Oct 23, 2018 - Don't Fool With Mother Nature

Alas we have come to the last day of our time in New England. After a beautiful cold sunny day yesterday, the forecast for today is back to rain and cold. Plus the first game of the World Series is at Fenway Park tonight so the city should be crowded. We discovered their was no rain in the weather forecast for Newport, Rhode Island with temps in the fifties and it was only 90 minutes away. So we packed into the van and headed off. The unexpected bonus was beautiful fall colors. There hasn't been that much color while here in Boston but...

Oct 22, 2018 - Monday in Boston

Our mornings have been leisurely and today was no different. Judi pulled a muscle In her back, so we became a party of four for the first part of the day. Public transportation is pretty easy to find, but it isn’t always a direct line from point A to point B. Our destination this morning was the aquarium area where we picked up the Hop On/Hop Off bus for a tour around the city. We had an entertaining driver who went by the name of New York. Traffic was heavy so it was slow going. We stayed on the bus until we got to the Cheers bar, which...

Oct 21, 2018 - “One if by land; two if by sea...”

As has been our norm we had a quiet, lazy morning... all of our late night carousing catching up to us, no doubt. We hit the road a bit after 10:00. Our first event was planned to be the Lexington and Concord tour, related to Paul Revere’s Excellent Adventure; but we interjected a tour of Waltham, Mass, on the way. Waltham was the birthplace of our first Kathy Corbett, at Murphy Army Hospital, designated as the Waltham Military Hospital for Boston. The site today is an athletic complex for the Gann Academy, a local Jewish high school. We...

Oct 20, 2018 - The Ties That Bind

Today we went back in time by visiting family homes, starting off with the home of our grandparents, Timothy and Nellie O'Connor. Upon arrival at 151 Hollingsworth, Mattapan, out came the cameras; but before presuming to walk around the property Kathy W. knocked on the door to ask the homeowners for permission. The current owners are Kim and John Hall. John was a bit reluctant to answer the door, but eventually decided that KW was harmless enough. When it was relayed that it was the home of our grandparents they warmed up to us, especially...

Oct 20, 2018 - And we're upgraded!

Sorry, Jef, but the great thing about traveling with elise instead of you is that we routinely get upgraded from plebeian class to first class :). We were lucky enough to get this upgrade from MSP to Boston...granted, it's only a 2 hour flight but still... Today is a day of shifting time zones. We'll leave Boston at 9:20pm; it's a 4.5 hr flight to Ponta Delgada but when we arrive there, it will be 6am. We have a 2 hour layover there before catching an inter-island flight to Horta, on the island of Faial. So when we arrive in Horta at...

Oct 19, 2018 - Roots!

With a big day ahead of us, we were on the road shortly after 9. It was a mere 33 degrees Fahrenheit as we left. None of us are used to that kind of temperature, but we survived. Our goal today, other than Boston, was a stop in Shrewsbury where my (KC) 3x-great grandparents, Philo and Relief Slocomb, lived in the the early 1800s. Needless to say, I was very excited all morning. The anticipation had me smiling to myself all the way to Shrewsbury. Recently, the current owner, Mame, found my cousin Sharlene on ancestry.com. Sharlene knew I...

Oct 18, 2018 - Snow and Sun

We woke up this morning to light snow and ice on our deck. We were actually surprised to see the deck furniture still there as we had 50-70 mph winds overnight and we are at the top of Florida mountain. It was pretty eerie. But we were very excited to see the sun even though it was really cold (in the 30's) for us Californians. We started off our day with a stop at the Western Summit which has scenic views of the Hoosac mountain range. On a clear day, and it was a clear day, you can see 3 states--Massachusetts, Vermont and New York (we are...

Oct 17, 2018 - Driving the Berkshires

Oh those Dodgers! They kept us up way late en route to a 13 inning win. With a 9:00 pm start on the east coast, we were up until 12:30 before giving up. Happily, we recorded the rest of the game and enjoyed the extra innings this morning. Go Blue! So, we were a little slow getting up and out today. On the road a little after 10:00. Our plan was to head down to West Stockbridge to explore the Turn Park Art Space, an outdoor sculpture exhibit. We were expecting rain by late morning or early afternoon and hoped to get our outdoor activities...

Oct 16, 2018 - Movie’ on Down the Road

We left our condo in Lincoln, NH around 10 with our final destination being North Adams, MA. Since it was not far off of our path, we took a short detour to Hanover to take a quick peek at the Dartmouth campus. We also had a need for caffeine and were able to find a Starbucks. In a college town? Go figure. Our next stop was Quechee Gorge State Park for a peek at the deep gorge and the Ottauquechee River which runs through it. At 165 feet, it is the deepest gorge in Vermont. It was created about 13,000 years ago. The hike to the view point...

Sep 25, 2018 - Brattleboro, VT to Lenox, MA

September 25, 2018 We had as bagpiper in camp last night! Up at 5:30 and felt like thieves stealing away in the early morning! We arrived at the MB dealer in Chicopee in about an hour and were ushered into enclosed bay. We were the only client there at 7:15. The lounge was very nice with coffee, snacks, WiFi and comfortable seats. I set up my “office” and got some work done while we awaited the results of the diagnostic. Another couple with a Sprinter from Ohio arrived with a check engine issue also. By 9:00 we got the news that we needed...

Sep 21, 2018 - Off to Audrey's

Our fall camping trip begins in Amherst Mass. with our daughter Audrey and her family. They live on Simple Gifts Farm where Jeremy, her husband is the farmer. They grow organic vegetables and have a farm stand. Our grandsons, Jesse & Tim are into sports. Jesse had a cross-country track meet on Saturday. On Friday night, the farm had a porch music jam. Audrey took us to see the sights from the top of Mount Sugarloaf which is only a few miles from their home.

Sep 18, 2018 - Rainy Day in Hyannis Port

The forecast called for afternoon rain. We had decided that we would take the harbor cruise to the Kennedy Compound. However, all cruises were cancelled due to the weather conditions. We spent time on the Harbor Walk. The heavy rain held off for a few hours. We enjoyed a couple of hours in the JFK Museum. This is NOT his presidential library. It is a relatively small museum that includes an area devoted to Robert Kennedy. While there, flash flood warnings were issued. Fortunately, we made it back to the truck before the sky opened up. We...