measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just what I needed What a perfect weekend it has been. I feel relaxed, I feel refreshed. I feel refocused. I also feel a bit sunburnt, but that will pass. :) I've been home for nearly two hours. Checkout time at the B&B was at 11, but we finished breakfast and decided to get out on the road early so we could have the day at home to just kinda get a few things done. Sunday morning traffic was incredibly light. It hardly took 90 minutes to get home. So I have the majority of the day today to myself-- going to get a few LMAO's finished to mail off tomorrow and then just watch TV. My arms are a bit too overcooked to willingly let sunlight hit them again today. Anyway... the entire trip was fun. We drove up Friday after work, leaving Boston just before five, so we got through downtown before the five p.m. traffic started. It was heavy all the way up to New Hampshire, but that's pretty typical. What was atypical were the three vicious thunderstorms that hit us on I-93 north. As we crossed over the border, this looming black cloud just took over the skyline. Then another, and another. There was lightning, there were downpours-- it was quite impressive. It was good that we left when we did-- it took us about two hours and change to get up there due to the weather. As we drove up the windy road that took us to the inn, we noticed a tree limb down, with a snapped powerline. Yep... no power at the inn. AND by later that night, no running water, either. But we made the best of it. The innkeepers were wonderful about making extra arrangements for the guests to try to make things as easy as possible. We had two large jugs of water to use for cleaning up and brushing our teeth. [erich] and I tried to use it to flush the toilet, but to no avail. Our room was beautiful. In this picture from the inn's website, our room is the one with the turret right on the corner, plus the first three windows out of five on the side of the house. We had a fantastic amount of natural light in there. We had the Abigail Adams Suite, which was decorated in Victorian lace and turn of the century painting-prints (some of which I'd seen the originals during a folk art show at the Museum of Fine Arts last year). We lit a fire in the fireplace the first night, attempting to get a bit of firelight in the room, but it did little more than heat the room, which we didn't really need. :) I forget how dark things are at night when out of the city. Particularly in that area of New Hampshire, where the woods are incredibly dense, and in spots a house can't be seen, even if it is a few yards off the road. That first night, as we walked from the parking area up to the inn, there was a eerie mist settling over the field across the street, lit only by the moonlight. The night is alive in that area of New Hampshire, between frogs and crickets and owls-- I'd argue that it was louder than city life. In any case, I didn't sleep very well the first night, partially because of the noise, partially because of the unfamiliar surroundings, and partially because I'm not used to sharing my bed with anyone. I did a lot of tossing and turning, and screwed up my internal clock. When I either woke up or gave up on the dozing, it was light outside. But we still had no electricity, and I didn't have my watch, so I had absolutely no idea what time it was. Light hadn't yet broken over the trees, and we were surrounded by mountains, so I assumed it was probably still pretty early-- maybe around seven or so. I got up for a while, did some reading on things to do, and just looked out the window at the morning in the forest. After a while, I still felt really groggy, so I tried to get some more sleep. I failed and was getting a bit morning-restless. I heard people downstairs moving around, and heard the front door of the inn open and shut. Must be time to wake up and grab breakfast! There *was* light on the field across the street, and so I began cuddling and tickling Erich to get him awake. After probably a half-hour of giggling and wrestling, I finally got him up. We got dressed, and went downstairs. The two non-electric clocks in the inn had different times on them, so he decided to head out to the car to get a reliable time. -- My "wonderful" screwed up inner clock had harassed my boyfriend out to the car at 6:45 in the morning. I'd woken him up sometime just past six. -- And yes, he gave me somewhat joking (and serious) hell about it all day. I felt horrible. Downright horrible. And on top of it, I was tired but unable to sleep, and knowing that I'd been up probably around five did not help matters at all. *sigh* Ah well, lots of caffeine kept me running. The innkeepers were wonderfully helpful by providing for showers by renting a room at the nearby Best Western (that had power) and breakfast on the inn's tab (at a local diner), since they were still unable to provide their breakfast at the inn with no power. They also went out and got coffee and muffins for everyone for some morning snackies. Since Erich and I were up so early, we had first dibs on the muffins and coffee and sat there chatting for a little while with the innkeepers and their daughter. They'd had the inn since 1991, when they'd bought the building as a completely gutted old house. After having breakfast, the two of us headed up to Lake Sunapee, which is only a short drive from the inn. We drove through several little towns along the edge of the lake. At one, New London, Erich bought a battery-powered travelers clock so I never, ever woke him up by accident so early again. *grin* We finally ended up in the town of Sunapee itself, where we bought tickets for the 2 p.m. cruise around the lake (recommended by the innkeepers), and then grabbed lunch at The Anchorage, a little dockside restaurant/bar, whose claim to fame is being the place where the band Aerosmith originally formed (the bandmates grew up in the area, and Steven Tyler still owns a home somewhere up there). We sat on the deck under the awning having 'ritas and eating a sinful appetizer sampler of buffalo wings, fried mushrooms, fried zucchini sticks, veggies, quesidillas, and this fantastic lobster, crab, and spinach dip served with tortilla chips. We barely finished half. The rest is currently sitting in my fridge for lunch today. After a short nap under the shade of the harbor grandstand stage, we went on the cruise of the lake. It was wonderful-- there are so many incredible multi-million dollar homes on the edges of this lake. Most are beautiful old Victorian to 1930's-era estates, somewhat hidden by the trees that have grown since they were built. There is also a wonderful amount of pristine shoreline with absolutely no homes at all, all of which is conservation trust land. There are three lighthouses, and the tour captain had a great array of stories to tell about the well-known old families that used to own the land around the lake, and how it used to be one of the great retreats around the turn of the century for the well-to-do's of New York and Boston. It was windy and a bit rocky, but a relaxing trip around the lake that lasted nearly 90 minutes. (this is when my arms became a testy shade of pink). By four we were exhausted and returned to the inn for a nap. Electricity was back on.. yaaaa! Showers... air conditioning... yaaaa! We cleaned up and rested for a while, then grabbed pizza and Dunkin' Donuts for dinner, and then went back to the inn for a relaxing evening. We sipped coffee in the gazebo, and Erich taught me how to play chess in the inn's kitchen before heading up for bed. We woke up this morning around 7:30, enjoyed a fantastic three-course breakfast at the inn (including cold strawberry soup and a tomato-basil souffl�e). We then packed up and checked out, and took some time to take pictures around the inn. (I'll be dropping those off to be developed tomorrow) Just a fun, relaxing, and romantic weekend. Exactly what I needed. *sigh* 12:48 p.m. - 2 June 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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