In Concord, Revival, Angelina’s, and Granite are good date night options. Get reservations for a Saturday, though.

You’re right about crashes, but your assessment of the training of transportation engineers is not correct. Having questionable priorities based on years of car-focused policies isn’t the same as only watching training videos. Civil engineering has many sub specialties and most college programs give you a few classes on each with options for more electives. There are arguments to be made about whether a broad base of understanding or specialization is more important, but water resources engineers and geotechnical engineers don’t get more specialization either. Most learning takes place on the job while you are an engineer-in-training (min of 4 years).

The number of serious crashes on Route 4 is higher than comparable roads in NH. It has an unsafe design that encourages high speeds in areas with far too many driveways. When you have cars entering and leaving the main road, they have to go relatively slow. When you have a speed limit if 50 with a design that allows people to go faster than that, the engineers are responsible for many of the crashes, even if drivers should also be improving their behavior.

You are correct, it is a place for drivers to wait for an opening.

That map has some decent/nice neighborhoods in red. Trust your instincts, the sketchy areas look sketchy. Drive around, see what looks good and not good, you’ll know.

This may be a somewhat accurate generalization for the two states, but is not particularly accurate for Norwich vs Hanover. Hanover has much more local government control than Norwich.

They have limited hours for drop offs, which can be inconvenient, but they are entirely volunteer run and a great organization.

Friends of Forgotten Children on Bog Road. They paused taking used donations for Christmas, but should start again soon. They distribute clothes for free to those in need right here in Concord.

Pompanoosuc Mills is great, but I’ll add Lyndon Furniture to the list. Similar quality, also made in VT.

I agree 100% about being near downtown. The Hotel Concord is very nice and walkable, but so is the Centennial. It’s only about a 1/4 mi from downtown. Different vibes but both are excellent choices.

I have exactly these boots from Bean. I bought them 20 years ago. They have thick felt liners for warmth and a vibram lug sole. They are very heavy but are amazing when dealing with the worst of winter. I do have a more recent pair of regular Bean boots, which I avoided for years because of the sole but bought for fall/spring. Actually found them great for walking in winter, just not when it’s super icy or deep snow. Grip is better than I anticipated.