Family and Foliage

My Daughter Taught Me How to Use Panorama Feature - Lake Winnipesaukee

I apologize in advance because there are going to be a lot of pictures on this post because yesterday was all about the views and the company I was blessed to share them with.  So I guess what I’m saying is – deal with it!  I will spare you the daily beard photo, so you've got that.  I put them all at the end of the words which are completely inadequate to the task of describing how much fun yesterday was.

Yesterday saw our annual foliage tour of New England; the sixth year in a row the wife and I took the Columbus Day holiday to do some leaf peeping along the back roads of New England. This year we had the incredible pleasure of our daughter along for the ride and a planned conclusion in Portsmouth for dinner with our son and the MEF.

We abandoned our normal Columbus Day stomping grounds of Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont for central New Hampshire.  The daughter’s presence paid immediate benefits as she started a game where, between IT lessons for my wife and her I-Pad, she would play a movie score on the radio and I had to guess the movie.  I did alright but the best moment had my wife knowing one before I did.  We heard about that for the succeeding thirty miles.

It was a glorious fall day and the colors were a lot more vibrant this year compared to the past two, but hey, we were in New Hampshire, so it was kind of expected.

We took the customary back roads and wandered through the landscape eventually ending up near Lake Winnipesaukee for lunch at the restaurant of one of my high school classmates.  I’d seen him a couple weeks ago at the reunion and promised a visit.  It was kind of spooky because his restaurant is literally across the street from an ice cream stand that my college sweetheart used to pick me up when I hitchhiked up there to visit her more than thirty years ago.  I’ll always remember a certain trip when the Cantankerous One accompanied me and it seemed to take forever to get a ride.  We both claimed that it was because the other guy was so ugly.

Lunch was awesome.  If you’re ever in that area – make sure to stop in at Junior’s Crush House in Guilford, NH.  The food was singularly outstanding.  My wife, a major soup aficionado, claims it was the best homemade soup she’s had in a long time.  It was fun seeing the classmate and his family making a go of this challenging business. He even surfaced the idea of having the class assemble there in a couple years when we all reach our sixtieth birthday.  Yikes – is it really that close!

After lunch we made out way along the edge of the lake and then struck out for Maine.  We were definitely into Stephen King country as my daughter nervously took note of some creepy abandoned farmsteads but no Pennywise showed up to ruin the day.  We took a detour to the coast when we started moving south to visit York Beach.

I spent some of the best summers, or at least a couple weeks of them, of my youth there.  It’s amazing that so much is unchanged from forty years ago.  We stopped at Nubble Light for pictures.  While my wife was away I’d completed a jigsaw puzzle of the lighthouse and it was strange to see in person all the small details I’d spent hours poring over.  The drive along Long Sands was especially nostalgic remembering summer days spent there with, again the Cantankerous Friend.  He does haunt me.

We ended the tour in Portsmouth where the Son and MEF gave my daughter a guided tour of the town, along with his inherited frustration with parking challenged idiots.  We had a really fun dinner at the River House which was over way, way too soon.  After the obligatory but enjoyable viewing of the engagement pictures we were back on the road again for the ride home.  Since sangria was involved at dinner I lost my co-pilot for the majority for the trip.  My daughter picked up the slack and continued her life long, but heretofore unsuccessful effort to teach me something about popular music. 

Best Columbus Day.  Ever. 

Daughter and I in NH

Wife Helping Daughter - She Never Stops Being a Mom

My Daughetr Was Jumping Yesterday - She Has Some Inherited Tigger Blood

I Guess They Both Do

A New Hampshire Brook Near New Boston, NH

My Delightful Crew Yesterday

Spectacular View from Junior's Crush House

And Less Spectacular - Author

That Helps

My Wife's Signature Move - Up Through the Sun Roof for a Photo

Nubble Light - The Exact Angle from the Puzzle

Tiggering Again

The Crew Heading for the Finish Line in Portsmouth

Outside River House After Dinner with son and MEF

Great End to Day