We can really cram a lot into a few days. This time it was a visit with friends, satisfying our lobster and whole belly clam cravings, Chinese food cravings and a wedding.
We began with a lobster dinner just outside of Portmouth, NH.
CJ took the long way to our hotel traversing the island of New Castle, NH. It is a quaint and beautiful place and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
We had the fried whole belly clams at Bob's Clam Shack. We've been there previously.
We visited with the Meltzer's whose home can only be called a stunning mansion on an even more stunning piece of property. CJ and Larry went kayaking with the seals and bald eagles. Sunsets across the Kennebec River were equally stunning. With the exception of the Midnight Ride of CJ and Larry (with apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) the visit was a lot of fun. The "Ride" was CJ following Larry to the nearest hospital (not so near) at 0100 to solve Carol's mega-severe neck pain. By the time we returned at 0400, a marvelous hospital staff had her drugged up sufficiently to start bringing down the pain level.
Between Bath, ME and Andover, MA in Ogunquit, ME is Rococo ice cream. Some of the weirdest flavors ever seen. In fact its only rival is an obscure little place in the middle of nowhere in Queensland, Australia. They are so similar that when we mentioned it to the server, he indicated we were not the first to draw the parallel. We sampled the Horchata Rumcake, Guava Maria Cookie and Dark Chocolate before settling on Strawberry Habanero, Honey Vanilla, Triple Ginger and Goat Cheese Blackberry Chambord (the best of them all). ...And they didn't have two of the flavors we wanted to try. One had just gone out of season and the other only is available in the fall.
On the way to the wedding we enjoyed a lobster redo down in Massachusetts.
CJ ran Skype off of Carol's Iphone of the wedding ceremony allowing grandma to watch in absence. The reception was a fun affair with CJ's deaf brother and father of the bride making one of the four speeches. Since it was a mixed crowd there were three or four interpreters for the ceremony and reception.
Our table was next to the marriage table. That is CJ with his brother in the background giving a speech in sign language. Ken is standing next to the seated bride.
The three male Warso's: Ken, CJ and Ken's son Seth.
We managed Dim Sum for breakfast.
Over 30 years ago when Carol was on the company credit card, we dined at a place in the Bostonian Hotel called Seasons. The chef was one of America's best. In fact she was so good that CJ made it his goal to order the worst sounding thing on the menu so that he could send it back. He was never able to return any of those incredibly delicious offerings.
Lydia Shire now has a new restaurant in the Liberty Hotel called Scampo. It is Italian for "escape" and is so named since the hotel occupies the former city jail. We shared three courses including carpaccio, lobster pasta, and scallop.
Following lunch we visited the USS Constitution Museum. The ship is normally open but for the last three years has been undergoing its twenty year over hall where they replace rotting word and reclad the hull with new copper sheathing. It's a rare opportunity to view her in America's first and obviously therefore oldest dry dock. We were fortunate. She's going to be refloated this coming Sunday and will reopen to the public in the fall.
Told you we can cram a lot into a little time.
