Summer 2023 Trip, Part 3

Nope, I'm still not home yet. Here's the latest log:

July 12: We spent the day doing more exploring of Cape Breton, but mostly by car, and mostly through bad weather. I've had about enough of cold fog and drizzle by the end of this day.

Cape Breton

July 13: We left Cape Breton and drove a couple hours away to the prettiest house I've ever stayed in. It belongs to a friend/client, and she offered us a chance to dry out and enjoy the view while we were in the area. The kids made Mrs. theskinnyonbenny dinner for her birthday. It was a nice time.

July 14: Our (borrowed) truck wouldn't start at all, so I called a tow truck and got it to a dealership in town. They were really busy and didn't have time for me, but they listened to my sob story (I might have mentioned a family of four sleeping on the floor of their local bus station that night), and they drove to a town an hour away for a part and got me out of there that day. The rest of the family got to enjoy that beautiful house. I got to enjoy fluorescent lights and a tile floor in a dealership waiting room. Not complaining though -- the trip moves on.

View from my favorite house. When we speculated on what we would do with all of our winnings should the Powerball or Mega Millions hit, we decided we would 1) Make sure Red Stick Cares is funded forever, and 2) buy this house no matter what the price.

July 15: Check in to VRBO house in Maine. We did laundry and camper cleaning, and then late, Crystal showed up with her three kids and her nephew.

July 16 - 21: Beach days, cooking dinner, hang out by fire pit. We added our friends Lisa and Linda, and Camilla's friend Katie for various days during the week. On July 17, Ko left us for Ghostlight Theater Camp. He's avoiding the camp photographer pretty well, but it seems like he's having fund when he does pop up on their photo galleries.

One of the camp pics.

We really ate well for a group that never did dinner at a restaurant. We had curry one night, steaks and kababs, a huge eggplant lasagna that I'm still craving more of, and lobster rolls. Oh, and we put a dent in all of the salmon that we've been packing since our big catch on Lake Superior.

We did go bar hopping one night, if you can call it that when there's one bar in town open as late as midnight. They were having karaoke, and there was a bachelorette party going on. Don't you know that someone joined them all on stage?

I've been using this space to make fun of Crystal since I spun it up in 2004, and the fact that I can still be doing that makes me happy for all the work that I've put in to bringing back current. (Still a lot to do, but I'm camping by myself, so hopefully I can make a lot of progress this week or next.)

July 22: We packed up and went out to find a campsite to spend a couple of weeks. I ended up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in a site that isn't particularly scenic, but it's a two minute walk to a pretty river, and a five minute drive to places to paddleboard or hike. I'm mostly catching up on work, but I'm going to try to do some fun stuff while I'm here.

July 23: We got up, and pretty much right away drove V and H to Boston. Having attempted it two years in a row, I will declare that it is impossible to drop someone off at a Boston airport hotel without missing a turn and having to spend an extra 30 to 60 minutes winding through a spaghetti mess of streets, bridges, and tunnels. If I never drive to Logan again, it will be too soon.

After that, I bought groceries and liquor, made dinner, started a camp fire, drank a scotch, and watched my ipad by the fire pit.

River view from the campground where I'll be spending the next couple of weeks.

July 24: Mostly work from camp, but explore a little. I found a really pretty little lake close by, and I'm excited to blow up the paddle board and get out on the water for an hour or so tomorrow.

So right now, V and H are at home, and I think they have my mom's car from Slidell. Ko is at camp in Maine. I'm in New Hampshire with the dog, using my mother-in-law's car, and both of our cars plus our cat are at my monther-in-law's house in Natchitoches. I'm not sure how we unwind all of this, but I have a couple of weeks before we have to worry about it.