New Hampshire Road Trip

Since it was a lovely day yesterday, the BF and I decided to hop in the car and get out of town. Spur of the moment, we based the trip on the Patternworks store, in Center Harbor, NH. Yes, this entire trip was planned around a yarn store (though the Keepsake Quilting Store in the building is actually a better destination, if I was still actively quilting). This surely must confirm my craft geekitude.

On the way, we saw signs for Castle in the Clouds, and decided the name alone made it worth a look. It was a fortuitous stop. You enter the grounds by a lovely one way drive up the mountain, through the woods. There’s a stop by the gorgeous Falls of Song waterfall. (Where the air temperature was easily 10 degrees cooler than just 50 feet away. There was a lot of water going over those falls.) There’s also a nice scenic view where you can see all of Lake Winnipesaukee spread out before you.

The castle itself is an estate built in 1914 by a shoe magnate. It’s a really neat house, well worth a wander through. (There’s also a variety of hiking trails through the woods, which we may have to go back someday to check out.)

After that, I got my yarn fix in. Patternworks is actually a catalog, so I already had an idea of what they’d have in stock. It’s not quite my thing, as I tend to go for hand dyed sock yarn, and they stock more typical sweaterish kinds of yarn, but I did manage to score Charlene Schurch’s second sock book on sale, and bought myself some Koigu. I resisted the siren lure of the Schaefer Nichole by buying some Mini Mochi in a similar colorway instead.

We finished out the evening with dinner at Krista’s, in Cornish, ME. I had their chicken saltimbocca, which was quite possibly the best chicken dish I’ve had in my life. There was sagey goodness with each bite of the chicken, and the accompanying mashed potatoes were covered in shards of Parmesan cheese. Complete heaven on a plate. I just wish they weren’t over an hour away, because I now really want to try their breakfast. I really need to manufacture an excuse to be out that way some morning.

So that was my Saturday, which more or less ends my vacation week. (Yes, I’ve been on vacation this week, and done more or less nothing.) I can’t believe I’m going back to work tomorrow.