The kids left and we tried to adjust to the quiet again 🙂 We received the washer and dryer we ordered and had to take off two doors and the closet door jamb to install them, but apparently that’s normal. We headed out to see some fall colors and Britt headed to STL for Ally’s wedding!

We got to Boston, parked and headed out to find our tour guide to walk the Freedom Trail – the first thing we saw was a guard shack with three bullet holes in it. The guide and the Trail were awesome – we learned all about the players in the Revolutionary War, including some of those we had not heard of before. From how it sounds, our forefathers had quite a sense of humor and really didn’t take England seriously. When things finally got serious, they just never backed down, it was very inspiring. We saw both of Paul Revere’s headstones; at the time, the size of your headstone was relative to your importance in the community. Initially, his headstone was very small, but Boston re-thought their decision and gave him a bigger one. The skull and wings is a common theme on headstones and represents the death of the body and the soul going to heaven. We saw that theme in NYC and in a couple graveyards we saw earlier in the summer. This was a really cool end to our summer and tied in with the forts and Minute Man Park. We headed to the USS Constitution, the oldest, floating commissioned warship in the world. We were able to go to both below decks and see the staterooms and the main room where about 300 men slept in hammocks. We also learned that the keel is the only original remaining part of the USS Constitution and that it’s floated into the harbor weekly to ensure it remains seaworthy. We hired a guide in Salem, as well. In Salem, once the governor figured out what was going on and put an end to it, the government decided to remove any and all proof and evidence of the situation that they could. They tore down all governmental buildings, courthouses, jails, etc that had anything to do with the witch trials. The stories that exist are taken from journals of residents that were found from the time. The majority of the accusations came from a few girls and because the law at the time gave all property of an accused to the sheriff (regardless of their innocence), the sheriff became very wealthy. Over 200 people were accused and jailed, many of which in the famous coffin cells, before it was over. So, Salem was really interesting, but outside of a couple of homes, there was nothing from that time period to see. On another note, Salem was the home of the sending end of the first ever telephone call, that building is still standing, but is a restaurant.

We moved the camper to Rhode Island to be more centrally located to our vacation destinations, then picked up Ash, Alex, Chayse, and Mathilda from the airport on 9.13. On 9.14 we headed to our Hoboken Air BNB to start the NYC leg of the trip. On 9.15 we boarded saw the Hoboken 9/11 memorial before checking off another bucket list item and boarding the boat to Ellis Island and then the Statue of Liberty. Though the crown wasn’t open, but we were able to get tickets to the pedestal where Jim tried to look up her skirt. sigh. We took the train to Manhattan and wandered the city. After a very long day and walking through Central Park at night, we couldn’t get the ticket machine in the subway to work and, after trying for about 30 minutes, we jumped (some of us went under) the turnstile. I missed the photo op of my pregnant daughter passing the stroller and her 2 year old over the turnstile then crawling under it herself. It was not a fast crime. We were also able to visit the 9/11 memorial, see the Survivor Tree, and walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Jim grilled lobster and rib eye for my birthday 🙂 Then, we worked through the week and packed up, then headed to Vermont to pick up the new house. We went with another Solitude, updated model, but same floor plan as our 2017. The 2022 has a different kitchen layout and adds two windows on the kitchen side. Since the kids are coming out next week, we have to get it loaded and figure out where to put everything, before heading to Rhode Island.

We got to Bass Harbor RV Park and headed out right away. We walked about 1/2 mile to see our first lighthouse and hang out on the rocky shore after the drive. We were there for a little over a week, did several hikes, went whale watching, drove the Cadillac Road bike road on the Carriage Roads and got rained in for a couple days by hurricane Ida. The rocky shore was beautiful, the hikes were great, and we got to hang out with a humpback whale named Nine and her 6th known calf named Bubbles for about an hour, as the calf played and rolled around the boat. Nine hung out below, only surfacing once (on the other side of the boat) but you can see the white spot on her belly below the water’s surface. Acadia was not what we were expecting geographically, being broken up by privately owned land and towns, there were sections of the park, but then hikes off of a state highway. Not a big deal, just not what we’re used to for National Parks. Bar Harbor is a really cute town, but very difficult to navigate with a large truck. During Ida, we had a bit too much time on our hands and made a deal on a new camper. We had been looking at several models, but decided to stick with the same model we have, just 5 years newer. We will pick it up next weekend.

There was lots of rain, and with only weekends, we didn’t get out to see too much until we were able to get to the Minute Man Ntn’l Historical Park. This the 16 mile road that the British took, to retrieve some cannons that were stolen while putting down the Revolutionary resistance, ending at the North Bridge with the Shot Heard ‘Round the World and the British retreat to Boston. The story is told at the visitor’s center and in plaques and buildings along the road. We saw where Paul Revere was captured, he was later questioned, and released (in time to join the resistence), the pub were early revolutionary leaders met, and learned how the NY forts we saw earlier this summer played a part in the revolution. It was really cool, being able to picture the 700 British soldiers marching, confident in the early hours of the day, only to end up surrounded by over 4,000 farmers and local people who showed up to push them back. Also throwing in pics of Jim, part of the farm and some kid stuff. I suck at video, so I didn’t capture Jim shooting the baseball for the gender reveal, but G-Kind #2 is a GIRL! 🙂

We had to see the Red Sox to be able to see Fenway, so we put on our Cardinal shirts, boarded Mass transit and went anyway. The Orioles were in town, it was a beautiful day and we got to spend a game in the oldest baseball stadium in the country. The seats might be from 1912, too 🙂 It made me miss the Cards at Busch, but baseball is good and beggars can’t be choosers. Everyone was friendly and happy in a pretty mixed crowd, there were lots of fans for each team. And, of course, more pics of the kid.

We hiked a total of about 4 miles, 3.5 miles in one place and about .5 in the other to see some cool falls. Areuthusa Falls are the highest in New Hampshire, falling about 200 feet. To get there, you have to cross the Bridge of Khazad Dum, but if you make it, you also get to see the Bemis and Coliseum Falls. We then drove the Kangamangus Highway and stopped to see the Sabbaday Falls.

There was a bit of excitement when a bunch of the … professionally installed wires melted down in the electric box. Apparently the wires were correct, but the breaker was a 60 instead of a 50, so, we had an exciting morning until that was fixed. Honestly, I’m amazed it didn’t happen sooner. Anyway, I picked a NY State campground based on distance from here, not really paying attention to where it was. We got really lucky, Crown Point State Park is on the banks of Lake Champlain and has a lighthouse on site. Across the street are ruins of two forts, one French and one British from the 1700s. It was incredible, the history, the re-enactors, but also seeing the ridiculous amount of work people did in that time. The French quarried stone from the site and built a 4 story fort on the banks of the lake, with walls 16 feet thick in some parts. The British came, and on their retreat to Canada, the French blew the fort up. Instead of rebuilding, the British used the rock from the French fort and quarried more rock and built a much bigger fort just behind the old French fort, higher on the hill. They ended up accidentally blowing their fort up when a cooking fire got out of control and hit the room where the powder was stored. They mostly moved out, but left a small contingent, who ended up surrendering to Gen. Seth Warner from Fort Ticonderoga. Twenty miles south, Fort Ticonderoga had a similar dramatic history. Built in 1755 by the French, taken by the British in 1758, taken by Americans in 1775, then back to British and German combined forces in 1777, then fired on and destroyed by Americans two months later (using cannons they captured from the British). It was an amazing weekend, perfect weather, beautiful scenery (though smoke from fires came in) and American history.

What an amazing weekend – we had perfect weather and were able to see both places the pilgrims landed here, first on the tip of Cape Cod, then at Plymouth. Jim’s bike broke a spoke a short time into our first ride, we had planned on riding all weekend (there’s a cool rails to trail on the cape), so we changed plans and drove around, taking in the dog friendly beaches (we saw seals right off the coast!) and lighthouses, visiting P-Town, and did a couple hikes. Many of the lighthouses have been moved due to crumbling cliffs, but we were able to see quite a few, including the one pictured on Jim’s favorite chips 🙂 Also, we learned that there were several places that used multiple lighthouses in one place to give locations. We saw the 3 sisters, 3 small lighthouses (also moved) that were located on a specific beach to distinguish them from the single lights nearby. The P-Town hike begins with a 1.5 mile walk across the rock causeway that connects the peninsula to a small island with a lighthouse, so is best tackled at low tide. The rocks were not all placed flat and there were some gaps… Nickel was not amused. In Plymouth, we saw Plymouth Rock and listened to compelling evidence from a Park Ranger that this is, in fact, THE rock that the Pilgrims stepped on to get off of the Mayflower, as well as a story about the engineer who built the current building around the rock too small. Plymouth Rock was attached to a larger boulder beneath the sand, that was not taken into account and the building wouldn’t sit flat, so a large piece was broken off the bigger boulder. Plymouth Rock had been separated from the boulder some years earlier, as it’s been moved around the region for one reason or another. We were also able to see the National Monument to our Forefathers.