Summer Vacation 2016 Part 1

Greetings!!

Back in December 2015 when Kate and I planned this much needed summer vacation to her beloved Ocean City, Maryland we had no way of knowing that just a few days before were to head out that we would be closing on house.  That last week before we left was chaotic with work, kids, moving, and getting ready vacation that the time away was even more appreciated.

We hit the road at 1:55 am on Saturday July 23rd five whole minutes ahead of schedule.  A seven miles down the interstate the rain was coming down so heavy and the wind blowing so hard we stopped under and overpass for 15 minutes waiting for the storm to pass because of the horrendous road conditions, an ominous start to say the least.  That would be the only delay until we hit traffic heading into ocean city some 12 hours later.

Our first stop for gas and a stretch was after driving 224 miles to the TA on the Rudy Rd, Willington, CT.  We fueled up and Wesley boy got a diaper change.  We stopped again in New Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike and then in Middletown, Delaware to fuel up Vanna with some go juice and us with some Chick-Fil-A.  We got to Aunt Linda's to get the key to the condo and visit for a spell.

Wesley and Ava were intrigued with each other while Faith had fun playing with both of them.

We hit the road getting stuck on route 50 a few miles out from the bridge into Ocean City. Once we crossed the bridge onto the inlet the traffic started moving much faster.  We pulled into the condo about 4:30 pm 672 miles and fourteen and a half hours after the journey began.

But the night wasn't over, we ventured out for dinner going to Dumer's Dairyland who have five locations in Ocean City.  The whole place really reminded me of the Deering Ice Cream restaurants chain we had in Maine when I was a kid.

After dinner we hit Food Lion to get some supplies, it was insane!  I grabbed a number at the deli and it was over ten away from the number they were on.  Wesley was done and he and I waited in the van while Kate cashed out.

The condo is nice with a full bed, twin bed, and pull out couch.  The view is amazing with this glorious wrap around window where from twelve stories up you can see both sides of the inlet consisting of Assawoman Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, photo's do not do it justice.

Sunday morning, the 24th, we headed to the Farmers Market for tomato's, wine, and peaches then back to the condo and out to the beach.  Kate was not joking when she said it was right on the beach.  We set up out spot, filled a small pool for Wesley and proceeded to get sand in every uncomfortable spot we could, but it was well worth it for the boy.  After a few hours though he had had enough of the heat and was done so we headed back to the room where he took a four hour nap.

It was nice to relax in the room and consume the first of many delicious home style oven roasted turkey, new york cheddar cheese, fresh cut tomato, and Duke's mayo with salt and pepper on some pretty fantastic bread.  Kate had onion on hers.  It was by no means a hardship to have several of those through out the week.

We took in the sights of the boardwalk that night playing a few games and I was just really taking it all in. There was a living statue guy, all in gold with a device in his mouth that made everything he "said" come out a squeak.  Wesley was a big fan.

We finished the night off with dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill.  Kate used to eat at one in Kentucky and had a craving for their Chicken Bryan.  I got the Tuscan Grilled Chicken which was delicious.

Monday the 25th ended up being a busy day for us, after breakfast at Chick-Fil-A we ran a couple errands and then because of the heat decided to go to Assateague Island National Shoreline.  The temperature reached pretty near 100 with the heat index being about 115 degrees.

We stopped at the visitors center where we watched a video on the history of Ocean City and the area that was really interesting.  They also had a couple small aquarium tanks and the gift shop.  Kate said that this was a new visitors center from when she had last been.

Crossing the bridge onto the island we immediately saw three horses at the edge of the water not to far from the main rd.  They were there when we left too and Kate stated she had never seen the horses so well before.  Inside the National Shoreline park area we stopped at all the spots but the best by far was the old Ferry Landing.  The water was shallow there and what started with Wesley just getting his feet wet turn into him just sitting down in the water.  The close to an hour he played was well worth going to the Island alone.

We decided to head south and go to the Virginia side of the island, Kate had never been and it was only about an hour fifteen minute drive.  The route we took was awesome, old side roads with little traffic.  Just the kind of drive we like.  On the way to Chincoteague Island we went past the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and they had a Visitor's Center with actual Rockets out front!

The long bridge onto Chincoteauge Island is flanked by numerous billboards evenly spaced apart advertising what is on the the island, many of them appear to be just sitting in the water, we found it comical.

We had lunch on the island at Famous Pizza and Sub Shop, I had a pepperoni pizza, the sauce was amazing, and Kate had the rockfish sandwich special, Wesley and jumbo hotdog.

On Assateague Island we visited the Lighthouse which the walk to it was shorter than I thought, I read 1/4 mile one way, it was round trip.  The lighthouse was open for visitors and although I don't regret it now, at the time the decision to walk to the lighthouse was foolish considering how tall the tower was and how hot it was.

 I didn't take that into consideration I was thinking cool I can go to the top of this lighthouse and check out the lantern, and I did after climbing all 178 stairs.  The trip down was easier but still tiring and I was quite fatigued when I was done and my legs ached for days.

Every year for the last 91 years they have a Chincoteague Island pony swim, you can read about it here, and Kate has always wanted to see it but has never been in the area when it was happening. Ultimately we didn't see the ponies swim this year either but we did got see them in there coral on Assateague.

We did manage to stop at the NASA visitors center about a half hour before they closed.  It was marvelous!  They had many models inside and artifacts and outside the building several rockets including Little Joe which launched monkeys Sam and Miss Sam from Wallops.

Part 2  to follow

Later readers!

Father's Day in the White Mountains

Unlike Mother's Day for Father's Day 2016 the weather was gorgeous and were able to go to Glen Ellis Falls and a whole lot more driving about 330 miles from home, through the White Mountains, and back home again.

Our trip started with one of our favorite drive which is from home, through Winthrop to Bethel and into Gorham, New Hampshire.  There is just something about that drive that we truly love.  Once in Gorham we hit Route 16 south towards Jackson stopping at Glen Ellis Falls.

There is a well marked parking area and you have to take a tunnel under the road on the third mile hike towards the 64 foot waterfall.  The trail is well maintained and features of stair the descend to the base of the falls that is well worth the walk for the spectacular view.  Granted I did not have a 30 pound Wesley boy strapped to me, but I think Kate felt it was well worth it as well.

Leaving the falls we continued south on 16 turning onto route 302 towards Bartlett.  Route 302 cuts right through the heart of the White Mountain National forest and Crawford Notch State Park.  This is one of, if not the most, scenic and beautiful road I have ever driven on.

We had destinations in mind and even though I made a couple impromptu stops to snag a couple pictures we passed some places that we are definitely going back to in the future.  Which is exciting knowing we have a reason to return and explore more.

From 302 we turned onto Route 3 south which turns into I-93 south through Franconia Notch State Park into Lincoln.  We stopped in Lincoln to check out Fadden's General Store.  It's hyped as having the best Maple Syrup in New Hampshire.  It was a bit of a let down, but we did buy some of their syrup and Kate got a maple cream soda. It was terrible, but very creamy.

Next we stopped at Chutter's second location which features a 60 foot candy counter.  I have wanted Frooties so bad but have not been able to find them anywhere in Maine and I don't want to buy them off the internet.  The Chutter's Littleton, NH store featured a 100 plus foot candy counter, the World's Largest, and they have Frooties.  Well Lincoln does not.  The store is nice, but it was a massive disappointment.

Staying in Lincoln we stopped for lunch at Black Mtn. Burger CO., a placed voted as New Hampshire's best burger.  The inside is really nice with a great set up, you can eat outside if you choose. The table we have was very high, which I was okay with because when you're eating a messy burger you want to be close to the table top keep the mess off your clothes.

Kate got the Swiss Mushroom Burger, I got the basic Cheddar Cheeseburger adding Bacon to it, we both got fries.  The burgers were fantastic!  Really one of the best I've ever had.  I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to go back there again.

Continuing our journey on the Kancamagus highway we exited the White Mountain National Forest in Conway New Hampshire and headed south to the Madison Boulder.

The Madison Boulder is the largest known erratic in North America at 83 feet long and 23 feet high and 37 feet wide.  Take a look at the photo with Wesley in front of it.  It's very impressive!

Continuing south east we cut back into Maine on route 25 into Porter stopping at the Porter-Parsonsfield Covered Bridge which spans the Ossipee River.  Originally built in 1876 it was rebuilt in 1999 and is closed to traffic.  Wesley loves him some closed covered bridges, walking across them, yelling, and apparently dropping rocks through the gaps floorboards.  He found a rock and picked it up and dropped it through, when he heard the plop of it hitting the water he let out a pleasantly surprised noise.  So we gathered up a lot more rocks and he went to town.

Driving home we passed a place that had multiple signs advertising penny candy. Even though I would most likely be disappointed I turned back to Sunrise Corner and ventured in, I was not to be denied on this day for they had frooties!!  Sadly they were 5 cents each but I didn't care and bought giant bag that had a handful of each flavor.  I spoke to the owner Jason who stated that they just added the candy 4 years ago and it was a success, it certainly was today.

We got home just about 7pm when Paul was getting there with the Pizza so we could watch the Money in the Bank PPV on WWE Network.  It was a great ending to a truly wonderful day!

Thanks for reading!

Later Readers!

Map of our Adventure

Grandad

I first met John Neighoff at Tuesday Night dinner back when Kate and I were dating.  I had been told all about him how even though he was in his late 80's he was still full of life, riding his motorcycle, golfing, flirting with the ladies at the bank and other things one wouldn't expect someone of his age to still be doing.  He sounded a lot like my grandfather Bump and I told Linda that he even in his late 80's he was still working at the golf course, playing a round every day, cutting his own firewood and other things one wouldn't expect someone of his age to still be doing.

Turns out they golfed at the same golf course and Grandad knew my Gram-Gram and Bump and spoke highly of both of them.  Once Grandad arrived Kate introduced us and he gave me an unexpectedly firm handshake and said something along the lines "So you're dating my Katie?" like I was doing something wrong.  I later learned that Grandad is very fond of his girls, not that he doesn't care for his boys, but the girls edge them out just a bit.

At dinner Linda told Grandad that I was Raymond's grandson.  I the mention of Bump's name his face light up, he got bright eyed and I was good as gold in his eyes from them on.  He then proceeded to tell me a story, one that he has since told me many times and I'm going to share it here.

"You know how I met your Grandfather?  I was heading into the clubhouse at the golf course and he was heading out, I saw he was wearing a Navy ship hat so I asked him, did you buy that or did you earn that?  He said "I earned this son of a bitch!"  We've been friends ever since, I really like your Grandfather."

They truly were friends, they didn't know each other in the war but they were in a lot of the same places, probably at the same time.  At our reception I looked over at one point and they were sitting together talking to each other, I don't know what it was about but they were laughing and having a good time.  I snapped a couple photos capturing the moment.

When Bump got sick Grandad asked me about him all the time.  When Bump died, after I left Gram's I wasn't sure what to do with myself but I knew that I had to go and tell Grandad in person because I just did.

When I arrived at his trailer my stomach jumped into my throat.  His car door and trunk were open, the lawnmower was sitting out in the middle of a half mowed lawn and the front door to his home was wide open.  I thought to myself "If I find Grandad laying on the ground or on the floor in his home I'm not going to be able to handle this."

I parked very cautiously looked around and called his name a couple times with no response.  I slowly walked up the stairs because I was dreading the worst and just didn't want that to be true.  I finally made it to his door and peered in and what I saw left me relieved and confused, he was sitting in his chair reading a book.

He was very happy to see me.  I asked him about his car and he said it started to rain so that's why he hadn't finished mowing the lawn.  I asked him about his car again and he said that's why he left his mower out.  So I just went outside and shut the trunk and door making sure the keys weren't left in it.

I told him about Bump, I started to cry, he started to cry, we talked a long time.  He thanked me for coming and telling him and said it was okay that we cried because Grandfathers are very special people and that Bump was very special man.  He gave me a big hug and told me that I should call him Grandad from now on, which I have.

My last visit with him we talked a lot about what he did in the war, the places he'd been and the things that he'd seen.  He told me about climbing to the peak of Mount Vesuvius and almost falling into the volcano.  A couple days later he was at a hospital visiting a friend, walking down a long hallway with a window at the end he was looking at Vesuvius when it suddenly erupted, March 18, 1944.

We had a really great conversation that day talking about coming home from the war, meeting his wife, moving to Maine, the gas stations he owned and more.

I only had the pleasure of knowing Grandad for a little over 3 years, but he, as well as the rest of Kate's family welcomed me and Canaan & Addison into their family like we had always been there.

Thanks Grandad

Mother's Day Rainout

This year for Mother's Day Kate wanted to go to La Festa Pizza in Dover, NH.  To justify driving all the way for Pizza I plotted a day trip out of it that would see use travel through Western Maine into New Hampshire checking out covered bridges, water falls, and more.

The forecast was predicting rain but the amount and when varied so we took a chance and just went anyway.  It didn't work out that well.

Our first stop after was the Hemlock Covered Bridge in Fryeburg, Maine.  Of all the covered bridges in Maine this is the only one that is way out in the willy-wags.  In-fact the road that it is on is gated and closed from November 1st - May 1st.

Wesley was very excited to get out of the Vanna and stretch his legs.  He walked back and forth over the bridge several times and we got some really great photos.

We continued one with out next stop being Glen Ellis Falls in Jackson, NH however the rain started coming down and prevented that from happening.  However we were able to check out the Honeymoon Bridge in Jackson.

Because of the rain we decided just to take the drive to Dover and forgo other planned stops for another day.

The drive along route 16 was quite nice, and at one point when the rain let up we did stop in the village of Chocorua at a dam on the Chocorua River.  It was so gorgeous how the homes along the shore were reflecting off the calm water.

The little dam was cool as well and it did something to the water falling over the edge causing a rippling effect to it.  It was neat!

We arrived in Dover for a late lunch at La Festa Brick & Brew Pizzeria.  The place is pretty awesome and I wish we had one like it around here.  They have a huge selection of buying by the slice or you can get a whole pie.  Kate got a few various slices and I got a large New York style pepperoni, because pepperoni is my favorite.

If we ever go again I'll be more apt to get some various slices rather than pepperoni.

We stopped at a Duston's Market & Bakery after, Kate got a few baked goods including a rather delicious chocolate eclair.  I got myself over 1000 day aged Canadian Cheddar cheese that was phenomenal! Also I found some new kettle chips that i had never had before, Good's out of Adamstown, PA.

The drive home was fine until we hit some downpours in the Richmond area.

Incidentally we crossed the Saco River 8 different times.

Later Readers!