhode Island.
