Rounding Out New England

     The final leg of our (what is becoming annual) drive through New England took us through Vermont, into New Hampshire, and over to the coast of Maine. Steve made arrangements to meet up with a blog acquaintance at Long Trail Brewing Company in Bridgewater, VT for lunch. They serve a nice lunch at Long Trail and we opted to dine outside on the deck overlooking the Ottauquechee River. It was a very hot day so, after lunch, we walked down to the river, took off our shoes, and cooled off in the icy water like everyone else. We spent the remainder of our visit standing in the shallow river, picking up pretty rocks. I noticed that the brewery was packed when we departed at 1:30pm on this Friday, July 5th.

     We finally arrived in New Hampshire for a visit with Chelsea and her family. Seeing our children and grandchildren only twice a year is never enough and I this visit was a highlight of our trip. It had been eight months since we last saw Hugo and Charlie and they embraced us as if they saw us every day. We played at the house, spent Saturday morning at the Concord, NH farmer's market where Simon sells his organic vegetables for The Vegetable Ranch, hiked Kearsarge Mountain, went to fireworks, had a day at the beach, and ate lobster (of course!). We packed a lot into those four days but it didn't feel rushed or stressful. We had plenty of down time in between activities for naps, Sponge Bob and Care Bears videos, digging holes in the yard, splashing in the wading pool, building blocks, and eating Chelsea's good dinners.

Hugo took to wearing Pop's hat

Steve and Chelsea checking in with Simon

Charlie waits in his stroller for us to take a walk. Simon beautifully displays the vegetables.

 

The children play in front of the state capital building across the street from the farmer's market

Hugo waits.

Atop Kearsarge Mountain. Hugo is already an enthusiastic hiker and made the climb on his own.

View of the White Mountains

Charlie with his kite at Parson's Beach in Wells, Maine

Steve's favorite beach activity; playing paddle ball. The tide was rolling in.

As always, it was very hard to leave. We had been away for two weeks and I was ready to be home but, it's a sad effort to turn away from the people and places I love so much here in New England.