Wet Weddings, Hometown Hotel and Seacoast Sojourn

Wife and I at Wedding on Friday Night

Well if today is Monday (somehow already in July) that means I’m in recovery mode from a weekend spent driving the visiting Panamanians to and fro.  Luckily this past weekend’s meanderings were confined to New England instead of the entire eastern seaboard. Even more auspiciously, the reasons for the wanderings were cogent and thoroughly enjoyed. Friday saw us driving up to my hometown for the Friday night wedding of Keene Friend 2 and his longtime girlfriend (two very special people).

Our Hotel in Keene

Due to the size of our entourage we eschewed imposing on Keene Friend 1 for sleeping quarters although he did semi-volunteer to take in Buddy the Wonder Pooch for the night. We secured rooms in the Fairfield Inn in downtown Keene and I realized this was the first time in my life that I stayed in a hotel in Keene, at least overnight. There were some other stop overs during my youth but those stories are best lost to mists of time.

Keene Friend, Cantankerous Friend and Sometimes Roommate

I really liked the hotel which had converted a block of the old storefronts on Main Street. I checked in at the front desk which was located where my mother used to buy my school shoes at Endicott Johnson. For some reason it was a little jarring but extremely welcome to walk out one of the exit doors and immediately being surrounded by the all too familiar Main Street environs. A long held aspiration is to buy a condo in a building directly across Church Street from the hotel was reinforced with this stay. Sadly that aspiration fell victim to the Worcester decision but it still sparked every time I walked out of the hotel.

Wife with the Groom

We rallied at Keene Friend 1’s house before traveling to the wedding. We were joined there by his sometime roommate and the Cantankerous Friend. The rain that would haunt most of the matrimonial procedures kicked off just as we pulled out. The wedding was in a very curious and interesting location twenty minutes into the Alstead boonies east of town. A low slung building that used to be a community theater and is now evolving into a charter high school was transformed into a fabulous ceremonial location. There were several huge industrial machines from earlier times still present which added a hulking ambiance to the proceedings.

Keene Freind with Groom and Groom's Son
In Front of One of Those Machines

I’m operating under strict orders from the bride (I’m guessing here) not to display any photos of the wedding couple together. You’ll have to take my word they both looked completely in love and extraordinarily happy. We had a representative group of my high school classmates present which meant a very fun evening. The ceremony was presided over by a justice of the peace who turned out to be a lass I dated briefly back in that youth (first leave as a commissioned officer) I referenced earlier. I don’t think she remembered me which speaks volumes as to my youthful charms.

KHS Class of 73 Represented!

In a very classy move, the newly married couple had invited the visiting Panamanians to the wedding when they heard they would be in town with us. It was an incredibly fun evening of conversation, beer, and arguably the most impressive display of homemade cookies I’ve ever foraged upon. The families prepared all the food for the reception but I was overwhelmed when the cookies came out. They included miniature whoopee pies (!!!!!!) along with a collection of chocolate chip cookies and orange laced sugar cookies. Since you know I was drinking beer I now had the two most important food groups in abundance. We were even treated to a youthful accordion concert and an electric Latin dance by the bride’s daughter.

Saturday Lunch with the Favorite Son

My wife eventually received a dispensation from her mother to join the dancing. Since she’s still officially in mourning period for her dad’s passing last year the dispensation was required. Once she had that she rarely left the dance floor but you probably already guessed that. We had to activate the beer reserve we had stashed in the back of my car near the end of the night. The steady rain that had plagued the wedding finally let up long enough to access that nearby resource.

Saturday Night Dinner

Since the ready access to beer and cookies was present (for me) and dancing (for my wife) available we were amongst the last people to leave at the end of the night. The cleanup crew that volunteered to help the couple sanitize the consequences of the partying failed to materialize so we all helped the now combined families of the married couple with that effort. By the time we returned to Keene the center of town was deserted which for a Friday night I found troubling but then again predictable in a small town. We caught the end of an extra innings win by the Red Sox which culminated a just about a perfect night spent with lifelong friends and witnessing the happiness of two of my favorite people in the world.

The Group

After checking out from the hotel on Saturday morning Keene Friend 1 and I shared recovery phase operations at his place whilst the Panamanians descended on the tax free shopping opportunities my wife knows so well in Keene. I eventually coaxed them back since we had the long drive to the seacoast to link up with my Favorite Son and the ABFA. We missed a lot of the really bad holiday traffic. We were driving south on I-93 and could see mile after mile of deadlocked traffic heading north into the mountains and lakes region.

Our Hosts Sunday on Pierce Island

We got into Stratham a little after noon and decided to drive into Portsmouth after first securing lunch. Unfortunately the traffic into Maine was in a similar state as on 93 and the refugees from that morass were clogging the back roads we needed to get around. We eventually made it to a Buffalo Wild Wings in nearby Newington but that required nearly an hour instead of the usual 15 minutes. I simply do not understand the massive appeal of Maine. Morale was restored since the Red Sox were once again pummeling the Blue Jays on the ubiquitous TV screens as Chris Sale continued his season long dominance.

The Whole Gang

After the well-received lunch we tried to do some sightseeing in Portsmouth. Note the use of the word “try”. The aforementioned Maine bound traffic had turned the port city into an absolute quagmire. My son, who lived there for three years, tried every side street he could think of but the center of town was a complete parking lot. Since we had the much better option of returning to his house and hanging out there with the ABFA and her folks we abandoned the Portsmouth project for another day.

That was a great decision because it meant more time with those excellent people. My son once again demonstrated his rapidly developing reputation as a grill master searing an appropriate overabundance of dead animal flesh. Buddy continued his work of being tolerant of Riggins’ insistence on playing more. Another very fun evening especially since the ABFA’s mom was feeling better after a recent health issue.

Sunday morning breakfast was a dream realized as the entire family gathered around the kitchen island with the two dogs circulating constantly and the conversation ebbing and flowing continuously. The after breakfast drive into Portsmouth was completely absent of the Saturday’s traffic conundrum and allowed my son and the ABFA to show off “their” city to the visitors. We walked around Pierce Island before lucking into a parking spot in the center of town.

We then assumed gender specific roles (at least in my immediate family) which saw the ladies attack the shopping opportunities while my son escorted my wife’s uncle and I to a couple pubs. We patronized the always excellent Earth Eagle Pub where my wife’s uncle sampled some of their exotic brews under the eyes of a tattered bearskin and turkey wings (it’s all about atmosphere). We then ambled down the street to the British Beer Company and some Holy Grail Ale. The ladies eventually joined us there for lunch and then the short walk back to the car. Unfortunately the weekend was drawing to a close and I wanted to hit the road before Maine started belching traffic south. We listened to yet another Red Sox win travelling south to Worcester as the Sox pasted the seemingly helpless Blue Jays once again, scoring fifteen runs in the process. That made the drive a little easier to make and we were home in less than an hour and a half.

Earth Eagle Pub

Wandering Portsmouth Streets

Wife and her Mom

We were all a little gassed from our frenetic weekend and the neighborhood Mafioso’s prevented any further effort on our part with an invitation to a awesome spaghetti dinner. It was the perfect decompression from the weekend to sit around the table and swap stores and jokes with our best friends in the neighborhood. I could definitely use a weekend without a long drive however nothing can rob the memories liberally laced throughout this fantastic three days.

Dinner with the Mafiosos

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