A New England Autumn

We hopped along from Spain to Paris to Iceland, finally landing stateside in Boston.  We have wonderful friends in New Hampshire, and I was particularly keen to talk to my friend Laura this crazy election season, as she’s the voice of New Hampshire Public Radio’s morning talk show. 

Hiking in New Hampshire

But first we had to make it to Annapolis.  My 30^th college reunion was happening right that first weekend back, and I just couldn’t resist, so we ditched the girls and left them safe and happy with Laura and Steve.  Together with our longtime Johnnie friends Sandy and Jenny we rented a clapboard house on Fleet Street, right next to where I used to live.  It was a real nostalgia fest, and the people from my class were just as interesting and fun to catch up with as I remembered from 10 years ago. 

Alumni seminar, so familiar, just with a little added technology

Love these people

Awarding Kevin Heyburn a croquet mallet for founding the annual Croquet Cup with Navy

40% of the class turned up

We then headed to Boston, where Tia and Sasha had landed after a mid-state transfer at the outlets on the New Hampshire border, where Todd’s brother Mark lives with Bridget and their five kids.  It was a blond-haired, blue-eyed fiesta of epic proportions, as the cousins were thrilled to be hanging out again.

Just a few of the cousins

As we were home-schooling pretty steadily, I arranged a surfeit of field trips to catch up on U.S. History:  The Minuteman Trail, marking the start of the American Revolution; The Fort at Number 4, a critical location in the little-known French and Indian War; the Hannah Dustin Memorial (Hannah was a no-kidding frontierswoman who was abducted by Algonquin Indians and subsequently escaped after killing her captors).  We went south to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower, where the recreations were spectacular—you could really feel what it was like to be there in 1620.  The Salem Witch Museum was a complete disappointment after the spectacular movie The Crucible, but the tour guide, in full colonial persona on  Boston’s Freedom Trail, was hilarious, informative, and well worth it. 

Corny

Hannah with a hatchet and a handful of scalps

Swept back into 17th-century America

The highlight of the trip was plunging into the flaming forests of New England.  Suzi and Ethan flew out for Ethan’s cousin Rowie’s wedding, so we headed north to join them.  The trees created the perfect backdrop for a set of autumn chemistry lessons, and we hiked the New Hampshire mountains with Steve, a forestry expert.  On next to Maine, we relished Suzi and Ethan’s new house on Penobscot Bay, Tall Oaks.  Steve, Laura, their son Abe, Mark, Bridget, the five cousins Ailis, Aidan, Teagan, Keelan, and Kieran, plus our friends John and Thais and their son Liam all joined us for a raucous Columbus Day weekend.

Photo shoot on the Maine shore

Waterskiing in October!!

New England beauty

So on we moved on the penultimate leg of our journey, flying to Los Angeles en masse with Suzi and Company.  My aunt Andrea was visiting from Germany, so I flew up to San Jose and we drove down Highway 1 together, marveling at the gorgeous coastline and the elephant seals.  What a scenic re-entry into California!

With Andrea on Highway 1

Elephant seals galore!

Our last stop was to see Grandpa Rich and Parviz in Cupertino.  We wandered through my mom’s house, mostly unchanged since her death three years ago, and relaxed, enjoying Rich’s photo exhibition in Los Gatos, dinner with him and Colleen, and entertained by the cooking show with Parviz at Benihana’s.

Fund-raising in LA

California, we are home!  Our cabin in the Sierras, here we come!