NH Visit

Sat., Feb. 1st – Sat. Feb. 8th, 2020

We said goodbye to Andy & Linda as they headed off to visit our Aunt & Uncle and cousins in Corpus Christi for a few days then on to Belton, TX which is their home base. We will miss them. It was fun spending a month together. We’ve never been able to do that before. 

Today we fly to NH for a week to have a chance to visit mom and see friends. We packed up and headed to Houston. We left in plenty of time, parked at an outside lot and were able to get the free shuttle into the airport. Since I still have a “temporary” paper TX license that looks like a bad school art project, we decided it would be best if I brought along my Passport to get thru security. That worked like a charm BUT alas the next thing I know there’s a problem with our carry-on suitcase and Gary’s flagging me down to take care of it. Why me? Because you packed it. Ah. Turns out I forgot about the Swiss army knife that was in my make-up bag. Oops. I was impressed that TSA spotted it. Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that they’re doing their job and keeping us all safe, even though it meant Gary’s Swiss army knife landed in the trash. Apparently it had been in my make-up bag since last fall when we had checked the bag for a European trip. Shows you how often I go through my make-up bag. Gary was a good sport over the loss of his knife. 

Our flight was fine and we got to Logan, rented a car and drove to the Howard Johnson’s in Portsmouth arriving fairly late Saturday night. HoJo’s had the right price, it’s clean, breakfast is included, and they have free (warm) chocolate chip cookies in the lobby. It’s the chocolate chip cookies that sealed the deal. We think it’ll be fun being so close to downtown Portsmouth. 

Sunday we headed to Durham for an early light lunch at the Soupery then walked around the UNH campus for awhile. Rather fun to play tourists in our own neck of the woods. Unfortunately Ellen & Wayne are traveling so we couldn’t link up with them on this trip. Afterwards we headed over to visit Mom. This 100+ year young woman always amazes us! She was happy to see us but does perfectly well on her own with a little help from the staff at Brookdale and our dear friend Nancy who stops in and checks on her regularly and brings in a few groceries. Mom’s remarkable! We happily chatted for awhile then left when mom kicked us out for the day. We stopped at Market Basket for some wine and snacks for the hotel room. Then back to the hotel for awhile before we headed out to dinner at the Thirsty Moose in downtown Portsmouth for dinner and to watch the first part of the SuperBowl. This was a popular spot for watching the big game… we got the last table! We enjoyed dinner and the Super Bowl atmosphere before heading back to the hotel. 

As an aside… prior to entering the restaurant, we were (nicely) accosted by a Bernie Sanders supporter. It’s primary season in NH and stakes are high. We can’t vote not being NH residents any longer but that didn’t stop the young campaigner from making his pitch to vote for Bernie in whatever state we call home. This is one of the cool things about living in NH during Presidential campaign season… for a little while we’re center stage…. then the day after the primary there’s a mad dash by everyone to leave our pretty state. 

Monday we made some phone calls in the morning and then had plans to take Mom to the doctor’s to check on a toe that was giving her trouble. After the usual oohs and ahhs about how fabulous Mom looks for her age by the doctor’s staff, we had a visit with the Nurse Practitioner who prescribed some meds, and we were on our way to lunch afterwards. It’s a treat to spend time with Mom. Afterwards we brought her back to Brookdale then headed back to the hotel. I went for a long walk, which was rather fun, walking on some of the residential streets in Portsmouth. Not something I often do. Gary used the opportunity to do some updates on our devices since we had a good wifi signal at the hotel. That night we headed to Flatbread Company for pizza in Portsmouth… all locally sourced ingredients. Great pizza and a cool vibe in the place. 

Tuesday our friends Linda and Phil drove up from Mass. to join us for the day. We have been friends for over 35 years. This fall they had joined us in Barcelona and on a Western Mediterranean cruise. Today was much more tame… we wandered around Portsmouth for the day and went to the Thirsty Moose for lunch, which happens to have a special on Tuesdays, All Day Happy Hour on food and drinks. How convenient! Plus Linda & Phil love craft beer so it was a good choice. Once again it was fun to play tourist in our backyard and considering it was February in NH, the weather was quite mild. 

That evening Gary and I headed over to The Press Room in Portsmouth for dinner and live jazz. A fun evening where a local jazz ensemble plays a set and then welcomes others to join in. Multiple singers and musicians switched on and off including a vibraphone being played by a UNH student for a few tunes. A special evening with great music. 

Wednesday I had a 10AM hair appointment. Thank you Mary Jane! Then we visited with mom for awhile before heading down to my dental cleaning at 2PM. In the middle of the dental cleaning, one of my crowns falls out. What are the odds!  On the one hand I was bummed, on the other hand everyone was telling me at least you were at the dentist’s office. Dr. Chiou was able to cement it back in. It’s staying in so we’ll hope it remains so! 

In the evening our friend Mary came to join us for dinner. She had just returned from a weekend getaway to Miami. We were grateful she was able to fit us into her schedule since she’s still a working girl for a little while longer. We had a wonderful time catching up with her at the Roundabout Diner. 

Thursday we had some weather in the form of snow and a wintry mix. We had plans to meet up with Martha, another friend, for lunch at the Portsmouth Brewery. We don’t ALWAYS pick breweries. As a matter of fact, we had actually chosen a different restaurant for today’s get-together but realized they were closed for the week so had to come up with Plan B. Martha is a hearty soul so a little weather didn’t phase her. We were hoping to be joined by Carol & Charlie, mutual friends from Maine, but alas the 2+ hour drive in inclement weather was a deal breaker so they had to bow out. We wouldn’t of wanted them driving in that bad weather anyway. We enjoyed Martha’s company and catching up on what she and all the kids (who aren’t kids anymore) are up to! She leads a busy, adventurous and fun life that woman! 

We also had one final visit with Mom on Thursday, which we thoroughly enjoyed. There were no tears when we said goodbye. We’ll see mom again in early May when we’re back in NH for almost 5 months and staying in a local campground. 

We had dinner by ourselves that night at La Carreta in Portsmouth. For our local friends, it wasn’t our favorite choice. We typically enjoy La Carreta, but we hadn’t eaten at the Portsmouth one before and didn’t love our meals. 

Friday we opted to spend the night in Boston since we had a very early flight on Saturday. We drove in after rush hour and returned the rental car to the airport and headed over to the Hilton at Logan Airport. We were too early to check in but were able to drop off bags. Unfortunately it was a rainy day! We hopped on the Hilton’s shuttle to catch the Silver Line, transferred to the Red Line and walked over to visit Harvard University’s Natural History Museum. (Thanks for the recommendation, Martha!) It was a great day of exploring this stellar museum. They have 16 galleries of dinosaurs, gemstones, meteorites, animals (dead) on display, and the pièce de résistance is their Glass Flowers. There are over 4,000 models of Glass Flowers made during 1886 and 1936 by a father and son team of Czech Glass Artists. Nearly 850 of them are actual size and over 3,000 are enlargements. They were commissioned by a Professor at Harvard who wanted life-like representatives of the plant kingdom for teaching botany. The project was financed by a wealthy family in Boston in honor of the husband, who was a graduate of the Class of 1834 at Harvard. A remarkable collection that is entirely life-like. 

After several hours exploring the museum we made our way back to the hotel, finished up our wine and snacks that we brought down from NH, and ate an early dinner at the Hilton’s restaurant. 

Saturday we were awake at 4AM to catch the 4:30 shuttle back to Logan and board our flight at 6AM. The flight went smoothly. I was able to watch the film “Judy” on the plane about Judy Garland starring Rene Zellweger. Excellent film but a sad story. 

A very fun trip to NH to visit mom, see friends, and play tourist in our own backyard. A unique week!