New Hampshire Pictures

We went to northern New Hampshire for a business meeting. We stayed in Dixville Notch at The Balsams resort. It is an amazing place that is more beautiful I could have ever imagined.

Here's a sign that details why Dixville Notch is such a special place (especially this year!) It's where the very first votes are cast for the presidential primaries.


Here's the sign at the entrance to the resort:

Here's a wide shot of the whole resort. It was built in the late 1800's. The building details are incredible.

Here's a funny sign that they really do enforce. It's like stepping back in time. It was fun to dress for dinner, though. I thought I would hate it, being from laid-back California and all. But, I got a kick out of it, really.

Here's a photo of the room where the actual voting takes place at midnight during the primary. The candidates meet with all (lol - all 17) the residents of Dixville Notch and then they vote.

There's just beautiful scenery everywhere!

My Kingdom for a Card Reader

I am in Boston right now and having a fantastic time. Wow! What a beautiful city!!! I have a ton of photos to show but no way to get them into the computer. Wah! I knew I forgot something. Oh well, I will have to show you when I get home. Anyhooooo, I had lots of fun walking around downtown Boston. We even took a tour of the state house and learned lots about the history of Boston and the founding of the country. Interesting stuff. I'm glad I'd watched the John Adams series on HBO because I had at least a vague idea of who these people were that the tour guide was talking about. Mary, our tour guide, was a completely adorable lady with a thick Boston accent. She did a great tour and was quite an animated speaker. I want to do that kind of thing when I get to retirement age. She was so much fun.

Today we are travelling up to New Hampshire. I have purchased a vat of Deep Woods OFF! I am going to slather myself with DEET or whatever that chemical is called. I am totally freaked out about ticks and hear that they are out in full force in NH this spring. Ugh.

Kim, GyPSy and the Kwik E Mart

Friday night I drove to Kim's house!!! It's a couple hours away but I managed to turn the journey into more like 4 hours. I should have checked actual maps before I got in the car, I think. I've never been to her town and if it was a question on a quiz, I couldn't even tell you what county it was in. Not good. But, I figured, "Hey, I have my GPS. How hard could it be?" Well, we all know the answer to that question is, "Pretty f#*!ing hard." LOL! The GPS mapped the route but since I haven't exactly fully figured out how to use the thing, I couldn't see the whole route, just the part I was currently on. Not. Good. Still, I wasn't worried.

Everything was going along swimmingly until I got to Oakland. Oh my stars, what kind of psychotic freak designed the freeway interchanges in that town? Well, I won't bore you with the details but GyPSy (what I started calling my GPS by that time) and I had a little disagreement about what she meant by "stay on this road" and I ended up on the Bay Bridge while GyPSy figured out how to bail me out of this mess.

Unfortunately, or if you are the adventurous type, fortunately, I ended up dropped in the middle of downtown San Francisco with no idea where I was going. GyPSy kept rebooting because the stress of my stern discussions with her were starting to overload her delicate nature or something. I started to panic and started chanting, alternating between "I will not cry" and "You can't just leave me here, GyPSy!" Finally, GyPSy decided to not quit her job and find someone less crazy to work for and gave me directions to the Golden Gate Bridge, I think. Some freeway that got me onto 101, anyway. I couldn't tell you which one because, at this point, I was driving with my eyes firmly transfixed on GyPSy's screen.

Ahhh, let the traffic jam begin. When I hit 101, I had a lot of time to stare at the screen. Not much moving. Very little driving was involved. I finished my now-stale Diet Pepsi and munched on a little beef jerky I had brought along. Finally things started to pick up and I made it to her house in one piece and with most of my sanity back. YAY!

Kim was awesome!!! I got the house tour where the highlight was definitely the studio where she works her torch magic. She also has another room that she calls the craft room where she has the most awesome table set up with all her jewelry making, electroforming, packing, shipping, and silver work stuff. On top of that, she even had a fabulously comfy bed for me to sleep on in the guest room. I tell you, my family better watch out. Kim's place is pretty tempting.

We went out to get some finger food and drinks and ended up sitting there and talking for HOURS! It was great therapy to have someone to talk to, face to face, who really gets you. I had just the best time.

I was sad to go on Saturday but I can't leave The Puppy alone with Mark for too long. She starts to love him best if I do.

Sunday, Mark and I went to the Kwik E Mart in Mountain View! The whole place has been de-7-11ed and turned into The Simpson's favorite place to get comic books, Squishies and pink frosted donuts. I loved it! The place was packed with people and since it was Sunday afternoon, most of the Simpson's merchandise had been bought out already but it was fun anyway. We got a big gulp and a pink frosted donut. Yummy! I only had one bite because that is definitely not on my diet.





Mark and I were discussing why they picked this 7-11 to use as the Kwik E Mart. We think this one got picked because it is really close to Google's headquarters, it's a new store, and it's right next to Starbucks.