"Final" Weekend in NH (at least for a while)

If you've talked to me at all in the last two years or read my blog on a somewhat regular basis, you'll know that Mike and I LOVE to get away to our condo in the White Mountains of NH. We love experiencing the beautiful scenery and great outdoors in all seasons. It truly is a relaxing and refreshing get away for us. So, it's with much sadness that we won't be able to go back for a while.

Apparently, if I want my insurance company to cover the costs of the birth of our child, we have to stay within their coverage range for the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy. Unfortunately, their coverage range doesn't reach into the mountains of NH. We would have to drive at least an hour from our place there to get close to a hospital they'll cover. So, until we have a baby boy to take up with us, we won't be visiting our place in NH. We'll really miss it!

So, the weekend before last, in spite of the fact that I'm growing so large that doing anything is becoming increasingly difficult, we decided to have one last weekend there. We had to play it by ear as to what we'd do there, if anything, since we just don't know from day to day what, er, "joys" (ie aches, pains and discomforts) the pregnancy will bring. Somehow, the stars fell into place and the full Saturday we were to be there, I felt better than I had in a while. So, time to play!

We have tennis courts at our complex there. The last time we played any tennis was our February vacation in Puerto Rico when my belly was quite a bit smaller. But, we decided to give it a try. I obviously can't run around too much and zig-zag around the court, so Mike and I just hit the ball around - he aimed for right around me and I aimed away from him so that at least he could run around and get in a fun workout. It actually worked out great! Amazingly, playing tennis was easier for me (mostly on my sciatic) than walking is! So, we had a great time hitting the ball around for about an hour.

After going back to the condo, cooling off and having some water, I decided that I just couldn't have my last weekend here without some time in the woods\mountains. So, we decided on an easy (ie mostly flat) trail that's close to our house and we've only been on in winter (snowshoeing). First, getting some lunch was in order. We went to our favorite local store to grab some deli sandwiches and were heartbroken to find out that the economy had grabbed it as it's latest local victim...it had closed 2 weeks earlier! Sadness. So, we headed to another, not so exciting, sandwich shop for some grub and headed into the woods for a little picnic. We found a nice rock next to a stream and had a view of a small, runoff waterfall in the distance. After filling our bellies, we headed off making lots of stops for pictures.

Mossy Ledge by the Stream

Ventured Down from the Ledge into the Stream

Mike by the Brook Looking up from the Brook at the Moss Covered Rocks

After Mike helped push me back up the little hill from the brook to the trail, we continued on. The second "half" of the trail was mostly in the woods and not as scenic. It being mile 2 of the trek, I was fine not stopping much because I was getting a tiny bit tired of walking and ready to get to the end. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our map and were relying on our obviously not reliable memories because when we got to the "end" of that trail, we were still 1.2 miles from our parking area! Ugh! The upside to our little mistake is that we got to see this little waterfall.

Did I mention the monstrous mosquitoes that attacked us? There were a couple of times when I had to stop to rest. The second we stopped moving, they swarmed in! Normally, mosquitoes don't notice Mike when I'm around (apparently my blood smells sweeter) but they were even giving him a hard time. So, we tried to keep moving and get back to the car as quickly as my tired self could go.

Even though it was a bit more of a strenuous day than I had planned, I was really happy to have taken advantage of it being a nice day, feeling physically well (those days are pretty limited right now) and getting to enjoy several of the aspects that I'll miss about our NH place for the next few months.