Dateline July 28,2019: Cape Cod and New Hampshire, Family and Golf

Cape Cod

Pinehills Golf club

We made the trip to the Cape Cod area with the first stop, The Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth, MA.  We were going to write about the Reese Jones course after we had the opportunity to play it.

We arrived around noon and the pro staff got us all set up to play the course, so we hit some balls at the range and headed out for our tee time.

The course is a great Reese Jones layout where he stays true to his design philosophy and works with the contours of the acreage.  He moves very little earth in the process of building the course.

After about 6 holes we caught up to the people in front of us and joined a twosome that lived in the development across the street from the course.  We had a lot of fun playing with Bill and Rob through the rest of the course.  We took a picture of our partners but alas it was blurry…they must have used a little voodoo?

The course was a lot of fun to play and we gained an appreciation for the way Jones designs his course.  Once we finished, we jumped on Route 3 and headed out to Harwich on Cape Cod.

Cape Cod with Uncle Bill and Aunt Margaret

We arrived for our annual visit to see Janice’s Uncle Bill and Aunt Margaret out at the Cape in

Harwich Massachusetts. We arrived just in time for a glass of wine and then a very nice dinner. We sat around and talked about our families past and present. We remembered the great family reunion from years ago and how lucky we were to all be together. Margret and Bill are new Great Grandparents, their son Bob’s son just had a baby.

Margaret mentioned that there were too many sharks at the Cape, went on to say there are also way too many seals so the sharks are coming in for the food. Protecting the seals has caused a change in the balance of power at the cape, you cannot mess with mother nature!

 

The next morning Bill planned an 8:30 tee time and we headed to the golf course, Cranberry Valley Golf Club, for a round of golf. Of course the conversation the previous night was that

Bill had shot 92 and 93 in the past week and was hoping to shoot his age with us. Uncle Bill is 91 years old, you would never know it.

We get ready for our tee time, of course, we are riding in a cart and Bill is walking and pushing his cart and this is a hilly course.

 

 

We had a great day of golf, Bill missed his age but we are sure he will do it before the summer is over. While playing Janice asked Bill if he still was snow skiing in the winter his reply was, “no I do not ski because if I broke my leg there might not be enough time left for it to heal”…that’s Bill!!

We went out for dinner that night at a place called The Pheasant restaurant in Dennis. food and company was excellent, a good time was had by all. We departed Harwich not saying good-bye but “see you next summer.”  We started towards New Hampshire to Janice’s sisters house.

Another RV problem, really!!

We couldn’t start our generator when we spent the night in Hershey.  In the morning we found a Roadtrek dealer south of Allentown and just drove there, hoping to get some help.

Service was open but backed up.  We explained what our problem was and they suggested we get under the vehicle and check if the breaker switch was OK and pull the fuse to see if that was an issue.  Both were fine.  Had pictures of Janice underneath, but she refused to allow them.  We could start the generator from under the vehicle, it was the remote that didn’t work.

We found a generator service company in New Hampshire that told us to come by after we left the Cape.  We arrived and they took a look, found the remote was not plugged in and it started fine.  He told us that from underneath it was hard to find the plug!  Anyway, it had not been serviced in 7 years so they removed it to make sure all was good!

Charlton Heston talked himself out of buying a boat with this explanation: “A boat is a hole in the water surrounded by wood into which you pour money.”  An RV is just a boat on wheels!

Derry, New Hampshire with Connie and Lee

Lee was home when we arrived, Connie is still a working girl at least for a little while longer. We hung out and discovered his internet was running like a “dial up” line. For the younger crowd, we use to connect a regular phone line to our computers and it dialed a modem pool and then transferred at about 14.4k. Anyway, we called the provider, ran a zillion tests and they decided we needed a real person to come to the house the next day. They replaced his modem, ran a new line from the pole and a couple of other things it is now running at 100+ mbs.  Also fixed Lee’s email problem so his phone and computer sync…So Janice made her annual computer update.

Connie and Janice started reminiscing about the time Janice bought a new Malcolm Konnor Commemorative Corvette in 1986 and could bring a guest to pick it up at the plant in Kentucky. Malcolm Konner Commemorative Edition Corvettes were built in honor of Malcolm Konner, founder of Malcolm Konner Chevrolet of Paramus, New Jersey. Konner’s flew us all down in an old DC 3.  It was loud and we landed on a dirt strip not far from the plant. The next day we toured the plant and drove corvettes on the test track.  The handed over the keys to our brand new cars!  All 50 of us drove together back to Paramus.  Some towns along the way had parades for us…what a memory.  Connie still has the jacket and blanket each of us got for the trip!

We spent the next couple of days resting mostly, Connie and Janice made lists of things to bring to cook at the house at Lake Sunapee that Janice’s brother Brian had rented.

Friday morning we headed out, destination Lake Sunapee region.

Sunapee Region

We drove up the back way, our first stop Sunapee town hall to talk with the people in charge of the Sunapee cemetery where Janice’s parents are buried. Janice and her siblings/spouses have decided we will have our ashes buried there.

We arrived at the town hall to ask who we could talk with about the cemetery. We were directed to call Jeff Trow. She recommended we drive right down to the Mill in town, W.W. Throw Son, and that Jeff was usually there and he always had the maps of the Cemetery.  We headed to the Mill and met Jeff  in his office. He identified where Janice’s parents are buried in Eastman Cemetery. Turns out Jeff’s father was in charge and Jeff took over managing the  6 cemeteries in Sunapee.

He had the maps of the Eastman cemetery and identified where Janice’s parents are buried.  The mill used to cut logs, dry and make wood products. Today they dry some logs but mostly make wood floor planks from wood provided by companies and individuals. Jeff was a character, 8th generation Sunapee and explained the lay back process to have our ashes buried around Janice’s parents’ graves. A box of ashes with the proper information and $100 mailed to him at the mill.

The mill use to cut logs, dry and make wood products. Today they dry some logs but mostly make wood floor planks from kilned wood provided by companies and individuals. Jeff was a character, 8th generation Sunapee, it was fun listening to his stories.

Newport, New Hampshire

We planned on staying at Newport Golf Club, a Harvest Host location in Newport NH.  We arrived to find the course had gone into receivership and the new management had no idea about Harvest House.

Janice had previously talked to  Northstar Campground just outside of Newport, so we dropped in to see if they had a place we could spend the night. No reservations on a Friday night!  All you can do is ask.  They gave us a sight that was one of the most beautiful we had stayed anywhere in our travels.  It was only $30, cash or check.  We paid with one of our freshly printed “Flagler Beach Trust” checks, just joking!

We went to the site and backed in.  We were on the edge of a wide stream with the water flowing over a small dam, it was just beautiful.  We fixed a drink, got our chairs out and enjoyed the serenity of the place.  We met the couple next to us, we seem to do that a lot!  They were from New Hampshire and told us that this was their favorite campground in the state.  They book space 44 several months in advance because it has a wonderful grass area on the stream.  If ever back in the area we will request that site!

Country Club of New Hampshire

We were scheduled to play the Country Club of New Hampshire on Sunday morning with Janice’s brothers Steve and Brian.  It also was a course that we were scheduled to write about.  First thing Saturday morning we headed over to see if we could get out and play.  We introduced ourselves to the General Manager and Head Golf Pro Dereck Lytle. He had received our email of introduction and said the timing Wass perfect.  He had 60 people going out starting at 7:15 and put us out on the course ahead of them.

The course is a must-play if you are in New Hampshire.  The Country Club of New Hampshire was honored to be ranked #2, as a classic course, in Golfweek’s annual list of public golf courses in 2018. Golf Digest has twice put it in their top 75 public golf course lists.  It was well deserved.  The staff was sensational and treated us so nicely.

The mountains course winds itself wonderfully around the foothills of Mount Kearsarge in Sutton, New Hampshire.  We felt that the par 3 holes were, as a group some of the finest we have played, challenging and fair.  The rest of the course was upon the same standard and it was a fantastic morning of golf.

We stopped in the restaurant after playing golf.  John had the best pastrami Rueben in many years and Janice enjoyed an excellent BLT.  We enjoyed some great craft beer and watched the British Open on Television.

A perfect morning leading up to meeting the family at Lake Sunapee later in the afternoon.

Lake Sunapee with the Whole Dang Family

 

Janice’s parents lived on Lake Sunapee for 25 years and there were many family memories of water skiing and snow skiing at there.  Both parents are buried at a local cemetery and it is a tradition to visit the grave site and have a martini toast to them.  Their father Stan was the king of making martinis (or drinking them?!).

We arrived round 3 PM and the owner Sandy show us around.  She actually has 4 lots right on the lake and it is a sensational location.  The views are awesome and the constant activity on the lake is fun to watch.  We had a pleasant afternoon and did hamburgers for dinner.  There may have been a beer or a few cocktails consumed before retiring.

Sunday morning Steve, Brian, John and Janice headed over to the Country Club of New Hampshire for a round of golf.  Brian had made a tee time and we were fortunately ahead of the same 60 golfers from Saturday morning.  We had a lot of fun with Brian and Steve teaming up against us.  We are pleased to say we won.  There was a little frustration on the other team with them finally winning the 13th hole, their only point in the match!?

After golf Brian had rented a pontoon boat. We were packing the beverages and food getting ready to head out, Marilyn and Steve we in the boat waiting for the rest of us.. .when… all of a sudden she heard a loud crash and people screaming something about Marilyn and Steve. We all ran to the back and saw that a large Oak tree near the water had fallen and it was on top of the boat the canopy crushed and thankfully Marilyn and Steve were fine. holy cow!

Janice called the owner of the house Sandy and explained the problem, she got all the right people there to manage the problem promptly. The dock person, the tree person and Brian called Sargent’s the place the boat was rented all came within 30 minutes. In addition, the Sunapee Lake police came to write up a report, mostly for insurance purposes. No-one had ever seen this before on the lake. We were lucky and blessed no-one was injured and really no major damage.

The tree was removed by barge by Aaron, that owns the dock and barge business the only remnants of the accident is the tree stump where it broke. The tree was rotted in the center so that is why it fell. With the afternoon half gone, Sargents Marina where the boat was rented took the canopy off tested it and said we were good. We took the boat for a tour of the lake, returning around 6:00 and Connie cooked her marinated flank steak which was served with their father’s sliced potatoes and onions cooked on the grill.

Monday morning the cleanup crew came to remove the tree.  The fun part was watching one of the workers cutting off branches while in a crain bucket and then be lifted back on the barge where he jumps out.  This video is fun!

The crew leaves with the tree–All cleaned up!

The rains came early Monday afternoon thru Tuesday.  When the rain subsided a little bit late Monday afternoon we all went on the pontoon boat for a tour of the lake into the Sunapee Harbor for a drink at The Anchorage.

 

“We paid for the boat damn it!  We’re going to us it, rain or not!

We hit heavier showers on the way and it was pouring pretty well when we arrived only to find the restaurant closed Monday and Tuesday.  There was a local t-shirt/sweat shirt store that we usually picked up something with “Lake Sunapee” stitched on.  It was open, but quality and selection was a “no-go” for all of us.

Back to the boat and the wet trip back to the house.  Of course BBQ shrimp was the menu item fore thew evening and fortunately, Connie had a large yellow raincoat to wear out at the grill.

The plan Tuesday was golf at Lake Sunapee Country Club, which we postponed to Wednesday afternoon.  Steve and Marilyn decided to leave for Lake George.  The rain stopped at exactly 11:30, at least that is what the weather man told us, it actually did around then.

Sandy, the owner of the home had told us to use her boat if we wanted to.  We took it out for a fun cruise in the sunlight and visited where Janice’s mother and father lived.  It was a beautiful time on the lake.  Janice and Connie made a wonderful meat loaf that we enjoyed with baked potato’s and fresh corn on the cob.

Loons on Lake Sunapee

One of the great sounds in the morning and the evening are from the Loons. Every time we go to Lake Sunapee we have always loved the sounds of these birds. Here is a wonderful description:

“The Great Northern or Common Loon is of the species of water birds called divers and are known as great fishers. Their nearest relative is the penguin. They are capable of diving as much as 200 fee

t and staying under water as long as three minutes.

Their beautiful haunting wail, heard often on the lake, is a call to communicate location to chicks and other loons. The tremolo or “laughing call’, a call of complicated wavering notes, is a cry of alarm or distress or to communicate with new loons on the lake. The gentle “hoot” is heard only between family members, often by adults to summon chicks to feed.”  Lake Sunapee Living,  Loon Chicks on Lake Sunapee.

During the winter the birds only migrate out into the Atlantic Ocean, not south like so many other birds.  The Common Loon adults are 28 to 35 inches long with a wingspan of 5 feet and a weight that ranges up to 18 pounds.

RV Fixed and the Blue Bowl Store,  Deerfield, New Hampshire

Wednesday morning we took the RV down to Deerfield where the generator was being worked on to have it reinstalled. Our neighbor Frank, from Flagler Beach was in Manchester with his wife Linda visiting family.  Linda was committed for the day, but Frank came up to meetus for breakfast.

We had a good chat about their travels to Michigan upper peninsula and Wisconsin this summer. We ate at a cute deli/grocery store called the Blue Bowl Store. The people at the store were wonderful.  We wanted a picture of Cody the manager.  She grabbed her father who had managed before and laughed that she was now his boss when he comes in to help her out! If you are in the Manchester/ Concord area, treat your self to the great experience of eating or taking food out from the Blue Bowl Sensational!

Lake Sunapee Country Club

We drove back up to Lake Sunapee, only an hour away and along with Brian, got ready to play golf at Lake Sunapee Country Club. It is a beautiful course another Donald Ross course. We had a wonderful day, Brian just missed beating Janice by 1 stroke..

When Janice was young, her parents were membersa of this golf course.  The family played lots of golf togethert at the course. Janice and her mother won the member/guest (Janice still has the glasses. The course was Gene Sarazen’s home course and he was a member and lived across the street.  He was often there at the club.

We took Sandy’s boat out on another trip around the lake.  There was a sailing competition going on and it was beautiful to see them against the background of Sunapee Mountain.

Lee had to drive back to Derry for the auto auction so it was Connie, Brian, Janice and John left.  to eat the chicken legs Connie BBQ’d for dinner along with more fresh corn ion the cob.  We laughed because there was suppose to be enough to serve all 7 of us, well, the four of us ate enough that only three legs were left over after dinner.  We had a good laugh about the rationing that would have taken place if all 7 of us had eaten the dinner!

Very early each morning there was action on the lake. The slalom skiers from the club  practicing and an instructor teaching sculling it was quiet and beautiful.  Thursday ended up being a quiet day as we all were getting ready to vacate the house Friday morning.  We took a last boat ride around the lake (Sandy the owner was kind enough to allow us to borrow her boat). BTW, if you want to go to Sunapee and have enough people her house is the best! It is down at the George’s Mill end of the lake right on the water. You could snow ski up the road at the State Park in the winter, just search on VRBO.

It was a sunny a beautiful day so we enjoyed just sitting down at the dock getting some sun and throwing down a few cocktails.

Brian and Connie take final dive into the lake.

Dinner was BRB’q pork ribs, John was in charge of cooking and they were wonderful.  It was a good thing that only 4 of us were left, because ribs were GONE!

Friday morning we cleaned up the house, packed the RV and headed to a winery in Seneca NY where we would spend the night.