This summer has gone by fast, and it has gone by slow. Slow in the beginning as we waited to get our RV back, and then fast as we count down the days until Europe. Only 15 more to go!
We spent the summer in Holderness, NH again. Our 4th summer in a row at Owls Landing Campground, but this isn’t the only time we’ve spent in New Hampshire. I grew up here. I left after high school and have lived many places around the US. When I met Howard in S. Lake Tahoe, CA, I told him I would never live on the East Coast again. It just wasn’t for me, and kind of weird there. Howard had lived many places too, but never in the North East. I couldn’t explain the weirdness of NH to him.
Together we moved to Seattle, then Las Vegas where we bought our first house. We took a trip to NH to see my parents and so I could show Howard where I grew up. He loved New Hampshire. The woods, mountains, lakes, and beaches (Yes, NH has beaches, eighteen miles worth!) were especially beautiful after spending a few years in the desert. In 2006, we sold our place in Vegas and moved to Tamworth, NH, right between the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, and lived there for the next 3 years.
Howard got to experience the weirdness here. I still can’t quite explain it. Now, as I write about it, I’m not really sure what it was. I know it existed once, but it has become normal. That is a definite sign that we need a change of scenery. Also, every once in a while I will say a word with a hint of the NH accent that I do not want to pick up. Next thing you know I will need to pahk my cah ovah theyah!
New Hampshire is an awesome state though. If you like the outdoors there is great kayaking, hiking, hunting and camping. If you’re more of a city person, Nashua, Manchester, and Concord all have some excellent restaurants, along with my favorite city, Portsmouth. Portsmouth is on the seacoast and very close to Boston, MA and Portland, ME, two other fantastic cities. Maybe someday we’ll own a condo there. Maybe.
If you don’t mind your face freezing off, there are many outdoor winter activities and festivals. Last winter, picturesque Meredith had a huge ice hockey championship and a fishing tournament. We’re not really into either of those activities but it was fun to see all the people, vehicles, vendors, and bands out on the frozen lake. We had fun sliding around on the ice in the beer tent at the hockey event for a bit, but I don’t really like the cold.
(Side note: It’s 75ºF (24ºC) in Lisbon today!)
All this is great, but the main reason we are here is more economic. NH has no sales or income tax. It is also very business friendly and both our companies are registered here. There is no way we could be doing what were doing and still live in CA, even though we love it there too.
Another benefit to being here is that my parents condo has a basement for storage. What doesn’t fit in our RV is there. We don’t have too much left though. All the furniture we acquired in CA is gone. I have a few boxes of kitchen stuff that I kept. If I break a dish in the RV, I can just go get another one from storage. We have some computer stuff, a couple folding tables and desk chairs. That’s our office when we’re living in a building. Some tools, a couple boxes of souvenirs…. I don’t know what else is in there. Probably a lot more stuff I can get rid of a some point. Oh, there are a couple boxes of random cables. The last couple times we’ve moved our stuff we would ditch the boxes of cables, but the next thing you know there’s another one. They’re like snails in an aquarium. You can remove all the snails, but the next thing you know there’s another snail hanging out with your fish, just waiting to reproduce.
I also have some clothes and stuff in one of the small closets in my parents guest room. I hate to take that space away from my parents, but I have some dresses and our winter coats that I don’t know what else to do with. In the RV there is a foot wide closet for hanging clothes on either side of the bed, and two cabinets above the bed. That’s not much room for many clothes. I know most of my wardrobe by touch because there is so much stuffed in there. I just reach my arm in and feel around for what I want. Some day it would be nice to have all my clothes in one big closet. Some day, but not today.
Anyways, we are off to Europe in 15 days, with 2 suitcases and 2 laptop bags total. We’ll be back to the US eventually, but we will have our RV and there’s no reason we can’t go back out on the road, or go back over seas. No matter what we do, we will never be able to stay in one place too long, but NH will be our home. (For now.)