New England Tarhell

It was a wonderful time when visiting my daughter, Sarah, who lived in Boston, MA for a while.

It was a wonderful time when visiting my daughter, Sarah, who lived in Boston, MA for a while. Like my other daughters, she knows that I will, at least, pick up the bills for accommodations and meals saving her from dipping into her pocket book. The last trip was my opportunity to travel to New Hampshire locations that I had only dreamed of visiting due to my job confinement. We decided to stay at a Homewood Suites by Hilton motel in Portsmouth that had many amenities including screaming children running all over the place. My first mistake was not taking a jacket. The time of year was late June when the temperature was usually in the nineties down South. Forget that! New England still has some crisp cool air like an Arctic front even in the summertime. This particular trip was devoted to visiting vineyards plus some cheese farms suggested earlier by my daughter. We also sampled some wonderful seafood in atmospheric restaurants that according to my male wondering eyes were accented by attractive barmaids looking for good tips. We ate at the Oar House (watch how you say it) on Friday night with the ambience putting us in the frame of mind of living in a bygone fishing era. They had a musician there who could pass for the late Sammy Davis, Jr., not his look, his voice. Those that eat and drink with me know that I am a devoted red wine connoisseur. Forget etiquette, I'll take "vino tinto" with any seafood dish anytime. Sarah talked me into taking a bicycle trip of the city and adjacent islands where I was captivated by many awesome sights. I didn't get to take in the Strawberry Banke Museum or the Isle of Shoals this time, but watching the mighty tugboats pull or push massive ships into the harbor reminded me of David going up against Goliath. In hindsight, I should have prepared for the athletic workout since we covered multiple miles putting a strain on my legs plus my butt immobilized for hours on a rigid, uncomfortable seat. The first vineyard that we visited was Jewell Towne where cute female wine stewards easily persuaded me to buy four bottles of specialty vintages. Another vineyard, Flag Hill, even had a distillery. Never had experienced that combination before. As we entered the grounds from the parking lot, I could see that their business was good from not only the cars and trucks on the premises but large, erected party tents like they were preparing for a wedding. Once inside we started partaking of the spirits. We got to sample local whiskey, vodka, and even moonshine which burnt my esophagus so much I probably needed surgical relining before proceeding to another watering hole. Then, getting close to four o'clock in the afternoon, we needed to get to our only cheese farm before their closing at five. It was called Hickory Nut Farm, a small place but full of great expression. There were adorable goats of all sizes from babies wanting to be held and licking your face dry to older mother goats carrying mammary sacks large enough to provide milk to an army. I mean their teat bags were so full the poor creatures just waddled around hoping some farm hand would read their minds and start milking. The female owner, a strong, animal husbandry specialist, explained to us that they milk these strong animals twice a day. I can't even imagine their storage capacities missing one day of milking. They had an English bloodhound hanging around the place to kill rats since so much seed was available for the goats. We found out that the farm makes several brands of their own cheeses plus a chocolate variety that I would proclaim "the cream of the crop." The owner was serving samples to Sarah and I when a loud commotion erupted outside the trailer used as their sales office near the goat pen. The bloodhound had caught a rat and was killing it right in front of us. For I moment I thought I was in a Roman coliseum watching defenseless Christians in the jaws of a lion. The dog shook the animal in the savage way shaking its head from side to side like it had been trained to kill this way many times before.....