New England Adventure 2022 - Days 3- 5

It’s raining. It has been raining all night. Yes, it’s still raining as I carry our luggage down two flights of stairs to the car. It is raining as we drive across Michigan to Indiana and then to Ohio. The rain stops for a little while as we enter Pennsylvania but we can see rain ahead in New York. We stopped at a rest area in Erie PA. Our schedule is to switch drivers about every two hours. We pump out, stretch and drive on. There was an Amish farm stand at the rest area. Priscilla bought two gigantic honey crisp apples from the vendor. Those apples are the best. The Amish really know how to grow apples.

Farewell to the Neighborhood Hotel

We crossed into New York state on our way to our overnight stop in Batavia. We have stayed at the LaQuinta in Batavia each year as we transit to Boston from Chicago. Our tradition is to buy dinner at the Five Guys before checking into the hotel. Two cheese burgers and fries is $25.00. Well worth it. Each burger weighs about two pounds. We parked under the largest parking lot light directly in front of the lobby hoping to not be robbed. We always take our most valuable items into our room. Fortunately we have never had an incident with any of our travels.

The next morning it is pouring rain. I pull the car up under the lobby roof to load our luggage and to keep Priscilla dry. Off we go to New Hampshire. The rain stops as we approach Vermont. We decided to take the road less travelled to get to my brother’s house in Dover, NH. Instead of taking the the major highways we diverted onto the curving mountain roads. The first part was suburban streets with stoplights every block. Traffic backs us up for blocks. It takes two changes of the light to get through the intersection. Maybe we should be going 75 mph on the interstate highway. We still have 250 more miles to go. After what seemed to be an eternity we escaped onto a two lane country road with a 55 mph speed limit and beautiful vistas of foliage and mountains. This is why we came this way. We passed through rustic old towns saw covered bridges and old barns and stopped at turn outs for scenic vistas.

Our view from the top. We are seeing some nicely colored foliage.

We arrived at my brother Bill’s house in Dover NH at 5:00 pm. We were glad we took the scenic route. The rain had stopped for a while. The heavy rains knocked a lot of the leaves off the trees so our foliage excursion will not be the blazing colors we had hoped to see. We had dinner at the Govenor’s Inn in Dover.

It poured rain all night and into the next day. By mid morning the power went out at my brother’s house. Bill and his wife Joanne were at work so I texted him. A tree had fallen on the power line for his sub-division and 79 homes were without electricity. Bill rescued us by coming home and starting his generator.

Bill and Joannes’s home in Dover, NH.

Believe it or not the rain stopped and we finally saw the sun for the first time in days. To celebrate, Bill picked me up and we went to the Stoneface brewery. It might be 2:30 pm in New Hampshire but it is 5:00 somewhere. The brewery was packed. We sat at one of the last available tables. Does anyone still work? There were eight choices of IPA’s on the menu. This is my kind of brewery. I decided to do a sample flight so I could try several options. The most unusual selection was the oyster IPA brewed with live oysters. When will I ever have another opportunity to drink an oyster IPA? I hope never! It was too strange for me.

Stoneface brewing was named after stone image of the Old Man of the Mountain in Franconia Notch which was a landmark until 2003 when it collapsed.

The image of the Old Man of the Mountain created with hops.

Photo of the Old Man of the Mountain before it collapsed.

John and Bill enjoying an oyster IPA at the Stoneface Brewery.

Time to move to another brewery with live music. The Cisco brewery was only a few minutes away in Portsmouth, NH and had live music starting at 4:00 pm. Joanne was just getting out of work and joined us. We had to keep track of the time so we could get home and go out to dinner at Christopher’s at 5:45 pm and then go the Ogunquit Playhouse to see the Carole King Musical.

Joanne arrived in time to enjoy a brew and the music.

The short drive to Ogunquit was uneventful and we found our seats at the Ogunquit Playhouse. The seating is a little challenging because the seats are not offset or on a slope. The gentleman’s head in front of me was large enough to be featured on Mt Rushmore. As I tried to peak around him on one side or the other I could heard the person behind me mutter a groan as their view was blocked. I changed my seat at the intermission and believe it or don’t the giant headed man changed his seat to be in front of me so his wife could have a better view. I moved again.

The Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, ME

We really enjoyed the musical. It featured 17 songs Carole King wrote and or wrote and recorded. I most remembered her album Tapestry. She had a tumultuous life raising two children and balancing her career with her song writer cheating husband Gerry Goffin. Some of the songs she co-wrote with husband Gerry were “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” sung by the Shirelles and “The Loco-Motion” sung by her children's baby sitter Little Eva. Other songs include “Take Good Care of my Baby” and “Up on the Roof.

The playbill for the performance.

Carole King

Saturday morning was bright and sunny. We bid farewell to Bill and Joanne and took the backroads from Dover, NH to Wells, ME. The small towns are very picturesque. We arrived in Wells around 11:00 am.

We went to dinner at the MC restaurant at Perkins Cove in Ogunquit. The restaurant is built on the rocks with a stunning view of the crashing ocean waves. We had a window seat on the second floor. It is Maine after all so I ordered the steamed lobster. Why does lobster always taste better in Maine?

Yes, this is my actual dinner. Picture perfect and perfectly delicious.

Tomorrow we will go to Kennebunkport and ride the In Town Trolley.