Our New England trip Autumn 2007

Way before daylight on Thursday, Mat and I awoke to throw our bags into the trunk of Sara’s car. Our plan was to arrive in Woodstock, CT by 6 or 7 that evening at some family friends, Mitch and Margaret. After 15 hours of driving we arrived in time for a shrimp scampi dinner with homemade butterscotch pudding and Oreo cookies for dessert. After dinner, we watched the Red Sox game. (Since we were in New England, everyone was a fan.) In the morning we got a tour of their wonderful yard and Margaret’s studio…she carves beautiful wood pieces and has started silversmithing. Everything she showed us was beautiful. Their home was built in the early 1800s and about 40 years ago, they moved it to their current location. Then we hopped in the car and drove through Rhode Island to Massachusetts to have lunch with some cousins. It was wonderful to get out and stretch our legs while they gave us a tour of their property before feeding us a great lunch of bbq chicken, salad and brownies. Sheila gave us a tour of their home which was built in the 1700’s and she showed us the most recent addition to their home (circa 1860). Sheila and Dom’s daughter, Diana, came over with her son, Benjamin for a quick visit as well. They were all really excited over the Red Sox win the night before.

After our visit with Sheila and Dom, we headed over to uncle Jerry’s and unloaded our bags from the car and Uncle Jerry took us out to Plymouth, MA. We saw Plymouth Rock, but could not touch it. It is now barricaded in because people were taking pieces of the rock to have for themselves, so the rock was getting increasingly smaller.

We also got a closer look at the Mayflower II which sailed across the ocean blue. It is not the original Mayflower, but one that was built in commemoration and then they sailed it across in the last 30 years or so. Then we ate at a local fish shop. I was daring and had fish and chips, Mat had lobster bisque which was yummy.

Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to the Science Museum in Boston to go on a Duk Tour. It was kind of a rainy day, but we had a marvelous time. Duk vehicles were built during WWII and are designed to be driven from land to water. So we got a tour of Boston with our tour guide, who looked like John Lennon and was dressed up as Sgt. Pepper. It was a great way to get a tour of a city. Then he took us into the Charles River, all the while telling us tidbits of history and also telling us when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 he was driving his rig out in Fenway Field and stuffed his pockets full of sand. Boston is a beautiful city, lots of old homes and character. We found out that there are 94 Dunkin’ Donuts in the 5 mile radius of Boston…one of which has a sushi restaurant as part of it…no, not next door. In a Boston Bay, we watched a whole bunch of guys out kiteboarding. It was great fun to watch, we all determined that we would like to try it out.

 

On Sunday, we went to Rhode Island to pick up Gram. I received a tour of the place she lives. It has a workout room and a computer so that residents can do their emailing, but best of all she has a gorgeous view out to the harbor which has sailboats and ferries going up and down it. After picking her up we headed to New Hampshire to see Josh and Sue and their two children.

 

It was loads of fun to meet them and see their home. Then we hurried home so that we could watch the Red Sox win the World Series. (I was kind of hoping the Rockies would at least pull through and win one game or two, so that it wasn’t over so quickly. Not to be.

On Monday, we went out to visit Gram for a bit and had lunch at her place. We sat at our own table, not at her regular one so her friend, Maria came over and asked please for Marcia to come back to the table soon, without her it was like a morgue! After lunch, Sheila and Diana came for a quick visit.

 

After that, we went into Newport and toured around there. Then we met back up with Gram. Jerry and Marilyn came down and we all went to dinner at Gram’s favorite restaurant.

Tuesday morning we drove to beautiful Vermont. On the drive up to Vermont, Jerry left a message saying that he saw our Duk tour guide driving the Boston Red Sox in the parade celebrating the victory. Barrett and Rose were awesome and immediately took us on a hike up Mt. Elmore to a fire tower where we looked down over the area. It was awesome.

 

We stayed at Rose and Jay’s cabin one night and ate moose tacos for dinner and the next morning enjoyed a lovely walk to the river. The next day after Barrett was done teaching school, we went over to his house and he took us on a paddle around the lake he lives on. Which in the winter time he cross-country skis on. A pretty sweet set up.

Then we drove to Franklin, NY and stayed with Mark’s parents for the evening. They have an awesome garden which they showed us. Then next morning we got up early and drove 13 hours home. Mat and I were pretty stoked to go pick up Maddy from Mat’s parents. I don’t think Maddy even knew that we were gone…she was having such a great time at her grandparents!