Steaks at the Capital Grill for Thanksgiving! As usual all I say is yum….and I’m thankful for family, friends and good health.
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Come on in #19…
Jess and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on 10/31….yes, Halloween…and no we did not dress up…at our wedding or at Halloween! This weekend I organized an overnighter to Portsmouth NH. Jess and I really like this part of NH and Portsmouth is such a fun city.
One good thing that comes with maturity…yes, I’m admitting publicly that I’m getting older…is the ability to stay and more importantly pay for nice hotels. This time it was the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel.
View from our room. We could see the water but not the giant sandbag! The staff were friendly and the hotel was very nice. Recommend if you have a few extra shekels to spare. Bonus is you can walk to downtown which is full of great stores and restaurants.
Saturday night was a bit of a blur as we were both tired and just wanted to chill. Dinner was at the Portsmouth Gas Light. Food was great and the porter I had did the trick quite nicely.
Sunday am was fun as we got an extra hour of sleep. Bonus was no upstairs neighbors walking about like elephants or dog or kids! As usual no visit to Portsmouth is complete without breakfast at the original Friendly Toast and the whole reason for the following image puzzle I gave to Jess.
Think about it for a few. Answer below.
Liquid gold in a mug….fine, black coffee will have to do.
The Friendly Toast is full of really fun items and people.
We waited for over an hour to get a table. Actually, high top this visit. Jess was very excited when the food showed up. As usual it was all wonderful.
If all bathrooms had one of these signs we’d all be happy. Even alien who apparently lay around.
Decisions decisions…in all fairness we were starving and 8 hours later I still have not eaten anything.
Now thats a good looking flag!
Stone carvings on the main drag. We sure don’t design like they used to design.
Its that good looking flag again in Market Square.
All in all it was a great mini get-a-way. Love you Jess…looking forward to the next 19 and beyond.
Image puzzle answer: We will be having pancakes at the original Friendly Toast on Sunday morning. So pack your bags and we’ll get out of here. Food in fridge, kids will be okay.
Fruitlands
Took a drive to Fruitlands Museum in Harvard MA. Not a stretch for us as its just up the road a bit. The views are wonderful and worth the drive.
Jess and Koda take it all in.
JMan contemplating wifi!
Hollowed out log canoe.
Koda got in a little off leash time!
Random weekend photos
Koda taking a rest from out Saturday am walk.
Yet another rest!
After Koda was turned away from kids fest at Wachusett Mountain…….which mind you had a dog show……we took the high road….. to the top of the mountain that is.
Today we celebrated GMan’s bday. He wanted pizza at Regina’s in the North End so we happily supported his choice.
Its just good……go eat, be happy.
Thacher and North Margin Streets. I wonder how many tourists have stood on this corner wondering how to walk off dinner.
No visit to the North End is complete without a visit to Caffe Vittoria.
We got prime real estate in the window. It was quite busy….I just timed this shot with no one in it.
JMan an his sausage dog on a skateboard balloon creation.
Randon weekend photos
Koda
JMan
More fall activities
Today almost all of us visited Marini Farm Stand in Ipswich MA. The highlight was getting completely lost in the corn maze.
The optimistic maze trotters about to head where hundreds have failed before.
JMan choosing an entry point. To made matters worse I left my glasses in the car. So even with a good map…like the one behind JMan I could not see it anyways.
The tape changes colors depending on how lost you are, but green means you were almost out. Spoiler alert….we did not find the green tape.
Everyone tried a turn at leading including Koda.
JMan with our “get me the frig out of here flag”, which I might add we did not use.
Your very lost tour guides.
JMan gets in a hug.
After 20 or so of wandering around I decided to backtrack out of the yellow area and back into the blue area as thats the color at the start. The boy scout in me followed the sun and a few minutes later we popped out in the same place we started. Did we cheat…sure, but hot cider and donuts far out rank the Iowa feeling.
JMan and Jess get in a little rest on one huge chair.
Potato cannon….
Mine turn…I managed one hit at about 4:30 on what looked like a 6 foot square target at 35 yards. Not bad and I’m definitely going to look into building one of these puppies. No AFT stamp required and legal in all 50 states.
Quick run on the giant slide…
And who said kids have all the fun. BTW adults go faster as gravity has more to work with!
Gangs all here selfie.
This week random…..
JMan gets in a late evening swim before school starts back up.
Koda looking good on the trail.
Hmm mom, not so sure I like these limey things!
Red Apple Farm
Family day out at the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston MA. If was a serious effort the pry the offspring away from electronic simulation but the threat of bodily harm and the chance of getting cider donuts convinced them to leave the cave and venture into the big blue yonder.
40 minutes later we were in banjo land surrounded by lots of good looking animals and a few humans that looked like they spent way too much time in the boonies.
Koda on the other hand was in heaven. Lots of love from all manner of folks, big small, some with 4 legs and tails.
We managed to stay away from the fried dough and cider belly bombs. It was touch and go for a few when I could not find coffee at 3pm, but one of the many workers pointed me toward my salvation. No ice coffee but I made use of my double cup and found ice….so ice and coffee make…well you get the picture.
GMan had a little father/son challenge flipping tires the local Cross fit folks had on hand. I took the bigger of the two we had and still managed 8.5 flips in 30 seconds….GMan got me by .5….thats 1/2 a flip. Not bad for an old fart. We did however set a new record which stood for the remainder of the afternoon. I’m fairly certain my body will remind me of that event in the am.
During the toss…I’m the gray headed one in the background….incase you mixed us up. Hard to believe GMan is almost as tall as me.
I managed a hand slap in public from GMan after….bonus points for almost self inducing a heart attack.
Jess and Koda hit the pumpkin patch.
Joined by JMan…
JMan on the other hand decided to try a tractor pull….meaning he pulled the tractor. He got off to a great start as it was a slight grade in his favor, but when gravity went against him it was tractor 1 – JMan 0. Good effort up until the end, I was a tad concerned he’d bust a ring on the final pull.
We saw all types of animals, some with better hair than many of the rubberneckers on the outside of the fences….or was it really the inside! In any event the Alpacas won best hair in my books.
My dear you look marvelous!
Everyone had a wonderful day and we only brought home the remainder of 1/2 an apple pie that GMan and I put a serious dent in….come on now, flipping tires is hard work!
Your friendly tour guides.
Like a vacation with my own couch
JMan and I took the evening off and enjoyed the pool. The water is great.
Random photos
Top left: Flag day at JMans school and I happened to park in front of this one.
Top right: Jess found this beauty and its complete with horns.
Bottom left: Your tour guides at the self check out lane in Lowe’s.
Center right: The great fence of Groton. In an effort to contain our new ball of hair GMan and I did a little fencing. You can thank Jimmy for this one. All those years above on Clonown Road mending gaps finally paid off 😛.
Bottom right: The reason my hair will finally fall out..as it can’t get that much grayer.
