The heat and the duration of our trip wore us out so we did not venture too far on Sunday. We spent our last afternoon in Portsmouth touring the historical museum of Strawberry Banke. A group of citizens formed the museum in 1957 when the neighborhood was threatened to be demolished. Homes that were available for tours range from about the 1680's up to the 1940's. The Goodwin house shown below was just one example of a ship captains home, built around 1812.
We woke up at 3:30am on Monday to finish packing and drive into Boston to catch our flight, I think Madelyn was about the only person who slept the night before. Google maps led us on a wild goose chase of some seedy neighborhoods near the airport on the way back to Thrifty car rental, we eventually found our way, boarded the plane and crossed our fingers. But we apparently did not have Karma on our side for the return trip and Madelyn proved to be a extremely difficult flyer. She screamed so much that Alaska took away her frequent flyer miles for the trip, apparently the first time the airline has done so for a toddler. The little woman just wanted to get down and walk around but on a crowded 737 that's just not an option.
So we pulled out every trick in the book and then some to calm her down. I especially loved the dirty looks that a few passengers shot us, yes your evil stares helped immensely in calming our child down. The tears eventually ran dry, our ears split open from the sound, she played with the two kids in the row behind us, and finally we landed in Seattle. We are happy we took the trip, overjoyed to be back home and are not getting on a plane again for a very long time.
