Freedom Trail & The Red Sox

On 9/7, we walked over to the Boston Commons park and had a stroll around the beautiful grounds. The antics of the pigeons and squirrels were funny to watch, and lots of sleeping ducks surrounded the banks of the pond. We bought tickets to a Freedom Trail walk which was great! Our walk was only an actual mile in length but covered a ton of things! There is so much history here, it was a lot to absorb! Since I recall almost zero about what I may have learned in high school on these subjects, it was almost all new information to me, and these walking tours are definitely a more effective way for me to learn these things rather than just reading words from a page. To walk the trail, to see and walk among the gravestones of these historical figures as the stories are told is much more engaging. We then had lunch at a little pub across from the main cemetery we toured, John finally got his Boston baked beans! They were really delicious! They use molasses rather than the usual brown sugar, and it is a really rich flavor, and we plan on trying to make these at home sometime this fall. 

After the long walk back to the B&B to R&R, we then headed out to Fenway Stadium by way of the Boston Gardens (really awesome community garden spaces) to see the RedSox versus Tampa Bay! There are few things John enjoys more than travel and baseball, so he gets excited for each and every stadium we visit, but for him to see Fenway, and The Green Monster, is something really special that he has dreamed about since he was wee! He was so giddy it was so cute! And even though we missed seeing the Sox versus the Twins by about a week, we got to see Nelson Cruz, a former Twin who just joined TB recently, hit almost a full cycle! He hit two home runs, one to deep center and the other straight over the Green Monster (the big back wall of the stadium), a single and a double, and TB creamed the Sox. I felt bad for the Sox fans, but we had a blast! 

Salem & Boston

Waking early and after breakfasting on oats and coffee, we said goodbye to Kittery and headed on our way to MA!

We took a really cool historic walking tour in Salem, through Witch City Walking Tours, the Historical & Hauntings Tour, which detailed some very interesting and disturbing historical facts from the witch trials and other local people and happenings. The town itself is laid out really funky and the whole kitschy witch craze is all a-fervor there, which is apparently a relatively new thing since the locals were quite tight-lipped and ashamed of the dark past. There are also current controversies about trivializing the past or cashing in on it as a touristy destination, as well as people who are Traditional Witches as a spiritual path, some that embrace the kitsch, and some that do not.

The tour ended in the cemetery where many of the historical figures we discussed were buried, and for those who were killed as witches, they were not buried there nor given proper burials or funerary rites, so eventually they erected slabs of stones surrounding the cemetery to honor those that died and as a symbolic gesture of the act as a reminder to those who dwell within that they denied these people the right to a proper burial. I got choked up to see it, and I went to each stone and honored each name with a silent blessing. I was heartened to see fresh offerings at each one of them. 

We then had lunch at Red’s Sandwiches, then began the journey to Boston! After all the driving, shuttling, dropping off rental car, figuring out the train connections and finding the B&B, we were very ready to chill for a bit in our cute little room in this very quaint bed and breakfast, The Oasis. We are in the Adams house (there are as far as I can tell) two properties next to each other that area the hotel, and to me they remind me of the house that the Cosby’s lived in in The Cosby Show.

We then booked a DUCK land/boat tour on these awesome military replicas of a DUCK vehicle (which were designed by a woman!) and I will just let the photos speak for themselves! We had an absolute blast! 

Maine

 After a healthy breakfast of oats with honey and banana, delicious Schmoopie-Coffee and normal morning-ness, we headed along the coasts of Maine to check out various beaches. The first, Seapoint Beach, was our favorite since it was less of a swimming beach and more of a hiking beach, with scattered folks waking their happy playful pups, throwing balls into the water for them to run at top speed and catch to return for round after round. There were loads of sweet little shells, all vying for my attention! There were tons of mounds of different kinds of seaweed lying all about and the sand was wet but much more walkable than the dry sand beaches. We meandered here a long time enjoying the hypnotic sound of the waves, the dogs and gulls antics, and hiked along the rough, rocky shores. It was cool, breezy and perfect until the humidity and warmth started making the mosquitoes wake up and eat us, which is when we decided to head to the next beach. 

We didn’t realize it at the first beach, but apparently all these beaches require a permit for parking which then keeps the tourists away, whoops! So we had to skip the next couple of because there was really no parking at all. We did find a spot near a beach at York Harbor, so we nabbed it and brought our peanut butter sandwiches down to the beach and ate sitting on some rocks as it began to rain. It was another beautiful beach and had a little cliff walk of its own, so after lunch we took that hike until the ominous “danger, cliff walk unsafe!” signs and rain made us turn around, but not before seeing some really lovely views from that vantage point. It was a popular spot and too skinny and rocky for easy passing, so it was slow going which suits me just fine. 

We then decided to head to see the Fishercats AA-baseball team play a double header, but after driving the entire way there, an hour, arrive to a completely empty and closed stadium. Apparently at noon, they cancelled the game due to Covid-19 contact tracing because the players tested positive. Blech. So turn right back around for another solid hour in the car to head back to Kittery. We are really tired of this much driving. 

So after chilling in the AirBnB for a bit, we then drove the three minutes to a local bistro (Bistro 1828) and had the sweetest time together looking out over the harbor. I had the seafood chowder (again), this version was really incredible, and John had the spring green salad with grilled salmon which was divine! I over indulged in a Spanish bubbly and now am too full to even think about sleeping! I usually eat dinner really early because I need like three hours to fully digest food before I can go to bed without discomfort so now I’m crabbing a bit that I ate and drank too much too late. You can see our photos of the lovely meals! It was totally worth the discomfort!

7 Seas Whale Watching in Gloucester, MA

 Today was fabulous! We made our way to Gloucester, MA (more long driving but better as it was Saturday’s traffic) to see whales! We had brunch at this cute but really overrun place called Sugar Magnolias, and even though our order got forgotten and we were there much longer than we planned, it was delicious. However, it was beyond enormous! If you go there, just share a meal, I ended up having to throw half of it because we had no way to refrigerate the leftovers. John had the Lobster Benedict and I had the Salmon Cakes & Eggs, both excellent! It completely changed my mind about lobster, which I previously avoided because it always feels too chewy to me, but this was fabulous!

Then it was off to catch our boat trip to go spot some whales! It was about an hour’s ride out to their feeding grounds off the Gulf of Maine, Stellwagen Bank, and the refreshing sea air and feeling of utter freedom that the ocean brings the soul was wonderful. It really brings back my desire to live in a little coastal town. Incredibly, we ended up seeing 12 humpback whales, all told! They were amazing to see up close. You could see the scars on their skin from orca attacks and even all the little barnacles attached to their fins. They almost all did the “dorsal slapping” that looks like they are waving to us which delighted everyone, and their quintessential blow, curved hump, then tail dive when they go down for their deep dives. I felt like the captain would sometimes take off way too soon and when the whales were so close to the boat that I worried for their safety but I guess they do this all day, so trust that they know what they are doing. It was cute because at each stop, there would be many little boats all surrounding the area and each time there was a sighting, all the boats would zip off in that direction and then make a little ring around the whales. I really wanted to sing to them, but the boat was pretty busy with tourists and it felt too personal of a thing to share with that many ears. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story!

Minuteman National Park & Kittery, ME

 Our last morning at Bonnie’s place in Warwick was a lovely, slow morning with coffee near the lake with a campfire. I was SO wanting a campfire, so when Bonnie greeted us and suggested one, I said, “That would a fabulous!” Knowing it would delay our start a bit, but the slow pace was exactly what was needed to really soak up the pace of nature and lake life. We lingered and chatted and listened to the birds and waves in the cool morning air for a long time before setting out on our way. 

We stopped at Minuteman National Park for a long, lovely hike along the Battleroad trail that was the first battle of the American Revolution. There were a number of historic markers along the path, including several houses, remnants of houses or stone markings, some denoting only, “Near here lies the remains of a British soldier” with a British Flag. There was the most quaint old inn, the Hartwell Tavern, that I would love as a home! Obviously, it would need some updated features and comforts to make it livable to modern standards (like insulation and plumbing, and for John, a higher ceiling!) but it was laid out so neat and would have the most perfect potions and crafting rooms and a small bar for serving! We lunched under the shade of the trees at the Hartwell, then went off for a hike to see the Vernal Pools, breeding grounds for frogs and spotted salamanders, though we didn’t catch sight of either. It was a delightful walk!

Off on the long drive to Kittery, Maine! The traffic was, like it has been mostly on this trip, really really bad. So patience and a positive attitude were needed, but we made it to this stunningly charming area. Our AirBnB is set in an idyllic little spot with lots of wildlife. We’ve already seen three deer, a heron, a groundhog on its hind legs eating an apple, loads of local chittering birds and the two resident kitties. We rested and stretched a bit, since I could barely move and John felt the beginnings of a twinged back upon extricating ourselves from the dreaded bucket car seats which we are not used to anymore, thanks to the awesome seats of our beloved XB, The Toodlebug, back home.

Then we trundled back into the tow of Portsmouth to find, finally, a seafood dinner! The town was absolutely bustling with people, so we had to put our name on the list of a couple of places, then wandered the town a bit and stopped to watch a Scottish bagpiper, which was really nice and romantic to stand on the cobblestone streets listening to street music together. We then got the perfect seaside seats at the River Inn, just as the sun was setting! I had a cup of the most delicious clam, lobster, haddock and crab chowder, and John had a giant haddock sandwich that he shared a few bites with me. It was the perfect date night to end the day.

Newport, Rhode Island

Today has been long and full of many adventures! It all began at 2:30am with a Flash Flood warning over our iPhones which sound like air alarms. The threat was quite real as Hurricane Ida is winding down her rage along this coast, and since we felt like sitting ducks in this basement apartment, despite the fact that we knew this area woud fare better than other areas (and did), we packed up our stuff in case we needed to bang on Bonnie's door to be let into her higher part of the house. We were both wide awake at this point, though not much to be found on the news about the status of anything, John finally went to sleep around 4:30am, and I remained awake pretty much the rest of the night, getting only enough rest to have nightmares about my mom and other very strange dreams. Despite the rough night and wake up, we had had an incredible day of sun and fun!

We drove to Newport, which is only about 30 minutes away, and parked at the 40 Steps marker along the Cliff Walk. It was an absolutely glorious walk along the ocean’s coast. We spent 4 hours wandering the Cliff Walk, stopping to admire and smell the local flora and watch the mesmerizing waves. There were some surfers in a particularly rocky area with some pretty big waves and we watched them for quite a while, so hypnotic! 

Finally peeling ourselves away from this perfect landscape, we headed into the town and stopped for a wee nip in the Bar & Board restaurant. A great place to rest our feet and share our chitters about the day. We then wandered the fisherman’s wharf area (which is too working-class to describe this very elite area of coastal wealth) that is mostly closed off to anyone not owning a boat or taking a boat tour. We then chose a nice little Irish pub for an early dinner. John had the Bangers & Mash, and I had a chicken salad, apple, cranberry & Brie toasty with chips (fries), all were delicious!

Then the drive home for an early tuck in since we had such disrupted sleep during the night. So thankful that our journey to and fro had good road conditions and no flooding or washed out roads, except for a tiny amount right near our AirBnB. The yard here is flooded from the lake so we can’t go out onto the dock, but we have stood and enjoyed watching the local ducks, elegant swans and bald eagles. And the giant carp that jump alarmingly out of the peaceful waters! 

Rhode Island and Cape Cod

Finally, we have begun a new adventure and are blogging about it here! We have had a couple/few trips since we last blogged that I was negligent about (Fort Meyers, FL and Scotland!) but I am back and hoping to share highlights but be succinct as well. 

Due to Covid-19, we decided we would plan a trip within the US and at the time of booking everything, things seemed to be looking up, but then the Delta variant reared up, and we were really in a quandary about the trip. We purchased travel insurance, and because we knew we would still be within driving distance if necessary, we went ahead and planned knowing we might need to be flexible and shift gears. In the end we decided to go ahead with the plan and purchased KN95 masks for the airport and flights, and hope our vaccines help keep us and others as safe as possible, yada yada yada, we arrived in Logan Airport in Boston! 

John drove and I navigated (I know, this is astonishing news considering my doubts in my map-comprehension abilities) with the help of Google Maps (bless it!!) and we arrived in Rhode Island around 6pm on August 31st. Hangry-ness setting it, we opted to fly through a Chipotle for dinner, checked into our quaint little AirBnB and snarfed down dinner then went for a little drive to a nearby beach and watched the sunset, grabbed a few groceries, then came back and tucked in for the evening. 

This little basement apartment is sweet and despite a few weird quirks is quite cozy and sits right on a beautiful lake. I woke early next morning, September 1, and did my usual daily QiGong routine out on the dock of the lake, watching the families of ducks, swans and eagles and all the giant, jumping German carp, one jumped so close and so high I thought it might land right in my coffee cup on the dock! Our host left us a whole thing of freshly baked blueberry muffins, so we enjoyed those with our coffee before we hit the road for the long drive to Cape Cod and Province Town! 

Cape Cod was really cool to see. I was shocked to learn that great white sharks are a real threat here because the seals (seals!) come to feed, nest and rest, so there were warning signs posted everywhere along with purple "shark warning" flags posted at the beaches where sharks are prevalent. I have a great terror of sharks, and yet love them too! To think that they are one of the most ancient species still in existence is so amazing. As we walked along the beach, I kept seeing the head of what I thought was a human swimming but turned out to be a seal! We were thrilled and snapped many far-away photos but caught a few pretty good ones. It was thrilling to see the seal bopping up and down in the waves and the seagulls glory in their presence as many large fish jumped high into the air in circles as the seals fished beneath the waves. 

We dipped our toes into the ocean and we enjoyed the cold water and sand in our toes, running from the tides as they crept ever up our legs. I let the soft wet sand anchor me into the mother earth as I thanked her for this glorious meeting. I asked if any rocks might want to come home with me, and suddenly several seemed to grab my attention, so I gathered them in my palm and rinsed them in the tides before making them safe in my pocket. In my mind's eye, I could see the rocks set in specific jewelry and craft projects and I quietly thanked the earth, ocean and stones for these precious gifts. 

We visited three of the six beaches of Cape Cod, including the sand dunes, which were less the sand dunes as the ones we summited in France, but just as difficult to walk through. The gray storm clouds were forming in the distance, in almost every direction, and the cool winds were a glorius relief from all the heat and humidity of the summer. We soaked it all in for a long while before heading to Province Town to have a peek at its famed streets. It was really quite charming with cottages everywhere the eye could see. I am a sucker for cottages and beach towns, but not so fond of the hideen costs of these places (environmentally and otherwise). I tabled my annoyance and judgment and just enjoyed the sights for what they were: bustling places with much vibrant activity. 

We then headed back for the long drive back to Warwick, RI to snuggle in our cozy digs. We tried to get pizza at a local place recommended by our host, but it was unexpectedly closed, so we came home for leftover Chipotle (me) and peanut butter sandwich (John) because I was quite hangry and exhausted by that point and hit my inevitable vacation-hangry wall, so I grumpily ate and eventually the as mood moderated we enjoyed the evening until bed.