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Month: June 2017

June 14-15, 2017: Back Home to Miller Bay

June 14-15, 2017: Back Home to Miller Bay


Taking Stan and Cindy to the Boston airport for their flight home went smoothly as we missed the Boston morning traffic. I do have to credit “Waze”, the popular GPS app that my sons told me about, for successfully guiding us to the airport as it gets somewhat confusing as you approach downtown Boston.

After saying our goodbyes, we found our hotel and were able to check in early, which was nice. After lunch I decided to turn in the car as I did not want to get up extra early and struggle with transferring the luggage to the airport terminal on the rental car location bus. A simple call to the hotel and their shuttle picked me up at the rental car terminal and brought me back to the hotel.

We used Uber (I am finally getting good at using the app properly) to visit Al and Pauline Medice at their condo located on the waterfront, a short distance from the USS Constitution in Charlestown.  Al was a fellow executive at A.O. Smith who retired about the same time I did. We have not seen each other in 10 years. It was fun catching up on our respective lives since going on Medicare and Social Security!  Pauline served us a lovely meal and Al plied us with wine. It was a lovely evening that went all too quickly. We learned they now have a son living in Portland so we are hopeful they will include us on one of their west coast swings so we can reciprocate their hospitality.

We returned to Seattle Thursday morning, where a gloomy, rainy day welcomed us back home. We were home by 3 PM and all was well at the homestead.

Reflections on our trip:

-Boston is a great city- easy to get around, modern, good local transportation, excellent restaurants (especially Italian in the North End and seafood) and tons of wonderful history.  I had forgotten how nice of a city it is.

-New England is a lovely part of our country and certainly worthy of a repeat visit. My next goal is to do a land trip during the autumn to take in all the fall colors.

-I was somewhat surprised about how close all those small towns (Marblehead, Salem, Rockport, Gloucester) are to Boston. Thirty miles north and you are in a totally different world.

-I relearned a bit of US history on the trip which is certainly worthwhile. I really should read up more about the path we took to gain our independence. That might be a good goal when I get too old to travel!

-I ate more lobster in the two plus weeks we were there than I had in my 75 years of living! My headache did not come back so I am blaming the lobster for it!  I do have to admit it sure was tasty.

-Although the ports we visited on the cruise were delightful, the cruise line was a big disappointment, given what we paid and what we have come to expect from other higher end (which American Cruise Lines claim they are) cruise ships we have sailed on.  I would not sail with them again,  given their current price structure.

We are now home for the summer. I hope you enjoyed taking this trip with us.

Why we live on Miller Bay.

 

June 13, 2017: a Trip to Woodman’s

June 13, 2017: a Trip to Woodman’s

Stan suggested we drive to the nearby towns of Newburyport and then to Essex to have lunch at another famous landmark restaurant in Massachusetts called “Woodman’s”. We had never heard about it. Turns out that in 1916 Chubby Woodman was making a living selling homemade potato chips and fresh clams he dug himself. Business had turned bad and a friend suggested he try frying one of one his clams like he did with his famous potato chips.  Chubby fried the first clams in the USA  and created a business that exists today after 100 years.

Woodman’s Headquarters

Newburyport was first settled on 1635 as part of Newbury plantation. In 1764 it became the town of Newburyport and had a population of 2,800. Today it is home to 17,416. It sits on the shores of the Merrimack River, near its entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. It was popular with pirates, fishermen and whalers during the 18th and 19th centuries. Boat building was also another big industry here. Newburyport is the site of the first US coast guard station in the nation.

Church in Newburyport

The downtown area is one of those old industrial areas that was saved from demolition in the 1970s and is now home to small shops and restaurants.

Old industrial building converted to shops.

I had been suffering from a headache the last few days (which I never have had). Because the pain was eminating from behind my left eye where I had had a detached retina 30 years ago I was somewhat concerned that maybe the headache was connected to a new problem there (even though I was not having any current vision problems). Yvonne suggested I try to see an eye doctor while in town to have my eye checked.  As we stood on a street corner studying a local pamphlet trying to determine if a doctor might be in the area, a gentlemen stopped to ask if he could help. He told us of an optometrist located only a few blocks away. We walked there, explained what the issue was and the staff graciously checked with the doctor to see if he could fit me into his schedule. Dr. Kevin Gasiorowski gave up some of his lunch period to throughly examine my eyes and assured me there was no major problem that he could see. He suggested that maybe it was due to eye strain (writing this blog?) because my prescription reading glasses needed updating, or I was eating too much lobster (high sodium content).

Relieved, we rejoined Stan and Cindy who had been shopping to go to Woodman’s for lunch. Woodman’s is definitely a “hoot”. It has grown from a tiny shack to a major establishment with both sit down and take out service. The menu is definitely not what you would classify as being healthy as most of the menu is fried food served with french  fries and onion rings. Fried clams and clam strips dominate the menu and is what made them famous.  Both Yvonne and I agree that the clam strips were outstanding-tender and tasty!

The famous Woodman’s restaurant.
Limited menu and almost everything is fried.

Fried clam strips and fried clams- both served with French fries and onion rings.

As all well known restaurants seem to do Woodman’s has a large gift shop and Stan and I are now proud owners of a Woodman’s tee shirt.

Essex is noted for its antique stores (26 in one mile) so we briefly shopped for Stan and Cindy, who are dedicated antique “pickers”, to see if there were any items that called out to them. Unfortunately these shops were not air conditioned and the temperature was close to 95 degrees so the search did not last long and we retreated to the coolness of our SUV and returned to our hotel rooms for a rest.

Inside an antique store.
A home dating back to 1715.

Because of our large, late lunch we agreed to simply have a light dinner at the Emerson Inn where we met for a farewell drink and dinner on the patio. After dinner Stan and I walked for a short while along the public path at the ocean’s edge while the ladies finished packing.

 

Farewell dinner and group picture.
Entrance to shoreline public path.
Views Along the path.
Path ended up on rocks. We turned around here.
Some people are really possessive-note Private Rocks sign!
Fishing boat heading home to port.

The trip is nearly over and we are headed home. I will drop Stan and Cindy at the airport tomorrow morning.  We will spend the night in Boston, having dinner with a retired A.O. Smith executive and his wife,  and head home to Miller Bay first thing Thursday morning.

One final moment in a rocking chair.
Now, can I close the trunk?
What the backseat looked like-suitcases everywhere!
June 12, 2017: 9,788 Steps!

June 12, 2017: 9,788 Steps!

Today’s agenda was to explore the byways of Rockport and boy, did we ever as you can see by how much we walked around this small town with dozens of shops that cried out for us to stop and see what else we needed to buy.

We awoke leisurely this morning as the shops did not open until 10 AM. We ate our breakfast outdoors on the porch, overlooking the ocean and could already tell it was going to be a warmer than normal day.

Breakfast on the patio.

There is an area in Rockport on the water called Bearskin Neck( named after a real bear), which is basically a small peninsula jutting out into the sea, with two one-way streets lined with over 75 shops and a few restaurants. This was our first stop. I put enough money into the parking meter to cover three hours figuring that would be more than enough time to see all there was to see. Wrong! I had to return to add another couple of hours to the meter as there were still stores and art galleries that needed to be visited.

Most of the shops are located at ground level with living quarters on the second level, just like you see in Europe. The stores  include  jewelry (most locally designed and made),  art galleries featuring local artists’ works, boutique clothing stores, beach wear, home goods with an emphasis on the sea, logo wear shops, etc.  The shops were not the typical tourist ones you often see in such areas; the selection of items for sale were more upscale. Because of our purchases on this trip we had to buy a decent sized duffel bag to transport everything home. Luckily we found a nice beach themed one here.

Enough said!

 

Delightful flower boxes around town.
Shops on Bearskin Neck

More shops on the Bearskin Neck
Tiny shop selling live lobsters.
Shops are painted in colorful colors
Local shop.
Homes of people living on the Neck
Another beachside home.

After all the rich food we have eaten before getting here we “splurged” and had a good old American hot dog on the pier for our lunch! It tasted fabulous because it had the old fashioned “casing” that snapped when you bit into it. It hit the spot!

Renewed we spent two more hours “visiting” the rest of the 100 plus stores located in downtown Rockport! We all cried “uncle” by mid afternoon and retreated from the heat (90 plus) to the coolness of our rooms and a much needed nap.

Sculpture on main street
Local art association
Rockport Performing Arts Center
More colorful flower boxes
One of the older buildings in town.
Rockport home

Dinner was planned at another of Stan and Cindy’s favorites, a place near the hotel called the “Lobster Pool”. They said we had to go early as the lines of people waiting to eat there grows exponentially as the dinner hour approaches.  It is a classical lobster shack on the beach where you place your order, grab a seat out on the grass overlooking the bay and wait to get “buzzed” so you can go gather up your freshly prepared lobster, shrimp, clams or scallops. Stan and I ordered the 1.5 lb. lobsters and Cindy and Yvonne ordered shrimp plates. All the dishes came with the traditional fresh cut French fries and cole slaw. Bibs, plastic utensils and wet wipes completed the meal. The ladies raved about the freshness of the shrimp and Stan and I agreed the lobsters were tender and sweet. It was a marvelous traditional New England  meal served in an idyllic location.

The Famous Lobster Pool. I do not know how it got its name.
Lobster Pool Restaurant- not much to look at.
Self explanatory.
Menu at the Lobster Pool
One more time before we go!
Out of this world fresh shrimp.
Eating deck at the Lobster Pool restaurant
The “after” picture.

We drove back into Bearskin Neck in search of dessert and found an ice cream store that featured 49 flavors. We picked our favorites and Yvonne discovered there were chairs out back on the lawn, overlooking the Rockport harbor. It was near sunset and the shadows on the lobster boats and a red fishing shack made the scene a Norman Rockwell moment. In fact that exact scene has been painted by artists for years and is known as “Motif  #1”. It was serene and we lingered long after the ice cream was gone. It marked the end of a beautiful, albeit hot day, in New England.

One last ice cream treat.
Rockport harbor
Sunset on the Rockport harbor. The red fishing shack known as Motif No.1 is the subject of many artists.
Kodak moment?
Another Kodak moment
Sunset viewing on a local wharf outside town.
View of the town from a local wharf
Another fishing shack in the area.

Tomorrow Stan plans to show us another New England gem, the town of Essex and a restaurant called “Woodmans”.  Stay tuned.

June 11, 2017: Salem and Rockport

June 11, 2017: Salem and Rockport

On the road by 9 AM as we had a lot to see today. Our first stop was in Salem ( population 42,800), the location of the famous witch trials of 1692. I had heard about them but knew little of what transpired that fateful year.

Home in Salem
Salem colonial home.
Another Salem colonial home.

Salem turned out to be a much bigger attraction that I imagined and we only experienced a very small part. We watched a 40 minute movie at the US Park Service Center that relayed the events tha occurred that year. In all 14 women and 5 men were hanged and a man was crushed by rocks. Five others died in prison. As it turned out they were all innocent and  later exonerated.  The whole unfortunate event was an example of mass hysteria causing the problem. A more modern day example might be the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s or the Japanese interment during WWII.

We also toured the Salem Witches Museum which does a pretty good inactment of the events using dioramas and recorded dialogue.  There was also a display on witches through history and how the Wizard of Oz story totally changed how witches are viewed.

Salem Witch Museum-#1 attraction in town.

Although there are other items related to the era available to be seen in Salem we chose to move on as it was near lunch time and we still had a ways to go.

We chose to have lunch in Manchester By the Sea ( population 5136), hoping to see some of the locations used in the filming of the movie of the same name. Unfortunately we learned that most of the filming occurred in Gloucester, not in Manchester By the Sea. Oh well, we had a nice lunch in town before moving on to our final destination for the day, Rockport (population 6952), Massachusetts.

Cala’s Restaurant in Manchester By the Sea
Street food tacos-for,a change of pace.

Stan and Cindy had discovered the lovely Emerson Inn which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean on previous trips. They loved the location, the rocking chairs on the expansive porch and the quaintness of this old hotel. Once we saw it we had to agree.

Emerson Inn in Rockport, Massachusetts

The Emerson Inn was originally called the Pigeon Cove House and dates back to 1855. Henry Thoreau brought Ralph Waldo Emerson to the Cape Ann area and Emerson fell in love with it, returning often both alone and with his family and staying at the hotel. It was later known as the Hotel Edward until 1964 when new owners renamed it in honor of its most celebrated guest. The room Emerson stayed in is still in high demand by his fans or relatives.

It is three stories high and has no elevators. Luckily the man at the desk is young and strong and brought our many suitcases to our rooms for us while we sat in rocking chairs on the porch drinking some libations to celebrate our arrival.

Cookies awaited our check-in
Entry hall to hotel.
Sitting area in hotel
The old time bar in the hotel.
Modern rooms.

Dinner tonight was in downtown Rockport at another of Stan and Cindy’s favorites from previous visits: Roy Moore’s Fish Shack where you might guess the featured dish is lobster served in variety of ways and combinations. We had to stop at Stan’s favorite candy store,Tucks (here since 1929) for chocolates and taffy before calling it a night.

Roy Moore’s Fish Shack
Crab cakes
Lobster salad.
Tucks candy store in 1929

Oh, by,the way, although the hotel is old and the floors squeak, it is air conditioned (which is good as the next few days are expected to reach 90 degrees) and the plumbing is new and modern! All is well.

 

June 10, 2017: Back to Boston and Heading North

June 10, 2017: Back to Boston and Heading North

We awoke this morning back at the slip we left from ten days ago. It was a bright and sunny day again-looks like the weather has finally changed for the better. In fact we learned that there is a heat wave headed this way and that we should expect temperatures close to 90 degrees for a few days. Talk about seeing both sides of the weather spectrum.

Boston from our docking slip.

The ship had all of us off by 8AM. I had arranged for Enterprise car rental to pick us up. We rented an SUV, required because of all the luggage (and purchases) we had to transport.  The question was would we also need a trailer?  Luckily we managed to squeeze it all in although there was a large suitcase situated between Yvonne and Cindy in the back seat. It was a tight fit.

Map of the area of Massachusetts that we are exploring.

Stan had planned for us to drive up the coast to Rockport, MA to stay at one of their favorite old inns: the Emerson Inn. On the way, however, we were going to stop in a few famous towns. Our first stop of the day was Marblehead, MA where we visited Abott Hall, which still serves as the town hall. There we were met by an 86 year old volunteer who spent a good 45 minutes telling us about the history of the building and some of the historical items on display there. We actually had to cut him off as I was certain he would have spent the rest of the day telling us stories. Two items of particular interest to me were:

1. George Washington in essence started the United States Navy  in 1775 by acquiring and converting the Marblehead fishing schooner, Hannah, into an armed warship.

Outside of Abott Hall.
Grand old staircase in Abott Hall.
City Clerk’s office.
Our 86 year old docent who told us a lot about the history of Marblehead.
Model of the first warship, the Hannah.
The type of boat used to ferry Washington across the Delaware, not the one portrayed in paintings.

2.  The other fascinating item was a huge painting hung in the town hall meeting chambers. It is the original painting by Archibald Willard, called “Spirit of 76” (often referred to as Yankee Doodle). It found its way here through the efforts of a local resident, General John Devereux,  a descendent of Robert Devereux ((17th century). His son is the drummer boy in the painting.

Print of the Spirit of 76. I was unable to get a good photo of the very large painting hanging in the hall.

Also on display in Abbot Hall were letters from George Washington, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock. They have quite an amazing museum of history in their town hall.

Letter signed by Paul Revere

Another little known fact about Marblehead is that Elbridge Gerry, our 5th Vice President, was from Marblehead and is mostly known for his name being associated with the term “gerrymandering”.

Elbridge Gerry of “gerrymandering” fame.

After extracting our selves from the knowledgeable, talkative docent we went to the “old town” section of Marblehead where there are an astounding number of 16 and 17th century homes still being occupied. The meandering narrow streets are lined with beautifully painted structures from the past. There is a little shopping area of boutique shops that kept Cindy and Yvonne busy for quite awhile.

Old Marblehead town hall
Old 18th century colonial home in Marblehead
Most homes had signs like this identifying previous owners.
Some homes had their entrance on the side of the home, not facing the street.
Old colonial home
One of the early “sons of liberty”.
Old colonial Marblehead home
Beautifully restored 18th century home.
Oldest home I saw, dating back to 1683.
I loved the doorway.

We were able to pry our wives away from the shopping area only because we were hungry and Stan wanted us to eat at a little waterfront place he had often gone to in the past called the “Barnacle”, noted for its seafood chowder and fish. We managed to snag a table on the small outside deck overlooking the Marblehead harbor, where we had a tasty lunch as the sea breezes kept us cool.

The Barnacle Restaurant
View from our outdoor table.  This was a hidden gem!
FIsherman returning with his catch.
“Lobsta” (as they pronounce it) roll and local Sam Adams beer.
Their famous fish “chawda”.

Marblehead was a delightful place to visit and loaded with history. I would love to have more time to wander around the area.

We ultimately drove to our final destination for the day, Peabody, where we had reserved rooms for the night. Tomorrow we head to Salem, Manchester by the Sea, and ultimately Rockport.

June 9, 2017: Provincetown, MA

June 9, 2017: Provincetown, MA

Our first visit to Cape Cod. We spent the day visiting the town at the outer tip- Provincetown. This beach town (commonly called P-Town) has a population of less than 3,000, but that grows to 60,000 during the summer as people flock to its sandy beaches. It is located on the eastern edge of the cape and is blessed with a great well-protected  harbor which was utilized by sailors over the centuries.

Provincetown’s main claim to fame is that the Pilgrims landed here first before finally settling in Plymouth because they could not find a source of fresh water near Provincetown. It was a fishing and whaling community in the 1800s and became the home of many Portuguese sailors who came here from the Azores. There is still a large contingent living in the town.

U.S. Route 6 starts here in Provincetown and goes all the way to the west coast. It ran right through our home town of Gary, Indiana.

The Provincetown Players, started in 1915, produced some prominent playwrights like Eugene O’Neill and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

The waters off the east coast of Provincetown earned the name “oceans graveyard” as over 3,000 shipwrecks have occurred there over the past 300 years.

We were offered a trolley tour of the area. Unfortunately, it began to rain as we left and I was unable to get many photos along our route. It did stop about half way through the trip and I was able to record the rest of the trip.

Trolley tour in Provincetown
Cape Cod National Seashore
Auditorium in the Cape Cod National Seashore
Coast guard rescue station of the Atlantic coast

After the tour Stan and Cindy went in search of antiques and Yvonne and I spent several hours walking the main downtown street sightseeing, shopping and having lunch at a beach shack that had gotten high ratings by Yelp.  Our first stop was visitng the Portuguese bakery recommended by our tour guide to have a “flipper”, a Portuguese pastry called malassada, a fried dough dipped in cinnamon and sugar. It reminded us of Indian frybread. The bakery also made “pasteis de belem”, a favorite custard tart of the Portuguese that I had learned to love when we visited Portugal.

Fried Portuguese pastry- delicious!
Provincetown shops
Our best friend-ice cream!
Church in Provincetown
Town hall
Army /navy type shop in town
Monument to the pilgrims and statue commemorating soldiers
Local eatery
Library
Local shop
Shops on main street
Lunch on the beach.
Lunch of clam chowder
Kodak moment.
Chuck goes fishing
Town crier
Shops on boardwalk
Fishing fleet.

Tomorrw we will be back in Boston and so this evening after dinner we had to repack our luggage and make room for all the items we purchased along the way.

June 8, 2017: Martha’s Vineyard

June 8, 2017: Martha’s Vineyard

The day broke sunny and bright and we were ecstatic!  It also happens to be our 54th weeding anniversary. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since that day in 1963 we marched down the aisle in Gary, Indiana and began that wonderful adventure called marriage. I am grateful I have Yvonne along for that journey.

How did Martha’s Vineyard gets it name?  The general feeling is that British explorer, Bartholomew Gosnold, named it after his daughter, Martha. There were wild grapes on the island whichever gave rise to the rest of the name. Now you k ow the rest of the story.

This is the second day in a row with nice weather! The tour offered today was a sightseeing bus tour of part of the island with a stop in the largest village on the island, Edgartown.

Harbor at Martha’s Vineyard
Docking in Martha’s Vineyard. Perpendicular to the dock.

The first surprise was our bus. It was surplussed from an army base in Kentucky, God knows how many years ago. It ran smoothly so we had no complaints. Our driver and guide, Karen, was simply a “hoot”. She is a native so, obviously she regaled us with local stories and humor. She dropped us off in the small village of Edgartown for local shopping and sightseeing. She said she was going home to hang out her laundry (no dryers in these parts) and would be back for us in 1.5 hours.

Our Army surplus tour bus
Painting of the island on our bus.
Karen, our driver and guide

Edgartown  was lovely: not very large (population 4,067); one main street with many small shops; surrounding streets with very old, the colonial houses with white picket fences, some of which were B&Bs and others occupied by families. It was truly a Norman Rockwell kind of place. We shopped a little; admired the old homes, including the one owned by the sea captain of the whaling vessel Acushnet, the ship Herman Melville sailed on and was the inspiration of Moby Dick. I would have loved to have spent more time wandering those back streets and taking it all in.

Shingled home on the island
Oldest tree on the island. Do not remember how old it is or what it is!
Rock walls everywhere
Typical Martha’s Vineyard house

Edgartown church
Town hall in Edgartown
Main Street in Edgartown
Stores on main street
350 year old pagoda tree
Home of the sea captain of the whaling ship,  Acushnet, on which Herman Melville sailed
Edgartown home
The famous bridge at Chappaquiddick Island
Postcard of the young Kennedy family
A “half house” waiting for the second addition.
Seashore at Martha’s Vineyard

On the way back to the ship we drove through the small village of Oak Bluffs, where there was an Methodist summer camp which consisted of dozens of beautiful 19th century gingerbread homes. Many still exist and they are lovely.

Gingerbread cottage
Gingerbread cottages in Village of Oak Bluffs
The address reads as follows: “now 33; recently 29; original 37.” Obviously having trouble deciding.

After lunch we both went to listen to a lecture by a local writer, Cynthia Riggs, who at the age of 68 went back to school to study writing and published her first murder mystery at the age of 70. She was also a “hoot” telling us tales of her life as a sea captain; finding and getting reunited (and married) to a work colleague who she had not seen in 50 some years. She told us how she incorporates people (anonymously) she knows on the island in her novels and conveniently murders off those she dislikes. People are always trying to figure out who she is portraying in her stories!

Island author, Cynthia Riggs.
Beautiful schooner in the bay
Practicing rowers in what looks like whaling vessel boats.
Duck breast
Both couples celebrated 54th wedding anniversaries in June..
In our room after dinner.

After today I think Martha’s Vineyard makes my favorite places list.

June 7, 2017: Newport, Rhode Island

June 7, 2017: Newport, Rhode Island

Our first really nice weather day since the trip began! It started out party cloudy but by mid-day there was not a cloud in the sky and we all thoroughly enjoyed being out in the sunshine. We even got to lounge on the outdoor deck of the ship after we returned from our visit to the town.

Newport Harbor
Tall masted schooners in the harbor.

Newport:  Elegant homes dot the landscape; big sailing yachts bob in the harbor; private beach clubs with member only signs line the beaches; home of the international tennis hall of fame; and  site of the famous Newport Jazz Festival. This is the playground of the very rich and famous.

Newport was founded in 1639 and currently is home to about 25,000 people. It was and is the summer destination for the rich. It is also the home of the Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the most elegant college I have ever seen: Salve Regina, a small Catholic school with dormitories housed in a series of former mansions bought by or donated to the university by former owners. John F Kennedy married Jackie Bouvier in Newport. Newport is noted also as the site of past America’s Cup yacht races.

Our trolley bus tour took us past the summer home of President Eisenhower, the family estate of Jackie Kennedy’s family, the mansion being restored by Larry Ellison (Oracle), and the former home of the Vanderbilts, the Breakers. We soon learned that each of the grand homes had a name, not simply an address. Most estates were really hard to see as massive hedges and fences keep them from clear view. Newport truly emerged as the poster boy of the “gilded society” of the early 20th century. As is becoming more common the estates have become costly to maintain and many have been sectioned and sold as elegant condos.

Trolley Tours
On the trolley bus tour.
Newport country club
“Oreo” cows- a breed from Europe
President Eisenhower’s summer residence.
Another summer home
Seashore at Newport
Seaside summer home. Most are seasonal residences.
Most estates have elaborate fences and gates.
House known as 14 chimneys

Our tour included a visit to the Breakers where we took the audio tour of the mansion. It is definitely “over the top” in decor and opulence. The mansion is owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County who also owns 5-6 other such mansions which have been restored and are open to the public to visit, at a reasonable price. $35 will get you admission to all of them which seems like a bargain to me. We spent almost 1.5 hours visitng the Breakers before moving on with our touring trolley.

Entrance to the Breakers
The original Breakers burned down. The second was built in 2 years.
Driveway fo the current home
Vanderbilt’s summer home-the Breakers
Entry hall
Baccarat chandeliers in dining room
Fireplace in dining room
Fountain in main entry hall
Marbled walls in game room
Tiffany sconces
Music room
Ceiling in library
Fireplace from France in Library
Mr. Vanderbilt’s bedroom
His master bath. Note 4 faucets so you can have hot and cold salt water if you wish.
View of the lawn facing the sea.
Old tapestry hanging near grand staircase
Stained glass skylight
Staircase to 3rd floor where staff had their bedrooms
The kitchen
Copper pots used for all the cooking

“Calling” tubes to reach other parts of the home
Side entrance to Breakers
Seaside view of the home

The tour returned us to the ship through the downtown area so we could get a feel for it, as after lunch we rode the ship’s launch to the town pier to do more sightseeing and a bit of shopping.

Luxury Yacht in harbor. One of many.
Even a few power boats, but mostly sailboats

Baseball stadium still in use since 1908
Storefront in Newport
Old classic Newport building
Beautiful flowering bush
Sculpture with interesting twist. Note protruding legs.
Local pub and eatery.
3 wheeled scooters for rent.
More shopfronts
Trinity Episcopal church founded in 1698

11,000 steps later we were back on the ship, sitting outside on the aft deck soaking up the sun. It was the first time this trip we were able to do that.

Enjoying cocktails on the sundeck-finally!
Wearing the traditional Gloucester fishing hat.

The entertainment this evening was a local trio of women who paid a tribute to the wartime songs that  the Andrew Sisters sang. They were quite good and sounded just like the Andrew Sisters. They did a nice tribute to all the veterans in the crowd by singing all the different service songs (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard).

Local water taxi
Megayacht
Local group singing Andrew Sisters tunes. They did sound like them.
A beautiful sunset
June 6, 2017: Fall River, MA

June 6, 2017: Fall River, MA

We managed to miss the worst of the weather last night (mostly wind) by diverting through an inner channel which brought us safety to Fall River without the guests suffering another bout of seasickness.

We had originally planned to dock in New Bedford but the captain was unable to secure dockage space and Fall River was a back-up. I was a bit bummed as I had hoped to see the whaling museum there. The good news is that New Bedford is only a 20-30 minute bus ride from Fall River and the ship arranged for a bus to take us to the whaling museum this morning.

Fall River was founded in 1803 and currently has a population of about 89,000. By 1811 the first textile mill was in operation. The industry grew during the 1800s.  At one time Fall River was the leading textile manufacturer in the US and # 2 in the world.  Population peaked at 120,000 by 1920.   As we all know the industry and the jobs eventually left the area and the United States. Today we saw a lot of still empty buildings left by the textile industry as the area is trying to adjust to the new economy and rebuild.

New Bedford is 15 miles from Fall River and was one of the two major whaling ports in the US back in the 19th century (the other was Nantucket). It now has a population of 95,000 down from a peak of 120,000 in the 1920s. In the mid 1800s it was one of the major whaling capital in the US.  It also became a textile manufacturing city in the 1880s and employed over 30,000 people in the industry at one time.  It was the home of Wamsutta, a name we all knew. Commercial fishing also was important to the area until the fishing grounds got overfished in the 1990s.

As is typical there was not enough time to really appreciate all that was on display at the whaling museum, which was extensive. Of special note is their exhibit of scrimshaw and a 1/2 scale replica of a famous whaling vessel, Lagoda. We saw a movie describing the history of whaling in the area before touring the museum on our own. I enjoyed seeing displays of equipment whalers used to both catch and process the blubber from the whales. I also enjoyed seeing some of the original written logs from some of the whaling expeditions of the era. Needless to say the life of a whaler was dangerous and many lost their lives during the process.

Cleaning up the ship’s anchor
National park
Whale Museum
Skeletons of different whales
Dories used by whale hunters
Half scale model of whaling ship, Lagoda
Instructions on how to cut up a whale
Pots used to convert blubber to oil
Is whale oil valuable?
Samples of scrimshaw art
Even the stays in a ladies’ corsets of the times had scrimshaw artwork
Scrimshaw walking sticks
Whaling ship journal. Note sketches of whales caught and where.
Working in textile mills.

Across the street from the museum is a famous church (called a bethel) where whalers came to pray before leaving on the always dangerous whaling expeditions. In that church is the pew where Herman Melville sat and a replica of the ship shaped pulpit mentioned in the book, Moby Dick.

Repairing the cobblestone streets, using the original cobblestones.
The seamen’s bethel in New Bedford.
Pew where Herman Melville sat.

In the afternoon I walked over to the nearby Battleship Cove where there are several naval vessels on display, including the battleship Massachusetts, several original PT boats, a submarine, the Joseph Kennedy destroyer and a Russian corvette. I was interested in seeing both the PT boats and the battleship as I had seen the others before. I was impressed with the enormity of the battleship. I wandered below deck and almost got lost its vastness. The two PT boats were larger than I imagined (80 feet) and made of wood which surprised me. Most were burned after WWII so these are valuable vessels. You cannot board them but there are viewing ports on the sides to allow viewing of the inside.They were fast and effective and played an important role in the Pacific campaign.

Hamburger for lunch! We were getting tired of eating all that lobster.
Propeller from the battleship Massachusetts.
Cobra helicopter used during the Vietnam war.
PT 617 was in JFK’s inauguration parade.
These boats were made of wood.
Main deck of the battleship Massachusetts.
Sleeping arrangements on the battleship.
16 inch guns on the battleship.

Tonight the duo of Kenny (guitar) and Lee (piano) put on a show playing famous songs from the 50s and 60s. They are very entertaining and even Yvonne joined me for their “concert” and quasi sing-a-long. I multi-tasked and wrote this blog as I listened to their music.

Group sing.
June 5, 2017: Gloucester, MA

June 5, 2017: Gloucester, MA

For all you linguists out there, it is ” Glau Stir”, not “Glau Chester”. End of lesson. We have left Maine and are now plying the coastline of Massachusetts.

It was cloudy, quite cool and very breezy as we arrived at 7:30 AM in the harbor. ‘Tis definitely sweater weather today. In fact the weather so far has been darn right cool. We should have brought our puffy jackets. This part of the country may have shorter summers than Seattle!

Entering the Harbor of Gloucester
Light house near Gloucester
Downtown Gloucester
Trawler returning from the sea
Another View of Gloucester
Eider duck season in the harbor
Views of some fishing trawlers in the harbor

It will be a short visit as our ship will leave right after lunch so there is only time for a quick bus tour of the city.  The weather is bad enough that they are even cancelling the other offered tour-a ride on a lobster schooner out in the sound.

This was to be the first port where we were to actually be at a dock, but when we arrived we found the dockage space was being used by another local boat so guess who had to dock off shore…again! This then threw off our tour schedule for the morning and we had to rush through our visit to the local small maritime museum which focuses on the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Preserve off shore. There were also sections on the history of Gorton seafood (remember those fish sticks you ate when you were young), and the evolution of methods to protect boat bottoms, which ultimately led to the development of bottom paint here in Gloucester. The museum also is restoring the 1849 marine railway, which was and still is used to haul ships out of the water for maintenance. The “sled-like”structure is powered by a steam engine located in the building next to the rail system.

Maritime Museum
Shellwagen National Marine Sanctuary
One of the displays in the museum
How boat hulls were designed and evolved over time.
The 19th century boat railway-used to take ships in/out of the water
Gortons is headquartered in Gloucester

We then had a bus tour of the local area. We learned that although Gloucester is a famous name it really is a blue collar town that relied heavily on the fishing  industry. In the early 1900s there would have been over 400 fishing schooners moored on the harbor, working the offshore fishing banks and having lucrative careers. Today there are about 20 active fish trawlers. The fishing industry here is a disaster.

The famous Gloucester fishing hat
Typical Gloucester home
A stiff wind was blowing while we were there.
City posters
A local walking her dog on a miserable day.

We stopped at the famous statue dedicated to seafaring men and those who died at sea. There are plaques naming the some 5,400 men who have died at sea over the years. Of the 1,000 ships that have been lost, 265 lost all hands on board. From the period of 1860-1906, 660 ships sank with a loss of 3,880 men. A single storm in 1862 claimed 15 schooners and 120 lives. Another storm in 1879 took the lives of 159 men. The life of a fisherman is a dangerous one.

Famous statue dedicated to the men who go to the sea.

We saw the local establishments that were part of the story of the “Perfect Storm”. The trip then took us through a neigborhood of more expensive homes on the seashore, a quick visit to the town of Rockport and all its shops, and then back to the ship so we could depart.

Played a part in the story of the Perfect Storm
The Crow’s Nest bar was an important part of the Perfect Storm story.
Seashore home near Rockport
Seashore on the way to Rockport
Storefront in Rockport
Another storefront in Rockport
Hot chocolate and Baileys greeted us when we returned to the ship

Late yesterday the captain indicated there was to be yet another change in our itinerary. Turns out New Bedford could not give us moorage space so now we will be headed to Fall River, MA after we leave Gloucester.

Sea conditions when we left Gloucester. Luckily no one got sick.
Interesting watermelon salad
Halibut or pork tenderloin? Could not decide so they brought a little of each.
Double chocolate cake for dessert
Passenger doing a duet with the ship’s entertainment