OK, more vacation stuff yet to be recorded in the old blog.
While Pete and I were North of Boston, we went to a few places I really missed and also wanted him to try.
1. Cherry Hill Ice Cream, Beverly MA
My dad's favorite North Shore ice cream. I think it's 2nd best but definitely amazing. I got kahlua chip, he got some kind of boring thing like vanilla and strawberry.
2. Nick's Roast Beef, Beverly MA
Best roast beef sandwich ever (and Pete loved it). Gordon alums still dream about Nick's 15 years later. They do this thing with bumper stickers where you're supposed to take a picture of yourself with the bumper sticker in exotic locations then give them the picture and they put it up inside. The walls are covered in such pictures, from Egypt and China and West Africa and things like, underwater or a wedding party holding them.
Pete's sense of humor often makes me groan, but I thought this was genuinely hilarious.
3. Jordan's Furniture - featuring Richardson's Ice Cream, Reading MA
Strangely enough, this furniture store boasts a huge area with an IMAX, a trapeze school, a Jelly Belly shop with enormous jelly bean sculptures, and my favorite - "liquid fireworks". My pictures can't capture it, but check out the online tour of the Reading store.
Jordan's websiteThey also have a Richardson's ice cream shop, which is the undisputed champion of ice cream in the Greater Boston area. This, btw, is a small.
(Pete took this picture, that's why it's so good and there's no thumb in it like most of mine).
Until a few weeks ago, Pete has always lived in Essex, just east of London. We thought it would be kind of fun to take him to Essex, CT. (Oddly enough, Gordon College is in Essex County in MA.) Our last full day home, my parents took the day off work and we had a great day together.
Two of my best best Gordon friends are also former Resident Directors. I knew I'd see Kristin when we went up there, because she's still local. But I didn't even mention that I was going to be in the States to Heather, who now lives in California for grad school. But who comes bounding into the BBQ to surprise old me, but Heather. Come to find out, she was home in NJ for the summer and actually was going to the North Shore the following week for vacation, but came the week of MY trip TOO, just to see me. She had to go back to NJ in between trips even! It was wonderful to be with them both again (and everyone, of course).
We used to have a going-out-for-breakfast tradition, back when we had jobs with allowed for such frivolities (and caused us to work all hours of the nights and weekends ...) Well the 2nd day of our MA trip, I left Pete at Nicky's house and met the girls for an early breakfast. Awww. Such a great time. I hadn't been with old friends who know me inside-out for so long.
