Being that Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, as well as Western Mass have some nice little mountain roads and passes you can drive, and the wife likes the scenery come fall foliage, I have a love-hate relationship with these kind of roads.
On one hand they’re pretty, and allow me some more technical driving than my daily commute. On the other hand, I’m not really enjoying the scenery keeping a close eye on the road (and the cliff face below) and they are hardly relaxing.
The wife once suggested as a vacation we drive up Mt. Washington. My answer “NO!”, not only would that be a lot of miserable driving that I won’t enjoy a second of, while I hear the Mrs. ooh and ahh over the vistas, but its terrible on your vehicle.
These guys are friggin’ INSANE!!
Still cool video with some great shots of the car going CRAZY. Also I liked the little tutorial on exactly how rally car navigators work.
I’d never enjoy that in a car with my family along. Like you said…can’t enjoy the scenery and can’t really enjoy the climb because of the knowledge that if you blow it, you’re going to hurt your family.
I love that kind of road on the the bike though. As long as it’s only me that would end up wrapped around a tree or careening down the cliff if I screw up, it’s a lot of fun…in a “heart in your throat, coppery taste of adrenaline and fear” kind of way.
But you still don’t get to enjoy the scenery.
Mt. Washington isn’t really all that bad of a road. It’s just expensive. (Or spring for one of those “sunset tour” things. They’re actually quite pretty and kind of fun.)
I prefer the scenery through the notch or whatever that passes the Mt. Washington hotel. Or take a buzz up around the area of The Balsoms Grand Hotel. Gorgeous too.
You guys should visit up here some time. You’d just LOVE the highway to Anchorage. Or the Top of the World highway from AK to Canada.
If you don’t think you’d enjoy a run up that mountain, I think you just need a better car 😉
More like a stronger stomach! Actually my truck is light a geared low enough and is light enough to be a fairly nimble hill-climber. Just there are days I like having white knuckles, and other days I just want a relaxing drive.
And there are very few days when I see a trip to the top of Mt. Washington worth a ton of engine wear, and a new set of breaks…