http://www.slate.com/id/2094064/entry/0/

It looks like this is the first of five essays that the author will be
submitting this week in advance of next week's New Hampshire
presidential primary election.

It would be nice if he makes it to Windblown in the southwest part of
the state. Almost all the trails are open, which is a rare treat for
southern N.H.

The ultimate skiing destination this week though would be the Balsams in
Dixville Notch. Just as New Hampshire has the role of hosting the first
primary election, the first votes within N.H. are traditionally counted
from the town of Dixville Notch. I was a little disappointed the first
time I made the trip up there to see that there really isn't a town in
the conventional sense. But New Hampshire, like the other New England
states except Maine, is organized so that every square inch of its
territory is within some named municipality, no matter how sparsely
populated. (The 2000 census reports a population of 75 for the town of
Dixville, but there are several towns in northern N.H. with as few as 0
official residents.) There is practically nothing there except the
Balsams hotel. But you don't really need anything else - this is the
whole point of a destination hotel - and this is fortunate because not
only is there nothing else nearby, but anywhere else is, by definition,
not nearby. The hotel has its own alpine ski area as well as one of the
best cross-country trail systems in the state. There is the excuse for
not going there that it is not convenient, but in the case of the
Balsams, the week before the primary, that is a poor excuse for an
excuse.

Lew Lasher
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stowe, Vermont