Day 116, Year 7: Friends
Date: Saturday, March 3, 2012
Weather: Snog (snow and fog), Temps Above Freezing, Snow Melting
Location: On the Shores of Great Bay, Greenland, New Hampshire
What a great day we had with friends here on the seacoast of New Hampshire.
When we first got up this morning we had absolutely no view across the bay
because of fog. Here they call it ‘snog’ which is short for fog caused by
snow. By the time Detta and Tom delivered breakfast we had a partial view
but there wasn’t time to stay and enjoy it as we had a luncheon date at the
home of another friend. We drove from Great Bay, a few miles inland, to the
seacoast and had a lovely lunch with friends Leslie and Rich and enjoyed a
tour of their new home. They live about a half mile from the Wentworth
Marina where we kept our previous boat for a couple of seasons. We drove
into the marina for old time’s sake and in doing so had to drive around a
grand old hotel now known as Wentworth by the Sea. Today this Marriott
hotel and spa stands as a grand sentinel overlooking the Atlantic, but in
the late 1990’s when we kept Sky Breaker at the Wentworth Marina, the hotel,
built in 1874, was deserted and looked haunted. The Wentworth attracted
national attention in 1905 when US President Theodore Roosevelt suggested
peace talks to end the first war of the twentieth century between the Empire
of Japan and the Russian Empire and those talks were held at the Wentworth
Hotel. The talks were successful and as a result Teddy Roosevelt won a
Nobel Peace Prize and the Wentworth gained fame. But by 1982, the grand era
of big hotels had ended and the hotel was abandoned. It stayed that way
through the end of the twentieth century, but in the early 2000’s it was
renovated in the grand style that it deserved. The Wentworth Marina,
adjacent to the hotel, is separately owned and operated and hasn’t changed
much since we kept our boat there. It’s always been a very nice marina in a
great setting. The view looking eastward toward the Isles of Shoals brought
back fond memories of our time there. After leaving the Wentworth area we
took time to drive out to the ocean to watch the surf pounding on the rocky
shore. And then it was time to go back to the Porat’s for dinner. Rich and
Leslie came and Sue and David arrived back from Seattle in time for dinner.
Detta, Sue, Leslie, and I did some reminiscing of our years together as
elementary teachers in Concord at Beaver Meadow School and Mark and I shared
videos and photos of our trek around the world. We did this while Detta
prepared and served dinner in courses throughout the evening. We started
with yummy appetizers and could have stopped there as there was enough food
to make a substantial dinner. But we went on to have Detta’s delicious fish
chowder followed by salad followed by shrimp risotto followed by a delicious
cake. I even got to blow out a few birthday candles a couple of days early.
What a wonderful evening. But it was after 1 pm when we went back to Sue
and David’s for the night, thus the reason for the delay in posting this
log.
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| 120303 Day 116 New Hampshire, USA–Friends |
