Vanessa and I embarked on the most amazing journey, when we attended MINIs On Top. This is an annual event where about 235 MINIs meet up in northern New Hampshire, with the main objective being to safely ascend, (and descend), the 8-mile long Mt. Washington Auto Road.

This storied and infamous road literally drives up to the 6,288 foot summit of Mt. Washington, home of the world’s worst weather. (In 1934, the highest wind speed ever, (231 miles per hour), was recorded.

The drive up the mountain was intense, even though we were only in first gear, at about 20 miles per hour. It was also very cloudy and windy. At the top, visibility was almost zero, with clouds soaring past at 30 mile per hour. It wasn’t the best circumstances to see the supposedly amazing view. I’ve heard you can see as far east as the Atlantic ocean, and as far west as the Adirondack mountains, but not that day!

Even though the views were poor, the experience was amazing, and yes, I’d definitely do it again.

Part of my enthusiasm has to do with everything else that we did during this trip.

This event is foremost about the climb to the clouds, but it also features many other excellent drives on some amazing twisty mountain roads in the area. Drives like the Kancamagus Highway, Bear Notch Road, Franconia Notch, and many others, all made for some amazing fun. Taking the curves with up to 50 other MINIs in the same convoy is quite a sight to behold, indeed!

We all took over the little town of Gorham, New Hampshire, with most of us staying at the Town & Country Motor Inn. There were several social events held there, for us MINI owners. But beyond everything else, it was really fun, thanks to the tremendously friendly and inclusive people that attended. MINI owners are all a bit quirky, but they’re all friendly and fun. I cannot thank my friends from the TierMINI club, who let me tag along with them the entire weekend. Tom, Karen, Joe and Cathy: thanks so much.

Below are thumbnails from the weekend. Feel free to click on one, to view it larger, or click the “Start Slideshow” button and just sit back to see the entire presentation...