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New England Visit August 31 to September 13, 2009 My Journal
Preamble: This trip has become an annual tradition. We want to get to see family and friends so we take 2 weeks to do just that. This is our 4th annual Fall New England visit.
Monday,
August 31, 2009 – Getting to the airport
Took a little rest and then walked over to TGIF for dinner – now becoming a routine. Good food, reasonable. Music is a little loud, but. Back to room 108 at 6:30. Soon after we had some pretty active thunderstorms around and over us. Lots of noise and lightening. We settled in for the evening. Tuesday,
September 1, 2009, flying north Woke at 5. Up and at’em at 5:30. Headed down to the lobby for the “buffet breakfast.” Coffee and started a new book – End War by David Michaels. Not very busy but folks grabbing coffee and heading for the airport via LaQuinta shuttle. We’re scheduled for the 9 AM. Linda arrived at 6:45 and we had a little breakfast. Back to 108. I haven’t been able to connect to the net either wired of Wi-Fi. No big deal. So – we were signed up for the 9 AM
shuttle, but ready to go at 7:45. We were the only ones on the 8 AM
shuttle. Here we sit at Delta gate 77 waiting for the 11 AM flight.
Linda is off browsing all the shops out here on this concourse. Time to
The car we got is a Toyota Avalon. Very nice. After we R&R’d we headed up to Dawn and Dave’s. We stopped at Crosby’s and bought some water and juice. The weather is beautiful and the forecast is for more of the same. We had a great visit and dinner. The kids have grown and the new addition, Teddy, is almost a year old. Headed back to our room, 1214, watched TV and to bed. Wednesday, September 2, 2009, Visiting Up and at’em after a good night’s
sleep. Went down to the lobby area for breakfast. Very good. Hung
around, read the papers and then started off for our days adventures.
First to the yarn shop. Linda went in and chatted with folks and
returned some yarn. Next, we found our way to Georgetown and our
previous home on Thurlow Street. The house is still there but the siding
is in terrible shape. Too bad. Next, headed for Dawn’s. Linda asked
for a stop on Rt. 97 in Georgetown. Stopped and she went in. Seems it is a curtain shop and they
had a long chat about our curtains in the family room. On to Dawn and
Dave’s. We arrived and were greeted by Dawn and Teddy (the dog). Next – time for lunch so we went to Seafood Etc. I had fried clams, Linda had Halibut sandwich, and Dawn had corn chowder. Nice lunch, good visit and back to Dawn’s. Watched “Days.” Next, Linda’s Dad called and said he fell in the bathroom and hurt his back. We headed down to Lynn and found him in bed and in pain. Linda sat with John for a bit and I chatted with Ruth. After an hour or so, we headed off to dinner. Dinner with Stan Doron, a friend from my working life. He’s got a couple of years to go before his retirement. He filled me in as to the happenings at GE Aviation, restoring Corvettes, old gasoline pumps and air supply stations. Linda suffered quietly through all of our reminiscing. Back to 1214 about 7 – all tuckered out from a busy day. TV and to bed.
Thursday, September 3, 2009, More Visiting Up and at’em at 6. Linda soon after.
Weather has been and is predicted to be perfect. Got our act together
and headed for a Residence Inn complimentary breakfast. After breakfast we were about to head for John and Ruth’s when John called, sounding very agitated. He wanted to go to the ER with his back pain. We headed over there, got him into our car and we all went to Union Hospital up the street. Long story short – it’s now 6:30 PM and we’ve been around the hospital all day. They've been testing and probing John to get a grip on his several medical issues. We did get over to the Hilltop for a late lunch/early dinner. We left him in the Union Hospital ICU. They have him there to watch as their treatments allow him to stabilize. PHEW. R&R, TV and to bed.
Friday,
September 4, 2009, More visiting Up early today (5 AM). Made coffee and
played with the internet trying to find a vacation rental in Maine that
is Breakfast down in the lobby. Linda got on the phone for a while and then it was time to head for Denise’s house in Manchester-by-the-Sea. All the kids were home and we had a great visit. They are a handsome group. Lunch over Lobsta Land. Stayed with Denise for a bit more and then headed for the hospital. Stayed with John for 1 ½ hours. He’s looking and acting much better. Back home – room 11-14. Linda went off to spend the evening with her friend Diane, I ordered take-out fried clams. Quiet evening. TV and to bed. Saturday, September 5, 2009, to Maine, More visiting I was up at 5, Linda at 6. Coffee and Linda packing until we went to the Lobby Buffet at 7:30. Finished packing and head for the hospital at 9 AM. John’s looking much better. Ruth was there and we spent about an hour with him. Denise and Bailey came in as we were preparing to leave. Off we go, headed northbound to
Parsonsfield (Near Kezar Falls), about 10:15. The road trip went
downhill quickly. As we passed through Byfield on 95, I noticed a black
cloud going up from the earth. Soon traffic came to a crawl and it was
apparent that the black cloud had something to do with it. So – we We checked into room 11 at the Midway Motel in Cornish, Maine. This is our 4th year here. Got the bags into the room – visited with the owners and headed over to Dianna’s. It was great to see them all again. Visited for a bit and them back to room 11 to unpack and R&R a bit.
Back to Dianna’s about 5:30 for a bowl of her famous chili. Visited more until the trip caught up with us and we went back to room 11. Finished unpacking, TV and to bed.
Sunday,
September 6, 2009, Visiting Up and at’em at 6 AM. We went down to Krista’s for breakfast. Excellent – home made corned beef hash. Back to Room 11 for a bit and then to Dianna & Tim’s. Stayed there watching life go on until about 1. Linda and Dianna went up to North Conway with three of the girls and Tim and I went to an apple orchard with the other three. We had a great time. Back home, R&R and then off and running again. The grown-ups went off to a restaurant for steamed clams, fried clams and lobsters. Excellent. Back to room 11 for TV (Big Brother) and bed.
Monday, September 7, 2009, Visiting Up and at’em at 5:30. We went through our regular routine except Krista’s is closed on Mondays. So, we went to the Pizza Place for a satisfying breakfast. Next, to Dianna & Tim’s and soon we were off to look at 2 summer rental properties. One on Moose Pond in Bridgton. Looked good (drive by only). It looked OK but the beach is too far away and the house is kind of in the woods. Next to a home on Range Pond in Poland. Beautiful spot on the Pond, nice views, nice home but has never been rented before and it needs some details completed. It also is a little too small for our needs. Back to Dianna & Tim’s. Then back to room 11 for some R&R. Dinner with Dianna, Tim and the girls - grilled hamburgs, hot dogs, & sausages. Home to Room 11 for TV and too bed. Tuesday,
September 8, 2009, Annual Meredith Visit We both woke at 6. A couple of cups of coffee and we were ready to go. First to the Pizza Place for breakfast. Next to Dianna & Tim’s. The house was quiet with the kids at school and Tim at work. Soon, Dianna’s friend Lisa arrived and we headed off on our annual trip to Meredith. First stop Keepsake Quilts, second Annalee’s, third Hart’s Turkey Restaurant and finally The Christmas Shop. Back Dianna’s at 3:30. We dropped Meagan at school for field hockey practice and retired to room 11. R&R’d until Dianna called at about 5:45. She coordinated a take-out order at Sofia’s. We gave her our input and then picked up several bags full of pizza’s and sandwiches. We brought them to Dianna’s. Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner. We visited and then headed back here for some R&R, TV and to bed.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009, On the move I To Dianna’s to say good-bye until next time. Then we headed off to Ogunquit arriving there just at opening. Ahh – steamers and lobsters while enjoying the view out over the Oarweed Bay to the Atlantic. We were then off the Dawn’s to do a little laundry and visit a bit. Next to The Residence Inn and check into room 12-14. Unpacked a little and headed for the hospital. John has been moved out of ICU and into Coronary Care. He looks much better. Back to 1214 and then we walked to TGIF for dinner. R&R, TV and to bed.
Thursday, September 10, 2009, Visiting Up about 6. We had breakfast in the lobby buffet. Read, watched TV until about 11 and then went to Putnam Pantry for hot fudge Sunday lunch. Then off to Union Hospital to visit John. He’s hoping he will be released to go home in the next day or two. We left to go home to 1214 for a little R&R and then off to Denise’s’. She was preparing 10# of steamers and 7 ½# lobsters she bought right off the Manchester docks. WOW – it was wonderful to eat my fill of steamers and then knock off 2 lobsters. It was great. Headed for home. Back to our room about 7:45 – in time to see Jordan win the challenge on Big Brother 11. TV and to bed.
Friday, September 11, 2009, More Visiting Linda was up first – 6 AM. The 8th anniversary of the attack on the United States. The weather is going to show signs of rain today. It has been perfect weather up to now. Start the day with Lobby Buffet Breakfast. Next – we hung round until 9’ish and then headed for Dawn’s. Dawn and Linda went off for a day of shopping and I ran some errands and watched TV until about 1. They returned and then Linda and I headed to the hospital. We visited and chatted a bit and then headed back to Dawn’s. Dave had arrived from work and fired up the pellet stove. The weather has been cold (low 60’s) and damp. We gathered together getting ready to go to dinner. Everyone was going except Sam who was attending a sleep-over birthday party. We were off to The Loft in N. Andover. The surroundings and the meal were excellent. A good time was had by all. Back to 12-14 about 8. TV, R&R and to bed.
Saturday, September 12, 2009, Starting to head home, More Visiting I was up and at’em about 5. Linda about 6. Weather, cool, rainy and damp. We packed and generally hung around. The weather continues rainy, cool and damp. Soon it was 11 AM and we were off and running. Check out and headed for Kowloon’s for Chinese food. An excellent lunch and we headed for the hospital. John looks and feels much better. We stayed until about 4. Of we went to Dawn’s. Dawn’s hard at work and Dave, the kids and Teddy the dog entertained us for the evening. Pizza for dinner ending with a banana cream pie. Dave even fired up the pellet stove to warm up the living room. Chatted, watched TV and to bed at 9.
Sunday,
September 13, 2009, Going Home We spent the night at Dawn and Dave’s. Linda up first and I right behind. Dawn up at 6:30 and we all were getting ready for the day ahead. Dawn left for work about 7:15 – Dave came down about 8. He headed down to Dunkin Donuts to get us coffee and donuts. Excellent. We chatted for a bit and then got ready to leave. On our way about 9 – to the hospital. Ruth was already there. John looked a little better and was and was moving around a bit. They are suggesting he may go home tomorrow. We stayed for a bit and then headed out. In the airport, at our gate by 12 PM. Only 3 hours to wait.
Monday, September 14, 2009, Home Home from New England. Trip yesterday was smooth with no glitches. We got to The Plantation about 8 PM. The trip was good and not so good. Weather was great - only rain was on Saturday. We got everything done that we wanted to. But - Linda's father went into the hospital on our third day there. Anyhow - we inserted a visit to the Lynn Union Hospital each day we were in the area. We did have our fill of seafood and visited everyone we wanted to. Back to The Plantation. E-mail and snail mail, back to meetings. Great trip - glad to be home.
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Spent the morning getting the house ready to go as though a
hurricane was coming – just in case. Relaxed for a bit – watched
Days of Our Life and then headed out. Dropped Duncan off at Bonnie and
Franks and headed for the hotel. Arrived at the Airport LaQuinta at 3:30
and settled in to room 108.
read a little.
The plane boarded on
schedule and it went smoothly to Boston. 
acceptable. UGH - $$. Linda woke at 6:30 and we started our day.
crawled. In about 25 minutes we
saw it. A tour bus was completely burned. Lots of firemen and police.
The 4 lanes of 95 were narrowed to 1. But – we were soon up to 70 MPH
again – zoomed through the Hampton Tollbooth (now $2). Headed north on
16 but very soon we were in a construction area – slowed to a
stop/crawl. Again, we finally got through it and were we moving along at
whatever pace the traffic in front would allow. 2 ½ hours total trip
time and we were there. PHEW!
was up and at’em at 5:30. Linda was up soon after. Time
to start packing for the next leg of our journey. Breakfast at the Pizza
Place.
