RBOC: Live-Free-or-Die edition

Well, I've finally swept away the last vestiges of my 30th birthday celebration. Yesterday, TW and I returned from quick and dirty little trip up to New Hampshire -- one day & night in Portsmouth and then half a day in Manchester -- that served as TW's present to me. Overall, it was a great trip full of sweets, shoes, a sub, seafood, sunshine and sensational architecture.

What follows is an overview of the trip, in bullet points, pics and a precis...

• The below picture shows some lucky bloke in the middle of Candy heaven. It's a little shop called "Yummies" in Kitterary, ME. They have stacks of milk crates -- floor to ceiling -- filled with every possible candy you've ever had. Their salt-water taffy lured TW back for a second visit. Kitterary is also home to a large chain of outlet stores, including a PUMA store where I bought TW a brand-new pair of (white!!) sneakers.
• Next, we stopped at the USS Albacore -- the first submarine with a curved hull. Unfortunately we couldn't get inside, but we were able to walk around it and listen to some recording about its history.
  
• After that we found our inn in Portsmouth -- the Ale House Inn. This contemporary inn just opened a little while ago, and it sits directly above the Seacoast Repertory in an old brewery building right down on the waterfront. Portsmouth itself is a cute little port town with tons of old buildings. Apparently, in the middle of a building boom in the 1960s, the town moved all the historic buildings and plopped them down in a section of town now called the Strawberry Banke. Check it out -- it's pretty cool.
• That afternoon we checked out the Redhook brewery just outside of town. Although the tour was pretty pathetic -- although it only cost $1 -- the finale was awesome. The guide gives everyone a double-shot glass and then proceeds to fill up pitcher after pitcher of the five different beers on tap that particular day. Let's just say that TW was so drunk after the tour, she let me buy two separate 6-packs -- one each of our favorites from the tour (TW also "let" me buy this cool glass).
• The finale of trip came the next day when we visited the Currier Museum in nearby Manchester. The museum is the curator of a Frank Lloyd Wright house called "The Zimmerman House." This is the 3rd Wright house that I've been inside (Fallingwater & Oak Park are the others), and it was definitely incredible. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so the posted pics are pictures of pictures from the actual museum. The ceiling is the most intricate design I've ever seen -- in addition to the board-and-batton style, the many swoops and dives in the ceiling create multiple corners and wacky angles. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of the mitre saw for that house -- ugh!

Overall, it was a fantastic two days...I'd do it again in a heartbeat (checkout my face-book page for more pics!).