9th Anniversary Celebration

On September 13th, it was John's & my ninth wedding anniversary! Traditional gifts for the ninth anniversary are pottery or copper. Hmmm...these didn't figure into our celebration at all, but regardless, our celebration was completely wonderful.

We have been talking about going canoeing for years. Literally. I think for a Mother's Day a few years ago, John printed out information from a local canoe rental shop and put it in my card, saying we'd go. Well, life has just been busy (whose isn't?), but we finally decided to take the plunge (figuratively and NOT literally...thankfully) yesterday.

There's a canoe rental joint right on the Ipswich River in nearby Ipswich, MA. (The place John printed out the information for.) We figured this was as good a place as any to go for it. It's called Foote Brothers. Here's a blurry pic of the sign.

We signed in and got our life jackets. The owner says, "You don't have to wear them, they just have to be in the canoe." I say, "Yeah, I think I better wear mine." He says, "Why? Did your husband just take out a new life insurance policy on you?" Obviously the guy was NOT familiar with my lack of balance/clumsiness.

The canoe was put in the water, we stepped in (gingerly), and we were off! I sat in the front and (surprisingly), got the motion of the paddling down rather quickly. (Did I mention I've never canoed?)

Here was our view in the very beginning of the trip. It was so peaceful. Even though the road runs parallel to the river and we could hear cars, it was so amazingly serene. (We also didn't see anyone else until later in our trip.)

Here's another picture a little further along.

After going for about 45 minutes (yes, my arms were killing me by then), we found a little clearing and decided to pull over, park, and have a little picnic. We had to parallel park the canoe. Hilarious. I can barely parallel park a car!

Here's a view of our "ride" looking down from our little picnic spot.

We had an amazing little feast with liliputian-size bottles of wine, bread, cheese, crackers, and fruit. It was perfect.

Here's John gazing out onto the Ipswich River, taking in its splendor. (NOTE: He started the canoe ride with a hat on. About mid-way to our pit stop, it flew off. We had to "back the boat up" and grab it.)

Here's me with my fakey smile.

Shortly after, we were on our way further down the river. We kept seeing these amazing lilypads with gorgeous flowers. The sun was causing some weird reflections, but we did our best to get some photos.

We went as far as our arms would allow and turned around. I must say that there were A LOT of underground trees, which caused some bumps along the way. That actually was the fun part...seeing a potential obstacle and figuring out which way to go.

All in all, it was amazing. Peaceful. Nature in all its glory. We'd definitely do it again!

Afterwards, we came and took some Ibuprofen for the sore arms and a nap!

We then headed to the Blue Mermaid Island Grill in Portsmouth, NH. We've been there before for a few Valentine's Days and it's a great restaurant!

We started out with some drinks (of course!) Sangria Roja for John and a Caribbean Cosmo for moi:

 

 

(One just has to be careful not to swallow the mermaid!)

 

We had Saddle Bags for an appetizer (a chicken wonton). Tasted exactly like fried chicken.

 

John ordered the Parmesan Panko Fried Chicken:

 

 

 

Delish! (It had him at "andouille cream sauce.)

 

I got the scallops with blueberry bourbon glaze. Now, let me tell you, I wasn't so sure about this. I knew I wanted scallops and they recommended this pairing, so I went for it. It.was.amazing.

 

 

 

 

And to end the evening?

 

White chocolate banana bread pudding. Need I say more?

 

 

 

 

We had an amazing full day of each other's company with amazing scenery, good food, and drink added in.

 

Here's to many more! Cheers.