At Home On Piety Hill

I’m sitting in a very comfortable motel room in Wolfeboro New Hampshire, which I’m sure you know was the first resort town in the United States. We found a wonderful little place on the lake, where Emma and Denise are relaxing in a gazebo, on the lawn, watching some kids being delightedly dragged and tossed about the lake on some big rubber boat by their irresponsible parents.

We finished some takeout for lunch and two pints of hand-packed Morrissey Ice Cream, followed by a nap. Now, I’m ready to get down to some serious Bible study, following this post.

Ever since our first trip to New England, Denise and I have trained our eyes to detect each and every dairy bar along the road, in search of the best soft serve and homemade or local dairy’s hard ice cream. Maine abounds with the stuff, as does New Hampshire. The Morrissey mocha almond fudge was just right, but I think the peppermint stick was just a bit too sweet. I like the peppermint “hot.”

Last Sunday, I preached at a small church in Bangor. Following the service, pastor Joe, Tricia and their grandson Austin took us all out to Nick’s for lunch and we followed that up with a trip to the Gifford’s stand on Broadway, over by the Bangor Mall. They serve up some of the best hard ice cream I’ve had, in a variety of flavors. I’m a bit of a purist and go for something simple for evaluation and review. Their chocolate chip is a superb blend of rich, creamy vanilla and semi-sweet chocolate chips that are just the right size. They tend to be on the large size, which other chocolate chip fans will agree is the proper way to make it. As you can see from the photo on the left, Austin’s decision for chocolate lover’s chocolate was an excellent choice.

Denise usually gets something with maple in it while we’re in the area and Emma generally goes for the peppermint stick ice cream. Gifford’s excels at both.  Dutch Treat, on the road to Bar Harbor, makes their own ice cream right there and it’s a Salisbury favorite. We all like soft-serve and found Lodie’s on Deer Isle for the first time. It’s creamy, firm and comes in a variety of flavors and swirls. Of course, we still love our Blizzards at Dairy Queen and even McDonald’s will do in a pinch.