Erik's Visit, Six Flags, and Kayaking

Thursday, September 14th, 2006: Today was Erik's last full day in town. We both slept in and spent some quality time together whilst we cleared the sleep from our eyes.

Erik had decided that he would like to see the Mother Church. We checked the train schedule and drove to the Anderson RTC in Woburn, Massachusetts. We hopped on the commuter rail which took us to North Station in Boston.

We navigated our way through the city on the MBTA and got off at the stop for Symphony Hall. The Christian Science buildings are pretty much across the street so it was an easy walk from this stop. As we made our way, lunch was on our minds, so we found a nearby Thai restaurant and decided to give it a try.

After lunch we made our way over to the Mother Church and, luckily, got in on the last tour of the day. As we took our time in the morning, and tours only operate from 12pm-4pm, we just made it! It was a great experience for both of us. The church is so beautiful. It has some of the most colorful stained glass windows I have ever seen. There is also an organ with over 13,000 pipes in 233 ranks. I am very interested in returning to attend either a mass or a recital, just so I can hear the power of the organ.

The Shops at Prudential Center were a short walk from the church. Once our tour was complete, we headed there on foot. We did a little bit of shopping and a lot a bit of boy watching. Ooh my! What a fun place to see and be seen.

We took the subway back to North Station and boarded the next train back to Woburn. Since Thursday nights are my usual time to spend some quality time with my best gal pal, Sean, we decided that all three of us should wrap up Erik's last evening in Manch Vegas together.

Sean had a babysitting gig this evening. We waited at home for his ring, ring, ring, on the telephone to tell us he was free. Once the call came in, we made our way downtown.

On the night of the Taste of Manchester, we had a piece of chocolate cake that was to die for. It was a sample from the dessert selections at Piccola Italia. Since one can never have too much chocolate, we chose this restaurant for dinner so we could get another taste of the cake. What a delightful experience it was. The food was as just as good as the cake. Our waiter was fun and friendly. Sean, Erik and I laughed so much! It made me realize, once again, how lucky I am to have such great friends.

Friday, September 15th, 2006: It was already time to head back to Logan Airport. Erik and I left Manchester at 9am. We made it into the city in record time. Commuter traffic was light and there was little activity at the airport. We pulled right up in front of the doors at the terminal. I gave the baby a big hug and a kiss goodbye. As I drove off, I thought about all the special time Erik and I have shared this week and also in the past. I am going to miss my lil' Fen Fen!

I took a detour on my way home from the airport and drove north up the Massachusetts coast to Lynn. Most of my immediate family lives in Lynn, so I decided to stop into the hospital where my Mom works and have lunch with her.

Since I was quite early, I spent some time with her in her office. My grandfather, who also lives in Lynn, coincidentally had some tests scheduled today. He arrived shortly after I did, and was quite surprised to see me sitting at Mom's desk! Mom took advantage of my presence and I became Papa's escort to get some blood work done and have some x-rays taken. Once complete, we stopped to visit my Aunt (and his daughter) Mary. She also works at this hospital in the Nuclear Medicine department. In fact, I am quite sure most of my immediate family has worked here (with the expection of my grandfather, my Dad, and my Aunt Allison). I even spent a few years during college working on the switchboard.

It was time for lunch. We made our way to the cafeteria. I partook of some grub from the grill and then dined with my Mom, Aunt Mary, and the rest of the girls in their lunch group.

When I returned to Manchester, I managed to get in touch with Dave and we headed out for a run. We ran another new trail along the edge of Lake Massabesic. As we finished the run, we passed by a hunter. This was the very first moment that I ever correlated running through the woods and accidentally being shot. I will most definitely be sure to leave my antler hat at home and wear bright orange from now on.

Time for Glendi! What is Glendi, you ask? Good question. I am not exactly sure what the word means, but for me it means more good times and good food. Dave and I cleaned ourselves up and headed over to the Greek Church on Hanover Street for this local cultural phenomenon. We checked out the scenery and then made our way to the food tent. There were several good dinners to choose from. We both decided on the lamb shank. It melted in our mouths. It was served with rice, a spinach square (with some greek name), and greek salad. For dessert, we had some fried dough balls (also with a difficult to remember greek name). They looked like Munchkins but were more doughy, and covered in honey. Yum!

Saturday, September 16th, 2006: Peter is getting settled into an office space that he has lined up in Concord, New Hampshire. As it also has extensive storage space, he has decided to close his storage bin at Morgan Self Storage in Manchester and move all his treasures to the office. He started this day early, moving smaller items to Concord. After I arose and made myself pretty, Peter returned home for lunch. We then both headed, along with Jeff (one of my bestest friends, not to be confused with the Jeff I am dating), to move some of the bigger furniture items from Manchester to Concord. We dropped Jeff home after our first run together. Peter and I then made one more run between the bin and the office.

After returning home and getting cleaned up, Peter and I made our way to the Aloha Restaurant. The proprietor, Mr. Wong, delivered their complimentary chicken wings and I even got a complimentary Coke. Normally, only the kids get the Coke. I asked him why I got one, and he told me it was because I was handsome. I think Mr. Wong likes me. But actually, I have been there so many times that he recognizes me when I come in. He's a very sharp little business man.

Peter and I shared some chicken szechuan and each had a cocktail. After dinner, we took a stroll through Building 19. From there we decided to take the short walk up to Glendi for dessert and a little more culture. We entered the raffles, watched some circle dancing, and ate some Baklava. We then made our way back to the car and headed home for the night.


Sunday, September 17th, 2006: Dave and my chorus buddy, Timmay, arrived at my house at 7:30am. It was time for another day at Six Flags. But today it was a special day. It was the annual Out In The Park gathering. A day when the gays get together and decide to infiltrate a public place and be seen. We donned our red shirts and made our way southwest to be part of the fun.

Along the way, we stopped in Nashua to pick up another chorus friend, Sean. Continuing onward, we made the obligatory stop at the Charlton service center on the Mass Pike. We quickly ate and made our way to Six Flags in time for its 10:30am opening.

What a difference one month makes. The park was much less crowded than the day we visited in August. It was a perfect day for an amusement park visit, too - sunny and around 80 degrees. We managed to get on all the big rides that we wanted to. But Dave and Sean weren't very good ride buddies! They were not fond of many of the rides, so Tim and I ended up doing most of the bigger rides by ourselves.


There were fewer of the gays there than I expected to see. I would estimate that 30 percent of the crowd was gay, and only half of those decided to wear their red. But it was still fun, and the gayness made the park a bit more cruisy compared to the last visit.


All of us tuckered out a lot quicker than the last visit, so we did not end up closing the park on this trip. We left at about 7:15pm and we were home in Manchester by 10:00pm.

Monday, September 18th, 2006: This morning, Jeff invited me on a second date. He offered to take me kayaking. Though a bit nervous because I have never done it before, I agreed. We left Manchester around 9:30am and arrived in Campton, New Hampshire just after 10:30am.

Jeff arranged kayak rentals for us at Ski Fanatics. We grabbed some snacks and some water at the convenience store next door, and then boarded "Henry Ford." Henry was a really old, beat up, Ford van that they pick up and drop off their customers at the Pemigewasset River.

On our way to the drop off point, we were introduced to Roland, who was also a passenger on the van. He was spending his third day kayaking the Pemi, and was well known by the van driver.

Roland was an interesting older gent. He sized me up in the van. By that, I mean, he turned around, looked at me from head to toe, and guessed my weight. Because of the way he did this, Jeff thought he might have been family. But later on, we learned stories of recent girlfriends. Roland may have been on the van, but most likely not on the bus.

We started our journey down the Pemi. I think I could really get into kayaking. Once I got underway, I was not nervous at all. The water was a bit low, but was moving fairly well. There were only a two or three tricky spots where Jeff and I had to step out of our kayaks to get out of shallow water. Overall, I feel I did fairly well for my first time ever.

Roland was either one third of a mile ahead of us or behind us the whole way. He did stop with us once, though, for a break. This is when we learned of his girlfriends from the Manchester area and his bum toe that the Concord Orthopedics group wanted to amputate. He has since switched to a doctor at the VA hospital in our fair city and they are letting him keep his toe for now. All the details we did not need to know, we heard on this day.

It took us just about three hours to navigate the six mile section of the Pemi. We were only at the pickup point a short time before Henry Ford returned to take us back to the shop.

As Jeff and I were both a bit sunburned and exhausted, it was a quiet ride back to Manchester. All in all it was a great day and I am looking forward to seeing Jeff again this coming weekend.

Later that evening I finished up some laundry and packed my bags for my next trip. I set the alarm for 5:03am and crashed at about 11:30pm.

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006: I made my way to Lynn at 6:00am. I was meeting up with my Mom who was traveling to Atlanta with me. We were headed to see my sister-in-law and my two nephews.

The commute to Lynn during non-peak hours usually takes about 50 minutes. Today it took about 70. I was stuck in the stop and go traffic headed to Boston. If I had to do this everyday, I think I might slash my wrists. It made me think about how much I love my three mile commute through downtown Manchester (when I am working, that is).

By the time I arrived at Mom's house, we were running late. We jumped in Dad's car and we made our way down route 1 south to the airport. There was more stop and go traffic and I began to get a bit nervous about making it to the plane on time. But we arrived just after 8:00am and our flight was leaving at 9:00am.

Logan Airport was really quiet again. Mom and I walked up to check our baggage in and there was no line at all. There were maybe six people in front of us at the security checkpoint and there were no holdups there, either. There was, however, a new device before the metal detector that we had to go through. Each person passing through security stepped into a phone booth looking contraption. It puffed air in every direction and, I assume, it analyzed an air sample for bomb residue. It was the quickest blow job I have experienced in quite some time.

Our Delta flight left on time and we were in Atlanta just a few minutes after our scheduled arrival. The delay was due to a plane that was still occupying the gate that we were supposed to pull into. Andrea was waiting for us at baggage claim. Our bags had already appeared on the carousel by the time we got to it and we were able to make a quick getaway.

We arrived at my sister-in-law's home in Peachtree City, just outside of Atlanta around 1:00pm. We shared lunch together and layed low until the boys got out of school around 2:30pm.

When it was time to pick up the boys, we hopped in the family golf cart and headed down the community golf cart pathways. We pulled up to the elementary school and I could not believe my eyes. There were at least 50 golf carts, all in a single line in the rotary around the school. It was overly organized. Ten carts pulled up at a time. As the carts pulled up, they called out students' names. Those students boarded and the carts drove off and the next ten pulled up.

We returned home and the boys completed their homework. They played video games for a bit and then we did all sorts of outdoor activities. No need for me to run today! The boys really wore me out. We skateboarded, razor scootered, biked, played soccer and played football.

I was beat! Alexander started to get a little cranky (just tired, I think) so that was my excuse to get the boys inside. Dinner was nearly ready so we cleaned up and sat down to a really nice meal prepared by Andrea.

After dinner, the boys watched a bit of TV and then made their way to bed. I am sitting on the couch with my Mom as I put the finishing touches on this blog entry. We are discussing what the upcoming week will bring. I am not really sure what there is to see and do in Atlanta, but I am sure there will be some great stories to share and memories made during this visit.