All Day Breakfast

Sunday is our "day off"....the day we set aside for doing something for ourselves and not doing any errands or chores. Sometimes we plan a little day trip, sometimes it's nothing more than staying home all day and relaxing, reading the paper and puttering. This Sunday we decided to go to our favorite breakfast place, "Parker's Maple Barn". http://www.parkersmaplebarn.com/ It's in Mason, NH. We found the place several years ago when we were browsing online for good places to go on one of our weekends. At the time, my husband was living about 20 minutes from it so it wasn't a bad drive to go for breakfast. Now that we're married and hubby is living here in Salem, NH with me, the drive is an hour. All right, I know driving an hour for breakast is ridiculous, but the food and atmosphere are really good! March and April are the months when the Maple Sugar Barn is in operation. They give a little tour and you can see how maple syrup is made. We've only seen this process about a half-dozen times, but we figured we'd go and see it again.......it's really just a good excuse to go to Parker's for breakfast. Since Sunday is our day of rest, we stayed in bed until about 9:30 and didn't head out for breakfast until 10:30. Should I just call it brunch now? As we were walking out the door I threw a quick "You remember how to get there, right?" out to my hubby. He hesitated. We both know now that was the moment when we should have gone back inside and gotten the map. But no......we didn't. Of course we forgot exactly how to get there, so we drove the long, long way round. Once we finally knew where we were and knew it was about a 1/2 hour until we go there, I called Parker's.....which I admit I have on speed-dial.....and asked to have my name put on their waiting list. They said no, they don't do reservations. HUH??? I KNOW I've done it before, lest why would their name be on my speed dial?? After arguing a bit, I relented. Then I asked how long the wait was. An hour to an hour and a half!!!!!! I agree it's crazy to wait an hour and a half to be seated for breakfast but....1. Parker's is in the middle of nowhere and driving to any other restaurant would have taken just as much time and 2. The food at Parker's is just so delicous I didn't want to go anywhere else. So we kept going. And I apologize to my sweet hubby for the slight hissy fit I had in the car. Put it down to low blood sugar. We got to the restaurant at 12, put our name in, went to visit the Maple Syrup Shack.....and they had an "Outpost" there that sold coffee and DONUTS!! One maple flavored donut later, I was happy enough to wait the hour until our table was available. We feasted on ham and pinapple stuffed french toast, blueberry belgian waffle with whipped cream, home fries, sausage, and a side order of beans. Hubby surreptitiously poured half a bottle of syrup in his coffee. It was delicious and, we decided, well worth the wait. On the way home we stopped at Camp Runels, which is the Girl Scout camp I remember going to as a child. We've passed by the sign many times and I always say we should stop in there so I can reminisce. It was fun, although confusing because of course it was nothing like how I remember it ....dare I admit it must have been 35-40 years ago when I went there? Unfortunately we drove right past the signs that said "No Trespassing - Private Property" and were stopped by a guy in a pick-up truck and reprimanded for being there. When I gave him my "Oh I'm so sorry, we didn't know, I used to be a Girl Scout here and just wanted to see the place again", he not only let us stay but gave us permission to go up the hill and look in some of the cabins. We finally got home about 4pm. Five and a half hours for breakfast isn't bad, huh?