Series: New England

Boston, MA

Opened the curtains this morning and it’s raining! But it didn’t last and by the time we’d had breakfast the clouds had rolled away and the sun was peering through. Looks like New England is going to send us away in the sunshine.

Because our flight isn’t ’till teatime and Boston is only just over an hour’s drive north, we decided to head towards Plymouth and stop there for a wee while. It’s only a minor detour so Plymouth itself was reached mid-morning and we were parking up just a few hundred feet from the Mayflower II.

Mayflower II, if you don’t know, is a replica built in Devon in 1957 of the Pilgrim Father’s original ship, Mayflower, and sailed to the USA in a sirit of fraternity and whatnot. Of course no plans actually exist for the Mayflower, so Mayflower II is a guess as to what a typical boat of the time would look like.

Anyway, we went on board with about six trillion schoolkids doing penance and wandered round and listened to old salts telling us what life aboard ship was like, arrh. It was quite interesting really, I shouldn’t take the P. It was only $10 entry too, which is good value IMHO. I wouldn’t fancy crossing the Atlantic on it though!

Then we walked down the road and had a quick look at the Plymouth Rock, which is exactly what it says it is. A rock. In Plymouth. Legend has it this is where landfall was made by the pilgrims, but of course no-one can know if this is the actual rock or it was some other rock they bumped into (I mean, stepped upon). Still, if you’re going to venerate a rock, one rock is as good an any other rock, I guess. And it was a very nice rock, as rocks go.

So, rock duly venerated we wandered round Plymouth and partook of some refreshment in the sunshine before hitting the road for Boston and Logan Airport. I haven’t mentioned Emily for a while, since she has been fairly well behaved of late – presumably lulling us into a false sense of security for today. First she tried to take us down a closed road in Plymouth, then when we reached Boston she witted on about ‘keeping right’ for ages before suddenly announcing we needed to turn left, and leaving very little space to do so. Luckily we made it, or we might be in Maine again by now. Of course then we went through the Boston tunnels, at which Emily announced she had lost the satellites so was giving up. Luckily Logan is excellently signposted down there and we made it through without a mishap. By the time she came back we were just two turns form the rental returns place so all drama was over.

And that about wraps it up. Just the flight back to Heathrow and the shuttle to Manchester.

Provincetown, MA

Another fine, clear morning this morning, thank goodness, so it seems our last full day will be a nice one. All-in-all, you can’t really complain at two days of rain and one cloudy day in the eight we have been here so far!

A long trip planned today, all the way from Newport R.I. to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod and back again – over 200 miles as a round trip. However, it’s a good day for a trip to the seaside! It’s also somewhere I have always wanted to see.

The first 3/4 of the journey was spent on the interstates, so it was boring and fast. Even when we reached the Mid-Cape Highway, it was essentially like driving through a tunnel of trees for mile after mile. Considering the sea is on either side for quite a lot of the journey, it’s not until the very end that you actually get to see any of it. After a while, being fed up of trees, we turned off the Mid-Cape and headed towards the National Seashore (as the protected part is known) at Nauset Beach. There was a lighthouse and spectacular views along a very deserted beach for miles in either direction.

Heading back to the highway, we hadn’t gone very far when we spotted a milling of people and a sign ‘flea market’ so we quickly stopped. It seems that Sunday mornings are spent at car boot sales on both sides of the Atlantic! Tat was perused, tat wasn’t bought. So far, so Sunday normal. In fact no-one seemed to be putting their hands in their pockets much.

Curiosity satiated, we were back on the road for Provincetown, arriving just before lunch. The whole place was quite busy and finding parking was difficult, but because we’re hopeless at spotting signs we ended up parking separate from most other folks and for free too. A good result for an extra 5 mins walk.

Provincetown seems to be a lovely little, ‘boho’ town at the very end of the Cape, full of galleries and museums and shops selling very expensive tat to rich Bostonian holidaymakers. It had a very end of season feel to it and a few places were boarded up ready to resist the winter storms. I think the unseasonable warm weather and crowds of trippers had taken them a little by surprise. We spent the whole afternoon just looking round or sitting in the sun, and it was only when the afternoon wore on that we decided to run back to Newport for tea. Coming back was somehow quicker than going, even thought the traffic actually stopped in a few places on the highway due to the sheer volume of cars. However, they soon disappeared when the roads split for Boston in the North and the rest of us in the South.

I wouldn’t have minded more time to explore the Cape Cod region and do it more justice. A couple of weeks in the spring or late summer looking round the beaches, taking the ferries out to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, going on a whale watching trip or two, and poking round the little towns such as Hyannis and Woods Hole… sounds like it might be a plan for the future!

Newport, RI

Thank goodness, today dawned clear and sunny (if a little on the windy side) – hard to imagine where all that rain went. Still it was very welcome to be digging the sunglasses and short sleeves out once more.

We decided to make some tracks this morning heading south and get clear of Boston ASAP. The problem was everything electronic wanted to send us through Boston and we weren’t so keen on those city freeways. So I decided to stay on the I-95 which looped around Boston, much to the absolute annoyance of Emily, whom for a full 20 minutes tried to make me quit that interstate for the one of her choice. Eventually she gave in and despite all that stubbornness she added a mere 15 mins to our estimated time. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t avoid the Boston jams for 15 mins of free, clear driving.

To celebrate we stopped in a rest area that turned out to be our first McDonalds of the trip, though only for liquid refreshment. The car also partook of some premium unleaded – to fill a big SUV like ours from 1/4 a tank took $35 – not much more than 20 quid. No wonder they don’t mind 25mpg and no sign of any diesel.

Not much more than an hour later and we were pulling into the Sea Whale Motel in Newport, Rhode Island. I haven’t mentioned the other places we stayed because they were pretty much faceless, corporate hotel chains – pleasant enough, but the only way you could tell you’d changed hotels was the way the beds were positioned. The Sea Whale is a proper motel with the car right outside and an excellent view from our picture window over the Easton Pond.

But we didn’t hang about – just enough time to unload the car then back in to Newport town proper. It was packed. We were lucky to get a parking spot it was so busy. Turns out there’s a seafood festival this weekend plus the Newport marathon tomorrow and everyone is in town. No wonder our motel is full. But we strolled round a very pleasant Newport for a couple of hours, then headed out up the hill to take a look at the famous mansions and the clifftop walk. If you don’t know, Newport is where the likes of the Vanderbilts (and other New York and Boston money) built their holiday homes – in the shape of gigantic mansions perched on the clifftops. It was like Prestbury-on-sea! After a good nose round we headed home, with only a quick detour to Wendys for some tea. I wouldn’t bother normally, but it’s called Wendys – it’s compulsory for us to visit!

Portland, ME

Today has been, to borrow a phrase, wetter than an Otter’s pocket. It was forecast to be wet, but the ferocity of the rain has kinda taken everyone (including Maine-ers) by surprise. It has of course restricted our activities somewhat because who wants to go and stand in the rain? Still, we’ve been out all day even if it was mostly in the car.

The day started with a Howard Johnson’s continental breakfast – a bit more downmarket from the Hilton’s eggs Benedict the morning before. A heck of a lot cheaper too, and I am quite getting used to fruit loops 🙂 Before the traffic we were heading off out to Freeport to beat the crowds. Sid is no longer with us, he’s been banished for bad behaviour with a PIN number and replaced by Emily, a proper English girl. Sadly Emily seems to have come with a girl’s sense of direction as she tried to send us along closed slip roads to the I-295 and the like. She also got very stroppy when I missed a turn. Wimmen, eh?

Eventually we negotiated long enough with madam to set us on the right road and were quickly in Freeport, a mere 20 mins up the road. Not too soon either because the car parks were filling up. We dodged straight into the LL Bean store and spent a happy hour exploring. Sadly I am informed that you can pick up rifles and crossbows on X-ray machines at the airport. Ah well never mind.

We then did a bit of a whistle-stop tour of Freeport as neither of us partic like shopping, even at discount prices. A beverage later and I headed out on US-1 North into Maine. This road runs the length of the country, from Florida right up to the Canadian border in Maine, about 60 miles north of where we were. Our plan was just to head north a bit on US-1 and then east a bit and then come back, and that’s just what we did. Took the ME-27 right down a finger of land to the very end, with nothing between us and home but the Atlantic, then slowly back by a different road to US-1. By this time it was late afternoon and the rain was still hammering down so we repaired back to Portland and visited the Maine Mall.

I’ll quickly draw a veil over proceedings here, but suffice to say I visited the Apple store and my credit card took a severe beating. I guess I need to work extra, extra hard when I come home!

Tomorrow has forecast to be a lot dryer and even sunny with it. That’s good because we have a long hop south to Rhode Island. Emily has been given her instructions already, so here’s hoping she plays ball. Just in case I have all the maps downloaded, so we have a backup!

Portland, ME

As predicted as far back as last Sunday, there was rain when we woke up this morning. Ah well, it’s mid-October in New England – we’ve already had far better weather than we should have expected. We’d have been very lucky indeed not to have some rain at this time of year.

The plan today was to head for Portland, Maine, 150 miles eastwards on the Atlantic coast. The electronic suggestion was to take the interstates and make 250 miles out of it. Pah, we spit on your electronic brains (you wait, that’s gonna come back to haunt me). No, instead we will take the direct, scenic route over the White Mountains in New Hampshire along the Kancamagus Highway. I planned the route over the mountains in detail and then left it to the electronics to take us the last steady 60 miles across Maine to the hotel.

We left Burlington heading south on our old pal the I-89, but after 30 mins hooked a left towards Montpelier and Barre on the VT-302. Fairly standard fall scenery on this road for an hour or so until we crossed the border between Vermont and New Hampshire over the Connecticut River at Woodsville. It seemed a good time to stop for a drink, and would you know it but the first thing I see is a blessed quilt shop. A surprisingly short time later we were in Dunkin’ Donuts, having a drink with material buying done and dusted. Impressed.

From Woodsville it’s not far to the start of the Kancamagus Highway on NH-112. The way Americans talk about it is as if it’s some crazy switchback track over the mountains, but in fact it’s a nice, wide highway, albeit with the most kick-ass scenery you could imagine. Yes, the road does twist and turn a deal, but the speed limit is set at 45mph. I think back to similar mountain roads half the width in New Zealand with 100 km/h limits (and insane Kiwi drivers pushing that!). Sadly for us the very top sections of the highway were under the clouds, so the best views weren’t available. It was the same in the White Mountains last time I cam this way over a decade ago – I guess you have to drop lucky with the weather.

Eventually after o/d-ing on leaves, waterfalls and vistas, we’re down the other side of the mountains at the ski resort of Conway; time for a drink and to fire up the sat nav for a cruise to the coast. “Type in PIN number”, Sid tells us in his serious American accent. No worries, it’s on the rental agreement. Type it in. “PIN not accepted” Sid says. Try again. Same result. Hmmm, this is interesting – going to have to do things the old-fashioned way here. Lets try and figure out which of the four Conways we actually need to head for to get on the right road!

Well, we worked it out in the end, though the ME-302 seemed to go on forever and the rain has started up again for good measure. By the time we reached Portland the rush hour was in earnest, so there was a lot of wet commuters to contend with as well. Collapse into hotel and go for tea. Later WW called Budget Cars and they gave us a new PIN – seemed very surprised at the one we had on the agreement. Lets see if the dratted thing works tomorrow!

Burlington, VT

Down at the dockside for 9:30 this morning to catch the first Lake Champlain tour boat. It was quite a grey and cool start to the day as well so we were more wrapped up than we’ve been all holiday so far when we boarded the Spirit of Ethan Allen III – alas we were joined by a couple of coach parties of American geriatrics. Sigh; there’s nothing more depressing than a load of over-cheerful Yankee wrinklies first thing in the morning. When they started a sing-song on the middle deck I was close to testing the man overboard drill.

Anyway, the boat circled our part of the lake for an hour or so (it’s a seriously big lake) all the while with a running commentary about the history and background of the lakes, which at least shut the wrinklies up.

After a cup of coffee/chocolate on shore we hopped in the car with the plan of doing a tour of northern Vermont and the green mountains. No sat nav crutch for us today; instead proper maps and reading road signs for a 100-mile loop through prime Fall foliage country on back roads.

Free of the Burlington traffic on the VT-15 we headed for Cambridge and it was just outside Cambridge that we spotted our first covered bridge. There’s no signs for them and they are usually down side roads off the main road, so you have to have your wits about you and keep looking towards the river, which the main road parallels. You also have to hope theres somewhere to stop and look. North of Cambridge Junction on the VT-109 they came in quick succession, too many to stop for, and all the while with a backdrop of fabulous reds and yellows on the hills behind. After a while it becomes almost too much to take in, the colours are actually everywhere you look.

Mid-afternoon we stopped for a drink in an arty store in a small town called Enosburg Falls. It was like so many other small towns we’ve seen so far – most of the shops on the main street are either closed or thrift shops. It’s pretty obvious that there isn’t a deal of money about out here in the countryside. Also it’s strange to see signs for Canada and realise that the border with Quebec is just 10 miles away from here and that Montreal is not much more than an hour further than that.

From her we dropped out of the mountains back towards Lake Champlain and into farmland, with the colours falling away behind. Working on a tip-off (curses you Enosburg Falls coffee shop owner) we stopped a little further down the road in the larger town of St Albans, and sure enough next to the park there it was… the Forever Bloom Quilt Shop. Just before they closed over and hour later we headed back to the car and turned south once more for Burlington, a short blast down the I-89.

Burlington, VT

Well, we finally managed to quit Boston this morning and headed 215 miles North on the dreaded I-93 for Burlington, Vermont. The Boston beltway was disposed of with a lot less trouble than it could have done and traffic started to fall away as we left the city behind. The leaves also started to appear and within an hour we were in New Hampshire and all you could see were Fall colours. We certainly seem to have timed it right.

After an hour or so of driving, I pulled over into a rest stop near Hooksett between Manchester (no, not that one) and Concord so we could get a coffee (or a hot chocolate for some). Incentally, it was round here we passed two twin towns, one called Derry and the other Londonderry. It seems amusing even this far from the Troubles they can’t decide what the call the blessed place! Anyway, back to the rest stop: it was quite dinky and cute with the New Hampshire state liquor store seeming to be an irresistible draw for a lot of folks. Furtherest license plate belonged to a Arizona trucker – he must be 2000 miles from home. Anyway, beverages quaffed we were back on the I-93 and it wasn’t too long before the sat nav pushed us further West onto the I-89.

Our Ford Explorer car is typically American in build quality (i.e. very plastic) and has some definite odd quirks. It seems to be impossible to turn the lights off, even though there is an ‘off’ setting on the dash. They even stay on when the engine is off (only finally extinguishing when you lock the doors). The handbrake is foot operated (ok, they call it a parking brake) and I don’t think the engine is doing much better than about 25mpg, even with cruise control dialled in at the 65mph speed limit – ok, call it 75mph since everyone else seems to 🙂 Good job ‘gas’ is about 1/4 the UK price.

After a couple of hours we decided to quit the Interstate and take a look at the Vermont state capital, Montpelier. First job was finding parking. The place was packed with what turned out to be cars belonging to all the state employees. The Capitol itself is very imposing (seen it before, eh Pete?) but the rest of the ‘city’ is looking rather run down and seedy. A lot of vacant shops and a lot of others filled with charity and secondhand stuff. You kinda get a feel that the economy is not doing so well out here.

Anyway, after a bite we headed back on to the Interstate. I was sort of planning to run the last 30 miles into Burlington on Hwy-2 which parallels the I-89, however the sat nav (we have christened him ‘Sid’) was having none of that. Despite a fiddle, I couldn’t find the ‘don’t use the Interstate’ button, so we spent the next 30 miles at 75mph. Burlington came up pretty quick, and of course Sid decided that as our hotel was actually on Hwy-2, he better bring us back on to the road we had quit against my wishes half an hour earlier.

Our hotel here is the DoubleTree Hilton, which is actually in South Burlington, about 3 miles from the Lake Champlain. It’s a scarily big hotel, but we didn’t stop long before driving down to the lakeside. Parking is evil down here again, with all meters at the side of the road or paid parking lots. The wide open spaces and bountiful free parking of the Midwest are apparently not a feature of New England! We spent some time wandering along the waterfront and exploring the Burlington streets. The place is very full of students from the University of Vermont, which is actually located about 1/2 a mile from our hotel. After it began to get dark we headed back to University Mall for some tea (and where we also scored some cheap clobber in the Sears Dept Store sale). As of this moment tomorrow is undecided. Is it a trip out on Lake Champlain or is it a drive out to Ben & Jerrys ice cream factory?

Boston, MA

Another roasting day here in Boston and being the Columbus Day proper it’s been packed to the gills with both locals and tourists. A good part of me is glad to see the back of it tomorrow and hopefully heading someplace quieter. That’s if we can ever escape ‘cos the Boston roads are frankly horrendous – the drivers seem to combine completely rubbish driving ability with extreme impatience in the faults of others.

I’ve had good chance to observe this behaviour close at hand as we’ve spent a deal of the day on a trolleybus tour seeing all the sights that were a little too far away to reach yesterday. We started by being picked up outside the hotel before 9am and did the whole tour in the morning and even fitted in a harbour cruise before lunch. Because so much of the morning was sitting down, most of the pictures are taken from inside the trolleybus and lack the usual ‘finesse’ (ahem).

After dinner we got off the trolleybus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge over the river and took the MTA two stops to Harvard Square. I’ve been here once before many years ago, but not really looked round. Last time it was raining and was full of freshers’ parents bringing their children to college. This time it was boiling hot and full of tourists, but did get a chance to look round Harvard Yard and take tea in the Harvard Co-Op.

The MTA back to Andrew station where the hotel is was absolutely rammed with people – just like the London Underground on a bad day. Dunno whether it was working people returning home or what. Still, it’s been a busy day and I think it’s fair to say that Boston has been ‘done’.

Boston, MA

Today is gonna be a record-breaker, with the mercury set to top 90 degrees, (as the TV weatherman excitedly tells us). I think that means it’s going to be well hot. Anyway, breakfast despatched we caught the hotel shuttle to the Andrew MTA station and ‘rode the T’ four stops to Park Street at one corner of Boston Common. Ten minutes walk along Tremont and we were passing Kings Chapel, which is like very old in American terms, so we stopped and took a little look around. It was ok; quite interesting, but I have to admit the pews inside were the most comfy-looking pews I have ever seen. More like sofas – one slightly boring sermon on a Sunday like today and half the congregation will be asleep.

Another 10 mins brought us to our first real destination – Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. These are the original meeting halls for the city of Boston. Took a look inside Faneuil (which is restored to both its original purpose and glory) and then strolled around Quincy – which is a vast market and food hall. There were lots of ‘treasures’ to poke and examine and yes, already a couple Xmas presses are crossed off the list. There were lots of buskers and entertainers, some of whom were actually funny. We watched and were amused by a knife and chainsaw juggler calling himself the Street Daredevil for quite some time – he was so good even Wendy was keen to tip him.

After some lunch we continued walking to Columbus Park which was supposed to be the start point for today’s Columbus Day parade (even though Columbus Day is technically tomorrow). Sure enough various marching bands were tuning up, sundry majorettes were practicing twirling their batons and assorted members of the armed forces were admiring the majorettes. After what seemed a serious amount of chaos, the parade got under way. Getting everyone despatched took well over an hour and it was great watching them go – they take it so seriously and every High School seems to have a marching band. Highlight of the lot for me was the Alleppo Shriners, who are appear to be a) an organisation similar in philosophy to the Masons, and b) mad as a bag of ferrets. They had loads of different things in the parade, including miniature trucks they drove round like dervishes and a couple of tiny fire engines with ladders that would struggle to reach a ground floor window. The fact they all wore a Tommy Cooper fez was just the icing on the cake for me.

By this time the temperature really was getting up to 30 degrees (that’s degrees Celsius, in real money) so a cold drink break was in order. Up past the new City Hall they were filming an action movie – apparently it’s going to be called ‘R.I.P.D’ and stars Ryan Renolds and Jeff Bridges, though didn’t catch a sight of either of them. We continued up to Boston Common for another historical ramble.

Facts I learned about Boston Common: 1. It’s a nice big park with a frog pond and a bandstand. 2. Er, it’s historical, something to do with Paul Revere and the War of Independence and things. 3. That’s it.

There’s lots of statues and plaques and stuff of course, but who can be mithered to read all that? It’s knee-deep in ‘militiamen’ and ladies in bonnets leading groups of eager Japanese and talking about ‘The shot that was heard round the world’ and all that shizzle. Meanwhile we just emulated the real Bostoninans and kicked back and enjoyed the late afternoon sun.

As the day drew on we packed up and rode the T back to Andrew and the hotel. A good day. A hot day. Tomorrow looks like it’s going to continue!

Boston, MA

..time to collapse. Or so it feels like after a very tedious flight. The first hurdle was US Immigration and the dreaded ‘Stand Behind The Yellow Line’. The queue that greeted felt like a confirmation of all our fears – there was an Air France flight from Paris in at the same time. The last time I saw a queue that long was for the Tutenkamen exhibition at the British Museum! However when we finally reached the front of the queue the immigration officer was obviously not properly trained because he was cheerful, chatty and friendly – just like the one that let us into San Fran two years ago. They’re going to lose their reputation if they keep this up! From baggage reclaim to the unseasonable blazing heatwave of Boston and the Budget Car courtesy bus. Once more they were cheerful and friendly and packed me off to my bright red Ford Escape SUV in a scarily short time.

The drive from airport to hotel was… interesting. It’s only a handful of miles and most of it’s on the I-93 and a fair bit of it is underneath Boston Harbour where the satnav shrugs and says ‘no signal’. With a six-lane freeway and what seems like random freeway exit numbers, the 15 min journey felt a bit like a videogame, but luckily one that spat us out at the Holiday Inn with no wrong turns and no more drama than a mild coronary. The hotel at least made us welcome, so thankful for that. Time to kick back on the patio ‘cos it’s all go again tomorrow.