I don't know why I developed an obsession for the New England area, but it's been there for as long as I can remember. The only thing I can think is that a lot of my favorite literature came from that area (Little Women in Massachusetts, A Prayer for Owen Meany in New Hampshire, Anne of Green Gables was on Prince Edward Island off the coast of Nova Scotia which, for all intents and purposes is like Canada's New England) not to mention poets Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau... and I've always loved seafood, and who didn't love Hocus Pocus as a kid and wished they were in Salem? And then The Get Up Kids always had these songs like "Newfound Interest in Massachusetts" and Dieradiodie sang "New England Sunrise" so who knows, it's all in my subconscious somewhere I guess. So I have always been enamored of that region of the country, and have never been disappointed by Boston, and always enjoy my trips there, however, this time, Chrishon and I stepped it up a notch by a mini road trip to New Hampshire and Maine, two states I had never been to before and were on my bucket list, for reasons mentioned above I suppose. This is what our New England weekend looked like (literally!)
I took the bus from New York City to Boston on Friday and it was miserable. Rainy and wet, then they told us our bus had problems and we would have to wait for another one, which shockingly didn't take long, but was irritating to wait in the rain. There was complete bumper-to-bumper traffic from Manhattan to north of New Haven, Connecticut, which was a headache and put me in Boston past midnight, and an hour and a half past our due time, which was already a 4 hour ride. Chrishon picked me up in a little yellow rental car and because I was starving, we stopped by Wendy's so I could order their entire dollar menu + Frosty's for us, then we took them back to her place and she put on her Netflix rental, Safe Haven, which she had already watched and told me there was a twist, so I kept trying to guess it the entire movie. It really was a twist (I didn't see that coming) but I think some of my ideas were a lot better for an alternate ending. Oh wellsies.
On Saturday we willed it to be sunny and warm before hopping in the car, getting a Starbucks and hitting the road!
Yellow car!
I liked to pronounce this exactly how it's spelled: PORTS-MOUTH, and since Chrishon's rental car had a Texas license plate, I said it with a Texan accent too
Crossed the border to New Hampshire and came to a visitor's center in Seabrook
Apparently there are no state sales taxes in New Hampshire (?) so naturally we pulled over at this liquor outlet that greeted us just across the way
A fifth of Smirnoff whipped cream-flavored vodka, that thing of Jaegermeister, and a double shot of raspberry-pomegranate vodka for (ready for it?) $20! THAT'S IT. This is me being happy about it
And this was me taking that raspberry-pomegranate vodka shot before noon since I was on vacation!
This is entering Portsmouth, NH, which turned out to be the perfect day for it because they were having some Market Day to celebrate the town, so it was just a big street fair of businesses from around the area
North Church (I think?) in the town's center
The delightful street fair
I have always liked the number 33 after living in Bordeaux, because the city identifies with it, as their zip code is 33000, and all their greater area zip codes begin with 33, so it's a little special to me
Settled 1623!
The small alleys and streets were very sweet
Chris and I always have to get ice cream, and I was a fan of Annabelle's since I have a cute little cousin named Annabelle! I had a New Hampshire maple + California walnuts concoction that was deeeeeelish
More Portsmouth
Me ambushing a picture on Chrishon on our way back to the car
A view of New Hampshire on our way to...
Fort Constitution!
It looks all beautiful and picturesque here doesn't it?
Now here it is with that nasty shed and rusty chainlink fence. At least I am there to brighten it up
That trailer is an eyesore but Chris is not!
Somewhere along in Fort Constitution
...being happy!
The bridge into Maine!
Stateline!
"The way life should be." That's a bold tagline, my friends
I thought it was cute
A coworker of Chrishon's had recommended we go to a place called When Pigs Fly in Maine, it was a pizzeria/sandwich shop that had alllllll fresh everything, and this is us with our Maine-area beers, supporting local breweries
There was no lobster, but I got this chili-something oyster that was also deeeeeeeeelish
The restaurant also has an attached bakery with tons of fresh breads, spices, sauces, dips, etc, some their own, and some from other places. Chrishon bought a loaf of chocolate bread, which is as good as it sounds. My favorite sauce the place offered was a chili-infused honey which was sweet with a zippy spice aftertaste, but I saw that it was actually from somewhere in Brooklyn. What do you know.
After eating we made it to Maine coastline!
The tide was going out and made the shore look like a mirror, which you can kinda see here...
...and not at all see here
Along the beautiful Maine coastline!
Thank you Maine...!
Here was Massachusetts welcoming us back
After we got back, we laid down for a total of 20 minutes before getting ready to go out salsa dancing, something Chris and her boyfriend do regularly and brought me along for. And boy do I have a treat for you today. We went early in order to do a half-hour lesson before the club opened for free-for-all dancing. The last time I did partner dancing was in 2005 and I can tell you that I am not good at it, because I am awful at following a lead. I like to just do what I feel like doing, when I feel like doing it! I don't like uncertainty or feeling confused, so a lot of times I just end up doing what I feel like doing, or leading myself, which is fundamentally against the partner/ballroom dance scene. So it was good we went early for the lesson. The club was suuuuuuuper fun, everyone there was SO NICE and friendly, and there were people from every single age, race, and ability, and everyone was very patient and helpful and friendly and it was overall a very good time. Unbeknownst to me, Chris and her boyfriend filmed me dancing one round when I was asked onto the floor and they sat it out, and then showed it to me later as a surprise. I said I would watch it to work on my form. Here's how I looked, as predicted, laughing and trying to lead myself:
On Sunday we slept in, watched good ol' faithful Ever After (it's just too quotable) and then we went out to Cambridge, which is basically Boston, it's where Harvard and MIT are. We got Starbucks drinks and snacks, a blanket and books, and headed to a beautiful sunshiney picnic
MIT sailing ships on the Charles! I miss college!
On the bridge crossing the Charles with Boston's fabulous skyline behind me. I love Boston!
Chrishon and her home!
It looks secluded, but the riverfront was full of picnickers, sunbathers, musicians, walkers, joggers, athletes, families, pet owners and tourists on land, and sailers and rowers on the water! It was a beautiful, beautiful place, day and view
...not to mention the geese family!! Geese were everywhere, and there were little baby geeselings and even teenage, adolescent ones. This little family was soooo cute and not intimidated by visitors, probably because everyone was feeding them. Soooo adorbs!
So there you have it. I love Boston, I love New England, and I love my friend Chrishon! We had such a great weekend, it was pretty painful to be coming back to New York (especially because the bus AGAIN decided to have mechanical issues and I got in an hour late!) Met Sri at Penn Station before getting on the subway and not getting to bed until about 1:30am! But it was all very, very worth it for the beautiful weekend that Chris and I had exploring and partying and of course, quoting...
I don't know yo lyfe!
...there was a bee
'Twas a maternal instinct, your highness
I 'mon vaCAYshun
You like it, Orlando? It's autumn sunrise!
And our song of the weekend, "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore since it was on repeat on the radios all weekend long (So we put our hands UPPPPP like the ceiling can't hold us...!)
So until next time...
What a weekend.... So enjoyed your company. I miss you already! :-)
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