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We had a great extended weekend visiting with shivakat and akeashar!
Saturday:
We spent most of the day cleaning and getting ready for house guests and running errands. It was later that night when they arrived. We drove to the plaza by exit 28 to meet them and show them the way to our place and, upon arriving at our apartment, had some chat, They brought us an adorable momma and baby koala stuffy and brought Vegemite for us to try. It was definitely an experience. It doesn't rate as high on the meter of yuck as the pickles and liquor that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pyrbennu brought for us to try from her mother's trip to China but it certainly was quite icky.
Sunday:
We got up a little later than planned and had a late breakfast before heading off for Franconia Notch. Our first stop in the Notch was at The Basin. We opted not to go to The Flume because we wanted to take the tram up Cannon and didn't want to spend too much. We first walked over to the Baby Flume at the Basin site. Then we walked back over to The Basin proper and decided to hang around there for a bit. We walked up the trail and over the bridge to the other side for an overhead view from the handicap viewing platform and then were back on the road. I snagged the text I'm using for my LJ title and subtitle from a plaque at The Basin. I just really liked the sound of it and it seemed to fit quite well. :)
Next we passed Boise Rock and explained the story about the 19th century traveler who got caught in a storm while passing through the Notch and sought shelter under the rock wrapped in the carcass of his dead horse. We went right to the Cannon Tran and rode that up. It was my first time up as well. Apparently akeashar doesn't like heights so much but he seemed to handle the ride up well enough. At the top we walked the trail for a bit (though not long enough to get to the observation tower) before deciding to go back down to get warmer temperatures and food. On the way out at the bottom we passed some college-aged girl wearing a bikini-like top and really short shorts and all I could think was that she was in for one very chilly surprise at the top. Talk about totally unprepared! :P
We drove up I-93, then through Sugar Hill and after that Route 302 through Lisbon to get to Woodsville so we could see the house whereshivakat used to live and then eat at Village Pizza. Apparently some time between when I last lived up in the area ten years ago and our visit that day the place had burned down and they rebuilt. The food, while not quite as shivakat, painted_wolf and I remembered it, was good (I had a rather tasty salad and the rest all had pizza, subs and chicken tenders) and the new building was a big improvement over the old place. It was very odd to see how much business had cropped up in Lisbon, too, when we passed through earlier. It kinda made me wish we still lived there since it now seemed like a much more interesting and lively town!
We headed home, this time taking Route 10 south and stopping at this little apple stand in the middle of nowhere. It was a neat little shop that sold apples and cider and various other farm goods like barley and such. They didn't take plastic and none of us had enough cash on hand to buy anything so we left without the planned purchase of apples and cider. We then caught Route 25 to head back to our place through North Haverhill, Pike/East Haverhill, Warren and Wentworth. We got to show akeashar the very peculiar retired rocket on display in the town common in Warren and explain the story behind it.
We ended the night watching Monty Pyhton and the Holy Grail, which probably would have been more enjoyable for me after years of a reprieve had I not been so sleepy.
Monday:
We managed to get up pretty much at the planned time, had a quick breakfast and then headed out for Weirs Beach. We originally thought it would be fun to go back up to the Lincoln area for mini golf at Hobo Hills and then a ride on the Hobo Railroad but the weather changed those plans. We opted to ride the Winnipesaukee Railroad (also owned by the Hobo) and hope for better weather to enjoy some mini golf at Pirate's Cove or alternatively spend time playing games at Funspot. We were hoping to get in touch withciliandis so she could join us but that didn't happen. :(
We first caught the Winnipesaukee at the Weirs and rode that for the one hour trip to Meredith and back, which was nice. I think it was a first time for all of us to ride that train. We discovered on the trip thatakeashar rides a train to and from work every day so it was kinda not so eventful for him. The trip was along the lake and, while it's probably breathtaking for folks who have never or rarely experienced Lake Winnipesaukee, it was actually somewhat lackluster for me. It was a nice enjoyable ride and all, but I had hoped for more. Still the company and time spent relaxing was worth it. After the ride we went across the street to the Half Moon and played in the arcades and peeked into the shops for a bit before heading for lunch.
We ended up eating a huge lunch at JT's BBQ across from Funspot. Well, three of us did as akeashar had the sense to eat a reasonable lunch knowing the three of them were going to be eating a large dinner later. I opted for my one carefree meal of the week at that moment as per my dietitian's orders. Three of us ended up getting the 1/4 chicken and country rib luncheon special while akeashar got one of the tasty burgers. We also split an order of loaded nachos (and they were loaded!) and an order of crab cakes. It was a great meal but we most ertainly were stuffed by the end.
Next we hit Funspot and made $20 in tokens last for quite a while playing various games. I ended up stuck at the pinball machines (surprise!) while the rest played various pinball, video and amusement games.painted_wolf and shivakat also introduced akeashar to skee ball. I ended up not using even half my tokens on pinball by the time the rest had finished their tokens (yay for replays!) so painted_wolf split up the remainder of my tokens aong the three of them and left me a few to keep going while they played more games. They still ended up waiting for me. Sorry everyone! I ended up getting four replays in a row on my last token on the Cyclone pinball machine.
We drove back to Plymouth where we ordered dinner from Mandarin Taste. On the walk back to the car we bumped intociliandis, pyrbennu and lordpagus on their way to get food and find people to hang out. Apparently they were also in search of itsabigmike who happened to be in town last night. We chatted for a bit but parted company since we had already made plans and had dinner to eat. We figured one good turn deserves another and made akeashar try Moxie. Surprisingly he seemed to enjoy it! Usually people don't much care for it. :P
At home we ate dinner and then the other three watched Dog Soldiers while I played computer games on the lappy. I've seen that movie so many times thanks to PW and LW so I wasn't very thrilled with the prospect of watching it again, but the others seemed to have fun watching it, so that was cool. Meanwhile I rescued a bunch of kittens and flowers from gnomes and wandered around a virtual dungeon killing blobs and walking mushrooms and giant rats.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I really enjoyed seeingshivakat again and meeting akeashar in person! :D Hopefully we weren't too much of a bore or completely dreadful to be around for a long weekend. ;)
Saturday:
We spent most of the day cleaning and getting ready for house guests and running errands. It was later that night when they arrived. We drove to the plaza by exit 28 to meet them and show them the way to our place and, upon arriving at our apartment, had some chat, They brought us an adorable momma and baby koala stuffy and brought Vegemite for us to try. It was definitely an experience. It doesn't rate as high on the meter of yuck as the pickles and liquor that
pyrbennu brought for us to try from her mother's trip to China but it certainly was quite icky.Sunday:
We got up a little later than planned and had a late breakfast before heading off for Franconia Notch. Our first stop in the Notch was at The Basin. We opted not to go to The Flume because we wanted to take the tram up Cannon and didn't want to spend too much. We first walked over to the Baby Flume at the Basin site. Then we walked back over to The Basin proper and decided to hang around there for a bit. We walked up the trail and over the bridge to the other side for an overhead view from the handicap viewing platform and then were back on the road. I snagged the text I'm using for my LJ title and subtitle from a plaque at The Basin. I just really liked the sound of it and it seemed to fit quite well. :)
Next we passed Boise Rock and explained the story about the 19th century traveler who got caught in a storm while passing through the Notch and sought shelter under the rock wrapped in the carcass of his dead horse. We went right to the Cannon Tran and rode that up. It was my first time up as well. Apparently akeashar doesn't like heights so much but he seemed to handle the ride up well enough. At the top we walked the trail for a bit (though not long enough to get to the observation tower) before deciding to go back down to get warmer temperatures and food. On the way out at the bottom we passed some college-aged girl wearing a bikini-like top and really short shorts and all I could think was that she was in for one very chilly surprise at the top. Talk about totally unprepared! :P
We drove up I-93, then through Sugar Hill and after that Route 302 through Lisbon to get to Woodsville so we could see the house where
shivakat used to live and then eat at Village Pizza. Apparently some time between when I last lived up in the area ten years ago and our visit that day the place had burned down and they rebuilt. The food, while not quite as shivakat, painted_wolf and I remembered it, was good (I had a rather tasty salad and the rest all had pizza, subs and chicken tenders) and the new building was a big improvement over the old place. It was very odd to see how much business had cropped up in Lisbon, too, when we passed through earlier. It kinda made me wish we still lived there since it now seemed like a much more interesting and lively town!We headed home, this time taking Route 10 south and stopping at this little apple stand in the middle of nowhere. It was a neat little shop that sold apples and cider and various other farm goods like barley and such. They didn't take plastic and none of us had enough cash on hand to buy anything so we left without the planned purchase of apples and cider. We then caught Route 25 to head back to our place through North Haverhill, Pike/East Haverhill, Warren and Wentworth. We got to show akeashar the very peculiar retired rocket on display in the town common in Warren and explain the story behind it.
We ended the night watching Monty Pyhton and the Holy Grail, which probably would have been more enjoyable for me after years of a reprieve had I not been so sleepy.
Monday:
We managed to get up pretty much at the planned time, had a quick breakfast and then headed out for Weirs Beach. We originally thought it would be fun to go back up to the Lincoln area for mini golf at Hobo Hills and then a ride on the Hobo Railroad but the weather changed those plans. We opted to ride the Winnipesaukee Railroad (also owned by the Hobo) and hope for better weather to enjoy some mini golf at Pirate's Cove or alternatively spend time playing games at Funspot. We were hoping to get in touch with
ciliandis so she could join us but that didn't happen. :(We first caught the Winnipesaukee at the Weirs and rode that for the one hour trip to Meredith and back, which was nice. I think it was a first time for all of us to ride that train. We discovered on the trip that
akeashar rides a train to and from work every day so it was kinda not so eventful for him. The trip was along the lake and, while it's probably breathtaking for folks who have never or rarely experienced Lake Winnipesaukee, it was actually somewhat lackluster for me. It was a nice enjoyable ride and all, but I had hoped for more. Still the company and time spent relaxing was worth it. After the ride we went across the street to the Half Moon and played in the arcades and peeked into the shops for a bit before heading for lunch.We ended up eating a huge lunch at JT's BBQ across from Funspot. Well, three of us did as akeashar had the sense to eat a reasonable lunch knowing the three of them were going to be eating a large dinner later. I opted for my one carefree meal of the week at that moment as per my dietitian's orders. Three of us ended up getting the 1/4 chicken and country rib luncheon special while akeashar got one of the tasty burgers. We also split an order of loaded nachos (and they were loaded!) and an order of crab cakes. It was a great meal but we most ertainly were stuffed by the end.
Next we hit Funspot and made $20 in tokens last for quite a while playing various games. I ended up stuck at the pinball machines (surprise!) while the rest played various pinball, video and amusement games.
painted_wolf and shivakat also introduced akeashar to skee ball. I ended up not using even half my tokens on pinball by the time the rest had finished their tokens (yay for replays!) so painted_wolf split up the remainder of my tokens aong the three of them and left me a few to keep going while they played more games. They still ended up waiting for me. Sorry everyone! I ended up getting four replays in a row on my last token on the Cyclone pinball machine.We drove back to Plymouth where we ordered dinner from Mandarin Taste. On the walk back to the car we bumped into
ciliandis, pyrbennu and lordpagus on their way to get food and find people to hang out. Apparently they were also in search of itsabigmike who happened to be in town last night. We chatted for a bit but parted company since we had already made plans and had dinner to eat. We figured one good turn deserves another and made akeashar try Moxie. Surprisingly he seemed to enjoy it! Usually people don't much care for it. :PAt home we ate dinner and then the other three watched Dog Soldiers while I played computer games on the lappy. I've seen that movie so many times thanks to PW and LW so I wasn't very thrilled with the prospect of watching it again, but the others seemed to have fun watching it, so that was cool. Meanwhile I rescued a bunch of kittens and flowers from gnomes and wandered around a virtual dungeon killing blobs and walking mushrooms and giant rats.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I really enjoyed seeing
shivakat again and meeting akeashar in person! :D Hopefully we weren't too much of a bore or completely dreadful to be around for a long weekend. ;)
