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.

We've done a lot of hiking over the past few days - averaging about 2-3 hours a day.  The most difficult was when we hiked to the top of Deer Leap, a one and a half mile trail with a 1600 foot vertical rise.  Here are some of the trails we hiked.

In the middle of the woods, we came to a rest stop / bench that someone had put there - it was actually a ski lift chair.

Vermont - October 5 -17

 

We left the Adirondacks and spent the past two weeks in Vermont.  The first week was in Williston, near Burlington, where Karol worked a lot.  We stayed at the exclusive Residence Inn and made day trips to see Lake Champlain.

Here is where we stayed.

Here are some views of Lake Champlain.

 

 

After a week, we moved to a place near Killington VT – it’s a ski resort with lots of things to do even in the off season.  We stayed at North Star Resort.

 

We hiked through the woods and up a ski slope, and made several day trips, looking for photo ops.  In fact, Karol has a book we followed, where the author describes all these prime locations, including gorges, lakes, ponds and waterfalls.  I swear we drove along every back road, country road, dirt road, bumpy road, dusty road, winding road and rocky road (no we didn’t see Ben or Jerry) looking for these places and found most of them. 

 Here are some of our views.

This is Quechee Gorge - Vermont's version of the Grand Canyon - pretty presumptuous, if you ask me!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechee,_Vermont

 

 

 There was a hot air balloon passing by when we were there - can you find it?

 

Here's one of the back roads we travelled.

 

We also took in the country side, stopping along the way in quaint VT towns like Woodstock (no not that Woodstock) and local country stores.

 

We also stopped at a horse jumping competition – I was surprised at how many horses decided not to jump after all once they approached the barrier!

 

After a while, I started to feel out of place in my khakis and button down shirts among all the local mountain men so I decided to change my appearance to fit in better.  I bought some plaid flannel shirts and let my beard grow.  What do you think of my new look?!?!