New England

We have been wanting to visit Nathan's sister Beth and her family for ages now, well at least the past 5 years, and finally decided that if we didn't just do something about it another 5 years would pass us by. So we took advantage of a few Southwest vouchers and planned a trip to the East coast. We left Monday, October 6th, well before the sun made an appearance much to Lucas's delight. There is something so much more exciting about leaving "in the middle of the night!" than say noon. Poor Nathan was feeling very under the weather and we debated up until the very end if we should cancel the whole thing but we both knew that if we did, it would be another 5 years before we got it together again so we plowed ahead and thank the Lord after a few days his head cleared and no one else came down with anything. After 7+ hours, our trusty Southwest airplane brought us to Manchester, NH. Even though as we took off on our final leg Jill kept crying, "I want off this airplane!", we were surprised and relieved at how well the kids handled the day. IPod videos are the best!

We decided to start our trip in New Hampshire so that we could visit a couple that we had met 8 or so years ago through Nathan's work. Back then, his company took the top sales reps on a trip once a year for a little reward and we were blessed to have Jim and Diane on all the trips we went on. They are the nicest, friendliest Christian folks. This past year, Jim was diagnosed with an unknown brain disease so we wanted to take the opportunity to see them again.

Jim suggested that we stay in Portsmouth, NH so after picking up our rental car we headed that way enjoying all the beautiful fall coloring along the tree lined interstate. After finding dinner at a grocery store down the way and getting settled into our hotel, it was closing in on 10:00 so we got ready for bed, turned off the lights and stared at the ceiling. Even if you do get up in the middle of the night that 3-hour time change is a bugger.

The next day we set off to see Portsmouth. Portsmouth is one of the nation's oldest city, settled in 1623. It sits right on the mouth of some very long named river that I can't remember. It looks exactly like you might expect an old sea port village in New England to look like. The architecture of the houses and building were so cool and decidedly not California-ish. I loved it. We walked though downtown and made our way to a park which was great for the kids. Cobblestone streets and cool architecture don't have the same appeal to 2 and 5-year-olds. We were able to meet Jim and Diane for lunch at a groovy little cafe called the Friendly Toast. It was great to see them again. Jim looked just the same as always which was so nice to see after all that he has been through. After we parted ways, we decided to see a little more fall coloring while the kids napped so we headed up North. Now don't get me wrong, New Hampshire is beautiful and the leaves were colored so brilliantly from deep green to bright yellow and every shade of red in-between but I think I would loose my mind if I had to live there. I'm starting to feel claustrophobic just thinking about it. I guess I'm used to my open spaces. I know the appeal is the fall foliage but you just can't see anything but fall foliage. However, when there is an opening...gorgeous. Again, pretty trees were a little lost on the kids so Daddy kept them entertained yelling out "moose-alert" at every hint of a watering whole. We didn't see any moose but Jill was still on "moose-alert" when we hit New Jersey so you can't say we didn't try.

Wednesday morning, we took advantage of our continental breakfast one more time then headed down the coast toward Boston. As we were getting ready to leave, I asked Jill what she did in Portsmouth. She thought a moment and then said "I ate a muffin." Perhaps we should have waited another 5 years to take this trip. We took highway 1 part of the way down and any grievances I had with New Hampshire flew out the window once we hit the coast. It was so very beautiful and again, so not like California (not that there is anything wrong with our coast). Huge old houses sat on big pieces of land that ran right up to the beach. Old sea-faring ships sat in the harbors with beautiful wooden sailboats. Ahhh...it was lovely.



Into Boston we drove and found our way to the Prudential Center and to the Duck's tour kiosk. A little research before we left turned up this tour guide company in Boston that uses old World War II amphibious vehicles, called ducks by the soldiers, to show you around the city and up the Charles River. When the driver had us quack out the window at random people as we made our way through the city, I thought they were taking the whole "duck" thing a bit far but at least it kept the kid's attention. At any rate, it was a great way to get an overview of the city.




After Boston, it was on to Mystic, CT. Back in the 18-somethings, Mystic was a big ship building town and today they have a museum dedicated to all things maritime. We spent the day at the museum on Thursday. It was really neat to see the old ships and hear how they did things back then. They gave a demonstration on how they caught whales that amazed us. They were a little crazy back in the day. They also had a really cute children's museum and play area that the kids loved. For dinner we splurged a bit and ate at a little restaurant right on the river. The setting was beautiful. The restaurant was right by the town's draw bridge so we were entertained watching it go up and down. The kids somehow managed to get through the day without naps so we tried to get to bed early. It didn't really work but ready or not we had a 5 hour car ride to New Jersey planned for the next day.




To be continued...