Do you serve cocktails ?

We arrived at our last hotel in the dark, it was pouring with rain and we had not been able to photograph the scenary on our journey up the Mowhawk Trail (you can view some old post cards). The Stratton Mountain Inn is a ski lodge and is quite shabby but the rooms are comfotable enough. If I had done more research before I went I would have found a lot of very negative comments take a look. I am glad I didn't read this first. Our guide had warned us it was a basic hotel, yes carpets were worn but the beds were comfortable and the room was clean. It is clearly a very old building and it certainly could do with a big 'make over'. The village is being developed and there are lots of condominiums being built all around. Some are directly in front of the hotel and this only serves to enhance the Inn's poor appearance. We decided to have a meal in the bar as it was too wet to brave the elements to find one of the two restaurants that open on alternate evenings (novel idea but I suppose practical for out of season). I asked the waitress if I could have a cocktail the conversation went something like this... her 'yeees' hesitantly- me 'Do you have a cocktail list ? - 'her' no what would you like' (I thought I had better play safe)- me 'Kir Royale' - her 'that's champagne not sure if the barman will open an expensive bottle of champagne; I'll see what he says; we might have a cheaper sparkling wine we could use - me 'thank you'. After about 5 mins + she returned with a WINE glass with a very red liquid. Her - 'I won't charge if you don't like this; we didn't have any cassis so I used (cannot remember) its a lot sweeter- me 'I'll try it' -one sip was enough far too sweet 'sorry can't drink that even for free'. Her- 'I'll make another one' and she duly returned with another glass; only a hint of syrup this time which made it only slightly more palatable. I did accept it but did not repeat the experience as it felt safer sticking to water. You can't ruin water- or can you maybe too much ice on a cold evening!! On the plus side the steak I ordered was very tasty and cooked almost as requested 'med/rare' well a little more towards the medium where I would have prefered more towards 'rare' but very acceptable. When the check arrived I was hoping that I would not be charged for the said cocktail!!- no such luck and it included 18.5 % service charge. Funny ideas about service- I don't know why the waitress didn't just say sorry no can do, honesty would have been worth the service charge.

I fondly thought back to our family trip to NY in June and the cocktails we had on the roof terrace of the Hudson Hotel. Ok a lot more expensive but served in a proper glass and a strawberry now that's more to my or should I say Sam's taste.


This is the view behind the inn, rather an old fashioned outdoor pool and beyond the pool are a couple of tennis courts. It is quite pretty in a quaint old fashioned way particularly when the sun shone.




I took an early morning walk to have a look at the plaza which, I imagine, would be quite vibrant in the skiing season. It was a bit eerie seeing no one about and piped music playing in the background.







They have two traditional bear statues and this is the smallest.









You can just see the outline of the ski runs in the distance.






We visited a lot of very picturesque areas take a look at Deerfield and the French King bridge. The trees that have shed their leaves in this picture would probably have been red.

I had hoped to get this posted before I went for my Friday swim at the over 50's session. Good job I didn't rush it as there would have been rather too many errors (probably still are!! let me know if you spot any).