Day 9: A full day of Boston

[517] Today we started with walking the Freedom Trail.  It was such a beautiful day to be out.  There were also many groups of kids on thier end-of-year field trips.[548] [553]  The girls actually took the time to walk through most sites and read plaques (or mom/dad would read from the guide).[514]

[545]We found an open market and stopped for a fresh fruit break.  [538] There was also this very large maccaroni...

[565]We stopped at the USS Constitution and USS Young.  [569] The ship tours were not running but both were open for self-guided tours.  We spent time on both though and learned a bit history as well.

Fom there we were to the Science Center. [582] It had many hands-on exhibits, sort of like the St Louis Science Center. It also had movies, I Max, and shows. [585] We watched an interesting one on lightning.  Amanda volunteered and had fun getting her hair scattered all over the place. [588] Both kids, actually all four of us, had a good time reading all the information and play with all the exhibits.

The night ended with Pizza from Upper Crust.  It was a cool walk home as storms are now moving into the area.

Here's to clear weather on our way home tomorrow.  Our internet at the hotel is horrible.  I will add photos when I can.

Day 8: Whales, water, and Exploring Boston

Since it was going to be such a nice day we decided to try our luck at Whale watching. We booked tickets on a large catamaran which got out to the whale area faster than any other ship. The ride was uneventful but shortly after we arrove a pod of whales appeared.  We had 4 whales together swimming near the ship for the hour we were there.

When we got back we went right over to the New England aquarium.  We had a quick bite in the cafe and then went to see the sights.
It is a nice facility and the center piece, a 5 story fish tank, was impressive.  Everyone just spent time looking in the huge tank.
It was almost rush hour and everyone needed a break so we headed back to the hotel.  Kasey is getting better with reading maps and dealing with public transportation.

After we decided to do a walk in the South Neighborhhod and look for a place to eat.  The book we brought had good recommendations for both. We ended the night at the Prudential Center.

Day 7: Transfer to Boston

We packed up the SUV and headed to the Cape Cod Chip Factory.  It was a bust.   It was self guided, you read plaques, and you looked in windows.  The best part of the tour was the samples at the end.

From there we decided to try Plymouth.  We stopped at Plymouth Plantation but didn't feel it was justified as far as a stop/interesting would go.  We went instead to Plymouth.

We stopped, of course, at the rock.   We also took a tour of the Mayflower II. Tom, the local interpreter, was interesting and we learned a bit about sailing a ship like the MayFlower back in the day. From there we wandered the very touristy streets.  Checked out a few stores and ate lunch.  Off to Boston.

Vince dropped Theresa and the girls off at the hotel and went and returned the car.  While he did that Theresa and the girls did some local, around the hotel, sight seeing.

When the family got together we decided to head off to Harvard.  We walked a bit of the campus, hit the co-op, and even the book store where they have a printing-on-demand machine. We ended the night having Mexican in Harvard Square and finishing it off with desert from a local coffee shop.

Day 6: Cape Cod Pennisula

With the forecast for rain and/or fog we decided to not order tickets to go whale watching.  We hit the trail here, CCRT or Cape Cod Rail Trail.  We got some good bikes, helmets, and directions and hit the trail.

The trail was flat and unoccupied.  Apparently everyone rode over the long weekend so we had the trail more or less all to our own.

 We headed south for about 9 miles.  Stopped at a little local place for food then headed back up. We had to stop at the shop for Kasey's bike was not shifting gears.

After a quick bike exchange we headed over to the National seashore park.  It was just 3.2 miles to the shore.  Kasey and Dad headed to the shore to see what we could which wasn't much.  So we loaded up and returned the bikes,  All in all about 23 miles of trails.

We decided to head up to Provincetown to see the sites.  One side trip was the historic Marconi Station.  It was super foggy there.  Not much to see as the ocean has reclaimed most of the site.

Provincetown was super touristy but not crowded.  We checked out the pier and a few shops.  We ended the day driving through the dunes north of the town.  Then back to the hotel we went.

The full size photos here.

Day 5: Heading to Cape Cod, Witch way?

Our plan was to end in Cape Cod.  Theresa found a nice mid point to take a break - Salem.  We stopped there to take in more history though only enough as the kids could absorb in one day.

After checking in at the visitor center and getting the scoop on what to see and do we headed off to The House of the Seven Gables.   The home was unique and our guide good.  He brought the home and its history alive.  We also learned that the building labeled birth place of Nathaniel Hawthorne was actually just moved right next door in the late 90's.  Where it was originally was made into a parking lot.


We then headed out into the town stopping at the Witch House.  Home of the judge who proceeded over the trials.  We also followed the red line around town and saw a bit of early history.   

Kasey found a rather unique, over stuffed bookstore.  We did manage to find 2 books to buy.

The day ended with ice cream and a 2 hour drive to our hotel in Yarmouth. 

Again, all the photos can be found here.

Day 4: Change of venue in progress

We wrapped up the morning at Acadia, loaded the car and headed to the Puffin Visitor Center. Bad news for us, the center was closed.  It is normally open Wed-Sunday but THIS Sunday it was closed.  We ended up having lunch across the street at Rcok Cafe then on the road to where we planned on doing a Puffin Tour.

We had nearly three hours to kill so we headed to a local light house. We took the tour of the tower and the grounds.  It was a very nice way to wind down after a furstrating experience. 

The shoreline was very unique and we had a good time crawling all over the place.

We then loaded up the car and headed up to where were were going to do our Puffin Tour.

The Puffin Tour was very nice.  We had a great guide and a smooth sailing experience.  We saw a lot of different kids of birds, Puffins inlcuded, as well as a few Harbor Seals. 

We ended the day by eatng at Red's.  Turns out it was supposed to be one of the best places to eat on the coast and it lived up to the review.

All of the photos I couldn't post are here.  I have only uploaded about 1/4 of the shots we took.  Someday I will get the rest on line.

Day 3: We can see clearly now the fog is gone

We decided to hit some of the more unique views of the park today due to the fact the fog finall lifted and it was going to be our last full day.  Tomorrow morning we pack and hit the road.

Our first stop is known as Bubble Rock.  It is a huge granite boulder hanging on the edge of a cliff.  There were really two ways to get there.  One easier than the other going up.  We decided to take the easier route up then the more difficult part down.  The view from the top was awesome.  We could see the entire lake we hiked around as well as all the neighboring peaks.  The trip down was sometime a tight squeeze and other times just a scramble over boulders.  By the time we got to the bottom we were drenched in sweat and ready for lunch.

 

After snacking we drove toward Thunder Hole again.  This time taking in all the sights and stopping now and then.  We could have spent the entire day on the coast. 
We decided to hit the western side of Acadia as the Memorail Day crowd was a bit thick.  We found a few other good places to hike which also had great views.

Out last hike of the day was Ships Harbor.  It was flat but had interesting shore features. We stopped to listen at the waves pounding on the rocks, the ring of the bouy in the distance, and the caw of a seagull.

Kasey and I ended the day by catching the sunset at the top of Cadillac Mountian.  It was packed.  The weather was nice and the view was perfect.  A good way to end a good day.

Day 2: hiking, drving, and sightseeing of sorts

The day started the same way it did yesterday: foggy.  Our first stop was the visitor center.  There we got a park map and information about doing a cache hunt (Earth caching).  

Fom there we headed out to Jordon Pond.  We took the 3.2 hike around it.  The close views were great - could never see across the lake though.  Besides a lot of trees, Beaver's work, and ducks. 

After that, we stopped for lunch at Jordon Pond House for some local food.  We had our first Popover. 

The misting rain started made it tough to hike so we decided to do the Earth Cache adventure the park service had set up.  It had you go to places via GPS co-ordinates and get instructions to get to the next site.  It allowed us to drive all over the park and see - well, attempt to see some sights.  Amanda had a lot of fun on the top of Cadillac Mountian as it was windy and the clouds were covering everything. 

All in all the drive was OK, the side trips unique, and memories made.

There were so many photos I wanted to add but can't figure out how to do it nicely in

blogspot so you will have to go to flickr and see what was added to the slide show.

Day 1: Travel, purchases, and hike

We had a good evening at our hotel.  We ate breakfast, loaded the rental and hit the road.  The kids have been troopers loading, unloading, and drving.

Our first stop for the day was Freeport Maine.  Home of L.L. Bean Inc. as well as a few other stores.  We hit 3 of the four buildings on campus as well as outlet.  Amanda and Theresa found shoes (smaller than the one in the photo) as well as some clothing.  Amanda picked up a kite as well.  Fingers crossed for good weather some time during the trip.



There we a lot of places to choose from to shop and eat.  We ended up at Linda Bean's place and had our first lobster roll.  Everyone had a great lunch then it was time to hit the road.

The road trip was nice.  The scenery along the way was good once the fog lifted.  It was hard to have the camera at the ready all the time.

 Our hotel backs right up to Acadia National Park.  We stopped at a grocery store and bought stuff for dinner and lunch.  It was windy and cold and the fog was starting to roll in.  It was still low tide so you could walk from island to island.  No one was game this evening.  Amanda took a photo of the tide chart so we might just have to go back.

After dinner we stopped at an awesome candy store.  I had hot chocolate while all the girls had ice cream.  We then wandered around the town checking out stores and basically finishing daylight off.

Amanda and I took a short walk in the dark up into the park.  We found a stone bridge and decided to turn back before it got pitch black.

Back at the room we snacked on our chocolate truffles and played cards.  A good start to the trip!

Other photos can be found here. I will be adding all the trip photos there that are on the camera.  Eventually I'll figure out how to get my phone ones on here as well.

Longer than we had hoped travel day

Our flight was uneventful the adventure at Budget was the issue.  It took over an hour to get to the counter.  Once there they had to find a car for us (felt like we were living in a Seinfeld investigation).  Once they had the car, an upgrade cause they were out of what we had reserved, we had to wait for the XM radio.  30 minutes later we left without the radio - they didn't have one nor could they locate one.  We ended up paying $20 for nothing.  Time to write a letter to Budget.

And that caused us to have a very late, late dinner.  There was really nothing along the way (it was a nightmare getting out of Boston and on to I 95).  EVERYTHING around Wells, NH is closed.  We did find a Mobil On The Run.  Bought some items to chow down.  Had a small pizza, sandwich, cheese and crackers after 10PM. 

The hotel is nice but a little cramped for space.  Slow start this morning but the real adventure hopes to begin today!

T minus 1 and counting

You would think knowing when we are scheduled to leave we'd be more ready than we are.  Kudos to Theresa for itinerary she is making.  We had to get new luggage the other day.  Last major thing was scheduling a rental in the area.  Oh, where are we going? Acadia National Park, ME, Cap Cod MA, and Boston MA.  We will have a laptop so I will try to post something here each day.  Thanks also to one of my co-workers, Nancy P, for loaning us her Acadia travel book.