Friday November 14 - last day in Boston

It’s hard to believe we’ve been gone three months and it’s time to come home, but we had some great adventures and had a really good trip.  So as to make the most of our last few weeks, we've been out visiting all the important historical sites in and around Boston. 

Not to be missed, we went to the Boston Brewing Company, brewer of Sam Adams beer  - which should be, but is not, on the Freedom Trail.  It was a pretty good tour, but the best part was sampling the beer at the end.  We had three glasses of beer as part of the price of admission - which was FREE - which makes this one of the best deals in town.  

We also found that the Boston Brewing Company supports various good causes, including upkeep for the Old Granary Burial Ground.  Founded in 1630, it is Boston’s third oldest cemetery but boasts such famous dead people as Paul Revere, John Hancock, Peter Faneuil, (of Faneuil Hall fame) and, of course, Samuel Adams – who as it turns out was also a brewer.  You can read more about it at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granary_Burying_Ground.

We took a day trip to Plymouth to see the rock, the Mayflower and Plimouth Plantation – a recreation of the place where the Pilgrims lived.  The Plantation had a lot of “role-players” who were dressed and acted like they were in the year 1627.  Some were interesting but most were just plain old fashioned hokey.  You can find more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower and http://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do.  Here are some of the things we saw:

 It's hard to believe that 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew spent 66 days crossing the ocean on this small ship.  Here's part of the living arrangements.

Here's the 1627  English village...

 and a role player

We also did a few photo trips.  Here is the Boston skyline from the BU bridge.

 

Here it is at night (it was dark!)

 

And the famous Zakim bridge, which is the background used in many shots of Boston.

 

Here’s Commonwealth Ave mall where we liked to walk and sit and read.

 

And after all the time we spent in Vermont and the Berkshires looking at foliage, we found some of the best color in Mount Auburn Cemetary in Cambridge – who’d a thunk it!

 

We also used the time to get together with family.  Karol spent a day with her sister going back to the places they lived and visiting their grandmother’s farm.  Last night, we had dinner with my brother and wife.

The weather in Boston has been mixed since we've been here.  Some days it's sunny and in the 60s - 70s.  Other days it's rainy and has even snowed.  When it's nice we go for walks by the Charles River or ride our bikes (carrying them down and back up three flights of stairs each time).  When it's not so nice we've been to the Museum of Science and Museum of Fine Arts. 

Appeal to the Great Spirit is a 1909 equestrian statue by Cyrus Dallin, in front of the MFA.  When I was a kid, every time we went by the museum, my uncle Wally would point to the statue and say, "You know, that Indian gets down from there one day a year to go pee." Every Time!

We also went over to East Boston and out to the new Fan Pier to see the Boston skyline.  It's a lot different than when I lived here in the 1960s.  Here are some views.

Here's the replica of the HMS Beaver - the ship where the Boston Tea Party took place.  Today, you can take a tour, put on a fake head dress and throw boxes of "tea" overboard to re-enact that auspicious event.  (The boxes are attached to ropes so they pull them back in after the tour and use them over and over - very environment friendly!)

I don't know if it's because we are in the heart of the city or amidst a bunch of colleges, but Halloween was sure an interesting experience here in Beantown.  There were people everywhere in costumes capped off by a bicycle parade of more that 700 bicyclists who rode a 10 mile course  through Boston and Cambridge.  Some of them (both people and bikes) were pretty creative. 

Then when we got up today, it is SNOWING!!!  It was rain turned to snow so it didn't accumulate but still ...

Back to Boston

You know that the sun came back out on the day we left the Berkshires, but that wasn't too bad since we moved into our new home in Boston on Saturday, August 25, in pleasant weather - it would have been tough in the rain.  We found a parking space right in front of our new place which made moving in that much easier.  Of course, we are now on a third floor walk-up, so I got my exercise that day - and will as long as we are here.

We are on Commonwealth Ave, just off Kenmore Square, in a large apartment right above Sugar Daddy's "Smoke" Shop.  I added the quotes because the clientele we see going in and out don't look like your average smokers and the view from the doorway doesn't look like your typical smoke shop.  Then too, Massachusetts is a medical marijuana state and a bill has been introduced "that would allow adults who are 21 and older to possess and cultivate marijuana and that would create a system for taxing and regulating marijuana production and sales".

Despite that, this is one of the nicest and roomiest places we have stayed - with great "Boston" views.  This is our building ...

... and a view from the living room window, with the iconic CITGO sign a block away...

and a view of the Green Monsta at Fenway Park from the bedroom.

Too bad the season is over!!

 After the photo workshop, Karol and her photo buddy, Jamie, were all excited about going out into the countryside shooting foliage, barns and waterfalls.  Because it was mostly rainy, and the light wasn’t good, they decided on shooting waterfalls and invited me to come along.  I wasn’t too excited about traipsing around in the woods in the rain, but when they mentioned they were going to Bash Bish Falls, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit such a great sounding place – BASH BISH!  Not Bish Bash, which would have been more alliterative, but Bash Bish. Wow!! 

Of course, the falls were down a long treacherous trail, covered in wet leaves and muddy/slippery  slopes.  I captured some of them …

 

When we finally made it, we found the falls were actually pretty photogenic.  I settled for these rather tame pictures.

 

 

 

But the avid photogs had to get the perfect shot – climbing on the side of the hill or scaling the rocks to get close.

 

The next day, we were back out looking for the birch forest.  I thought I had driven down some back roads in the Adirondacks and Vermont, but Jamie put me to shame.  Here is the road he took to get the great shots.

 

...and then they had to get the right angle for the shot...

 

You will be able to see some of the results of these efforts after Karol sorts through the 1,000 or so pictures she took last week and posts them at http://shootingacrossthecountry.blogspot.com/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Vermont, we moved to the Berkshires and the weather has been mostly rainy.  Karol and a friend who came to visit took a photo workshop and were off shooting with the group.  While they were gone I went exploring and visited a Shaker village in Hancock, Mass.  The Shakers started in England and moved to the US to escape persecution.  Some of them settled in Hancock in the 1780s and lasted until 1959, when the last three remaining sisters sold the farm and moved to a retirement home.  At their height, about 250-300 people lived in the village.  You can see more about the shakers and Hancock Village at:  http://hancockshakervillage.org/shakers/shakers-hancock/

Her are some pictures of the place.

This round barn was really innovative.  They drove the hay wagon to the second floor (there's a ramp in the back) and dumped the hay in the middle.  Then they had spaces to hold the cows around the outside circle and milked them while they were eating the hay.

Here are some of the living quarters.

The Shakers are famous for making Shaker furniture and other wood products.  Here are some baskets they made in one of the workshops.

They also had livestock.  Here are the three little pigs all grown up.

I know I have an effect on all the hot chicks, but this one kept giving me the eye.

This is an REO sedan they drove.  They liked it because it was reliable and could hold a lot of people.  I also learned that REO stood for Ransom E Olds, who later built Oldsmobiles.

The REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing Michigan based company that produced  automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975.  If you care, you can learn more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Motor_Car_Company.