New England on the SarABeth and then on our own from Aug. 22 thru Sept. 2
Flew into Boston with John and D. Ubered to N'buryport. Went straight to lunch at a lobster roll place right on the green and as we were finishing R and D showed up. They had just been in NYC visiting their son M.
Next morning we left Mass for a very smooth cruise to Portsmouth NH. The docking place there has beautiful gardens. After doing a little exploring we all rode the zodiac into P'mouth to wander for a while.
C and I went on a very nice walk in the morning but the community around the Inn where we docked seemed empty and not very welcoming with all the "private road" signs.
Next stop was planned to be Kennebunkport ME but Dennis had his eye on the weather and recommended we go on up to Portland and then back down to KBPT when the weather improved. Good advice.
It was a bit longer cruising time but we all enjoyed Portland. We went shopping and loaded up on Maine related t shirts, got some good walking in on the long path up beyond theater treatment plant and the 95 bridge. I even noticed someone who had a tarp over an indentation in the cliff wall along the harbor and was using it as a cave home. Another lobster roll place for dinner.
The next day the weather came in and we stayed in place, playing cards, reading etc. I did go on a walk and got drenched.
The weather was much better the next day and we went on south to KPBPT. I had forgotten how narrow the river is to get to Chick's Marina. Everyone walked to town. I was looking for the place we visited last trip which is called Resurrected and found it. Found a couple of possible presents there for Xmas.
This is the church in KBPT where the Bushes worship.
The next day was the long cruise to Gloucester MA. We were on the lookout for whales but only saw some smallish porpoises. The docking was at the same Ocean Alliance place and we got lots of photos of the snotbots for whale conservation. The harbor cruise boat came over to take us to town where we saw lots of gardens, the famous fisherman statue and generally walked around downtown. We did not make it to the bar named in the Perfect Storm movie but in the film it was a set.
Thinking of our area of town at home, I liked the name of this store.
Every meal by Holly was better than the last.
In the morning it was off to Boston, Bunker Hill, the USS Constitution and the destroyer Cassin.
On the last night we ate ashore at a place with a Trivia game in progress. I thought we would easily win but the questions were targeted to a different age group. We did well on breeds of dogs.
We were all sad to go our separate ways on the 28th, but we had a great cruise with a great crew.
C and I rented a car and went west to Amherst to visit the colleges (UMass, Amherst, and Smith). We never got to the Miss Flo diner in Florence MA but we found my old apartment in Northampton and I spoke to the owner. My apt has been totally remodeled and integrated into the rest of the house. I also went to find the building where I took organic chemistry but had no luck. C and I had an excellent pita pockets dinner the second night and a good burger in Amherst before that. The main event of this part of the trip was to visit the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst where we had an excellent guide and excellent tour.
In Amherst we stayed at the Stone House Inn which has the most amazing gardens.
On the 30th we drove to Concord with the hope of seeing some of the battlefield and the Louisa May Alcott House. We did that (another excellent house and guide) and more- we walked to Walden Pond, met up with C's nephew William, met his wife and children for the first time (for me), saw the North Bridge where the shot heard round the world was fired. and visited a huge wetland preserve. On the next day we drove to Salem to see A and W and baby, eat pizza in Salem, and serve all the creepy Gothic clothed people attracted to the witch history of Salem. Traffic was awful getting to Salem (Labor Day weekend) but easy getting back to Concord.
Departed Boston on the 2nd to go to Va. Beach for T's birthday.
