North Hampton, New Hampshire

Our friend Elaine lives a few miles from the beach in New Hampshire – which is hard to do since New Hampshire only has a small coastline. We last visited here 12 years ago. The house has grown larger – thanks to a remodel - and the family now includes a lively 9 year-old, Tess. We are boon-docking (or dry camping) on Elaine’s driveway and socializing in her house. The girls are having a blast checking out new books, dolls, and toys and playing their fantasy games with another girl of their own age and mindset. Last night the girls did a sleep-over with Tess in her room. Amazingly they were all asleep within 10 minutes of lights out after an exhausting day of play that had ended with a fine “surf and turf” meal by all. We arrived in North Hampton on Friday night (Oct 10), a little after 8pm. Tess was at a friend’s place enjoying a birthday party. Elaine greeted us warmly as we pulled into her driveway. We’d spent the day making our way from Acadia National Park to Augusta, Maine’s Capital (where Doug had an early afternoon meeting) then onto Freeport to visit the LL Bean flagship store. Everyone loved cruising around the LL Bean store. Excitement rose when the girls spotted one of the Dad’s from Ruth’s kindergarten class – handsome, stylishly dressed and attractively smiling from a huge poster on the wall behind Men’s Shirts. He is a part-time model for LL Bean! We opted to eat in Freeport before hitting the road again on our final leg to North Hampton. After some deliberation we decided to have McDonalds for the first time on our trip. It was the first time we’d eaten McDonalds together as a family and the first time ever that Ruth had eaten a McDonald’s meal (largely avoided up until now because of her food sensitivities). During the journey, Ruth seems to be getting stronger to her food sensitivities. We’ve been introducing originally controversial items back into her diet – like corn and wheat – on a test basis once per week. So far it seems to be going very well and we’re hoping for good things by the end of the journey. The last leg from Freeport to North Hampton was all night driving. Sunset is coming earlier these days (soon after 6pm) and it’s noticeable both for traveling as well as setting up camp. We’re increasingly eating in the dark and decided to invest on a good lantern for our campsite. We returned a LED-powered lantern purchased at Wal-mart earlier in the trip because it just didn’t throw sufficient light. We were enamored with the idea of it’s 3-way charging options – including solar – but it just wasn’t doing the job. Sticking with a LED solution because of long run-time energy efficiency, we upgraded to more powerful model but have yet to fully test it in a campsite situation. Inside the van it seems to work great! Arriving in Elaine’s street in North Hampton, Denise leapt from the van to read the house numbers. Our GPS, (who we fondly call, FIONA) is not always accurate when it comes to indicating the exact house location. To everyone’s delight we eventually found the right place and pulled into the long driveway that allowed us plenty of room to unpack on a nice level surface. We peeled out of the van to enjoy some “house” time which we hadn’t had since the last week in September in Ohio with the Comstock family. Tess arrived home late from her party and we all agreed to make a bigger day of it on Saturday. Saturday (Oct 11) was a beautiful clear and sunny autumn day. After a leisurely morning of showers and hanging out, the group decided to go apple-picking. Doug stayed home to work. Although plans were made to go to the beach in the later afternoon, the girls were so thoroughly engrossed in playing and simply playing around the house that we decided to focus on making a fun evening meal instead. Doug and Elaine worked on some house projects that included a run to Home Depot and a side trip to the local market for some “surf and turf” dinner supplies. Cooked by Elaine and Denise, the meal of barbequed swordfish steaks and marinated steak strips with stuffed haddock (fish), rice and green beans was delicious. A freshly homemade apple pie with ice cream for dessert topped off a perfect meal. The girls moved their bedding into Tess’s room and made ready for the night. After light reading, we packed them all into bed. Sleep soon followed… for the adults as well.Today (Oct 12), we are planning to head toward Boston when Elaine and Tess head for church. We’re planning to visit with Laura, Denise’s niece, who is living there. It’s a short travel day and we hope to spend Sunday and Monday with Laura – who has Monday off for Columbus Day.