Boston and Hannah Dustin

May 21, 2011

The Haymarket, the ultimate in farmers' markets!

We were in Boston (henceforth, BOS—I find it so much easier to use the airline abbreviations for the various cities!) for three days. Well, “in BOS” is a teeny tiny exaggeration: we were actually in Revere, MA. For reasons that escape me completely at this point, I chose a Marriott in Revere. Revere is about 10 miles north of BOS but it is actually in a whole ‘nother universe. It’s on a divided highway that does not have exits and entrances but rather escapes and I-dare-you-to-try-and-enter-this-highway-in-front-of-me openings in the BOS-driver traffic. To go south you have to go north.

Paul Revere in front of the Old North Church

The lunch crowd in front of Faneul Hall

Anyway, the weather has cooperated more or less and we had a wonderful dinner well south of Revere in Attleboro, MA. The dinner was wonderful, traveling with Randy in the Friday rush hour traffic from Revere (have I mentioned that we stayed in Revere?) south THROUGH BOS in Friday afternoon traffic to Attleboro was not fun. Anyway, dinner with Jilly—the Graduate, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa!—was awesome. Really nice to see some relatives we haven’t seen for a while and especially nice to do it while eating the most awesome tenderloin I have ever had. Yes, the most awesome tenderloin ever.

Independence was announced here!

Benjamin Franklin

Saturday we bagged the graduation (sorry, Jilly!) and took the T (Metropolitan Transit Authority). We got a Charlie Card—yes, thanks to the Kingston Trio’s “Charlie on the MTA” (and yes, I know I said the Limelighters, but I’ve learned it was more the Kingston Trio) the transit cards are called Charlie Cards—and headed for the city even though the weather wasn’t the greatest. But it turned out to be a fabulous day: warm, sunny, beautiful! We walked the Freedom Trail, wandered through many burying grounds (otherwise known as cemeteries in the rest of the world), had a lunch next to Faneul Hall. It was cool to have the BOS free WiFi and be able to send a picture to Kathy of Randy having a beer at McCormick & Schmick’s; she and Ken ate at the same place about 15 years ago! How cool is that?!

I ran out of energy and enthusiasm at about 11,000 steps on the Freedom Trail so we went back to the hotel and later had a totally unmemorable dinner. 

May 22, 2011

Hannah and her great-great-great-great-great-great-grand-daughter

Today was not as beautiful a day but right now any day that isn’t raining is a good day! We went on a driving tour of some of the towns north of BOS, notably Haverhill (everything here is pronounced weirdly: Haverhill is HAY-ver-ill) because I wanted to find the statue of Hannah Dustin.

Hannah Dustin (or Duston)

WHO? Hannah Dustin (or Duston) was a woman in colonial America who, along with her maid and infant Martha (who was less than a week old) were captured by Indians. Somewhere along the way she killed her captors (who had killed her baby, probably really pissing her off) and scalped them. She brought the scalps back to her town as proof of the attack to warn the inhabitants thus becoming a heroine to the entire town. There are several statues of her in New England, one even shows her with the scalps. I care because I have always been told that I am related to her and my cousin Daniel has done the research showing that she is my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother—I think I counted all those generations correctly! So that was really cool to see her statue. I have a beautiful handprinted book (it’s huge, about 18” by 24”) with four different authors’ versions of the Hannah Dustin Story. Not having the book in front of me, I can only remember that Cotton Mather was one of the writers. I think Ralph Waldo Emerson was another. Emerson would make sense, as Hannah's maiden name was Emerson.

Once I had satisfied myself about Hannah we set off to see other things and, of course, find a great place for lunch! Lunch was fabulous at Joseph’s Trattoria Bakery and Café. They even had fresh pasta and sauces and bread to bring home for dinner. Nevermind that we were staying at a hotel, our room had a refrigerator so we bought our dinner for the NEXT night, in Lincoln, NH!

I don’t think I mentioned that Randy lost his camera somewhere north of DC. We bought him a new one at a Costco and he almost lost THAT one when he left it on the hood of the car. I just can’t take him anywhere!

Off we went to Salem to visit the witches. Other than having a hard time finding our way around, even with the GPS, Salem was sort of a bust. Lots of witchy stuff, lots of schlocky stuff, and the House of the Seven Gables. Now I’m going to read the book since I’ve seen the house. Maybe it’s free on Kindle?

We found some sunlight but we had to leave the country to do it!

May 18, 2011

In Québec, note the dog riding in the carriage!

We made the right decision to drive two hours to Québec! It was actually sunny there. The sun came out just about the time we crossed the border. Of course that was only after the Canadians decided that we must be terrorists or criminals or smugglers or some combination of those. The young woman who initially questioned us asked a lot of questions, including whether we were bringing in any weapons or ammunition or mace or stun guns or knives, all of which are illegal in Canada. We told her no and she asked if we owned any guns—why on earth she asked that I don’t know but we tend to answer what we’re asked at the border. 

When we told her no she acted VERY surprised and said something like, “You don’t?” Is it because we came from Arizona? because we’re Americans? because we have an SUV? because she has PMS?

Other than that, she gave no inkling that she suspected us of nefarious dealings until she gave us our passports and a piece of yellow paper and told us to park in the next bay and give the extra piece of paper to the man who came out.

He came out, along with another man. They made us stand outside in front of the car—they were very specific because, they said, they wanted to know where we were at all times—while they proceeded to do everything but take the car physically apart. They poked and removed and peered with a flashlight and opened doors and took stuff out of the car. They moved the seats and opened compartments we didn’t even know we had. (They didn’t, however, find Randy’s missing camera.) Then we were brought inside and told to sit and wait while they—I’m not kidding, this is a quote: “check on our criminality.” Finally, he gave us our passports and said we “were free to go.” Welcome to Canada. I think, that since we were the only people anywhere around (we saw almost no cars on the road to the border), that they needed practice on searching. Who knows? It was an interesting experience. Thank goodness it was only interesting and not scary.

Panorama of Québec including Chateau Frontenac on the right

On to Québec and the beautiful sight of SUNLIGHT! There is a beautiful bridge over the Fleuve St. Laurens and there is NO TOLL! What a concept! Especially since we had no Canadian money and hadn’t a clue whether they would accept American dollars. We had visions of a huge backup behind us because we couldn’t pay the toll.

The entrance to what was once the tallest building in Québec

This building caused Québec to change the building height regulations

One of the beautiful cathedrals

Colorful street in Québec

One of the oldest buildings in Québec, now a restaurant

Another view of Aux Anciens Canadiens

The ramparts and Chateau Frontenac

 With some difficulty we found the Tourist Information and found where to park in the old part of Québec. After maneuvering around many many more blocks than we needed to to find the parking, we managed to shoehorn our car into a very tiny space. We got the space because a minivan in front of us tried and couldn’t get into the space! We also noted that the parking garage charged by the minute so we knew we might have to get a loan to leave the garage.

On to the walking tour of old Québec. We walked a bit of the Citadel, the largest fortification in North America garrisoned by regular troops. I’m not exactly sure what that means but they seem to be very proud of that. I guess it depends on your definition of “fortification” since many of our military bases are huge and the Citadel could fit within just a few blocks.

We adjourned to the Fairmont le Château Frontenac’s Terrace Bar & Grill for lunch. Although at these prices it should have a much grander name—like perhaps “Dinner”. Great atmosphere, average food, but enjoyable none the less especially because it was so evocative for Randy. He has great memories of the trip his grandparents took him on: they stayed at Château Frontenac in Québec and in the Manor Richlieu (doesn’t seem to still exist) in Montreal, took a boat up the St. Laurence, and did a bunch of other things.

Once we were sated, off we went to continue with the rest of the walking tour of Old Québec. Lots of old houses and churches and offices, colorful roofs, horse drawn carriages, and the currently-being-refurbished Hôtel-de-Ville, or City Hall. As our guidebook says, “The style is difficult to determine, though Victorian, neo-Gothic Château, American Romanesque Revival, and Classic elements can be seen.” Indeed! Couple that with the fact that about 60% of the building is wrapped in white plastic sheeting covered with gaudy art and you have a building that is truly indescribable. 

We wandered about the city for a few hours, racking up many, many steps on my pedometer, mostly just looking at the outsides of the many pretty buildings and along the way doing some people watching in the parks. Québec is definitely a place I would like to come back to and spend more time. Having only a few hours meant that we didn’t go into any museums, or the aquarium, or historical monuments. We just looked.

Pam, with Chateau Frontenac in the background

Going back, guess what, as we approached the border, it started raining again. Our passage through customs/immigration on the American side was way better than our experience in the morning. He looked at our passports, checked in the computer, asked a couple of questions and sent us on our way.

It’s so good to be back in the US, rain or no rain! Now on to packing everything up for the trip to Boston.

Musings in the rain

Our cabin (the one farthest away) in the ever-present rain.

Our deck in the (what else?) rain.

It has now been four, yes FOUR, days of rain and no letup in sight. I even imagine the graduation in Boston will be moved indoors on Saturday, four days from now. That will put a crimp on the number of people who can go, but Randy and I have planned on seeing the graduate, his cousin Jilly, at dinner on both Friday and Sunday nights so we weren’t going to be filling any seats at graduation. We don’t get to Boston all that often so we want to make the most of visiting the city.

Randy in one of the comfy rockers.

We’re here in Jackman, ME, in a very nice timeshare, a three-bedroom cabin so nice that we would gladly move it to the site of our cabin at Mt. Lemmon. You’d think we’d be happy to while away the hours of rain right here in this beautiful cabin. We were. At first.

Day one, Saturday, we arrived in the rain and it took us an hour or so to unpack and light the fire in the fireplace (gas), sit down and enjoy the beautiful cabin. We felt so lucky to have such a beautiful, if temporary, home.

Day two, Sunday, we sat and read, and played cards, and tried backgammon, and played cards, and read, and played cards, and watched golf. Now you know I’m bored when I willingly sit and watch a golf match. And even think it’s exciting.

Day three, Monday, we started to snarl at each other. I complained about the newspaper, the Bangor Daily News. Randy beat me at backgammon and I refused to play with him anymore. I started doing needlepoint again—another indication that I am completely and utterly bored.

The cabin kitchen

Day four, Tuesday, Randy is starting to have a relationship with the woman who sells the wonderful Bangor Daily News at the gas station down the road. She recognizes him—I imagine that’s pretty easy when the town is as small as it is and there aren’t many visitors around. We’re still able to play cribbage without killing each other.

We went to lunch at the Four Seasons Restaurant in town. We were just about the only people in there; one other couple who left as we arrived and a guy reading the paper at the counter. That’s it in an hour. The food was pretty good, however.

Living room

We HAVE to get out of here so tomorrow we’re going to Quebec for the day. We don’t know what the weather there is like because the weather stations all seem to think that the weather stops at the border, but it can’t be any worse than it is here. Besides, Randy hasn’t been to Quebec since his grandparents took him there when he was about 12 and I have never been there. Should take us about two hours to get there. I hope it’s not raining.

All this time sitting indoors in the rain has given me time to think about various happenings on our trip: Why is there a 35% tax on alcoholic drinks in Arkansas?  35%!!!??? If you are a marathoner, why do you want to put a decal on your vehicle that says you’re a marathoner (an oval decal that just has 26.2 on it)? Shouldn’t you put that on your shoes? How can a martini be made of Capt. Morgan Parrot Bay Mango rum, Peach Schnapps, Cointreau, and pineapple and cranberry juices? What part of “martini” don’t they understand? Did you know that the first Father’s Day was celebrated in the same town where MaryLou Retton was born, Fairmont, VA? Is there a connection?

You can tell I’ve been cooped up too long.

Master bedroom

The story of our trip, it (whatever "it" is) will open "later."

Rain, rain, go away!

May 15, 2011  in Jackman, ME

(As an aside, I am having great problems uploading my pictures; thus, no pictures yet in this blog. I'll keep trying. Must be because of the rain!)

We’ve used up all our luck with weather! After a few more days in the Berkshires and sunshine, we have travelled to our next timeshare in Jackman (WHERE?) Maine. It started raining Saturday and has continued today, Sunday, and is expected to continue for the remainder of the week we are spending in Jackman.  But before I talk about Jackman, let me tell about our last couple of days in the Berkshires.

On the 13^th we already knew that our time in Jackman would be rain-filled so we looked for stores that would sell games for us to play to while away the time. There actually are several including one called Let’s Play A Game and another called Persnickety. LPAG wasn’t open and had no information whatsoever on its door as to when it might be open and the other mostly sold games like CandyLand. It did have a backgammon game so we were partially able to buy locally. We headed for the local Walmart that sold games like Dominoes and Scrabble. Thus fortified for the coming rain-enforced isolation, we ventured out to conquer more hills and falls.

The remaining falls in the immediate area is Waconah Falls. (An aside here: without any of my grammar and language books at hand, I am trying to figure out if one river falling over the edge is a fall or falls? The name is Waconah FallS but it IS just one river falling over one edge. I worry about things like that.) A rather small fall, it has the not so great distinction of being overrun with mosquitoes. Have I mentioned how much I HATE mosquitoes? Needless to say, I did not want to linger long among the fauna of the itch-instigating kind.

As we drive about Massachusetts I’ve noticed that the powers that be do seem to care about the well-being of the construction workers. There doesn’t seem to be a public works program that is too small to have a policeman protecting the workers. There was one job where the policeman (dressed in fluorescent orange) actually walked right with the construction worker (dressed in fluorescent orange) as he crossed the street, presumably to keep the crazy drivers from mowing him down as he did his job.

We will be leaving our “home,” the Ponds at Foxhollow, tomorrow and so have to pack the car. I know we will be gone for about two months, but the sheer volume of stuff we have brought is amazing, even to me. We seem to have lost the knack we used to have of travelling light! I was proud of the fact that Randy & I flew around the world using just a carry-on bag each. And we took our children on a trip to Hong Kong in the summer followed by Australia/New Zealand in the winter. We each had ONE carry-on bag. So how did we degenerate to expanding our luggage to fill the available space?

On Saturday, the 14^th, we were packed up and heading north in the it’s-not-raining-yet-but-we-know-it-will weather. This was our longest day since we arrived in Washington, about 390 miles from Lenox to Jackman. The rain held off until we were about 50 miles from Jackman and even then it didn’t pour down, just drizzle, drizzle, drizzle.

We are at the InnSeason Mountainview resort and it is one of the nicest we have ever stayed at. There are some hotel rooms but we are in a three-bedroom log cabin with all the amenities including a Jacuzzi tub and a gas fireplace. The kitchen is fully stocked, the tvs are a nice size, the sofas are comfortable, lots of windows (haven’t seen any moose yet, however). I think it could sleep 10 using the sofas in the loft and the living room. About the only negative I can come up with is that it doesn’t have internet access at the cabin (they do have it at the main lodge, however).

For the next few days we will watch tv, play cards or backgammon, read, write, balance the checkbook, and… I think it is a beautiful area but the clouds are so low we can’t see much at all. We’ll be in a timeshare about 75 miles away in Greenville, ME, in about two and a half weeks. I hope the weather will be better by then! 

Jackman is pretty small, population 818 in 2010, but it has the necessities: a grocery store, several bars, gas stations, etc. Randy went out this morning (Sunday, May 15, 2011) to find a Sunday newspaper and succeeded in getting the Bangor paper. He asked about other papers and the shopkeeper said they used to get USAToday but it was always a day late so they called it USAYesterday. No Sunday New York Times!

We also found a funny typo—at least I hope it’s a typo—that said we could go river rafting “in the summer month.”

Rain, rain, go away! Come again some other day!

Our anniverary

Our anniverary


I'll start at the end of the day: a wonderful dinner at Perigee in Lee, Massachusetts. We made a reservation at 6:30pm, a little early for us but we figured the restaurant would be in full swing by then. WRONG! We were all alone in the restaurant until a bit after 7pm. It's a typical family owned restaurant; the owner, Dawn LaRochelle, was both dining there and running around answering questions, serving, solving problems, in short: doing a bit of everything. By the time we left at about 9pm, the place was hopping. Why so late? Because everybody has been inside all winter and they want to enjoy the outdoors until dark at this time of year. Can't say as I blame them! Carnivores that we are, Randy had a prime rib and I had a luscious tenderloin in a bacon-bourbon demi-glace. After dinner, a Berkshire Comfort: Amaretto, Kahlua, Cognac, and coffee. Yum!


But that was just the finish of an exercise-filled day on Mt. Everest, uh, Mt. Everett. It just seemed like Mt. Everest. Mt. Everett is a park around one of the tallest mountains (I know, I know, but I won't comment on mountains in the east again) in MA. Our guidebook said that the view from the upper parking lot was of three states, presumably CT, MA, and NY. But the guidebook didn't point out that to get to the upper parking lot we would have to hike, climb, crawl, or any way but DRIVE to the upper parking lot. I don't know about you, but I normally think that "parking lot" assumes a CAR to get there.

Panorama from the top of Mt. Everett

Making the best of the situation, we decided to hike to the top, the upper "parking" lot. 483 vertical feet (Randy had his altimeter with him) later and almost a (semi-horizontal) mile later we did have a view of three states.

After I recovered from THAT excursion, we motored around the area and discovered Bash Bish Falls. OK, OK, we were actually LOOKING for Bash Bish Falls—who could resist a name like that? The legend is that it is named for an Indian maiden who diddled someone she shouldn’t and was pushed over the falls as punishment. I find it hard to believe that anyone would name an Indian maiden Bash Bish.

We parked and headed for the trail to Bash Bish Falls. The first thing we read is the warning sign: a very steep trail and, to quote the sign, “300ft straight up” coming back and the suggestion to drive about a mile and walk a more level, three quarters of a mile to the falls. We went about 30 feet down and I unilaterally decided I was NOT walking yet another 300ft, especially a 300ft “straight up”! 

Randy at Bash Bish Falls

One of the beautiful trees at our timeshare

Pam at the start of the Bash Bish Falls hike

Bash Bish is not a spectacular falls but it is quite pretty. However, have I mentioned that I HATE mosquitoes? Yet again I have been driven from a pretty area by those blankety-blank insects. Poor Randy is also driven away even though the mosquitoes seem to be boycotting him. I don’t think he really understands what it is like to be stalked by mosquitoes.

As we drive around this beautiful countryside I am always interested in the use of language in signage. Today it was signs that exhorted us to “Lug in/Lug out.” I am accustomed to seeing “Carry it in/Carry it out” or “Pack it in/Pack it out.” It is constantly amazing to me how linguists can tell what part of the country you are from not only by your accent, but by the words you use. 

I was driving the golf cart at Tucson Medical Center (yes, it’s so big it needs a golf cart to take visitors and staff to various parts of the hospital!) and before I started out with a few visitors on board, I said, “All set?” One of the visitors asked if I was from Connecticut (I am). He said that “All set” is one of the regionalisms in Connecticut. I was flabbergasted that he knew where I was from! Just from one phrase.