Well, I'm days behind, aren't I?

Three days ago, we drove down south, to Newburyport, (Wiki link) on the coast of Massachusetts. It's a cute town, with an oddly packaged feel. We didn't go too far into the town, just poked about the central area, but it seemed like a town built around tourist trade only. I did find an unexpected needlework shop, Uncommon Threads. I stuck my nose in - it's mainly needlepoint and cross stitch, neither of which I do much (I prefer needlepoint, even though many people find filling in the background part tedious. Counted cross stitch just frustrates me.), but it was worth checking into. The woman behind the counter seemed lonely and tired, but she perked up with Merrie, Geordie and I in the shop.

I picked up a miniature cross stitch kit for a "needle nanny". It's a magnetic holder for needles, which will be useful, I'm sure. However, the real reason I picked it up is to reverse engineer it. The whole kit fits into a tin the size of an Altoids tin! I can so TOTALLY make stuff like this! The kit is in my purse now, with the magnet part removed so it doesn't interfere with any of my electronica (the magnets are rare-earth ones, so they're very strong), and I'm amused to know that I now have craftwork with me at all times!

After poking about in Newburyport a bit more, we drove slowly up the coast again, watching the water and the towns and the area, until we ended up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We ate dinner (delicious fish and chips for me and Geordie, pasta with tomato sauce for the teen) at a restaurant that sits directly over the water. It was lots of fun to eat and watch the different boats rush by. The only complaint I have about that restaurant (I've now been several times) is that their tables are miniscule. Seriously, I'm a small woman and I can't sit comfortably next to someone at what the restaurant considers to be a four-top.

We ate dessert at a local place - Merrie wanted to get a popover from a cafe called Popovers, so we went there. She got her popover, Geordie got a Napoleon, and I got a Lemon Angel thing. Oh, and Geordie and I got coffee, of course.

Home after that, stuffed to the gills and happy.

I like Portsmouth much more than Newburyport. It feels more like a real town, a place where people live and work and do things that don't have anything to do with tourists.

Two days ago we did something similar, only we went north, into Maine. We started at, um, Kittery and drove up the coast, through York, Ogunquit and ended up at Kennebunkport, where the candy store is surprisingly inexpensive and fun. The staff were friendly, the candy was very well priced (Merrie bought herself some amusing things, including some GIANT gummy cola bottles), and they had some suggestions on where to find good maple candy.

The more I see of this area, the prettier it gets. The drive was littered with beautiful views and interesting trees and amusing little towns...

Yesterday, we drove to Mount Washington. We picked the fastest way to drive up, so the views were less exciting, but we got a good long time on the peak itself, which was pretty cool. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at a place we'd been to before; the Corner View Cafe is someplace we heartily recommend. Really, if you can go, do so. The food is good, the portions aren't insanely sized and the staff is invariably friendly and helpful.

Mt Washington is nifty - it was sunny and clear at the foot, but the peak is in cloud most of the time. It's pretty to watch the fog (cloud) shift and expose bits and snatches of views, then have the strong wind blow all the cloud away and see for miles and miles in every direction. It was quite chilly up top, though, so Merrie was cold. We'd told her to bring her heavy sweatshirt, but she ... didn't.

Anyway, we ate dinner at an absolutely amazing restaurant, in a town called Meredith, on Lake Winnipesaukee. It's one of The Common Man restaurants; this one is called Lago. The food was excellent, the service was delightful and the view, looking across the lake, was wonderful.

Home late again, and to bed.

Today we spent in Boston, with my friend Ruth, visiting Old Ironsides, but Geordie's asleep over there and I'm very tired, so I'll tell you about that tomorrow. I know there's more I wanted to tell you about the past few days, so I'll write about that as well.

Good night.

SongBird