Bahston

Finally, Boston. Before leaving Columbus I did mountains of research on Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. I did no research on Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Well, I did some lighthouse research on these states, but that was all.

Luckily the hotel gave us our room early and we carted all our stuff to the room. When we checked in we asked for a map of Boston. We were given a booklet, a booklet that was useless. Shortly after Kim called. She was sightseeing and we tried to pinpoint a spot to meet. She kept saying that she was by Faneuil Hall. Well I still don't know how to pronounce that and with her accent I was lost. Finally we zeroed in on Quincy Market which I could find on my map. Next step was to find a stop for the rapid transit. The front desk, useless again, told us to walk to the bridge linking Cambridge to Boston and that there was a stop across the bridge. The bridge looked to us to be more than a mile up the road and pretty long. I deciphered the map in the booklet and found a stop. We put it into the GPS in the car, found it, parked walked to the stop. Funny story, I didn't know how to buy a ticket. Some kind passenger explained it to us and told us what stop to take. We're getting closer.

After we got off the stop we had no idea which way to walk and we disagreed on which way to start. By the time we found Quincy Market Kim had tired of waiting on us and needed some milk. I called her and after she coated her stomach with milk she came and found us. Shortly thereafter Ayak join us for a short tour of the area. He had to return to work to take some calls. I can't remember where we (Kim, Dbf and I) ate but we had a good meal and walked to the harbor. Kim was off to get a couple hours sleep before beginning her work for the Breast Cancer Walk.

The next day we had a bunch of touristy things to do including: Seeing the USS Constitution, Paul Revere's house, Bunker Hill, etc. We drove the car into town and had little problem parking or driving around.

The view of Boston from our hotel

room.

Next we're going to or through Rhode Island on the way to Dbf's favorite destination - a casino in Connecticut.

Maine is beautiful (and so is Tenorsaxy)

We arrived in Maine in time to sleep. The next day we headed out for Bar Harbor. We got onto the Acadia National Park drive and, quite honestly we were so tired of trees, we got back off. We drove in and out the jagged coast line which took much longer than I thought it would. We had lunch in Bass Harbor at the cutest restored building. There was also a hotel and we hoped to get a room at the Inn but it was sold out. I had to get in the water in Maine. It was overcast that day and the water was approximately 58 degrees.

We made our way back up the peninsula to the next location on my list. I wasn't feeling all that well this day. I had plans to meet Tenorsaxy for dinner later. I was glad I honored that commitment because we had a great dinner in a great restaurant in Camden. Dbf took our picture with his camera. Somehow he lost all his pictures from that day. Lesson learned - use my camera for important pictures.

Tensorsaxy is so cute! And quite adventurous to move to such a "wild" state. And she gave me a scrumptious jar of Wild Blueberry Jam. Such a thoughtful gesture.

We found a delightfully perfect room in Lincolnville, ME. It's called the Black Horse Inn. I highly recommend it to anyone who is traveling the ME coast. It was so homey. We stayed there two nights which removed the possibility of staying in southern coastal Maine or coastal New Hampshire (which was my first thought).

The second day in Maine we chased lighthouses until dark. We visited the Rockland, Owls Head, Pemaquid Point, Marshall Point Lighthouses. Driving down to these points also took more time than I imagined. We made quite a hike over rocks, etc. to get good pictures.

Another thing about coastal Maine. Since we arrived in Vermont we were out of civilization, as we know it. Arriving in Rockland, Maine we had a McDonalds, WallMart, a Timmies, and my Dbf's favorite TJMaxx. I bought an outfit at TJ's which I wore in the pictures with Weltek.

Off to Boston to meet Weltek and Ayak.

New Hampshire - we hardly got to know you

We left Vermont with the plan to rush to Mt. Washington before the rain came in. It was a beautiful day in Vermont. The closer we got to Mt. Washington the cloudier it was. As we were driving around the road we tried to guess if Mt. Washington was in the clouds or sun. When we first entered the gate it was partly sunny - yeah. As we drove the winding, narrow road and climbed higher it became cloudy. The road was originally built in the 1800's with little changes so it was very narrow. As we neared the top it actually hailed. We reached the top in a huge downpour. After a lung transplant for me (the steps to the facilities were steep and many), I looked in the gift shops and decided to have one of their famous hotdogs. As I finished eating I noticed the sun was out. We hurried out to climb and get pictures. It's true that the weather on Mt. Washington changes in seconds. It was partly sunny, raining, clouds on the ground and back again four or five times while we were up there. It is said you can see Maine and Vermont from up there. *sigh* this is what we saw. The rainbow was a plus.

Before we left Vermont, though, we found this wonderful old mill. And there was a craft type festival. I bought some Shaker boxes and a variety bread loaf that had Banana, Pumpkin, Blueberry, Pecan, and some others.

Next Maine and some sad news due to Dbf.

For Puffy

We left Friday after my rehab appt., around 1:00. We drove and drove and drove and decided to get a room. We stayed in New York, right across from the southern Vermont border. The weather forecast was for rain (New England had been and was predicted to still get rain). We woke up to a clear, beautiful morning so we hit Route 9 to Bennington and planned to drive up Route 100 which is a twisty, scenic route (one of the ten most scenic routes in the US) from southern to northern Vermont. We had lunch in Bennington at a cute local place and took some pictures with the street art.

My plans to travel Route 100 were ruined by rain. We decided to detour and see some covered bridges. Vermont has approximately 90 covered bridges still in use. Rivers in Vermont are not like the rivers in Ohio. Here they are so slow they are almost stagnant. I've never experience rivers that flow so fast. They were cold also. We climbed down river banks, over rocks in a contest to get the best pictures. The weather varied from overcast to light showers to occasional sun.

Exhausted and happy that the day wasn't a total wash out we found our hotel.

Saturday we traveled around the Lake Champlain area, visited Montpelier where they have artwork made from old bicycle parts around the city, chased more covered bridges:

and went to Vermont's famous:

It was sunny and beautiful!!!!

Next out short New Hampshire time.

I'm baaaaaaacck

Six states in nine days - three new peeps met with two missed - one small argument - one big argument which almost caused me to fly home - six covered bridges - five lighthouses - three casinos - six hotels - cold weather - cool weather - hot weather - sunny skies - cloudy skies - rain - standing in clouds - one unexpected live performance - ONE LUSH STORE.

That sums up my vacation except to say that I was extremely happy to meet, first TenorSaxy then Weltek and Ayak. Sorry to miss HD and Boo. HD was, again, probably entirely my fault with bad planning and Boo was again the fault of the airline and travel plans. I was fairly successful at the casino and came home with the cash I took with me. And I found out at 6:30 that Chris Rock was performing at the casino and was in my seat by 7:45. He's is amazing! At Lush I bought: Ultimate Shin bar shampoo, some solid conditioner, a candy bar bubble bath, and a show thingie. Dbf bought a massage bar and we got a free bomb.

A successful and enjoyable trip. I'll be in Chicago in 10 days. **hops**

pictures to come.