Manchester NH #35 - Pickleball Rocks

 October 2, 2021

When we left home for our four state tour, we had planned to play in Claremont NH on Sunday morning.  I had communicated with an individual there and it sounded like a good fit. Before leaving home I had reserved lodging in Bennington VT, Waldoboro ME, and Ellsworth ME. I was going to wing it on the remainder of our lodging stays. Not a good idea during "leaf peeping" season. While in Bennington I went to reserve a room in Claremont. There were none to be had, at least at a price I was willing to pay. The closest was Manchester NH an hour and thirty minutes away. I quickly reserved a room at a reasonable rate and altered our plans for playing. I was reasonably sure there would be play Sunday morning at  Rock Rimmon Park. We arrived in Manchester late afternoon and decided to see if we could get some play in that evening and free up our morning for travel. 

One court had four players and a second court had a couple guys hitting back and forth to each other. We asked the guys if they would like to play doubles and a game was quickly in progress. Wes and Shane just began playing earlier this year, but were playing well for fairly new players. The final score reflected the discrepancy between how long Barb and I had been playing and how long they had been playing. Nevertheless, they wanted another go at it so we switched sides and did it again. The end results were similar.

We then took on their wives Tammy and Christina who have been playing longer. They scored three times better against us than Wes and Shane. We may have been a little easier on them, but they earned their points. I think the guys were hoping they wouldn't score so well. We had fun and Barb and I mixed it up and played with them as partners. The family had recently moved into the area not far from the park and were taking advantage of this fast growing sport.

It's good to see other families connecting together and playing pickleball. There were three generations playing on the courts together and having a great time.

There are six dedicated courts at Rock Rimmon with some imperfections in the surface due to the age of the courts that were likely tennis courts previously.

We would have preferred to have played with others of similar skill level, but were glad that we got to play and have the next morning free for travel.

While we didn't bike in Manchester NH, we did spend some time on the Riverwalk in the Manchester Millyard before grabbing a bite to eat at Beijing Cuisine which wasn't far from our hotel. The restaurant isn't much to look at and indoor dining was in the bar area at the back of the restaurant. We wondered if we made a good choice. We ordered the Sparkling Chicken and a couple of egg rolls. The egg rolls were huge and the best we have ever had. The Sparkling Chicken was also delightful. We were very pleased with our choice.