We emptied the last of our Piggy Bank’s coins today; the total was $759, four dollars more than we needed to book a New Hampshire motel for four nights in April. We’ve done our homework; the big hikes in room costs begin in May.

The minute we finished the last batch of coins and counted them, we were online booking our hotel rooms; only a couple of dates were still open.

The rooms are booked and paid for.

We will need to set aside a few hundred dollars for food and groceries. The rooms have a small kitchen, and they look out on the Atlantic ocean.

I thought about bringing Zinnia but decided against it. The motel is a four or five-hour drive. This is a very photogenic place; the Leica will like it there. So will my Iphone camera.

I don’t want to walk her in a new place, and Maria needs some rest, as do I. Today was exhausting, we were shoveling and scraping all day, and our neat little snowblower just stopped working suddenly; I don’t know if it can be repaired.

I’ve been back to the gym twice, and today was round three for my legs. They held up but were complaining. I am determined to stay with this exercise now that I can do it again. I just need to do it. It already feels good.

We had great fun emptying the Piggy Bank, which I bought about 15 years ago, and never once looked at, touched, or opened. I would never have done this without Maria insisting.

I had it up on a shelf. One day Maria picked it up and said “hey, this is heavy. It’s full of money!” She was shocked that it was just a wall ornament.

That first load helped us get to New Mexico for nine days. It’s a lucky pig.

And she made it fun. And she also made our vacation nearly painless moneywise. I’ll start stocking, piling some books. There is excellent walking near the motel; I’m eager to get back in shape and loosen up my legs, as I have been told to do.

We are excited. We need a few days away and resting, and now we have them. We’ve been to this motel before; the rooms are big and wide and look right out on the water. There is a lovely balcony for us to sit on.

We love walking, talking, taking photos, sitting on the beach, and reading. I love my dogs, but I don’t miss them when we are away. We all need some vacations from each other, and a vacation is not a vacation if it isn’t different.

I love seafood, so does Maria,  and there are at least three excellent seafood restaurants near the motel. We are both very fond of lobsters.

The challenge will be for me to keep the Mayo Food Plan going. I’ll be a blender for smoothies, and we will stock up on vegetables, etc., for the room.

At night, lobster and fresh fish, maybe whole belly clams once or twice. We are already counting the days, and we have a wonderful house and pet sitter to keep an eye on things and continue to spoil the dogs.