Mollie was up relatively early and, by 0800, we left my condo so she could practice driving. It was 7 degrees F and she told me she didn't miss this type of weather. To get Mollie comfortable with my car, we used one of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock parking lots at first. Mollie drove around and around there, practicing turns, stops, backing up and other tasks. After almost an hour, I let her drive the “course” by herself while I waited outside the vehicle. She seemed to have gotten a lot of confidence so I suggested that we drive on the road for a little while. This was her first time outside of a parking lot and she was nervous. Despite this, we successfully drove around on roads (paved and gravel) to the northeast of where I live (including Etna). By the end, Mollie drove at 55 miles per hour on Route 10 and then around some rotaries. Mollie called the whole experience a “trial by fire” and I told her I was proud of her. After that, we visited the Howe Library in Hanover (Mollie checked out a book and we explored the building). Next, we drove into West Lebanon and stopped at several places: Feed & Supply (we did some browsing), Sierra (our first time exploring inside), Target (to use gift cards and get supplies for my condo), Shaw’s (to get free Soliel Sparkling Water) and the Powerhouse Mall (to get Yankee Candles and window shop). We then drove to Whaleback Mountain in Enfield so I could pick up my Hike Park Pass. After we eventually got home (1330), Mollie cooked a late lunch (pizza) and then spent much of the afternoon in her room. She did come out to eat dinner with me in the kitchen and we ended up having a long conversation. Exhausted by this, I guess, she headed back into her room for the rest of the evening. Still, I'm pretty psyched by the amount of stuff we were able to do together!
