New York, New York

It was just after noon on Friday when we rolled into the Liberty Harbour Marina and RV Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. We had seen some swollen rivers and creeks along the way but nothing like the disastrous warnings the media had been crying wolf about the night before.

Janice was relieved that her trepidations about dragging the trailer along the I-78 into the city ended up to be mostly unfounded. As long as one keeps the speed up to most of the traffic (65 to 70 miles an hour), on four to seven lanes of traffic, the drive goes as smoothly as can be expected.

It turned out the ferry that we had heard about has a limited schedule and doesn’t run at all on weekends so, after we had some lunch, waiting for the rain to abate, we set out on foot to the subway station about a half mile from our campsite. Twenty minutes later we got off in the centre of Manhattan. We didn’t realize until later that we were right at the foot of the Empire State Building because, from our vantage point from the street, the buildings all around us towered skyward so steeply that we couldn’t see their tops, so that we couldn’t tell one from the other. It had stopped raining though. Perfect timing for us.

It took us a few bewildering minutes to get oriented to the map before we walked a block to where one of the tour bus stops was located. We paid $172.00 for two three-day passes that would allow us: To jump on and off the buses when and where we wanted; a free ferry ride to Ellis Island or a scenic harbour cruise; a trip to the top of either the Empire State Building or the Rockefeller Center as well as some discount coupons.

It was the right thing to do because the first loop around downtown took about an hour and, not only did it give us our bearings, but we learned a lot from a great tour guide narrating. Every single block in downtown has something of historical, artistic or architectural significance, or some famous person who has lived or, is living there. I bet you didn’t know that Katherine Hepburn and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. lived side by side, for years, in the same building. We toured Soho, Greenwich Village, the Downtown East and West Sides, Chinatown and Ground Zero.

Picture below: The Village Vanguard where all the jazz heavyweights have played. It’s still operating under the same family. The Blue Note is also still going and, if you go after 12:30am, the admission is just $8. I haven’t listened to any jazz in years. In high school and for several years after I listened to either R&B or jazz pretty well exclusively, but when I heard Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Cream and Led Zeppelin, it changed my focus.







The tour buses drop you off wherever you want and run every ten minutes so we did some exploring of Times Square, The Rockefeller Center, The Waldorf Astoria and Madison Square Gardens before ducking into a great little Irish bar that was packed with Rangers Fans waiting for the game to begin against Ottawa. We had a couple of glasses of wine and figured we’d head closer to home for dinner, leaving the Empire State Building until the next day. We were hoping the view might be better if the skies cleared.
Pictured below is Times Square.










Just as we left the bar, about 7:00pm, the clouds parted and a beautiful evening light broke through to cast a luminous golden hue on the buildings. We turned the corner to the Empire State Building and were whisked right to the Observation Deck where we got spectacular views of the city - you’ll see from the photos below that a rainbow even appeared for us. Awesome.
Pictured: The view from The Empire State Building and the bar where we had a drink beforehand.















We found out the next day how lucky we were because, once the sun is out, the lineups to get up to the Observation Deck go halfway around the block and it usually takes an hour or two to for people to get up.

When we exited the Empire State Building Janice noticed a Papaya Dog on the corner. Anthony Bordaine made a big deal of a loaded Papaya Dog when he was half-loaded, as is his habit, on his show No Reservations. Janice ordered a two dollar dog and the guy tried to short change her on her twenty dollar bill. She probably wouldn’t have noticed except she was going to tip him. When she looked at her bills he’d only given her change for a five. She pointed it out to him and he apologized innocently. He never got his tip.

Pictured is the Papaya Dog and the Empire State Building right after we had descended form the Observation Deck on the 86th floor. By the way, The Rockefeller Center Observation deck is on the 72nd floor.









We hopped on the Subway back to Jersey City and then stopped at Edward’s Steak House for dinner, which we had noticed on our walk to the subway earlier. Janice had Rack of Lamb while I had Flat Iron Steak. It was all really good and helped replace the millions of calories we’d burned humping it around Manhattan. By the way we, felt very safe on the subway. Both a young black guy and a young Latino guy offered their seats to Janice on separate occasions.

Pictured below is our subway ride.







The next day was sunny and brisk. Perfect. We jumped back on the subway and took the tour bus again, with the idea of getting off at Battery Park and taking the ferry to Ellis Island. The tour guide was not as good this time around but the picture taking was better due to the sunshine. We found ourselves filling in some of our fellow passengers on what we’d learned the day before from the better tour guide.

Pictured below are: The Empire State Building, The Flat Iron Building, the Woolworth’s Building, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Square and the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.














Back on the bus we got another great guide. The guides are all a little different and, even though we were on the same route as the day previous, this guy pointed out different things about the same things. He was a proud and street wise New Yorker and pointed out a lot of stuff that he recommended tourists should either avoid, or go for. Mostly avoid red Lobster, Olive Garden and so on around Times Square - get away and go for something local, as we did when we stopped for a couple slices of delicious and inexpensive pizza.

We walked the six or eight blocks to Central Park and then walked for miles, seeing Strawberry Fields and John Lennon’s memorial, where lots of people were still paying their respects and laying flowers. We also saw some break dancers, and an incredible fifty-ish African American drummer playing plastic buckets and other junk, for tips. There are lots of other performances and exhibitions going on throughout the park but we only saw a couple hundred of the 880 acres it comprises.

We hopped back onto the Uptown tour bus and toured the Upper east Side, Harlem, Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side. Even Harlem has become tourist friendly. We saw families of all ethnicities playing in a park that no one would have gone near in the seventies, for fear of their lives.

We had planned on touring the Metropolitan Museum of Art but once again, the lineups were enormous, so we looked over the lobby before jumping back onto the bus. Traffic was so backed up though that we decided to walk back to downtown via 5th Avenue. It was a long way but, despite the crush of people, we saw a lot of stuff that you can only get on foot.

Pictured are: Central Park, where the break dancers are performing on the far left; an enormous non-denominational church, built by the Rockefellers, that hosts major events on the Upper East Side; the Apollo Theatre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.











Back at our subway connection we looked for the closest bar to have a refresher. Janice talked to a Dispatcher for a courier company while I talked to an architect that had just finished a couple of hours at the office on a Saturday - very informative because, as he agreed, there’s no other place in the world as diversified and with as many examples of different and important architecture than New York City.

We got back to Jersey City just as it was getting dark and found a nice happening little restaurant just a few blocks from our campsite, where we had a really nice bottle of wine with some gourmet burgers - to replace the trillions of calories we’d burned during our touring on foot. Most people were aghast when we told them about the territory we covered on foot.

When we got up in the morning it had clouded over. We took a walk over to the Jersey Shore and realized that we could have gotten a nice shot of Manhattan at night but, too late.

The forecast was for wet weather again and we didn’t have the budget to keep up to NYC so we decided, somewhat reluctantly, to hit the road. We now have two places we’d like to revisit. Newfoundland in the summer and NYC in the spring or fall. New York really requires at least a week and a bigger budget. There was a lot we missed like, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, Yankee Stadium, (preferably for a ball game) Staten Island or Ellis Island Ferry, more restaurants, taxis, the theatre, etc, etc.
When we got up in the morning it had clouded over. We took a walk over to the Jersey Shore and realized that we could have gotten a nice shot of Manhattan at night but, too late. Pictured is Manhattan from Jersey City - a profile you don’t usually see. Also, a building on the Jersey Shore.



We took the Garden City Parkway, where we had to pay a number of tolls, and found our way to Paradise Lakes campground in New Jersey where we spent an uneventful night.

In the morning we woke to rain again and drove through Delaware in about an hour, where we accidentally ran across the warehouse for Amazon.Com. We crossed into Maryland where we drove across a miles-long bridge that spanned Chesapeake Bay before landing at the Duncan Family Campground, where we are positioned to take The Metro into Washington DC.



















The forecast was for wet weather again and we didn’t have the budget to keep up to NYC so we decided, somewhat reluctantly, to hit the road. We now have two places we’d like to revisit. Newfoundland in the summer and NYC in the spring or fall. New York really requires at least a week and a bigger budget. There was a lot we missed like, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, Yankee Stadium, (preferably for a ball game) Staten Island or Ellis Island Ferry, more restaurants, taxis, the theatre, etc, etc.

We took the Garden City Parkway, where we had to pay a number of tolls, and found our way to Paradise Lakes campground in New Jersey where we spent an uneventful night.

In the morning we woke to rain again and drove through Delaware in about an hour, where we accidentally ran across the warehouse for Amazon.Com. We crossed into Maryland where we drove across a miles-long bridge that spanned Chesapeake Bay before landing at the Duncan Family Campground, where we are positioned to take The Metro into Washington DC.

Pictureless in Pennsylvania…

We drove to the Catskills on a beautiful sunny day.

Something we rarely see in BC are hillsides clad exclusively in deciduous trees. With no evergreens to interrupt the overall texture, the hillsides in the Catskills looked like a bunch of different pastel coloured pillows that had been loosely bunched together. You’ll have to believe me because I never took a picture, thinking that I would catch the hills more favorably imbued with a morning or evening light. It never happened.

Stopping for lunch at the town of Catskill, we then drove to another small town further into Catskill Park called Phoenicia. We were the only campers at Sleepy Hollow Campground on the Esopus River, a couple of kilometers from the town. We rode our bikes into Phoenicia and when we returned we sat in the sun by the river.

Then the weather changed. Within five minutes we were driven inside where, turning on the weather channel, we found the forecast was for heavy rain and all kinds of other inclement weather warnings due to another tropical storm. For once, the forecast was accurate.

We woke in the morning to torrential rains pounding on the roof. It’s weird because even though it was raining heavily, it was still about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, so it felt more like we were in Mexico or Hawaii. Because we didn’t want to sit by a campsite in the valley bottom, by the river, during the repeated warnings from the National Weather Advisory for another tornado watch, as well as flash floods, we decided to move on.

I called the campsite that we’d been told about previously, in Jersey City, right across from Manhattan. The campground was booked but the woman there told us she could put us in the overflow, with no services. We booked it for two days hence and pulled up camp, heading south, with the idea of positioning ourselves within an hour-and-a-half or so from the Jersey Campground.

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The media drives me crazy. A person just can’t believe anything the media reports anymore. The television newscasts last night were three-quarters full of dire storm warnings, detailing all the horrible things that could happen to us , if, if, if… Basically they’re making it up, hoping something will happen.

Today, after about the fiftieth storm warning reported by the radio stations, as we were driving south into the storm, I brought up the subject of how all the media in North America are now owned by a few mega corporations that use their media properties as vehicles to create fear. About how they want us to go about our day-to-day lives looking over our shoulders, concerned by the threat of terrorism, or global warming, or tornado warnings, or flash flood alerts. They have the general population's subconcious so busy being afraid that, in most cases, people don’t notice how their lives are passing them by while they work away, in most cases for less and less disposable income, only to tythe their taxes to the governments that are in the pockets of those same corporations that own the media…

Janice just changed the subject.

My rant over with, we ended up in the corner of Pennsylvania, in the Pocono’s, at Shady Acres Campground near Mt. Bethel. The rain was still coming down heavily as I wrote this but the tornado warning was due to expire in an hour or so. I’m willing to bet that if I tune into the media tomorrow, no tornadoes will have materialized.

We spent our down time doing laundry, writing the blog and adding up September’s expenses. It’s hard to believe that as of today we’ve been on the road for four months - one third through our adventure already. The good news is we were $500.00 under budget for September. The bad news is that we were $1500.00 over budget for August.

We’re only an hour or so from the Big Apple and by this time tomorrow we should be lost somewhere in the middle of Manhattan…

Rainy days in Connecticut and another tornado watch...

We left Lebanon under leaden skies and a forecast for more rain. We decided to drive the back roads through the gut of the state, where the foliage is just beginning to change, and found a nice spot at White Pines Camp Ground at Barkhamsted. They’re only charging us an off-season rate of $15 per night including electric, water, cable and wifi so, with the forecast still being crappy, we decided to settle in for a couple of days and take some day trips, the first of which was to the State Capital, Hartford.

Hartford is the first truly integrated city we've seen so far - pretty well divided equally between caucasians and blacks - from the suits and ties to the city workers.

We had a really good lunch at the Steam City Brewery & Café right downtown and then walked to the Capital District where the State Capital Building is the most impressive piece of architecture we’ve seen yet, by far. It’s stunning, both inside and out. In short, truly exquisite in every detail.

Below are pictures of the café where we had lunch and a couple of pics of the capital building that don’t begin to do it justice.




On our way back to camp the radio stations were issuing a tornado watch for the county our campsite is in. Right after we’d heard the warning we came upon a nice surprise in Collinsville where there was a huge old axe factory that had been built right on the river. We got out to walk across the bridge in order to take some pictures when a huge downpour opened up. We ran for the building, which is now an antique mall, and asked the people there if they knew there was a tornado watch. The guy said, “ We don’t really worry about them.” I said, “Ya, but we’re in an RV park and that’s where they always seem to hit.” He replies, “Yes, the debate is still out about which is the cause and which is the effect.”

Smart Ass.

Pictured below is the old axe factory in Collinsville, Connecticut.



Almost every small town has a tag line like: The Hub City or The Birthplace of So and So. We came across the one that takes the cake so far: Cheshire - The Bedding Plant Capitol of Connecticut.

Nothing even close to a tornado ever materialized and we woke this morning to a bright sunny day.

Two things I've taken a little flack for lately are:
1. My choice of reading material, (Memoirs of a Geisha).
2. Too many water pictures - that I seem to be obsessed by water - where are the fall colors?
Of course I have excuses for both.
1. For anyone who has done some RV'ing before you'll know that you can't use libraries because they won't take a book back, for instance, in New York City that you took out in Boston. Because there's a lot of time to read when you're on the road, buying them is too expensive, for my budget anyway. So, you're left with the exchange system that many RV'ers use. At just about every campsite there's a book exchange - Take One Leave One. Most are romance or mystery novels so you may get lucky the odd time, as I did in New Brunswick when I picked up a local award winning author, who's novel kept me enthralled for a week or so. I can't remember his name or the name of the book, which is not at all unusual for me. He's one of those three-named guys. David something something. Anyways, having never seen the movie, Memoirs of a Geisha is worth a read because its both entertaining and revealing.
2. Water photos. Yes, I'll admit to having an affinity for the ocean - always have - and the fall colors are just beginning to appear here. In a week or two, you'll probably all be sick to death of another 'Fall Shot'.

Pictured is some of the colour at our campsite at White Pines,Barkhamsted.








Today we're heading for the Catskills in New York State.

‘Rude’ Island to Connecticut…

The fog looked like it was going to lift as we drove towards Rhode Island. Janice had been talking about trying fried clams before we got out of Massachusetts because we had been seeing so many signs advertising them so we stopped at Wareham at a place called The Lobster Pot. As evidenced by the stuff hanging on the walls it had won all kinds of rave reviews and awards for ‘Budget Priced Seafood‘. It was kind of cafeteria-style but service was fast and the food was good, for what it was. The batter was unlike anything we’ve had before but I can’t describe it, and they weren’t giving away any secrets.

Pictured below is Janice being bad - having fried food. I had fish and chips and we both had strong coffee. Of course the portions were American sized so we didn’t have to have dinner until about 8:00 o‘clock that night.








We pulled into Newport, Rhode Island around noon and Janice charmed the guy into letting us park at the bus depot alongside the Greyhounds and other tour buses, which is the only place we would fit. When we decided to skip Martha’s Vineyard because we’d had enough busy little tourist towns for the time being, we didn’t know that Newport would be even more so of the same. I’m pretty sure serious shoppers would have thought they’d died and gone to heaven, but neither of us are, so we spent an hour strolling the docks and a few blocks of the strip before hitting the road again.

Pictured are the docks at Newport, in the fog.








The fog cleared by about 3:00, just as we were pulling into the North Kingston Wal-Mart, south of Providence. We walked around for a while in the muggy heat before deciding, it being Friday and all, that we should find a place to have a drink, with some locals. The only place we could find within walking distance was The Junction Bistro & Trattoria. There were a few guys that looked like genuine working stiffs scattered around the granite topped bar watching big screen TV’s. Perfect. We sidled in among them. It turned out they were all waiting for Pizzas to go though so a few minutes later we found ourselves alone, except for the young bartender.

It turned out his name was Roland and he was a Flare Bartender (you know the kind that flips the bottles and all). Of Italian descent he was brought up in Providence, “Rude Island.” Speaking of rude - drivers in Massachusetts are surprisingly courteous while those in Rhode Island are otherwise.

We were undecided about what to drink so he put a Pumpkin Beer in front of me and he suggested a cocktail of his own invention for Janice. When he found out we were Canadian he not only had a lot of questions but also took great enjoyment in regaling us with ‘Rude’ Island euphemisms. When it was time to re-order he suggested that I try his other special drink, with two rums, while Janice should try the Ice Tea Twist. You probably know they free pour in The States. He had heard but couldn’t believe that we’re forced to use jiggers or liquor guns in Canada. He must have been trying to illustrate his point because I definitely felt a buzz after that drink.

Roland wanted to show us something uniquely “Rude Island” so, in his flare style, he used both hands while he quickly made up individual butter plates of a complimentary appetizer. First he put a basket of Italian bread in front of us and then began shaking olive oil onto the plates, followed by parmesan cheese from shakers, chili flakes from shakers and finally, salt and pepper from shakers. He didn’t have to instruct us to dip the bread in the concoction. It was unbelievably good.

When we overheard one of the waitresses wishing him happy birthday and then him replying, “Ya, twenty-two,” we decided that we were buzzed enough to sound off with a rousing version of Happy Birthday, cousin Mclachlan style, with fingers pointing at him on every “You” and then followed by both; For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow and Three Cheers.

Before we knew it we had two more strong drinks in front of us. A half hour or so later we walked/wobbled back to the trailer. It looked that, for the first time, we would be the only overnighters at the Wal-Mart, so we had some wine. That seemed to make our solitude a little less disconcerting. Regardless, it turned out to be an uneventful overnight.

The next morning we drove into downtown Provincetown but, as with most big cities, it was not RV friendly. We took a quick tour around the city centre anyway, (I’ve spared you another picture of the State Capital building). Well, maybe we were a tad hung-over and it was pretty muggy and… that damned little Italian bartender…Okay I never even took a picture of the State Capital Building.

We pointed the truck back towards the coast where we ended up at Fishermen’s Memorial State Park at Narragansett. I still don’t know why the park bares its name, but there was an excellent farmer’s market in the morning where we picked up some produce as well as Italian and Asiago/Pesto bread. Narragansett is famed for long sandy beaches. We were fortunate to catch them this late in the year on a nice hot and sunny Saturday, where lots of people were still enjoying the sun, sand and sea.

Below are a couple of images from one of the beaches at Narragansett.








The next day we were on the road to Connecticut and, soon after we crossed the border, stopped at a very cool town called Mystic, where there is a huge maritime museum and a lot of other history because, like other port cities on the east coast, it was settled in the 1600’s. We walked the town and had lunch there before driving to Lebanon where we camped at Lake Williams Campground.

It being Sunday it was nice that the campground had cable so I could catch up on a little NFL while Janice cooked baby back ribs with roasted potato, carrot, red pepper, zucchini and spinach. Don’t be so judgmental. We did go for a walk and Janice got to watch the season premier of The Amazing Race.

They don’t sell liquor in Connecticut on Sundays!

Cape Cod...

We decided to see Gloucester, north of Salem where The Perfect Storm was filmed, before we headed for Cape Cod, but we got lost on a dead end beach road where we found ourselves at Manchester By The Sea, so we stopped there and had lunch, deciding to abandon the idea of Gloucester.

Pictured below is the beach at Manchester By The Sea where we ended up for lunch.







Taking the I-95 South, avoiding Boston, we ended up at Scusset Beach State Park where we had a long walk on the beach, but the wind blew so hard all night it was hard to sleep so we decided to head a little further south, from where we could easily do two separate driving loops of Cape Cod.

Pictured below: A fisherman casts for Striped Bass at Scusset Beach State Park.






We found a campsite at Dunroamin' RV Park at Sandwich, a very well preserved and stately little town that was the first settled in Cape Cod. If it had still been summer this would be an ideal RV spot because it's a huge property with a beautiful sandy beach on the lake.

We drove the loop around the southern portion of The Cape, the part that the Rand McNally Road Atlas displays it's red ribbon on, signafying The Best of The Best of scenic drives. Not. Hyannis was a highlight but the rest was just OK. Its not the first time we've been fooled by Rand McNally recommendations.

Back at camp, the laundry spun as we had dinner outside. It was dark but balmy - so much so that the crickets were still doing there thing. We feasted on another of Janice's wonderful culinary delights:
Thai Cucumber and Radish Salad. One of the freshest tastes you can get for summer, but it'll do in any other season too.
Dice some radishes and cucumbers, finely chopped basil, some good rice vinegar, sugar and light oil. Roughly three vinegar, two sugar and one oil - so that it's sweet, but tangy, with just enough oil to make the other stuff stick.
Thai Chicken Patties: Ground chicken, fish sauce, cilantro, garlic, a little bit of finely chopped jalapeno and some ground black pepper. Janice tells me there's no way she can give you measurements on this, its all to taste. Mix it all together, make into small patties and fry.
We had some fancy artcichoke/spinach dip with it but it's just as good if you just lightly grill some Naan Bread in the same frying pan you did the chicken patties in.

Pictured below: The beach just south of Hyannis and the port at Hyannis, which is different than Hyannis Port - for that a ferry ride is required.










We woke to a beautiful sunny day and drove the eastern loop of Cape Cod. It's kind of like a fifty mile drive along Marine Drive in West Vancouver, except almost all the houses have shake exteriors. These Cape Codders, or Codders, or Capers or whatever you call them, are kind of crafty when it comes to the beaches. They don't have signs to them and the scenic highway doesn't always follow the waterline so we had to be vigilant about watching for street signs that might give them away. Like Breakwater Street in Brewster, which we found lead to, of all things, Breakwater Beach.

Janice had planned to have leftovers from last night's meal, but with a twist. She put the leftovers in tinfoil and was going to heat them on top of the truck's engine while we took a walk on the beach. Trouble was, the engine put out hardly any heat, so we ate them barely warm, which was good too.

Pictured below is the beach at Brewster, some historical buildings that had been moved to Brewster Park, and a fall scene which is fairly common throughout New England at this time of year.










We drove to Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod and strolled around, trying to avoid the main street which is crowded with tourists even now in the off season. Provincetown is as pretty as any other, but crowded with tourists, many of whom are young men that often appear to be a little light in the loafers.

Pictured below is a view of Provincetown from a slight elevation, the monument to the Pilgrams, where Janice blew by the admission gate. I followed and pointed out to her that we had just sneaked in. She claimed the $7 entry fee was to climb the tower. I pointed out to her on the way out that it was a general admission. She was only slightly embarrassed as we hurriedly walked to the truck. Also pictured are the busy main street and the port.










What's the only thing more common to New England than Wild Turkeys? TD Banks. Yes, they completely dominate the marketplace in all of the New England States. As a matter of fact it's rare to see any other bank. I can't imagine that they're Canadian owned. There's no way these rich Yankees are going to let a Canadian bank have all their money.

Today is cloudy and we've had enough little tourist towns for the time being so we're going to skip the ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard and head for Rhode Island instead.

Witches, “Chowdah” and uncontrolled giggles…

At York Harbor we decided we were close enough that we wanted to see Kennebunkport, where George and Barbara Bush live. Everybody we’ve asked described the Bush’s place there as one of the most impressive pieces of real estate on the east coast. When we got there though, it being Sunday around noon, streets were crowded with tourists and the area was generally not very RV friendly. Instead of fighting it we continued inland instead to Kennebunk, where we had a rare restaurant lunch before hitting the interstate towards Boston. In a little over an hour we had passed from Maine through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts, paying two tolls along the way.

You gotta’ love Goggle. At 8:30 in the morning we had no idea about how we were going to approach Boston. Half an hour later we had a spot reserved and an address for Winter Island Park in Salem, Massachusetts - the ideal location for any RV’r looking to see the big city without trying to drag their RV through the inner city traffic. We plugged the address into the GPS and relaxed. Winter Island Park is ideal because, just a mile away from our campsite is the Salem Ferry, which deposits passengers right at the foot of everything that most people want to see in Boston. The ferry ride is about an hour long and costs just under twenty dollars a person, return.

In the afternoon when we got to Salem we toured the town by bicycle, picking up some wine. In the 1700’s there were eighteen women hanged under suspicion for being witches in Salem. One man was executed for the same reason but he was stoned to death - by placing large rocks on him until he was suffocated, or crushed, whichever came first.

Pictured is Tim buying some wine from the store that the late Dave Jenneson (Big D) would have loved to get his hands on. Also pictured is an on old sailing ship at Salem - lots of things look spooky at Salem.



The next day we walked to the ferry and took the 11am crossing to Boston. The ride provides spectacular views of Boston from the water punctuated by frequent large aircraft coming and going from the airport. Starting at the wharf, we decided on hoofing the Freedom Trail which is a three-mile route each way, marked by red paint, that takes walkers to the most significant architectural and historical landmarks in Boston, from Boston Common to Bunker Hill.

Somewhat to our surprise, we found people very approachable, interested/ing and even friendly. Boston is the home of Harvard, Cambridge, North Eastern, Boston College, MIT and a few other lesser colleges. It’s a vibrant, lively, attractive city, packed with history.

Pictured are the Boston waterfront, the Oyster House Bar which has been there for hundreds of years, and the place where we had some “Chowdah”. Also pictured are one of the fountains at Boston Common and another shot of downtown.






On the ferry ride back, due to brisk winds and an outgoing tide, the almost fearless Janice got the giggles. The more the boat rocked and bucked the more frequent and louder the giggling got. It was infectious. Soon I was starting to get them and another woman ahead of us started giggling as well. It turned out she was a lawyer, commuting with her fold-up bike to Salem. When I quipped something about Boston Legal she admitted to that actually being her nickname.

By the time we walked home from the ferry we had put on ten or more miles so we took it easy, lounging around the waterfront at our park.

Pictured are the Salem Harbor at Winter Park and us posing after a long day.



Today is another sunny day and we’re bound for Cape Cod…