Plymouth - A Grand Caravan

I'm very late in reporting about Sarah's and my pre-Thanksgiving trip to Boston/Plymouth, Mass., but better late than never. Our trip there had nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but rather a free hotel stay we'd earned and one of the few weekends we had completely free to use it. This was the second trip I've made to the area, and some of you may remember the first, accompanied by the Grandparents A. and my siblings. Sarah also has gone before, so we weren't overly anxious about hitting all the classic tourist destinations, but we did make sure to stop by some of the more notable ones.

We of course hit Plymouth Rock:

The Rock Itself


Sarah was cold.


I found Armstrong ancestor John Allerton on a monument.


We were in Plymouth.

We also took a ferry through the "hah-bowar" to the U.S.S. Constitution site.

The famous boat was closed, which I pointed out to Sarah. But the ferry ride was still nice:

We also walked along the Freedom Trail, hitting notable American Revolution-age sites including the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house.

A church I first thought was the Old North Church, based on its similar appearance to one seen near the end of the Nicolas Cage epic "National Treasure."


The actual Old North Church, which still operates as a church but is open otherwise for tours. We entered it to see many things:


A man's head.


My head.


The Wardens.

I took many opportunities along our trip to re-enact scenes from the Nicolas Cage epic "National Treasure":





We also saw many things related to Paul Revere:

His house from the front.


His house from the back.


A statue of the famed Silversmith and midnight rider.

While our trip to the Plymouth waterfront also brought us upon a festival of some type, netting us free cranberry products from Ocean Spray and beverages from McDonald's, sadly, I was once again denied the opportunity to enjoy one of New England's culinary treasures:

The storied Stevie's Pizza.

And Now For Something Completely Different

If anyone wishes to comment on any posts, I'll now have to moderate your remarks before they go up. Too much Spam! I'll try to be speedy with the process...

Journey To The Center Of Western Massachusetts-based 18th Century Historical Reenactment Enthusiasts

If you've been paying attention, you'll have noticed that I've failed to post an update in several weeks, while Sarah has posted several terrific travelogues about our various journeys. She assigned me to write a very small one about one of our barely-out-of-town trips, to nearby Deerfield, several weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to it.

It is a long neighborhood featuring many period homes, an inn, restaurant and a few museums as well as two boarding schools, many of which have been deeded to a historic preservation foundation and decidedly historically preserved. Residents of Deerfield may gain access to the public buildings for free, while non-residents must pay for a ticket which entitles them to tour some of the homes. A few historical interpreters very cordially guide you through select homes. Also, in September, History Detectives star Tukufu Zuberi made an appearance there in support of the Springfield, Mass.-based PBS station. We did not attend.

So join me on a journey BACK IN TIME to MID 18th CENTURY WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS...

A table.


The Bement House, which was constructed out of bement, an early forerunner of cement fabricated from birch bark.


A home so well constructed for privacy that it is, in fact, invisible.


Dwight House, inhabited by early members of the Schrute family, an active clan of beet farmers.


Even as a guest residence 200 years ago, this tiny house was considered a small, piddling disgrace.


The wheel, invented in Deerfield circa 1753.








Several pictures of Deerfield Academy, a prestigious boarding school which I made a special point to visit, as it housed not one but two stars of television's LOST, in fact just one year apart from each other--Matthew Fox and Nestor Carbonell. Despite my intensive searching, I found no mysterious hatches, polar bears, eyeliner or other artifactual remnants of their time there.

The cat's out of the bag (and back home)

It's been a few weeks now since Dubu has returned to his rightful home, and we have both mostly gotten over our sadness. Knowing that he is being treated well by his real owners has given us solace, as well as finding the occasional artifact he's left behind (bits of fur, a hidden waterdish, cat food stains on the bottoms of walls). Here are a few photos from some of Dubu's last stellar feats before stealing away back home.

1) Finding his way into a paper bag:



2) Finding his way out of a paper bag



3) Realizing we've been watching him the whole time



4) Getting picked up by Bia and Ian

Dance Dinner

Tonight, as some of you know, is the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance, or as its become known in the 140-character-limited Twitterverse, SYTYCD. Neither Sarah nor I would ever claim to be dance experts, but we've enjoyed being couch-based critics of this past season.

In honor of tonight's finale, we expressed ourselves in a creative arena with which we are both more familiar--the kitchen. On tonight's menu we enjoyed Funky Chicken sandwiches, the Mashed Potato, and Groovin' to the Beets. We thought of all these dishes while commuting to work, and it was only when we were home this evening that we realized we missed a fairly obvious dance-related delicacy--Salsa. Oh well.

Sorry, no photos.

Anyone else have a suggestion for an appropriate dish to GET SERVED tonight?

It's Been a While

I realize I haven't posted in almost a month, but hey, we've been busy! And what we've mostly been busy with has been traveling, mainly in the form of weekend trips to various cultural and historical hot spots throughout New England.

I haven't posted much about those trips, though, but Sarah has been posting some excellent photo-/travel-ogues about them. Yet they are receiving very few comments! So skip on over to her blog to read about our travels, or shoot directly to our most recent trip to NYC/Cooperstown, including an excellent video she shot of John Fogerty performing his now 25-year-old baseball-themed classic, "Centerfield."

Fenway, Fanueil, Etc.

As promised, here are some highlights from our second trip to Boston, as well as some other stuff.

A Fenway Pale Ale, the signature beer at Boston Beer Works. It was not very pale in appearance, nor did it taste much like a pale ale. More like just a plain, American ale, which is fine and fitting.



A Fenway Frank, the signature hot dog of Fenway Park. It tasted pretty much like a standard frankfurter, though quite salty. What distinguishes it, somewhat, is the bun, which I believe is a thick slice of a rather pedestrian white bread shaped and folded around it.



The best and most unique item we enjoyed in/around Fenway, funnel cake fries. They really are just standard fried dough shaped into french fry-style sticks. Much less messy and easier to enjoy than the massive brick you get most places.

Fen-way Beyond

On our original, sans le baseball trip to Boston, we saw several of the traditional sites, including Fanueil Hall, Boston Common and the Statehouse. (For a detailed travelogue, visit Sarah's blog).

What I found most interesting was the apparent lack of decorum shown by Massachusetts State Legislators, even in writing, at the Capitol. Case in point, this photo shows a sign on the Capitol grounds, clearly demarcating a separate entrance to the building reserved solely for run-of-the-mill prostitutes:



(Apparently, ladies offering more specialized services have yet another separate entrance.)

Back Home

Some time after returning to the comparatively sleepy hollow of Northampton, we walked one of our standard routes, through the lovely campus of Smith College. While we were near the athletic fields, we saw a semi-fantastic site.



If you can't tell what that is, there is a hot air balloon relatively close over the rather majestic campus.



Finally, at work a few days ago, I was chatting in the office of my indirect supervisor when her wall calendar caught my attention. For the month of June, the artwork was a large quote "Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good." This nice piece of advice comes, of course, from one Minor Myers, jr., the late, great president of Illinois Wesleyan University. Just a surpleasing little coincidence.

The Maine Event and More

I realize it's been a while since I've updated, but we've been busy, and I've been lazy. This post will be mostly pictures from our Memorial Day weekend trip to Maine and northeast Mass., as well as an outing to Boston for a Sawx game, and some other random shots I had on my phone.

The Maine Event

Before we hit the road, we asked Dubu to help us plot our route to the Pine Tree State.



Of course, before he could read the map, he had to put on his reading spectacles.

On the Road

York Beach, a small beach south of Kennubunkport, Maine.



Another shot of York Beach, which was busy and a little rocky looking.



A beach somewhere in Maine we saw only from the road.



Getting closer to our first destination, Kennebunkport, a locale best known as the summer home of the Bush family.



The beach at Ft. Williams State Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine.



The ruins of what appeared to be a mid-19th century building at Ft. Williams.

To The Lighthouse

This is a lighthouse located at the State Park, of somewhat historic provenance.



The lighthouse, which apparently was the inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Lighthouse."



A plaque, supporting my previous statement.



On the way back to Mass., where we stayed for the night, we stopped off to play a quick round of mini golf in Ogunquit, another super-touristy area along the Maine coast.



The course was quite impressive, featuring water falls, rivers and other large ornamental decorations. Unfortunately, I cannot recall who won the match.

En Mass.

Here Sarah is in front of our full beach stop, Salisbury Beach, in the very northeastern corner of Massachusetts.



Me in the same spot.



A distant look at the Salisbury shore.

I plan to post again shortly, though already overdue, about our trip to Fenway. So look out for that.