Sunday, September 14, 2008

Leaving New England, heading for western PA then Philly & DC

14 September 2008: Long time since last blog entry. Sorry. We've been traveling a lot across country seeing the sights in New England and visiting friends in New Hampshire and Maine. Unfortunately plans for today (outdoor people watching at Harvard Square) are washed out by light rain, so we will pack up and head towards Hartford, perhaps by going northwest on route 2 out of Boston.

13 Sep: Maine was a favorite state. The Harraseeket Hotel in Freeport was terrific - too bad my cardboard & styrofoam diet didn't allow me to pig out on all the goodies at the breakfast buffet. Still, it was the best buffet we have enjoyed so far. The drive down I-95 and I-93 to Boston was pleasant and scenic. Traffic and navigation were easy until exiting onto Sorrow Drive - good thing that I had an inkling about Boston streets. Parking wasn't bad although we had to feed the "meter"every two hours after first learning the new system. We spent the day at the New England Historic Genealogical Society on Newberry Street. People watching was great from restaurant tables clogging the sidewalks. Amazing numbers of people. The Mass Pike toll at Brighton was $1.25 - vastly different than the 0.25 I remembered last. After five PM we walked the entire circuit around Fresh Pond and managed to miss Richard. Fortunately he called at 7 pm and we enjoyed dinner together at Greg's Italian restaurant nearby. Good news is that my knee tolerated the walk well. Richard's "best" pictures are marvelous - on the web at Flickr. The Hampton Inn at Woburn was 1/3rd the price of the one in Cambridge, so here we are.


12 Sep: Fresh lobster at Young's dockhouse in Belfast was a terrific experience. Best highlight of the trip to date was watching Peter (Steve & Sheri's 8th grader) finish second in his first cross country race of the year.