It's always difficult for me to head out on a trip and leave my kitties behind. I have two sitters for them this time - one in the morning and my friend Joel will stop by in the evening. I'm a little apprehensive about this setup - something just doesn't seem right with my morning sitter, but I'm hoping for the best. I've used her before - and two times I had to return early from trips but she didn't offer me a refund on her prepaid fees. I find that a bit disconcerting. So my stomach was queasy when Dad and his partner Ann arrived at 7PM to pick me up.
We arrived in Manchester after a very long 8 hours on the road. The trip was supposed to take only about 5 and 1/2 hours. We ran into traffic on Route 78 pretty much as soon as we got into New Jersey and crawled the next 60 miles - took us nearly 2 hours to get to Route 84. After that we made better time. Even stopped to fuel up on a fish sandwich on the way. Of course that experience left a lot to be desired - our order was all messed up - they were so overly eager to get orders out quickly that they didn't LISTEN to people's orders. Ann got sauce on her sandwich even though we asked to have one dry, and I got caffeinated coffee when I asked for decaf. And it's always curious to me how, when a mistake is made, so many service people look at you as if it's your fault. Whew!
All that said, the drive up was gorgeous - the leaves are just beginning to turn - reminded me of a New England Fashion Week - giving us a preview of the full flash of color to come in a few weeks. The dusty mauves, pale pinks, burnt oranges and magnificent maroons are simply stunning. A flash of yellow here and a blaze of red there. Just little touches to simply take your breath away.
We were the first to arrive at the hotel - they didn't have my room ready so I was assigned a different room which I was quite happy about (and talk about customer service, the service at the
Best Western Executive Inn and Conference Center is TOP NOTCH - more on that as we go along!) My room is further away from the hospitality room, so it will be quieter for me. Yay!
The
Best Western Executive Court Inn and Conference Center in Manchester, NH is a real gem. The rooms are beautifully appointed and I enjoyed a luxurious hot bath that night (as I intend to do every night
)
A few folks showed up that evening and we set up the hospitality room for Wednesday's check-in. It was such fun seeing familiar faces from last year's reunion in San Diego. Everyone in the group is big on hugs so I certainly filled my hug bucket today!
9 of us went out to dinner together - to the local Cracker Barrel - certainly not my pick of restaurants, but being with friends made it worth the fat and grease laden meal. Gag! It's a challenge being on a healthy diet and traveling with folks who aren't. It started to rain while we were eating. We made the mistake of allowing my dad to drive us back to the hotel - with the glare on the road from the rain, and a newly paved road with no markings yet, and my dad's horrible driving, we barely made it back alive. Had a near miss on a curve with a curb and the median. Thank God there wasn't any other traffic on the road. Dad turned 88 today and I love him dearly and I really think he needs to re-think his driving. I realize it's not going to be easy for him to stop, but I'm afraid he might hurt someone else as well as himself if he continues to drive. In fact, the stipulation for me going with him on this trip was that Ann and I drive up and back.
Tomorrow will pretty much be a free day - it's just for checking in, meeting and greeting, etc. Thursday we start our day trips and festivities so stay tuned!
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