I couldn't blog about our vacation while we were on vacation because I was unconnected. No phone, no Internet (except for one short session at a McDonalds in North Conway, and I used that time to do my weekly work search), no TV, and no cable. And lots of cool stuff to do.
One of Karen's coworkers owns a cabin in Errol, about three hours north of here, on a cute little pond. We took our time driving up, stopping for Bobbie Sue's ice cream in Freedom, visiting North Conway and Gorham, and looking around Berlin before settling in for a relaxing week (well, as relaxing as a vacation with two boys can be).
William and Daniel spent a lot of their time in the water, jumping off a dock they found at nearby Akers Pond, at a public beach that Daniel nicknamed "Cannonball Cove." Karen got in some swimming, too, although she took time out to do some painting. She's learning an impressionist style known as "plein air," and she's taking to it very nicely. She produced three small canvases, one of which has been gifted to the owner of the cabin, a second going to Tom, and the third going to me.
Karen and I have been married for 24 years, and I have very little of her artwork, so this is a precious gift. I am working very hard to find her more time to paint, because she's enjoying it and she shows a lot of promise, as anyone who knows Karen might expect.
On Thursday we drove back down to Glen, to do our annual (though probably last) trip to Storyland. We met up with friends and the boys spent a lot of time—what else—getting wet, on rides and in the mist houses that Storyland provides on hot days. The highlight of the day, as it has been for the past few years, was the small-top performance of the Royal Hanneford Circus. But my boys seem to be outgrowing the rides, and so we might find another special trip for next year.
On the way back to Errol, we stopped in a restaurant that was recommended by the cashier at the Cumberland Farms convenience store in Gorham (Karen loves Cumby's iced coffee, and had to stock up. It was named, unpromisingly, Mr. Pizza, but it turned out to have a much more varied menu, and we had a delightful dinner.
Friday found us in Colebrook, very close to the Canadian border. We would have considered crossing into Quebec, but none of us has a current passport, now required for travel to and from Canada. Perhaps another time.
Colebrook is a cute little town, with a French bakery (with a French-Canadian owner) where we got some delicious honey bread and madeleines to have with dinner that night. Then we found Beaver Brook Falls, where we picnicked and the boys, of course, got good and wet. We also found a market there for the extra food we needed, since Errol has only a small, and expensive, general store.
To get to Colebrook, we passed through Dixville Notch, famous for their first-in-the-nation voting. The place where this voting has traditionally taken place, a resort called The Balsams, is currently closed for renovation. Apparently a large portion of the resort is not up to code. We took a look around the grounds and found one gorgeous old building. We hope they are not tearing that one down; we'll check back next year, I think.
Dixville Notch also has a lovely state park, with falls on both sides of the highway, and so we went back that way Saturday, and hiked up the falls. And, of course, the boys got wet.
On our way home Sunday, we stopped for lunch at Mr. Pizza again, then made our way through Conway to the Kankamagus Highway and the Swift River where, of course, the boys got wet. Then one more stop at Bobbie Sue's for ice cream, and then home, tired but happy.
And what did I do all this time? Some writing, a lot of photography, and a lot of nothing. It was just what I needed.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
On the Run and Having Fun, Mostly
Summer vacation is starting off with a flurry of activity. On Tuesday I took Karen's car off to have an oil change, and to have the mechanic sort of poke around to see if there were any obvious issues that would prevent the car from passing inspection in August. Good news: nothing major wrong with the car. Better news: I got to go to lunch with Karen.
On Wednesday, after doing some packing for a trip, I spent some time over at the Wright Museum, a local World War II museum, to be in a movie. A friend of mine from the theater has a friend from his earlier film acting career who is making a short film about a 13-year-old boys who finds himself suddenly back in the War. And he needed some extras, and of course I said yes. Not only did I get to be in a scene in the movie (as a cafe patron), but I got to spend the whole afternoon in an air-conditioned building. Which was truly a treat.
Thursday found us driving down to East Lyme, Connecticut, where we spent the afternoon at a beach on the Long Island Sound. I stayed on a chair on the shady hill overlooking the beach while Karen and the boys played in the water. I got to listen to music (which I don't do as much as I'd like) and read using the Kindle application on my phone. I'm reading The Fifth String, by the legendary composer John Philip Sousa.
That evening, after cleaning up at the motel, we found a restaurant in Groton called Flannigan's, which had a menu published in the phone book that looked very tempting. What the ad failed to mention was that Flannigan's is also a bar, and that they have karaoke night on Thursdays. So it wasn't quiet, but it was fun. Karen and the boys managed to talk me into doing the karaoke bit (twice: one solo of Mac the Knife, and a duet with Daniel of Puff, the Magic Dragon), and William gave it a try although he found he didn't know the lyrics to the Back Street Boys song Larger Than Life as well as he thought. And by the way the food was delicious.
Friday turned out to be a bit gloomy, and not much of a beach day, so we went to visit a museum that we read about in a brochure for Groton, called the Submarine Force Museum. It's adjacent to a naval base, and one of its features is the first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus. Unfortunately, we couldn't go on the sub because the air conditioning was down and the temperature inside was well above 100. But the rest of the museum was fascinating, with some great films about submarine history (and one about an underwater spy system called SOSUS that was used to listen for Soviet subs). That's a place we'll go back to.
We also visited a Revolutionary War battlefield, where the only battle of that war to be fought in the State of Connecticut was fought in 1781. The monument that looms over it has a spiral stone staircase inside with 166 steps. Karen and I bowed out, but both boys climbed to the top, and William did it twice!
We also got to explore around the fort a little before it really started to rain. We had planned to visit a little restaurant on the shore in Groton that makes its own pasta, but it was so busy we didn't have time to wait for a seat. So we went back to the restaurant we had eaten breakfast at the morning and had a wonderful dinner before heading for home.
Despite the fact that we got home around midnight, William and I got up the next morning and loaded one of the kayaks on my car. We met the Boy Scouts at the local park, where our kayak joined about a dozen others in the trailers the leaders brought, and William kayaked with his troop all the way to Maine. Okay, it's closer than it sounds, but he was on the water for more than two hours, and swam and played around for about two hours after. Needless to say he slept very well last night.
A lazier day today, expect that we had a lot of cleaning to catch up on, until Daniel, doing the dishes, tried to wash the "fiddle bow" bread knife, which is the sharpest knife we have. And, of course, he sliced his thumb open. So he ended up with three stitches in his thumb for the next 12 days.
But we still had a celebration tonight. Why? Because this morning Daniel had his last dose of medication. And the pain in his thumb didn't stop him from enjoying his cake and ice cream.
That's my boy!
On Wednesday, after doing some packing for a trip, I spent some time over at the Wright Museum, a local World War II museum, to be in a movie. A friend of mine from the theater has a friend from his earlier film acting career who is making a short film about a 13-year-old boys who finds himself suddenly back in the War. And he needed some extras, and of course I said yes. Not only did I get to be in a scene in the movie (as a cafe patron), but I got to spend the whole afternoon in an air-conditioned building. Which was truly a treat.
Thursday found us driving down to East Lyme, Connecticut, where we spent the afternoon at a beach on the Long Island Sound. I stayed on a chair on the shady hill overlooking the beach while Karen and the boys played in the water. I got to listen to music (which I don't do as much as I'd like) and read using the Kindle application on my phone. I'm reading The Fifth String, by the legendary composer John Philip Sousa.
That evening, after cleaning up at the motel, we found a restaurant in Groton called Flannigan's, which had a menu published in the phone book that looked very tempting. What the ad failed to mention was that Flannigan's is also a bar, and that they have karaoke night on Thursdays. So it wasn't quiet, but it was fun. Karen and the boys managed to talk me into doing the karaoke bit (twice: one solo of Mac the Knife, and a duet with Daniel of Puff, the Magic Dragon), and William gave it a try although he found he didn't know the lyrics to the Back Street Boys song Larger Than Life as well as he thought. And by the way the food was delicious.
Friday turned out to be a bit gloomy, and not much of a beach day, so we went to visit a museum that we read about in a brochure for Groton, called the Submarine Force Museum. It's adjacent to a naval base, and one of its features is the first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus. Unfortunately, we couldn't go on the sub because the air conditioning was down and the temperature inside was well above 100. But the rest of the museum was fascinating, with some great films about submarine history (and one about an underwater spy system called SOSUS that was used to listen for Soviet subs). That's a place we'll go back to.
We also visited a Revolutionary War battlefield, where the only battle of that war to be fought in the State of Connecticut was fought in 1781. The monument that looms over it has a spiral stone staircase inside with 166 steps. Karen and I bowed out, but both boys climbed to the top, and William did it twice!
We also got to explore around the fort a little before it really started to rain. We had planned to visit a little restaurant on the shore in Groton that makes its own pasta, but it was so busy we didn't have time to wait for a seat. So we went back to the restaurant we had eaten breakfast at the morning and had a wonderful dinner before heading for home.
Despite the fact that we got home around midnight, William and I got up the next morning and loaded one of the kayaks on my car. We met the Boy Scouts at the local park, where our kayak joined about a dozen others in the trailers the leaders brought, and William kayaked with his troop all the way to Maine. Okay, it's closer than it sounds, but he was on the water for more than two hours, and swam and played around for about two hours after. Needless to say he slept very well last night.
A lazier day today, expect that we had a lot of cleaning to catch up on, until Daniel, doing the dishes, tried to wash the "fiddle bow" bread knife, which is the sharpest knife we have. And, of course, he sliced his thumb open. So he ended up with three stitches in his thumb for the next 12 days.
But we still had a celebration tonight. Why? Because this morning Daniel had his last dose of medication. And the pain in his thumb didn't stop him from enjoying his cake and ice cream.
That's my boy!
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