Saco River Motor Lodge under new ownership

A few years back, Gordon and Linda Young and Mark and Beverly Dryjas were sitting on the back of a flybridge cruiser off the Spanish island of Menorca, cooking shrimp and pondering the future.Little did any of them know that their separate paths would lead them to Mount Washington Valley as owners of successful inns.In 2000, Mark and Beverly Dryjas purchased Wills Inn and Top Notch Vacations in Glen. And last month, Gordon and Linda Young became the new owners of Saco River Motor Lodge on Route 302 in Center Conway.Gordon had indicated to Mark on the back of that flybridge cruiser several years ago that if he and his wife ever returned to the United States from England, they would like to live in Mount Washington Valley, where they had vacationed many times.Just before Christmas in 1999, Mark called Gordon, saying, "Get us two tickets to Boston. I've found something to buy in New Hampshire."That "something" was the Saco River Motor Lodge, which the owners at the time had put up for sale on the Internet. However, Mark ended up buying Wills Inn and Top Notch Vacations instead.Meanwhile, the Youngs came back to the valley many times over the next two years. Gordon made business connections here, and Linda kept things going in England while their daughter, Caroline, finished her law degree at Liverpool University in England.Caroline finished law school last year, and the Youngs, having stayed at the Saco River Motor Lodge many times, decided they liked the place so much they would buy it. They applied for their visas, but the transaction was delayed because of the events of Sept. 11. They finally closed on May 3.Saco River Motor Lodge has 17 rooms and is open year-round. The Youngs have undertaken a major landscaping project, and Gordon said his next project will be to upgrade the inside of some of the rooms. Longer term, he says he may be adding log cabins on two acres of land on the side of the motel next spring.Phone number for Saco River Motor Lodge is 447-3720.