I arrived at my home for the night and was promptly greeted with a welcome snack (lemonade and chocolate chip cookies, yum!), and a home for both me and my bike. I'm staying at the Portsmouth Harbor Inn & Spa, which very nicely had one room available when I called yesterday. It's in Kittery, Maine - just across the river from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And Portsmouth with a myriad of choices for dinner is just a short walk away.
My home for the night, a very welcome sight
A star to welcome me to the house...
One of the things that I asked when I called for a reservation was if there was a safe place for my bike to spend the night. I never ask if I can bring the bike to a motel room (I just roll it in if I'm staying in a motel or hotel - it belongs in my room, doesn't it?), but somehow that often doesn't work in a bed & breakfast. My bike was quite happy to stay in the entryway of the inn - inside the building, not on the porch. So it was locked in for the night. That works!
My bike is happy; a nice safe spot inside for the night.
I'm so glad I didn't need to carry my bike up this beautiful set of stairs. Beautiful, but very steep and narrow!
Ah, time to wander out into the yard to soak in the hot tub for a while. That was certainly a nice end to a day of riding.
Dinner tonight was at Flatbread Company in Portsmouth. Their reason for being? Fabulous pizza! I had the vegetarian special - pizza with fresh basil, tomato, mozzarella, and balsamic vinigrette. Awesome. As a solo diner, I was seated at a table near the cooking activity and just across from the open wood-powered oven. I found it interesting that there was a big log a safe distance away and across from the oven. And periodically diners would go sit on the log and watch the pizza cooking. Most of the log-sitters were kids, but there were some adults too.
Fabulous pizza comes out of this oven - and it was fun to watch this gal throw the pies into the oven and then retrieve them and toss them onto the work table to be sliced and served.
Walking across the bridge to re-enter Maine after dinner had two adventurous components - fighting the wind as it kicked up into a very serious blowing mode, and waiting for the bridge to be restored to a solid surface after opening to let a boat through. And then it was time to do a little more walking, chasing the sunset. Beautiful.
After I got back from dinner and a walk, I decided to sit in one of the sitting areas in the house as opposed to hiding in my room. There is a sitting room upstairs, and there are some comfortable chairs at the end of the dining room. I chose to sit there, and Nat & Lynn (the owners of the inn) came out to talk for a while. Talking with both my hosts and with other guests is one of the reasons I really enjoy staying in B&Bs or inns.
A good end-of-the-day helmet-head photo. Mirrors do a nice job of helping to capture these shots when you're traveling alone!
Nature's beautiful color combinations...
