Ron and Alison Bolt
MOUNTAIN TIME

While snowbirds head south this time of year, a couple finds contentment in the winter wonderland of New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

Ron and Alison Bolt’s decision to build a log home came during a moment of clarity; one of those rare instances in life when the future is suddenly crystal clear. The Bolts were vacationing in Lake George, New York, and happened to wander into a model log home located next to their hotel.

“When I stood in the loft of that house, I had an emotional, almost physical, reaction,” Alison says. “I looked at the beautiful logs and stone fireplace and saw the trees outside through those huge windows, and I got tears in my eyes. I knew right then, that’s how I wanted to live.”

Alison’s wish came true by way of a custom, 3,800-square-foot home built from 8-inch milled white pine logs. Nestled in New Hampshire’s famous White Mountains, the house overlooks the Connecticut River. With snowcapped peaks that rival any Alpine beauty, winter is truly white in this mountain range. The area receives an average of 250 inches of snowfall each year.

“We actually like winter weather,” says Ron, an avid skier who took Alison and daughters Kirsten and Kerry on skiing vacations in the region for more than a decade before building their home. In fact, when the Bolts considered retirement destinations, warm-weather locales such as Florida and the Southwest never occurred to them.

“Florida’s got bugs as big as your head!” says Alison, a quilting enthusiast and humor columnist. “People said we were crazy, retiring to a place that’s freezing cold. But when I’m sitting at my fireplace having my morning tea, it doesn’t seem crazy to me.”

Next: RETIRING IN STYLE