Diner breakfast, then ski

The Salem Diner, in Salem, Mass.

“When I go skiing in New England, I usually wake up early and drive up to Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine to make it in time for chairlift opening. That means leaving early and getting breakfast at one of the little quaint diners up in the mountains.’’

Sunita Williams (born 1965), American astronaut and U.S. Navy officer who grew up in the Boston area.

She graduated from Needham High School, in Needham, Mass.

On the Upper Wildcat Trail, at the Wildcat Mountain Ski Area, in New Hampshire. The Presidential Range of the White Mountains looms to the west.

'Happy Feast of the Circumcision!'

Mt. Washington from the Wildcat Mountain ski area, near Jackson

From Robert Whitcomb's "Digital Diary,'' in GoLocal24.com

Back when I was around 12, my parents, a couple of my siblings and I spent the New Year’s weekend in Jackson. N.H., in the White Mountains, where we skied (clumsily) a bit and stayed at a B&B (but called an inn). The place was owned by an Episcopal minister. He was quite funny. On New Year’s morning he greeted everyone with a boisterous “Happy Feast of the Circumcision!” But it was clear how hard the couple had to work to keep their little business going, ministering, so to speak, to the almost 24/7 needs and desires of their about 15 guests – e.g., directions to local ski areas and other attractions, drugstores and doctors, cocktails (but not too many) for the adults and huge breakfasts for all. It was an early introduction to the challenges of running a small business.