Like it isn’t bad enough we haven’t travelled anywhere since Christmas 2019.
As if I don’t miss the annual large trip and three smaller vacations we used to take every year.
Because Covid hasn’t made life as sedentary and boring as possible? Facebook has to twist the knife in a little deeper with their constant “memories” feature.
On this day three years ago you were happy!
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On this day three years ago you were exploring Sedona Arizona!
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On this day three years ago you had no idea life would soon come to a screeching halt!
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So cut it out Facebook!
I don’t need to be reminded how much I loved traveling… I realize it every time we treat walking over to the man cave/Barn Mahal like a weekend getaway.
I sampled heavily at the distillery while my other half was busy talking.
I sampled lightly and drank heartily at the Whippletree winery.
And now, I was ready for a late lunch. But sadly, late lunch wasn’t ready for me because every single restaurant we tried in North Conway New Hampshire on a Saturday afternoon in December was filled to bursting. Damn those hungry Christmas shoppers!
Wasting a good hour hopping from place to place to no avail, we said to hell with it and drove.
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Through the White Mountains and over to Mount Washington.
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The closer we got the darker it became, and we arrived at the Notch Grill in the Glen House just as flurries started to fall.
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Thankfully they weren’t crowded and we settled in.
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Hibiscus rose margarita …
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With a view isn’t a bad way to end the day.
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Crispy pork pot stickers with Thai ginger dipping sauce to share…
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Followed by pan seared duck breast with apple rosemary jam, roasted fingerling potatoes and squash rings for me… baked haddock in white wine and buttered crumbs with mashed potatoes and carrots for the hubs.
It was all delicious and we were too full for dessert.
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I was also too full to sit and watch a slightly out of date Christmas program on the bar television.
Christmas cards started rolling in right after Thanksgiving.
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Lovingly selected and filled with handwritten sentiments of holiday cheer from friends and family scattered across the country, continent and globe.
For some of the cards we receive, it’s the only time of year we’re in contact with the sender. An annual what’s up! and long distance wave.
In an era of instant digital communication, I look forward to this tradition of old school well wishes.
And then, there are these:
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I can hear your snorts of annoyance… but please, a moment.
While I’d love to receive a current picture of you and your family in a Christmas card, I’m not a fan of the photo card in general.
Preprinted holiday greetings with no explanation of whose grandchild is who, why you’re embracing an iguana in a tropical rain forest or who the strange man with the lightning bolt tattoos hovering in the background might be. There’s no handwritten note, no unique flourished signature and Hell, a lot of people even print out their address labels.
You can hate me, but I find them impersonal.
*Disclaimer- to each his own and if you’ve included me on your list and sent me a photo card? I sincerely appreciate the thought and would rather receive one of them than nothing… it’s just my opinion*
So as you curse me for being rude and ungrateful, imagine this –
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Me. Chained to the table for days, hand cramping from writing and addressing cards and envelopes, A through H completed and rubber banded… hoping I can still my flex my fingers by Christmas Day.
We’d never been… and though we’re long past the heart shaped red velvet mirrored honeymoon beds the area is known for, 6 years ago we decided to take off for the mountains and spend Christmas there.
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I booked a week at an amazing place, full of atmosphere. ( Think the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining, minus Jack, his ax and the twins )
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It was old, built of stone, and so huge I couldn’t get a photo of it in one shot.
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It was an old resort like you see in the movie Dirty Dancing. Rich people would escape summer in the city and live here for months. It had multiple dining facilities, a spa, a theater, game rooms, multiple bars, a library, a stable and even its own post office… complete with a personal hotel zip code.
The best (read weird) part? We had the entire place to ourselves.
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I’m not kidding, we were there for a week and didn’t see another guest until Christmas Day. Talk about eerie.
And while the interior of this grand old dame was impressive…
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It was beyond strange being the only inhabitants.
Have you ever eaten dinner by yourself in a dining room that seats 400?
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Or breakfast in a room that seats 300?
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Trust me, it’s a little creepy.
Thankfully we weren’t murdered in our bed, but in retrospect the odd accommodations turned out to be the highlight of the trip.
For a full week we toured the area and never found anything the least bit scenic. Rows of strip malls, trash lined roads and extremely tacky “family fun resorts”?
There were plenty of those. And in true “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… we’re going to have a good time if it kills us” fashion… we bar hopped every tacky resort we could find.
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Indoor purple waterfall?
Check!
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Bizarre robotic decorative Santas?
Check!
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Elephant driven sleighs at an African themed resort called Kalahari?
Check!
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Giant topiary squirrels?
Yeah, those too.
And while the husband and I manage to have a good time wherever we go?
The Poconos are definitely at the top of our been there, done that, don’t need to do it again list.
So how about you? To what place are you never returning…
The husband has been trying to talk me into trading in my 2014 Subaru Forester for years now. But I love Ethel, and she only has 64,000 gentle miles, so I keep saying no.
Determined to prove that now is the perfect time to upgrade, I allowed him to drag me to a dealership to check out the 2022 models. There was only one problem.
There aren’t any 2022 models.
We checked 4 dealerships, but due to chip shortages and shipping backlogs the closest they could show me was a 2021 loaner of an entirely different grade.
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The husband insisted we test drive it, which we did. And while I admit it was newer and a bit peppier than mine, I was less than thrilled with the new energy conserving process that shuts off the engine every time you idle at a stop light. While the actual shutting down was smooth, the restart was jarring and bound to be annoying over time. They told us we could disable the feature, but it would have to be done every single time we drove as it resets to default.
For $38,000 plus? I said no thanks. But the husband was pushing me to order a new one and wait God knows how many months to get it….
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So he dragged me into the salesman’s office and had them appraise Ethel for a trade.
My Ethel.
I understand she’s 7 years old.. but she has low mileage and is loaded (with heated leather seats, back up camera, Nav and panoramic moon roof). My absolutely perfect Ethel… who Kelly Blue Book says has a trade in value of $16,500 and a private sale value of $17,800?
They offered us $10,000.
And that was all it took for my husband to be insulted, leave and stop badgering me to trade my vehicle.
Thank you Covid 19. Your virus induced shortages actually benefitted me this time around.
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After that fiasco, it was time for lunch at one of our favorite waterfront restaurants.
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A raspberry lime gin Ricky…
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And a scrumptious crab cake appetizer later, I was on my way to happy.
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Add a Campari Sangria and a fresh panko breaded haddock sandwich… and I was there.
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The husband started with clam chowder and moved on to a blood rare filet with grilled asparagus which, while quite satisfying….
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Set our wallet back a cool $53.
So yeah, thanks Covid 19 for driving food prices up so high our favorite place for lunch now makes my debit card shudder.
Since we were unable to ride the actual train, we had to check out the little Cog Railway museum while we were there. I won’t drone on about the engineering wonder it was….
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But I will draw your attention to this…
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I simply can not imagine flying down the mountainside on a small piece of wood.
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And trust me, it was small. It’s hard to tell from that picture but look closely and you’ll realize big butt people need not apply.
The final stop on our leaf peeping day trip tour was the Cog Railway on Mount Washington.
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This is one of those “must do” tourist things that we’ve never managed to do and since we were in the area, we thought… why not?
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The answer to that question was hundreds of other tourists who thought the same thing. The place was packed and there was no space available on the trains for the next 3 days without reservations.
The Cog is a strange beast.
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And like no other train ride you’re ever apt to take.
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So even though we couldn’t find a seat, we stayed to watch.
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With a slowly dying beautiful remnant of summer.
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That’s the husband taking a closer look at the bridge.
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And this is the Cog.
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Beginning it’s climb up the mountain at a breath taking 2.7 mph.
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Here’s a shot of the unique rail line.
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I won’t bore those who don’t care about trains or history, but if you’re interested you can check this out:
River's world..... 