A weekend away (long recap)

I took off Thursday night to head to my family's cabin in Alton Bay, NH. Aside from places that I would need boatloads of money to go to, there really is no other place I'd rather be in the summer time.

Jenn was supposed to go with me, but had a conflict with work so I decided to go anyway since I took Friday off. Christine was going to meet me Friday afternoon and spend the night.

I got to the Alton town line at about 9:20 where I finally got a cell signal to call the chinese restaurant for my dinner. Mini pupu platter and a small white rice. By the time I got to the Bay at 9:30, it was already waiting for me. So up the mountain I went.

Downside to going up there alone #1: You have to carry everything yourself. We're on a hill, and the cabin is on stilts so there are lots of stairs. I dragged up as much as I could (in the dark), opened up and went back down for trip #2. I also had to go UNDER the cabin to turn the water on (that my parents decided for some unknown reason to shut off when they left the day before...knowing I'd be there the next day).

My parents also closed every window in the place. It's like fort knox up there. And it was hotter than hell (especially after running up and down the stairs and crawling around turning on water trying to avoid creepy crawlies (in the dark). I was so friggin hot that I ran around and opened every window in the place and then stripped out of my work clothes into my shorts and tank pjs right there in the middle of the living room. Sorry to anyone who may have seen that horror show.

I settled in to eat my pu pu platter and it was NOT THAT GOOD!!! Grrrr... this was supposed to be my treat. How much does it SUCK to crave something, and then get it and have it SUCK? I ate 1 chicken wing, the eggroll (which was decent) and the 2 crab rangoons. And a little rice. I guess I did ok.

Then, I went to bed at around 1:30. I love the quietness of the country at night. I could hear the loons on the lake. Smell the fresh air. Then, I hear a car pull up nearby and a car door close. I didn't hear anything else after that. Poof. I was thoroughly spooked. I had expected to hear a dwelling door close, but I heard nothing. So, instead of going to look out the window, I stayed in bed with the sheet over my head and prayed that Jason wasn't going to come up the side of the hill and sneak in and kill me.

Friday I hung around most of the day reading. I took a ride to Moore Farm in Alton at the suggestion of my parents. It was a cute little shop. They sold breads and jams/jellies and teas and little gift shop sort of items right out of the house. I felt weird just walking around so I bought a loaf of wheat bread that seemed very fresh and soft. From there, I went to Fiddlehead Farms Market which is my new favorite place. They have some specialty local and imported stuff from The Butler's Pantry, The Meat House, Seaport Fish, and Finnico's Bakery. It has a nice variety of groceries, wines and deli meats from boars head. So I bought some chicken and beef kabobs from The Meat House to have for dinner with Christine.

Christine arrived and we had dinner (kabobs, salad, wax beans and corn). All veggies were from Farmer Dave's. Awesome! After toasting marshmallows, we hung out and watched "What Would You Do" and 20/20 medical mysteries. It was a nice night, but short lived since Christine had to work a special event on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning I headed out to Franklin to go to the cemetery to visit Peter's grave. It was the first time I've been there since the funeral in December. It was nice to go and be there for a little while. After that, I embarked on a fools mission to find the Sanbornton Farmer's Market.

I apparently threw out my directions so I decided I'd try to go on my memory of looking at the map 2 days ago. I drove down this road for a while and all of a sudden - TA DA! - "Welcome to Sanbornton". "Hell yeah!" I exclaimed in my car. I have supersonic GPS capability in my own head.

I drove through Sanbornton figuring I'd cross the Historical Society building (where the market is held) at one point. And pass it, I did. With a sign that says "Farmer's Market: Friday 3-6". For some strange reason, I thought this market was Saturday 8-noon. I friggin missed it! Oh well, it was still before noon and I was travelling in my bathing suit so I could go directly to the beach on my way back. And that's what I did. And proceeded to morph into a lobster.

I floated on my float in the pond for THREE HOURS. I was thoroughly entertained (and a tad bit intimidated) by the onslaught of 10 twenty-somethings who were obnoxious, loud, and hung over. They surrounded my chair on the tiny beach (I'm telling you, this beach is about 20' x 10'). I acted stupidly, as the president would say, and decided to stay in the water rather than parade my fat ass around all these people to get to my chair, and then sit amongst them. And I paid the price. Rock lobster! aaaahhhhh aaaaaahhhh aaaaahhhh aaaaaaahhhh!!!

By the time dinner rolled around that night, I was bored as hell so I went down the bay for the free saturday night concert. That was pretty decent. I liked watching the kids dance around. There was a special needs boy who was so cute. The band leader gave him a harmonica. It was sweet. By the time that was over, there was nothing open to get something to eat and I worried about not being able to sleep with the sunburn. So I decided to drive to CVS in Laconia to get something for it. There, I found "CVS Redness Relief Continuous Spray". It really works! I also bought a bag of beef jerky because I hadn't eaten anything besides left over salad and a granola bar. Then I drove to Weirs Beach. The marquis on the drive in said "FIREWORKS 10PM". I was like YAY!! It was 9:55. And I waited. And waited. And waited. 10:10 and no fireworks.

DAMN YOU Weirs Drive-In Theater for not posting the word "Friday" on your fireworks sign! I was all excited and got a huge let down.

Sunday was uneventful. It rained much of the morning so I cleaned up and packed and sat on the screen porch reading my book for a while. I locked up fort knox and went to the dump with my grocery bag of recyclables and bag of trash and then went to the bay to swim for 1/2 hour while it was still dreary (and no chance of extended burn). The big lake was cold! I don't know if it was really cold or it just felt so because of the sunburn. After that, I got a fish & chips boat from Pop's and only ate 1/2 of it. The fish was fantastic. I wasn't took impressed with the fries though. I ate 1/2 the fries and 1/2 the fish. I hit the road back home with a mandatory stop at Frekey's Dairy Freeze in Chichester. Frekey's is an ice cream stand on the side of Rt. 28 in the driveway of this family's house. I stop here on the way home every time I go to Alton. I need to remember that I should only get the baby cone ($1.00) because a small is too much ice cream for me!

I came home to 8 hot peppers waiting for picking. Dad did a great job keeping the garden watered and weeded. :-) I plan to pickle them, I think, if my mom doesn't cook them and freeze them first.

I bought some pickling spices while I was at Walmart in Gilford. I have to pickle my cucumbers this week before they go bad. I'll have to save some new ones for the Girouard mustard pickles recipe in the future (don't have that recipe yet).