Warning: Massive amounts of photos
We spent a week in New England to visit my mission area and it was so much fun!
My parents came with us which was nice, having 4 adults with just one small child.
Our biggest concern was the plane ride, but Sam did quite exceptional overall.
Our first stop was Portland, Maine.
We headed down to Old Orchard Beach for the first day and thankfully the weather was perfect!
This had to be Sam's favorite. He LOVES the water, and had a grand time just
digging in the wet sand.
Day 2 we headed over to Cape Elizabeth to the Portland Headlight-the most photographed
lighthouse in the world. I had the opportunity to visit here while I was on my mission
on a P-day since it was in my area.
This kid cracks me up. So happy he's a part of our lives.
I've lost track already of what day we did what, but we ended up taking
a little ferry ride out the the Peaks Island.
Travis said "number one rule of vacation, we get ice cream every day."
I support that 100%. So that's about all we did on the island.
We stopped by Naomi's house and were able to visit with her and Joe.
She was one of my favorite people that I met in the Portland area. She never got
baptized, but it's amazing the friendships you can make in such a short amount of time.
We also stopped by my old apartments. Pretty sure there's still missionaries in this one, due
to the 2 bikes we saw chained to the post.
And this was right behind our apartment, I really did have the best running
trails with gorgeous views on the mission.
We headed over to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, our 2nd stop of the trip.
I still find it funny how you can drive across an entire state into another in less time
than it takes Travis and I to get down to my parent's house in Salt Lake from Logan.
We were in no rush so we stopped whenever we saw something of interest.
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| Best looking guys on the planet |
Wolfeboro! This was the last area I served in before coming home just over 4 years ago.
It's right on Lake Winnipesaukee (which is where What About Bob was filmed in case you were wondering) and is just a gorgeous area.
We had lunch at the slowest restaurant ever, but at least it had a nice view of the lake.
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| Matchy eyes |
This is where we stayed for our few nights in New Hampshire. It was a nice little cottage,
pretty old, but it was great to have a kitchen and not have to eat out for a couple of days.
I had to take everyone candle pin bowling since it's only a New England sport.
It's the same as regular bowling, only the pins are straight, the balls are smaller
and you get 3 tries. It's way harder than I remember, and I lost.
We went up to Castle in the Clouds. It's this old mansion with a bazillion
bathrooms, and it had electricity and running water way back in the day
and it's just pretty impressive. Plus, it's up in the "mountains" so you get a
great view of the lakes.
At our cottage they let you check out paddleboats and kayaks, so we did that one morning.
We spent one evening just hanging around downtown Wolfeboro.
Travis decided he had to try Moxie since it's a New England thing. I've never had it,
but it smells disgusting. That was often something missionaries would have greenies drink.
Travis didn't even finish it because it was so bad.
I had made plans to meet up with these awesome people. Caleb was baptized just before
I headed home, and his mom, Samantha, was baptized just over a year later.
Caleb was 9 when I left...he's nearly taller than me now and has changed so much,
I hardly recognized him.
I was so excited to go to church in the Wolfeboro branch again. It's tiny. I was glad
that some people remembered me.
The Lucas family--one of my favorites. Their girls are so grown up now.
I had a great surprise while there--these two, Kelly and Don. I met them my very last week
on the mission. Kelly was headed out to Salt Lake the next day to be with her family
as her Nephew got married in the temple. So, they knew about Mormons.
Don told us we could practice on them, but they'd never get baptized. They invited us back for dinner
because Kelly liked to help missionaries out because she knew her nephew had received
help when he was on his mission.
They were so excited when they saw me and heard that I was Sister Stradley.
They had been baptized a year after I left and seem to be such amazing people.
It was such a great experience to see them again.
The Burkes. Oh my goodness, I don't know how we would have survived without the Burkes.
They are some of the most amazing people ever. They were kind enough to invite us over to
their home after church for lunch.
They are the caretakers for the Marriot estate which is right on the lake and a large
amount of land. It was fun to go out and have a look around. I can't imagine being that rich.
Monday we packed up again and headed to Vermont!
We took a detour so that we could be certain to see a covered bridge.
We are such tourists....
We visited the Joseph Smith Birthplace where they have a memorial.
We saw the Sister Missionaries while we were there and I knew my friend Taylor's sister
had been in the area a few weeks earlier, so I asked if one of them was Sister Mulford,
and sure enough, she was still there. It really is a small world.
Last ice cream of the trip :)
On our way down to Boston we stopped in my 4th area and visited these amazing people.
Andrea and George Vannah. They fed us many meals and were always such great company.
It was so nice to be able to sit down and visit with them again.
One last covered bridge before we made it to the airport.
It was so fantastic to go back and spend time in this beautiful part of the country.
And thanks to my mom and dad for joining us! It was great to have you along. :)
