What a Trip!

Blogging was not easy, nor inexpensive, on the road. My apologies for this late posting. We arrived home late last night, but I was able to reflect more succinctly this morning...and decided to blog before my memories become histories.

I think I left off my last blog in search of lobstah...and I definitely found it!

Maine was a must on this trip. I bargained for it (deal made: I will go to any rollercoaster amusement park providing we go out of our way to Maine for lobster). And it was a good thing that I did (the best prices for lobster were in Maine...we later found out). We ordered, at a renowned local restaurant in southern Maine (Kittery, Maine, to be exact), TWO lobsters for... $20! It was incredible. Combine this with corn, potatoes, chowder and of course, the local beer, and you've got a true messy Maritime meal, making "lobster bibs" essential attire. In addition to great food, we noticed that Kittery was a hotspot for outlet shopping. Luckily, we remembered our tight budget, and decided to head out of town and state...immediately!

Our next stop was Gloucester, MA. It's the home of "The Perfect Storm" shipwreck...remember the movie with Clooney and Wahlberg?? Hard to forget. Anyway, we walked the beach and the boardwalk looking at the many, many fishermen's memorials. The losses at sea are staggering...although we noticed declining numbers in recent decades. Gloucester (pronounced GLOU-ster) was a tranquil, picturesque town with friendly locals swapping and sharing at the weekly market festival. I was really craving an "organic peach" sold here at the market, but priced at over $1, with a huge check-out line wait, I decided against it. Lobster shacks were everywhere in these parts. We hadn't had our fill, so we tried to find more in Gloucester...but had to "settle" for a lobster roll (lobster meat and mayo on toast) and fresh scallops...as the lobster prices outside of Maine increased significantly! We were satisfied nonetheless.

It was now time to travel over to Connecticut to begin the Rollercoaster Preservation Conference. The kick-off for this event was "exclusive ride time" (ERT) on the famous "Boulderdash" rollercoaster at Lake Compounce. The coaster was fast and furious! This was one ride I loved. The skycoaster took us up to the top of the mountain where we could clearly see the heavily-gated, satellite-adorned ESPN compound down in Bristol, CT. The view of the mountainous countryside was breathtaking from the small chairlift that brought us up.

Saturday was reserved for Superman...the coaster at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts. What a coaster it was! Once it began, it didn't stop. It was a very intense ride. It became Brandon's new favourite steel coaster. I still liked the less-intense, but still fun, Millenium Force at Cedar Point. The final day of the conference found us at Quassy Park in southern Connecticut. The best part about this day was most certainly the food! We lunched on fresh barbequed burgers, gourmet salads with free wine or beer...a bonus!

I was not fond of Connecticut...at least the places we visited. New Haven was no different. There were a few treasures nestled into this rather rough city, however. We found "Louie's Lunch"...the birthplace of the traditional hamburger. Of course upon arrival, we found a large sign indicating its closure for the month of August (date: August 1st...ARGH!). The owner was coming out of the restaurant, and Brandon, being as bold as he is, asked for some information, and earned us a tour with Louie's grandson! Cool. I was actually thankful for the tour and the fact that we didn't have to dine on hamburgers...again!

New Haven is also home to Yale University. We visited the bookstore, and toured the campus...a heavily secured and guarded oasis in the middle of a dangerous city. At my dad's request, we tried to find "Skull and Bones", a secret society (there are several at Yale) of which John Kerry and George Bush were part. It was not easy, but we found the dark, ominous building (see the pics)...again, we are super-sleuths! There were no windows, with the exception of a small, barred window in the basement(creepy), and a large, over-sized iron door secured by double locks in the front. The only indication that it was the Skull and Bones society was a small engraved "S.B." on the front steps. While snooping around, we were lucky enough to see two guys actually leave the establishment through the side doors. They passed us, and offered absolutely no eye contact. It was strange. The boys, looking straight ahead, almost as if they were in a trance (I've seen one too many Scooby-Doo episodes), walked away...hand in hand! Hmm...although I make no judgements, what does this tell us about the leader of the free world??? On that note, we were out of there!

After saying our good-byes to our rollercoaster friends, we left Connecticut for Newport, Rhode Island. Some of the club members had mentioned that it was a neat and must-see town. They were right, although we found it to be a little touristy. The little shops, however, lured me in. I fell in love with this lovely straw hat that could be rolled-up and packed very easily. During this entire trip I was on a mission for a floppy hat. I found THE one, and purchased it. It was the one material item on the trip I felt I needed...ok...wanted.

The narrow, cobblestoned, one-way streets of Newport, made driving treacherous. We opted out of driving, and continued our tour on foot. Seafood was found everywhere...at a cost. The marina was very posh. The restaurants were glamourous...a jacket and tie were required...so we kept walking in our sweatshirts, shorts and flip-flops. We finally found a restaurant that provided casual ambiance at casual prices! We munched on "Stuffies" for dinner. These are treats native to only Rhode Islanders. They are stuffed Quohog (spelling? pronounced KO-hog) Clams dipped in drawn butter. Delicious...not nutritious! ARGH!

Newport is also known for its mansions. We walked along the waterfront and visited the many mansions that once housed America's elites...such as the Vanderbilts. The mansions were primarily summer destinations for these families. Some of the "smaller" mansions are still inhabited, but most are simply too expensive to live in...an indication of their enormity. With about a mile and a half of mansion/ocean viewing behind us (if you've seen one, you've seen them all), I had an itch to escape to the cape...Cape Cod that is.

Before getting to the Cape, however, we had to make a pitstop at Hyannis where we visited the Kennedy Museum. The photos were amazing, and never-seen-before. I wanted to put my super-stalking skills to work again, and find the Kennedy Compound, but demonstrated restraint by deciding to respect their privacy. This is not like me... :)

Anyway, after devouring another lobster special ($15/person...not bad...but not as good as Maine lobster), we found the sand dunes at Cape Cod. The sun was setting and the walk along the quiet, tranquil beach was welcomed. We picked up some unusual stones and waded in the cool waters of the Atlantic. I could have spent hours here, but we were running out of time. We toured Provincetown, before heading back. There were many galleries and inns...definitely an artist's community.

We couldn't leave without having toured Providence...so back to Rhode Island we went. Geographically, all of the locations are within hours of each other. Once we were out there, we were only ever driving for about two to three hours each day...if that. Downtown Providence near Brown University was cool to visit. Again, rough, cobble-stoned streets were the norm. Benefit and Prospect streets were destinations of choice within the city. Time was again an issue, so the bookstore and coffeeshop were about all we managed to squeeze in, picking up some cool souvenirs in the process.

For fans of NBC's The Office, we rested overnight in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We couldn't help ourselves. We found the the town to be quite like the one on television. There is a Mifflin St., the town is located in Lakawanna county, and the local hang-outs in town are Farley's Restaurant and Poor Richard's Pub, just like the show. There is even a Steamtown Mall, where the original red "Welcome to Scranton" sign from the opening credits can be found. And we listened to Froggi 101 FM...Dwight's favourite radio station! Finally, the town is in fact known for its paper industry, but is also known as Electric City or Steam Town. Scranton was a surprise destination on our tour.

To finish off our trip, we had to hit a few more rollercoaster parks...Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Waldemeer Park, in Erie. We had to break up the long journey home...somehow! It was nice to be in view of Lake Erie again, from the top of the Ravine Flyer Two coaster, as the sun was setting. Home was on the horizon.

We arrived back in Windsor late last night. Our neighbour had kindly watched over our home, collecting our mail and keeping our grass under control. What a guy! Today, we're trying to get back to reality...slowly but surely. Check out the pics below for a taste of New England from our perspective! There was so much to see, and so much we missed. That only means, however, that we'll be back...someday.