Canobie Lake Park!

I haven't been back to our local amusement park since I worked there...and that was in 2004? Crazy. They have made a lot of improvements and changes. The first major one was right when you walked in through the new, fabulous entrance. It looks very official and welcoming. And they could build it because they finally took out the swimming pool. I can only remember going in there once when I was 9 or so, when we visited for the summers.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the slightly rainy day at the park.

And as some of you know, Lukas, my brother is 16, but has been in Thailand the last year, so he hasn't taken Driver's Ed or gotten his license. So I have taken him driving in my car, cuz I can. So here's the kid in action:

Yup, I drive a 1910 little motor buggy. Just a tad bit bigger than a Thai tuk-tuk. :) Lukas got some great practice in, it was thrilling.

I took the Sky Tram ride thing, which has a beautiful view of the lake and the picnic area. They host huge companies and groups, and this picnic area was vast. It was kinda cool, this little army of tables.

On our way out, I could not pass up the opportunity to ride the carousel--and to make Lukas and his friend ride it too. Since it was rainy there were no lines, and everyone seemed to have left the park relatively early. So we didn't take any horses from little kids, or scare any for that matter. Lukas is in red, looking like he hopes the fun will never stop.

Then there's me, the instigator. I guess we were moving super fast, my camera couldn't keep up. We have the racecars of the carousels here in New Hampshire.

Lukas' friend pointed out the refection of the Ferris Wheel in the puddle in the parking lot on the way to the car. So we all took pictures. They look really cool. I like how it's clearer

in the puddle than the actual thing.

Overall, even though it was rainy, it was a nice day. Mainly because of the rain, hardly anyone was at the park, so there were no lines! I had to have some fried dough...what else? Oh, there was a Michael Jackson impersonator that was doing a tribute show. It was about 30 minutes. He looked a lot like Michael, sang ok, and danced really well. He had some backup dancers, so they were doing all the classic moves from the videos. It was really fun. Some of the people in the audience were really getting into it, like running up to touch his hand...uh...it's just some dude pretending to be MJ...it's not really him. And these people were grown! Like in their 50s! Kinda crazy...

Sand Sculptures!

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire's most popular beach (Not that we have many...but we're proud of what we've got) annually has sand sculpturing contests. This year my friend Ben and I drove down to take a peek. I am just amazed at what you can do with some sand. Granted, it is special sand, and I believe they do use some kind of glue...but still, it's pretty cool.

And I saved my favorite for last. I think it's so cute and clever. I think it was called Fish out of Water or something like that. Fun!

 

And then there's this one...me and my feet at the beach. I know, I'm in pants...but it was kinda rainy and overcast, so I wore pants...so sue me.

North Carolina

I went to North Carolina for my friend's sealing to her husband and son. They've been married for a few years, but wanted to do the religous ceremony in the temple. I was so happy I was able to go and share in that special experience with them. 

 

They got some fun family shots afterward. Aaron, Sir'Netia and Derek's son was kinda over all the picture taking.

 

This one of me and Sir'Netia didn't turn out great. She looks great, but I am in the middle of telling Derek how

 the camera works...but it's proof that I was there.

 

I think this is my favorite one, Nina and her hands on her hips...ha, I love it.

 A good one of the fam. Aaron looks just like his Momma.

 

So after the temple ceremony, we took way too long trying to find a nearby Sonic Drive Thru, had some lunch, and then were late to the reception. Oops. But their ward put on a really nice party. There was great food (the watermelon was amazing) and there was dancing! I went on the search for the restroom, and found this instead...is that the Southern way to spell Restroom? Ha j/k.

 

Now, Derek is a good dancer, he and his mom were burnin' it up, but Derek is no good at line dancing, and Sir'Netia loves it. We did a lot of line and country line dancing at Snow College. But Derek...bless him, doesn't have the coordination. I think this was him attempting...ha. I had a video, but I must've deleted

 by accident. I bet Sir'Netia's grateful. ;)

The next day I went to church with them, and in the Relief Society room they had this cool piece of church history:

So I had a great trip. I had a rental car and an awesome GPS which made it so easy. I felt so independent! The flight back was really beautiful. There was a lot of low cloud cover, so we flew through it, and then above it, I took a bunch of pictures. I loved the big fluffiness of the clouds, and it was around sunset, so the light hit the clouds just right. Here they are in all their collage glory:

Dead Author #3

So as you can tell, there's been a theme of dead author's homes. It just turned out that way, Shirin was moving from Boston and hadn't seen the Longfellow House...so that just perpetuated the dead author thing. So now Shirin and I are making it our thing. Any suggestions for our next adventure? I've already been to Mark Twain's house...but not with Shirin...

Anyway, this time it was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's house. I volunteered there last fall, cataloging Longfellow's books. They're all indexed on those old school cards, but not on the computer database. It's slightly tedious, but I got to fondle all of Longfellow's books! How cool is that?

I've already done a blog post about the Longfellow House, it's really cool. But this tour we heard more of his poetry and...got to see where there was once an elevator. They disarmed it and changed it to a closet, but it was still pretty cool. Longfellow's daughter added it when she owned the house. She was sick and needed it. The controls are still there in the basement, it was a hydrolic elevator. Fancy. It was a fun tour, even though it was blasted hot.

I got to see the gardens in full bloom. They have a really pretty garden on the side of the house. It wasn't this pretty in the fall.

 

My camera randomly went into Sepia mode and I took these pictures of the surrounding neighborhood.

 

Oooo, look how dramatic they look! I love it.

Dead Author #2 and Salem

Yup, Dead Author #2 is Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The House of Seven Gables and the more popular The Scarlet Letter. The house in its original state was influential in Hawthorne's story. His cousin lived there at one point. The coolest part of the tour (which was way overpriced) was the secret staircase!!! And we got to go up it! It was behind a fireplace, in the space the chimney would've gone. That was added because it was in Hawthorne's book. The gardens were beautiful, right along the water. Loverly.

Here's Shirin super excited about the tall ship behind her.

These were yummy chocolates from the oldest candy company ever? in Salem? I forget.


Here's me climbing with the scurvy-ridden pirates.

Yup, it's a "museum" that tells the "real" story of Lizzie Borden. Do you know the rhyme? "Lizzie Borden got an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41." The gift shop was the best. They had picture post cards of the Victorian-era crime scene, plus gruesome portraits that look normal from one angle and then creepy the next. It was all pretty funny. The Bordens didn't even live in Salem.

Hmm...


Peabody Essex Museum

Here are some of my favorite items in me and Shirin's whirlwind tour of the museum. At one point we had 5 minutes till closing so we resorted to running around the last room we hadn't seen so we'd at least get a glimpse of everything. I loved the room with the ship masts, so cool! And as you can see, I liked cute things with funny faces.

And Shirin would randomly break into dance...just like how I randomly break into song.

Dead Author #1

Robert Frost
 

My wonderful roomates from Boston came up to Derry to visit. They had both been up before, but separately. So it was a special treat to have them up together. In honor of such a special occasion, we paid a visit to the Robert Frost Farm, one of the only touristy things to do in Derry. Here's Shirin (in the green) and Amy Beth (in the blue) absorbing our tour guide's vast knowledge.

And here's me absorbing some knowledge...or pondering the knowledge I had just aquired. Of course I had to get a picture on Frost's toilet. As the guide said, this is the only guaranteed place he sat. Some older tourist with our group also got a picture of me...he showed me on his camera...weird. I love how my face is all red. I was slightly embarrassed cuz there were people watching me be silly.

The grounds of the farm are beautiful. There are trails to walk. You can walk along "The Mending Wall" even. Some clouds rolled in and we got a little rain too.

Oh, I wrote a poem that day too. The guide told us how Frost would listen in on their party line for "research". My poem goes thusly:
There were ten farms and one phone line
Back then it equaled party time
Listening in while others converse
Today some might think it quite perverse
But in the 1900s it was so fine
to listen in on the party line

Boston

My aunt DeRae recently came all the way from Utah to visit me. We had a really nice visit. Unfortunately she came early in the season, so not many of the "attractions" were open yet. But luckily hanging out in Boston is always a good default activity. So we drove to Alewife station and rode the T into the city. We got out at Copley and waited for Nate on Copley Square. The square was really beautiful with a big bed of tulips. DeRae and I were at a bench with a great view of everyone getting their picture taken in front of the colorful flowers.

It was a nice, sunny day. I enjoyed a "homeless moment" while I stretched out on the bench.

 Here's the view I had. It was such a nice spring day.

So once Nate got there, we satisfied DeRae's need of seafood by eating at a nearby Legal Seafood. DeRae had a bucket-o-steamers--clams (yum), I had a Crab Roll, and Nate had something weird and "healthy". Oh, and I tried Bananas Foster for the first time. That was really yummy too.

After filling ourselves and saying goodbye to Nate, we headed over to the Duck Tours. I had never been on one and it seemed like a must-do Boston activity.  Every boat has a different name and each tour guide has their own character. Our guy was...something to do with puzzles...bringing people together...he had a weird hat and knee-high rainbow socks. He was very knowledgeable. It was a fun way to see the city. And of course, we ended up in the Charles River.

Here's DeRae looking out at the river. It was really neat to see the city from the river. I recommend Duck Tours to anyone in the area. It's fun, and you get to quack at the locals. Who could ask for more? Oh, one company had a piece of the Berlin Wall in front of it. Interesting.

It was a really good day in Boston. I saw parts of the city I hadn't really seen before. There's always more to see in Boston.