We're back from Thanksgiving. Usually we stay here, and host for those interested in coming. This year, we opted to go north.
It was .... a trip.
Kind of a last minute thrown together event, but it worked out. We had looked for an Airbnb near my parents' so we could make our own thanksgiving dinner and everything. But literally every listing was unavailable (hot take: remove your house from Airbnb or vrbo if it doesn't have heat and hot water for the winter months. Don't be a lazy host. mkay?)
We had no choice but to hotel. Luckily, there is a decent hotel near my parents' house, a little more expensive than what Doug likes to pay for hotels, but we get points. So. I booked it.
My sister met up with us. It was nice to have Linda with us for logistics with the dog and for hanging out drinking wine late into the night while watching Milk Carton Kids videos. She got to work from the hotel and really focus on getting things done while babysitting our dog. An Extra Special and fun chore for her.
Initially I thought about coming up myself, leaving on Friday the 19th on my birthday and returning maybe Tuesday before Thanksgiving to have it here. I invited my cousin John to come with me but he said he couldn't get off work (he is down in Richmond, VA these days).
With Geoff not in school, Doug looked at his vacation time and said that he could take a week off. We knew if we went, we'd want to take Geoff and we'd have to take the dog.
So.
On paper, it is 7 hours, 7 minutes to my parents' front door. With a lunch break, it took us about 8. Which was pretty great. Monday thanksgiving week travel worked out pretty great, note to self.
We had a quick visit with my parents upon arrival on Monday night, ordered pizza, and were tucked into bed early because it was a long day for all of us and Tuesday would be too.
Tuesday, Linda was coming up as soon as she could so I booked her room for her to be all ready for her to get there. We left the dog with my parents, and went up to Beverly and visited Backbeat Brewery where our friend Caleb is working. It was great to see him! We had lunch with Amy, it's been a minute since we've seen her too, so this was a wonderful day. Good food, good beer, good company, it was a great hang out time (and the beer review is here if you are at all interested).
After lunch, we drove around Beverly and I felt sad. I miss Beverly, Salem, Ipswich, all the good lovely north shore towns that are part of our life and history. I sometimes can't believe we left here.
We sat near Independence Beach and just looked at the water over to Salem. We decided to drive to Salem to go around the Willows and there was an accident closing the road before the bridge, so we drove up to Ipswich and went to Great Neck and Pavillion Beach.
If I could live anywhere, back up north, it would be up on the hill at Little Neck, away from town but with the lovely views all over and the area to walk about and just .... enjoy. Cue Barenaked Ladies singing "If I had a million dollars." The homes up there are mostly cottages, nothing huge, nothing too too fancy, very modest but also very scarce. Nothing for sale or listed on Zillow. Probably all secret listings. Ipswich is expensive (everywhere is expensive right now) so even the houses available in town there are way out of my imaginary price range. Same with Beverly. But it is fun to look and imagine.
After goofing off around Ipswich we resisted a visit to Ipswich Ale brewery, a favorite haunt of ours. We had a date to see Jess and have dinner with them and Carrie. And while it would have been nice to hit the brewery, we needed to keep our date.
Jess was house/dog sitting for our friends and we beat them to the house, so we got to go to the farmstand next to our old house (across the street from Jess) while waiting for them to come home from work. I got a pie and some fresh cut flowers for a gift for our Thanksgiving hosts. Jess got home from work and we visited with Mocha dog and gushed in adoration of the new kitchen our friends have had put into their house (jealousy).
Oh Mocha. I do love her. We call her Circus Dog because she can jump in the air and twirl around. Jess said that the dog usually doesn't act like this much anymore, she's getting older, but boy howdy did she lose her shit and go full on circus for us. Jess thinks it is because she remembers us, and was super excited to see us. I like that idea. I was happy to see her too.
Doug had picked his favorite Indian restaurant in a town convenient to both Jess and Carrie. We met up and started chatting but suddenly, oh my gosh, there is this couple playing music.
And they were not awesome.
They were singing all kinds of tunes, he sang solo first and was okay. But then she joined in and was just .... loud. She went from Patsy Cline, to Tracy Chapman... and it was unnerving. They didn't need amplification at all, she was quite loud enough without a microphone. But there they were. Singing. While we're trying to talk.
He played guitar wonderfully, I could have just listened to him play and I would have been very happy with that ambiance. But he completely destroyed (not in a good way) Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" (hint: take it down an octave dude, you are not Steve Winwood). We laughed through most of it, it was kind of sad.
Had I known there would be music there we sure would have picked somewhere else.
Still. Laughing is a good thing when there is weirdness happening all around. It is kind of typical of what happens in my life sometimes. It was so good to see C, and I miss her, and need a week drunk by the pool in Naples with just food delivery every day and pool. Oh, and some pool.
We had a long ride back to the hotel. It was a long day and I was kind of full of emotions over it all.
The good news is my dog did well at my parents' house, met some people, made some friends, and Linda used him as an excuse to bring him back to the hotel and chill while waiting for us to get back.
Wednesday my sister had to work remotely for the day. She kept the dog, and we took my parents out to my their familiar for lunch. It was a nice time, I could write a ton of stories about my mom and this establishment.
I'll hold my tongue.
Doug had discovered that there was an interesting place for us to stop at after lunch, and we wanted to take my dad there, but my mom was fussing about how he had to do his recycling so he was quickly defeated.
Next time, dude. We'll kidnap you and take you. Promise.
We headed over there, the place is called Stone Path Malt and they process barley to turn it into different malts for brewing. It is literally right through the woods behind my parents' house. Had no idea it was there until Doug did some beer searching and found it. Holy guacamole.
It was a really cool place, and we got to meet the co-founder/owner and chat with him for a while. I did a write up of the visit here if you want to read. Here's my favorite picture, not sure why it came out so distorted but it looks super cool and I like it. Malt is magical, yo. Check out the different beers you can get from different malt. Magic.
After visiting Stone Path, I was feeling incredibly exhausted, and opted to go back to the hotel while Doug and Geoff had some time together and went to Lucky Goat and Buzzards Bay Brewing. I ordered pizza, and we had a meal and crashed.
For the past few years my parents have been spending Thanksgiving with friends that they've made in town. B and D are a little older than I am, and they've been exceptionally kind to my parents when they have gotten sick or needed things. It's always nice to know someone is physically there and can get in touch with us fast should we need to head north.
My mom told D that we were coming up and she said we simply had to do Thanksgiving with them, she would not stand for anything else. We had thought of just doing our own thanksgiving (since we couldn't score an Airbnb in the area) using my parent's kitchen, but we decided that we'd take her up on the offer.
It was a tight fit, but they made everyone at home and it was lovely. The food and company was great. Doug and I took Phin for a nice walk and met a neighborhood cat who really loved us. Damn what a great cat. It was a really good time, even though we didn't have the benefit of leftovers.
Here is a picture of us and my dog who invited himself to sit for the portrait. He's a freaking riot.
Everyone please look at my dog and how wonderfully he sat after inviting himself to the picture.
We were there two hours and had lots of laughs and jokes, and it felt like a good visit to me. I know that my mom or Billy have different feelings when they go visit her. Billy said she fights with him and he has to just smile and walk away.
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