My sister, Edith, accepted a 13-week contract as a traveling nurse in Lebanon, NH and I decided to ride with her and Midnight/Junior (her cats) to her new apartment. Edi meet me at the airport at 8:00 in the morning of the 3rd; since I was flying back on Sunday, I wanted to have my car in the lot upon my return. The drive out was pretty uneventful with our staying outside Cleveland the first night at a Best Western Plus, getting up early, and arriving at Edi’s new apartment around 5:00 Friday evening after driving through some beautiful countryside. I had not been in New Hampshire before so was surprised with its mountains and rolling streams.
The apartment complex
We got the cats unloaded plus all her containers (thankfully her apartment is on the first floor); we then headed out to discover a local grocery store. When going into the parking lot, we asked a resident where to go for groceries and he told us of a local co-op a couple miles away. We found it and purchased a salad plus soup for our evening meal and quiche in the morning. Returned to the apartment, feed the cats, unpacked all the containers, made our respective beds, and retired for the evening without thinking about eating our evening meal.
Midnight and Junior getting acquainted with the apartment
After sleeping in and eating our delicious quiche, we went to meet with the apartment complex manager where Edi had to sign some papers. She took us through the clubhouse which has exercising room, bathrooms, patio, computer room, and a central area with TV plus papers, coffee, and cookies…great area! We learned about a bus that goes to Boston’s Logan Airport where I was departing the next day. After signing the papers, we left and found the bus depot where I purchased a ticket for the next morning at 9:00.
Then we explored the town; great K-Mart, found Walmart, walked through LLBean, saw the book store, and went to Family Dollar where Edi purchased things for her apartment. Went to the co-op, where we purchased a pizza for our evening meal. Returned to her complex and walked to the clubhouse where I printed out my boarding passes for the next day….I also selected a couple tags from the Christmas tree for items to purchase for a needy family.
Ready to explore
Returning to Edi’s apartment, we baked the pizza…which was delicious…and tried to connect up an antenna to the TV but it did not work so decided to go back out for a cable, which Edi thought was needed to make the antenna operational, and to purchase the items for the tags we had selected in the clubhouse. After getting the cable, we went to multiple stores to find the items on my list; finally made the purchases and headed back to the apartment. Got back and tried to hook up the TV; we discovered the cable was not needed but it still did not work. Since Iowa was playing for the Big Ten Championship against Michigan State, I really wanted to watch the game but it was not to be; that was okay since I was glad to spend time with Edi. The Hawkeyes lost the game during the last few seconds so it would of been too nerve wracking for me to watch! We went to bed and I was lucky to have Junior, Edi’s male cat, visit me by settling on my chest around 4:30 in the morning…reminded me of home and Beauty/ Cutie although they do not climb onto my chest.
Got up and, after breakfast, walked up to the clubhouse to deliver the Christmas gifts for the family we had selected. The area has a wonderful bike/walking trail which I would enjoy if I lived there. Edi took me to the bus terminal where, after a brief wait, I boarded and headed to Boston. What a comfortable bus…bathroom, cooler with water and pretzels, WiFi, and movie to watch if the passengers wanted to watch. And the scenery to Boston was fantastic!
Heading to Logan
Scene from the bus
Got to the airport, zipped through security, and hang out until the flight boarded. Both legs of the trip on American was uneventful and I landed in Cedar Rapids around 7:00 pm…got home by 7:30 with Beauty and Cutie happy to see me.
Cutie helping unpack
Good trip; I was glad to spend time with Edi and see her new, temporary home. People seemed nice and landscape beautiful with mountains surrounding Lebanon. Its an area I wish I had more time to explore.