On March 2nd, I flew into Boston and took the Dartsmouth Coach to Lebanon, NH where my sister has been a traveling nurse for the past 13 weeks.  Her contract had expired so she was ready to move back to her home in Marion, IA; I traveled out in order to keep her company during the long drive.  Edith picked me up at the coach depot and we went to her apartment for a delicious meal of chicken and vegetables with dumplings.  Her cats, Junior and Midnight, were closely watching us during the whole process.  After the meal, we did some packing but Edi had much of it already completed.

Supervising the packing

Getting packed

The next morning we decided to explore for the day so we traveled to Portsmouth, NH; the town sits near the mouth of the Piscataqua River, a short, wide river that divides New Hampshire and Maine.  Settled in 1623, Portsmouth claims to be the nation’s third-oldest city. It served as a focal point on the Eastern seaboard until the late 1800s when rail travel did in the shipping industry. John Paul Jones’ ship The Ranger was built in Portsmouth, and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (which lies across the river in Maine) was established in 1800 as the country’s first Naval shipyard.

Water front at Portsmouth

We parked and explored a few stores; one, the Tugboat Alley, was especially fun with some great t-shirts and a friendly owner.  After walking around, we headed toward the ocean where we was hoping to find a place along the waterfront.  However, due to the time of year, many restaurants were closed so we settled for Tio Juan’s Margaritas in Exeter, NH.  Since it was mid-afternoon, we decided to head back to Lebanon.  Upon arrival, Edi did some last minute packing while I took a walk.  That evening we put a quiche in the oven for our evening meal.  We decided to leave for Iowa the next morning so settled down for the evening around 10:00.  Upon awaking, I took another walk while Edi did some cleaning.  When I returned, I took items to the dumpster and then packed up the car with Edi’s help.  We got the cats in the vehicle and took off around 9:15 in the morning.   The overnight stop was at the Clarion Hotel in DuBois, PA.  Both the cats were happy to get out of the car.  Pizza was delivered to our room; while eating, I used my iPad to see how much far we had to go.  Turned out to be another 12 hours of driving so we decided to get up at 5:00 a.m. in order to get home by early evening Saturday.  However, Junior and Midnight decided getting up at 2:30 was the way to go and, after trying to sleep for over an hour, we decided to get up and leave; loaded up the cats, checked out, and was on the road by 4:00 a.m. eastern time.  Stopped along I80 somewhere in Pennsylvania for breakfast and lunch in Illinois was at a Subway.  We arrived at the airport parking lot, where I had left my car at departure on Wednesday, around 3:15 central time.  Even though I had been up for many hours, I did not feel tired at all until around 9:15 that night when I was watching a movie and it hit me suddenly that I was.  Went up to bed where I immediately fell asleep and did not wake up until 7:30 the next morning.  Another good trip; I always enjoy spending time with my lovely sister and I am glad to be retired so I can make trips like this.