Waltham, MA

Sorry, WI-FI Internet service and Verizon cell phone service in Canada is the pits!  We are NOW in Lower Woodstock, New Brunswick, and I FINALLY have reception good enough right here, right now, to work on the blog. I just hope it lasts!!

Ok, in my last blog, we were visiting and reminiscing with my cousins, Patsy & Art, in Marlboro, MA.  They had taken us all over Boston by way of the Freedom Trail.  The next day, Monday, July 11th, we went to Waltham, MA to see my dad's old stomping grounds.  What a THRILL that was!!  We got pictures of the apartment building my dad grew up in.  Dad lived in the 2nd floor apartment on the right.  Patsy pointed out what room had been behind each window. 

Patsy’s parents had bought the house next door and that’s where Patsy grew up and lived when her & Art first got married. Another uncle had bought the house on the other side also.

Rich took a picture of me on the front porch and I THINK it's very close to the same view of the house in a picture my mom has of herself with my Grandma & Grandpa when dad was away in the Army.
I have to say, I really felt at home.  I could almost hear all the family laughing & talking. 

St Charles Boromeo Catholic Church

We saw the church dad attended but, unfortunately, the school was no longer there.  I remember growing up and mom & dad ALWAYS had a plastic Jesus on the dashboard of the car, and, as long as I can remember, Jesus was missing one of his hands.  Well, NOW I know why!!!

This is a statue, next to the Church, and He is MISSING a hand!!

 We went to the cemetery, saw the family plots, and since Patsy is working on the family tree, we went to the National Archives & learned some very interesting things. Like, WE never knew our grandpa had been in the service! 

We stopped for lunch and I had toasted raviolis. UMMM UMMM GOOD! From there we went to Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, where I was able to buy the book, Tales of a Wayside Inn by Longfellow.

Patsy & Art have been going here every New Years for the past 20+ years!!

 At the end of the day, AND a WONDERFUL visit, we had to say our goodbyes and give our hugs & kisses, since we were moving onto Ellsworth, Maine the next day to begin our Nova Scotia tour.

Boston, MA

We left Plymouth a LITTLE disappointed but still enjoyed our time there. The campground was NICE and the weather was PERFECT!! On the 9th, we drove about 80 miles to Littleton, MA to Boston Minuteman Campground. GREAT Campground!! Large pull-thru spots, clean, VERY FEW BUGS, great place for kids, and very friendly people!!

Later that day we drove to my cousins, Patsy & Art, in Marlboro, MA for dinner, catch up, reminiscing, and to make plans for the next 2 and 1/2 days. The good times NEVER stopped!

Rich, Patsy, & Art

After a couple of adult beverages, a LOT of catching up and reminiscing, Patsy & Art treated us to a great 5 course dinner on their back porch overlooking their BEAUTIFUL back yard!!!
Our first plan of action was to go to Boston and follow the Freedom Trail to see ALL the history. NO WAY can you do it ALL in one day!!!

The trail you follow

Paul Revere & the Old North Church

 It's awesome how they have kept the history while modernizing around it.

Old Church & buildings amongst
Modern High Rises

We COULD have walked the Freedom Trail all the way to the marina where the USS Constitution is, but we DIDN'T!!!

Patsy & Art showed us a GREAT time in Boston!! 

OF COURSE, we did take time out to enjoy some Italian Cuisine, too!

Would you believe,
Italian salad with TOMATOES?

After the FULL day in Boston, back to Patsy & Art's for a couple of relaxing drinks, more reminiscing, and then back to the motor home for some much needed  REST!!! 

Plymouth, MA

The 1st adventure by ourselves was to Pinewood Lodge Campground in Plymouth, MA. It's really a very nice park!

Man got NEW toy, so
Man READS manual 

View behind the motor home

We even got to sit by the camp fire one night...

Of course it rained all that night and the next day, so the rest of the wood was too wet to burn before we left... 

It is a large campground with LOTS of kids, but still very quiet!

While there we HAD to go see the infamous Plymouth Rock. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. Apparently, so many people have chipped away at it over the years, it is now a "pebble". Unfortunately, they waited WAAAAY too long to protect it by enclosing it.

The sign

The Protector of the "Rock" 

The "Pebble"

They also have a replica of the Mayflower. Luckily they have been able to keep the tourists from "chipping" away at IT. Actually, you can't get close to it unless you PAY to get on it!!! 

Mayflower II

After being underwhelmed with Plymouth Rock, we took a drive to Cape Cod. I've heard so much about it through family stories. We didn't drive ALL the way to the tip, but we did stop at a couple of the beaches and got our feet wet.

The initial shock of it being COLD

Actually, after the initial shock the water wasn't that cold, BUT the waves are pretty strong and can bring in some good size rocks that HURT when they roll next to your ankle!! All and all we had a good time in Plymouth, but I was anxious to move up the road to Littleton, MA.

More of Jersey City, N J

July 1st, we had a low key day to give our feet a MUCH NEEDED rest, but then we Walked to dinner to celebrate Norm & Cheryl's 44th anniversary. In fact it was such a LOW KEY day, Cheryl added a little excitement by falling on her knee and skidding on the sidewalk, gracefully, I must add, on our way to dinner. Someone driving by at the time, saw her fall, doubled parked his car, jumped out, and came over to make sure she was ok!!! I guess you could say she STOPPED traffic!!

I tried to get a picture of her knee too, but
she REFUSED to put her leg on the table

Since it was their 44th anniversary AND Cheryl had a few boo boos, we found a GREAT place for ice cream. We stopped at Tommy 2 Scoops and had the BEST Gelato, Italian ice cream.

Cheryl and I with Tommy, the owner

The next evening, AFTER we let Cheryl rest her boo boos and made sure she could walk, we took the Metro to Manhattan to tour the Empire State Building and Time Square. We wanted to see Time Square after dark. After walking from the Metro Station, Broadway & 34th St., to the Empire State Building, on 5th Ave., we had to  creep in a Disneyland type line for an hour. We finally got on the 1st elevator to start our journey to the 86th floor. It stopped at the 80th floor, to let us know there IS a gift shop, AND to let us creep in ANOTHER long line for the next elevator to take us to the 86th floor. BUT the view is SPECTACULAR!

After taking ALL the pictures we could, we had to creep in ANOTHER long Disneyland type line, to go up to the 102nd floor. Unfortunately, that view is enclosed with Plexiglas and you can't get ANY good pictures!! But The WORST thing is I DIDN'T get a picture of the Empire State Building!
From there, we went to Time Square. The lights are BEAUTIFUL but TOO MANY PEOPLE!!

As far as the weather, it was the PERFECT night to walk Time Square, but I wouldn't recommend walking from the Manhattan Metro Station to the Empire State Building to Time Square, which is on Broadway & 42nd St. and goes, at least, to 47th St. The Reason WHY?!?! Because then you have to walk all the way back  to the Metro Station at Broadway & 34th St.  LOTS of WALKING!!!
AGAIN, we were very tired by the time we got back to the rigs!!

4th of July we had planned on some spectacular fire works! The RV park advertised you could see the fireworks display from the Statue of Liberty right from the RV park!

View of the Statue of Liberty from our RV Park

NOT!!! The city MOVED the display from the Statue of Liberty to somewhere in the middle of the Hudson River. There just happened to be some very tall buildings right in our line of sight.

We did see the fireworks that were BIG enough
to squeeze between the buildings!

It was a BEAUTIFUL night outside so we didn't let anything dampen our spirits.

It has been a FANTASTIC two and a half months!! But now the time has come to say our good-byes as Norm & Cheryl head to Niagra, N Y and Rich & I work our way to Nova Scotia.  We look forward to the next chapter of our trip, but will GREATLY miss our traveling companions.

To be continued...

Jersey City, New Jersey

Tuesday, June 28th, the four of us continued our adventure 213 miles to Liberty Harbor RV Park in Jersey City, NJ for our LAST week Together:>( where we spent ANOTHER 7 days on the GO!! The RV park is basically a parking lot with water and electric hookups. Not much to look at,

It's a BIT Tight!!

BUT, the LOCATION is FANTASTIC!!! We could see the Statue of Liberty from our motor home, once the bus left that was between us and the water! One of our FIRST jaunts was to Stella's Pizzeria, which we were able to WALK to!

Cheryl was the ONLY one that needed a doggie bag!!!

As usual, the food was EXCELLENT!!! and, OF COURSE, we walked off our dinner by walking home!!!!
Once we figured out the Ferry system, we rode a Ferry

to Liberty Island State Park where we went through the Ferry Station security check point with NO problems, I might add.

Front of Ferry Building

Inside Ferry Building

and caught the Ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

View of Ellis Island from Ferry

Guess Who???

Directory of Ellis Island Museum

Information, Baggage Room

Diagram of Museum

Registry Room

Great Museum. Another MUST SEE!!
Then we went back on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

View of Manhattan from Ferry

View from ferry

View from land

 

Full-scale copper replica of face made in the same technique as the original

Full-scale copper replica of foot made in the same technique as original

Picture taken of workers 

Rich REFUSED to walk another step!!

So we rode the elevator to the top of the base, which is as high as you can go in the statue, THEN took the 113 steps DOWN. SLOWLY we walked to the concession stand for water and SAT until it was time to catch the ferry back!!! GREAT EXPERIENCE!!!  And BOY, did we sleep GOOD THAT night.