Sunday, July 20, 2014
Kris called this morning to ask if I would go on a long drive with him. I told him Hubby and I planned to go to dim sum at my favorite place at 11:30 am and he was welcome to join in or pick me up there around 12:30 pm. He said he’d join in! I told him we’d order and he could show up whenever. He appeared at 12 noon and shared with Hubby and me! I was afraid it would all be too spicy and strange, but he tasted each dish and liked it all!
Crab rangoons, small pork steamer buns, crueller,
suan la chow show, shumai, and peking ravioli
Then he gave me a fantastic adventure to the top of Mt Washington, and a delicious Thai dinner!
Mount Washington
We drove through the NH mountains for about 4 hours, talking intensely about what he planned to do and his best memories of being with me. He asked questions about why I did various things along the way. He is such an analyzer! I knew what this was probably leading up to, but decided to not think about that, just enjoy the day until it became clearer.
We made a pit stop at the Dunkin Donuts near Waterville Valley, then we went on to the Auto Road up to the summit of Mount Washington, the highest peak in New England.
They are not kidding. Okay, maybe a little.
Good thing I brought a jacket!
A hint of the vistas ahead
He drove an hour straight up the 8 milesI found the ride up rather frightening, as he went really fast around the curves and there are no guardrails… my mind played tricks on me as we got to higher elevations, imagining careening off the edge into a ravine! I’ve never had that problem before. I took a bunch of deep breaths and he kidded me about having a orgasm. Ha.
You have the climb the last part to the top.
We walked around the summit for an hour, taking in the stunning view of the mountains and lakes of New Hampshire, and exploring the buildings. There is a big deck where you can see out all over – the view is spectacular! I watched the cog railway chugging up the track and down again, and went to see the weather observatory.
The view from the deck.
Weather observation instruments
The cog railway headed down the mountain.
The little hotel at the top.
Yowza. Glad we were here in July!
We left at 6:47 pm (when they ask people to start down no later than 6:45 pm) and got to the bottom about 7:30 pm. We had to go slowly and stop several times because his brakes were smoking.
The view on our way down
A babbling brook [38-second video]
The Auto Road
The view of the valley – the hotel across from the main gate
The hotel across from the main gate
Dinner
We drove along into North Conway. We tried one restaurant but they had a 45 minute wait. We didn’t have time for that. We rolled on to a lovely Thai restaurant that served up a fast, cheap and good meal.
Thai iced tea
Tom Kar Gui (chicken coconut soup)
Fresh scallops sauteed with vegetables
and brown rice
Summer rolls
with peanut sauce
Chicken satay
with peanut sauce and cucumber sauce
He was very good at trying new dishes! We left there at 9 pm.
Driving home
We had a marvelous conversation, and I sang for him – hymns, Broadway musicals, pop songs! He sang along on the ones he knew. He has a beautiful voice! I wondered why we haven’t sung together before?! He filled me in on different periods in his past I had not heard about before.
He brought me home, arriving right at midnight.
You can see all 39 of my photos, though they don’t begin to capture the majesty of the scenery.
Goodbye
About an hour from home, he launched into an obviously planned speech. He said he is going to confess to three male friends at church and ask them to help him walk the right path and get his wife back. He said he can’t do that and keep seeing me and lie to them. I told him I understood. He was keeping his promise to say goodbye to me in person. It is much better than silence and wondering, but man was it tough to listen to that!
I did my best to keep from crying and if he had let me out of the car immediately upon pulling up in front of my house, I would’ve been successful. But he went on thanking me and stroking my hand and… I lost it. I tried to hide it, but he noticed pretty quickly and hugged me.
He helped me out of the car. He said good bye. I said thank you. I asked him to let me know how things go, maybe the first of every month or whenever something big happens. He hugged me one more time, very tightly. It felt final. *sigh. I took a deep breath and walked away. I didn’t look back.
So… he says it is over. I feel like someone is yanking a great book out of my hands part way through and I will never know how it turns out! Argh!
26 meets.
107 days.
3 months, 16 days.
Nothing like being up at the top of the highest peak and down in the depths within a few hours. Ugh.