We made our annual trek to the seashore this week.  We left our house later than we'd expected, detained by phone calls and forgetfulness.  Finally, after checking our "packing lists" and gathering the items we had to drop off at the post office, the bank, and a couple other places before we actually left.  It was cold and windy when we stopped in West Danville and again in St. Johnsbury.  Finally we were on our way, on the interstate. We ran into a wet snowstorm going through Franconia Notch by Cannon Mountain, but a few miles south of there, the weather began to improve. 

We met Fred's brother Tom and his wife, Ella, in Laconia for lunch (above).  We were a little late due to the slow start from home and then a small mixup after we turned off I-93 headed for Laconia.  We normally see Tom and Ella at the end of our trip to Maine, and come home on the shorter route so we were unfamiliar with the route going in the opposite direction, and missed a turn.  Of course, we have turn-by-turn directions on our car, but it wasn't working when we left home.  It also wasn't working when we were in Maine, and it wasn't working on the way home, either - not that we needed it to find our way home, but after trying and failing to get directions for three days, we began rethinking it's usefulness. 

When we arrived in York, Maine, the sky had cleared, the temperature was in the 60s and the ocean was superb with larger than normal waves due to a big storm far off shore - and mostly just local folks in town.  Our hotel was pretty well filled each night, but it seemed to be with people passing through, not stopping.  There were lots of surfers taking advantage of the swells, and a few people walking along the beaches, but no crowds.  The biggest crowds we saw were a very large flocks of geese; and at Petey's where we had lunch on Wednesday at Rye Beach.

Although there weren't lots of people around, it turned out to be sort of an eventful trip.  There was the debate on Tuesday evening, of course, so after we'd had a lovely supper in the pub at the hotel (clam chowder in a bread bowl!) we took advantage of the nice evening and drove over to a favorite spot on Route 1 to pick up some goodies to sustain us through the debate.  That worked out very well, but we missed the earthquake entirely.  We learned about that in the news the next morning.  The debate was so-so, we thought - nothing exciting there.

On Wednesday we wanted to find a restaurant we'd visited a number of years ago just south of Portsmouth, but without our turn-by-turn directions, we had a little trouble finding it, but  after a few wrong turns, we located it only to find a sign on the door saying it was closed due to a power outage that day.  From there we weren't sure where we'd end up, so we explored some side roads that led towards the ocean and came out on the strip that is Rye Beach with Hampton Beach beyond.  We spent some time taking pictures and chatting with the locals who directed us to Petey's for lunch.  Good advice.

We noticed there were a lot of police around at
Rye Beach.  We hadn't heard about the young girl, Elizabeth Marriott, 19, a student at UNH who had been killed earlier in the week until we were talking with a lady who was walking along the strip.  She told us the police were watching the surf, hoping the young woman's body might show up.  The authorities seemed certain her body had been dumped into the ocean by her killer, 29 year old Seth Mazzaglia, of Dover, NH.  We saw not only police in cars, but one standing by the breakwater scanning the shore line.  Overhead, there was an occasional helicopter flying near the shore, obviously searching.

Oh, yes, this was our lunch at Petey's.  You can imagine we didn't need much more food for the rest of the day.  The clams were very good, and we enjoyed them, but I had been looking forward to another nice meal that evening, and turned out neither of us was hungry after all that food at lunch.  We were amazed at the tables with elderly people eating these sized portions of food at tables next to us and then ordering a huge dessert to top it off.  How can they do that?

We stopped at Hannaford's when we got back to York and got food from the salad bar to take back to the hotel.  Even then, we weren't really hungry.  It was all lots of fun, though, and the weather was so beautiful, it was better than summer.  Not too hot, comfortable walking on the beach without a jacket, hardly any people around, couldn't have been nicer.  We actually hated to leave to come home, but knew it was time when we began missing our cat.  

We've both been busy today catching up and answering e-mails.  One particularly nice message was waiting on my computer - this picture of Alba Rossi celebrating her 96th birthday!  Way to go, Alba!  Anyone would think she was at least 30 years younger.  She's such a pretty lady, and still energetic and very active.  I get an e-mail from her every now and then, and I don't think there are a lot of folks her age who use a computer.  Those cupcakes look delicious, by the way - I'm pretty sure they are the handiwork of daughter-in-law, Diane.  Happy Birthday, Alba!

Here's something I read in this week's Hardwick Gazette -
The rail trail we've all been waiting to be completed for many years now may actually have some funds to get moving.  However, there is a hold up over Act 250 permits, still.  According to the article, the plan now is for Phase 1 of the project to begin with trail heads established in Wolcott, Morristown, Hyde Park, Cambridge and Johnson.  There has been a grant for $149,982 from the Northern Border Regional Commission.  Other funds have been promised by FEMA to pay 90% of the costs of damage from the floods in 2011.  Some work has been done independently, but there is a great deal more to be done before the trail will be ready for general use, and no real time frame for anything to actually begin.  It's been at least five years in the talking/planning/waiting stage.