I'd made arrangements to visit my family on Cape Cod and Mollie had given her notice at work the previous weekend. Anticipating a nice week, I woke Mollie up early (0645) and we packed up the car. By 0715, we got on the road, bound for Boscawen. We used I-89 and NH-11 to reach US-3 and arrived at the State Forest Nursery about an hour after we started our drive. We had a great talk on the way and, since we arrived before the start time of our tour of the Nursery, we explored the National Cemetery located nearby. At 0830, we met the Nursery Director (Billy) and he showed us all around the property. We learned about the processes for planting, harvesting, selling and seed collection and we toured the barn and fields (despite the rain). We also got to learn about how the State Forest Service preserves the trees and grows habitats for endangered animals. Mollie got some great ideas for careers in Forestry and I believe she was genuinely happy to have made the trip. At 1000, we got back on the road and and continued south into Massachusetts. We took some back roads (including MA-110) and drove to Lowell, where we parked (1115) in the Canal Cultural District and walked around on the historic city blocks. We managed to locate the Visitors Center for the Lowell NHS unit and Mollie got a stamp in her NPS Passport book (this made her quite happy). The weather improved and we enjoyed about an hour (until 1215) walking outside. I’d hoped to take Mollie to another NPS property in Massachusetts but, when we searched online, it turned out that many of them were still closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Since it was much earlier than I'd expected to be in Hanover (MA), I contacted Katie and she said it would be OK if we headed down to her house immediately. Using MA-133, we got back to I-93 and drove south. We hit a lot of traffic in Boston but still made it to Katie’s by 1330. We spent about an hour visiting with Katie and John before they suggested we go to lunch at Bertucci’s (their favorite). We had a great time there and talked a lot about Mollie’s summer and upcoming Fall Semester. By 1600, we were back at Katie’s house and I started teleworking. Mollie wanted to go out to do something so Katie and John took her to the beach (Hingham and Hull). Johnny got home about an hour after Mollie left and we were both surprised that everyone else didn’t return until almost 2030. Mollie was very happy to have taken the outing, especially because they got ice cream on the way home. I thought she’d be too tired to do more but I was wrong - she and Johnny decided to go fishing in Scituate (leaving after dark) and I stayed home to visit with my sister and brother-in-law. I actually didn’t see Mollie again before I went to bed (2315 PM). Great day!
