#81 – June & July 2021 – Casa Kendrick

June & July 2021 – Casa Kendrick - Campton NH  

Casa Kendrick featuring Charlie and Mollie's lovely new coach

The world's best fire pit

Pulling into Charlie and Mollie Kendrick’s place in Campton, NH, was like entering a tranquil harbor after a blustery sail. We’d been on the move for almost seven weeks, packing up and moving every few days, looking for places to stay, making reservations, and then scrambling to find, see and experience many new places. We were a little hyper and a touch frazzled. A day later, though, we had come under the calming spell of great friends, easy living and no pressure for several weeks. Wow, that felt great!

My Father's Day present,
and the tort was good, too

To make June even better, Liesa flew out to spend a few days with us. We hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving, and she looked great. Phone calls and emails are good, but there is no substitute for a big hug from my daughter. It was so good to see her. Since my sister lives in Concord NH, we had a reunion: the last four Coveys were all together for the first time since 2003. I hope it won't take 18 years for the next one. It was great to see Linda, too. 

We spent the next six weeks hanging out, sightseeing, doing chores, making campfires and visiting with their great kids. The time seemed to fly by in a very pleasant relaxing blur. 

One day we all went to Portsmouth NH for lunch and a walk around:

Mollie

Prescott Park in Portsmouth

It was a great day!

 

 

Not only did we get to see Liesa, but Judy Powell called to say that she was going to be in NH in June with her family. As we talked, it dawned on me that she was planning to come to the Lake Winnipesaukee region during Bike Week, when literally tens of thousands of motorcyclists from all over the country descend on the small lakeside towns and rent every motel room and B&B in sight. That didn't deter her, she rented a house on a small lake in Madison and we drove over to to see her. We'd had to cancel our usual SoCal visit in 2020, so it was a real pleasure to get together. 

Judy, Judy, Judy... and us

 

Every once in a while, Kayeanne reminds me that she is a great cook. She turned out the best blueberry pie I have ever had for my birthday. She even made the crust from scratch using her aunt's recipe. I ate way more of it than I should have, and wished there was another one. 

Tastes even better than it looks

New Hampshire is one of my favorite states. I lived in southern NH for several years before moving to California, but I realized that I hadn't seen a fraction of the great places and terrific scenery that central and northern NH have to offer. Our erstwhile local guides introduced us to several new places, including the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park; the 5,000 ton Madison Boulder, thought to be the largest glacial erratic rock in North America; the small but interesting New Hampshire Boat Museum in Wolfeboro; the beautiful Kancamagus Highway and the many local places near Campton that make this area so great to visit. 

Saint-Gauden's famous
Standing Lincoln

The rock won

The Kancamagus views

It still won

The musuem's old Quonset hut was
as interesting as the boats 

In Rumney Another fantastic
food truck find

Not "burgers and fries"

I really like Portsmouth. It has a variety of rivers, harbors and shorelines, and lots of things to see and do on shore without being too hectic or hard to access. One of the highlights of the whole visit was to cruise on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth on Mike and Holly Babin's lovely yacht Return Again. The Babins are very knowledgeable local guides, gracious hosts and accomplished mariners. They recently completed a one year trip up the Hudson River, across the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River, across the Gulf of Mexico and back up the east coast to Portsmouth. We always look forward to seeing them.

Portsmouth waterfront

Despite all the visiting and running around that we did, I still found time for a little reading and the odd tipple. Books included:
    Lake of the Ozarks by Bill Geist - Fun read

    Obsessions Die Hard by Ed Culberson - Wore me out

Lots of wines to pick from because the NH state liquor commission (monopoly on wine and liquor statewide) sources a very broad selection of wines and we have been taking advantage of the variety:

    Bousquet Malbec 2019 – VG
    Chateaux St. Michelle Cab - Col Valley 2017 – VG
    J. Lohr 7 Oaks Cab - Paso Robles 2018 - Old friend
    Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2020 - VG
    Sauvignon de Seguin  Vin de Bordeaux 2019 - VG

On July 11 we sadly said goodbye and pointed Ripley west. More soon,

Bob