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Last week was my first official work vacation. After spending months having a mental crisis about when and how I should spend it, thinking I absolutely had to have a firm plan in place before scheduling the time but unable to find anything affordable to do, I finally just decided to schedule it for my birthday week, which Chris had already scheduled off, and let the plans fall into place later. I wasn't disappointed; it was an awesome vacation.
Saturday night (the 1st) was a small backyard barbecue and chimenea fire with a few of our best friends. Experimental (and non-alcoholic) fruit smoothies and delicious grilled portabella mushrooms... yum. There were also stuffed clams, which my shellfish allergy forbade, and your usual hot dogs and burgers, which I didn't bother with, knowing there would be plenty of those all week.
On Sunday we went to a much larger cookout, thrown by our friend Jenny for her stepfather's 65th birthday. Chris' mom helped him make some of her out-of-this-world potato salad (I'm not a big fan of potato salad, but I love this stuff) to take with us, and it got devoured. We met Jenny's West Virginian boyfriend, who took his share of southern/redneck jokes, but had an equal amount of fun with all of the Rhode Islanders, too.
We took the day Monday to get the condo cleaned up a bit, and invited our hosts from Saturday and their neighbors over for dinner that night. Chris made his famous barbecued ribs and chicken wings, and complemented them with a Caesar salad. I ended up getting a surprise birthday cheesecake and a couple of nice gifts... and a sliver of glass in my toe! Yes, the boys had quite a night, and the casualties were one of our set of poker-themed shot glasses, and a beer bottle. It was still a good night though, and it gave us a chance to try out our brand new Shop-Vac.
The 4th was spent in Narragansett at a beach house that our friends Maureen & Ed rented for the week. More burgers and dogs, and there was a potato salad showdown; unfortunately we didn't have any of ours left to prove that it was better. It was quite hot outside, but I thought it was incredible how the one-block walk from the house to the water registered at least a 10-degree temperature drop. We left there late in the afternoon, and went and had my birthday dinner at Carrabba's.
Wednesday I had a bit of downtime, since it was Chris' golf league day and he was gone for half the day anyway. We used the rest of it to pack for the getaway part of our vacation...
On Thursday we drove up to Lincoln, New Hampshire and spent two nights at the Comfort Inn there. We visited Clark's Trading Post, rode the gondola skyride at Loon Mountain, as well as the Hobo Railroad, and played some mini-golf. We enjoyed two breakfasts at the Texas Toast Eatery, and dinners at Gordi's Fish & Steak House and Woodstock Station. We didn't get as many good photos as I'd hoped, but the ones we did get are viewable in the gallery.
We drove back home Saturday and spent Sunday relaxing and recovering. As much as I didn't want to go back to work this week, it hasn't been too bad, which I think is a sign of a good, effective vacation. It certainly feels like I was away for longer than a week, but not so much that I've forgotten how to do everything!
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