Last Sunday we drove ourselves into Boston for the day. We had taken the rapid transit during the week. The wonderful old townhouses of the downtown are 3-4 stories tall and right up to the curb of very narrow streets. There is not much sunshine! We drove all around the town and through Harvard/M.I.T. area. There is so much coastline from the Atlantic and also rivers that it is a complicated city to negotiate but quite beautiful!

We spent some time in Rhode Island and of course visited Newport. It is amazing to see all of those fabulous "cottages" - there are hundreds! You can walk on a public beach walk that is in front of many of the best. They are really far beyond most anything we see in Seattle! It just goes on and on. There are many that can be toured, or have been donated to schools, etc. but also many are still private.

Providence was our next area to visit. It is another pretty city with many fabulous old buildings that are restored and being used well.

We have been traveling slowly along the coast from Massachusettes, Rhode Island and now into Conneticut. There are wonderful small historic Seaports everywhere. The ones that had natural harbors were settled early. We were sad that the Nautilus Museum of Submarines was closed this week.

Many places are closed now. It seems they don't expect many tourists this time of year. It is difficult to find motorhome parks open, too. We have been so lucky with the weather that we have enjoyed being North longer than we had anticipated.

Thursday we spent the day in Boston. It's a beautiful city with wonderful buildings and so much history. It is so interesting to us to see so many structures from the 16 and 1700s. It was a sunny day, and we had a great lunch in an area of downtown waterfront condos.

There is a tight race for governor here in Mass. There are several tight races for senators and governors in New England. We have been bombarded with all the ads! It is interesting to hear this without a frame of reference as to the candidates and issues. It seems the republicans say the democrats are soft on crime and will tax and spend too much. The democrats say that the republicans will pander to special interests and give tax benefits to the rich. They both say they should work together, but the other guy is not. We decided we don't need to know the names - some things are just the same everywhere.

We are still enjoying the Cape Cod area. Have seen some of the obvious must see attractions - Kennedy Memorial, Plymouth Rock, The Mayflower. Went to Provincetown at the tip of the Cape. Waded in the Atlantic and Cape Cod Bay - its cool but not "ankle freezing". Have also seen numerous great lighthouses.

The beaches are many and beautiful. They are very pristine - just light beige sand - not much in the way of logs, kelp, etc.

There are THOUSANDS of cottages, bed & breakfasts, motels and hotels in the whole cape area. It must be VERY crowded in the summer. It is not bad now, but many businesses and about half the restaurants close after Sept. They are boarding up many places preparing for storms.

The whole area is very confusing to find your way with narrow 2 lane roads that meander everywhere, all look alike, and are not marked well. It has been a challenge to Bob who is usually very good at finding his way around! It also does not help that the sun does not set over the ocean here - thats just wrong! The same name for towns is used repeatedly . Our motorhome park is in South Dennis. Well, there is a region (like a small county) called Dennis. Within Dennis there are the towns of Dennis, South Dennis, East Dennis and Dennis Port.

Yes, we have had some wonderful lobster, and seafood chowders!

We have been driving around Cape Cod area looking at beaches, lighthouses, lots of antique stores, restaurants and charming gift shops in general. Things are spread out along all of the roads. There are little pockets of stores everywere, among the houses and beaches. Many are in old houses. Virtually all are in good repair and beautiful - property is very expensive. The views of the bay and ocean are wonderful.

Yesterday we took the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. We took a tour to get a feel of this famous area. The ferry was built in 1950 (not very glamorous and at least 20 coats of paint) and is much older than the ones in Puget Sound. The 6 towns have wonderful quaint small Victorian houses with white picket fences everywhere. The other houses are all of the Cape Cod type - gray shakes, simple lines, shutters, etc. Most are small with some grand exceptions. There is a lot of rich and famous here, but those houses are not in view. The Kennedy's have a 360 acre lot with a relatively modest house that Caroline and family use a lot.

People here really do have that New England accent. Martha is pronounced like ma and the r is silent. They say it like motha.

Some impressions of traveling in the New England area:
1. We have found that toll roads are not necessarily better than non-toll ones.
2. The roads in general are not in great shape, probably due to bad winters.
3. Traffic circles are called "Rotary".
4. Many intersections in the towns don't have the streets marked???
5. Freeways don't always list food/gas available at the next exit. They sometimes have them at the end of the exit, after you are committed.
6. Rest Areas are not as common as in the West. They often have what they call Parking Areas off the freeway where truckers, etc. can take a rest, but there are NO restrooms - not even sanicans!

We are now in the Cape Cod area. We did not have internet service at our last location in Holderness NH so thats why I have not updated sooner. We took several days driving around Vermont and New Hampshire. The colors really are beautiful. It's not like we have not seen the colors in our area, but here it is everywhere in great profusion. (Along the highways, in parking lots, every yard and all kinds of normal places.) We also visited a farm that had maple syrup tasting. Learned there are 4 grades of syrup that depends upon when it was collected during the season that is from Feb to April. They drill the trees 2 1/2 inches deep and at least 6 inches from last years spot. The syrup is now mostly collected in plastic tubing (instead of the pails) and is gravity fed to the cooking room. This farm has 2400 trees.


I will list some impressions we have of New Hampshire and Vermont.
1. Hundreds of small farms with grass fields and rolling hills that are beautiful - just like you always saw in pictures.
2. Charming small towns with town squares (parks) in the middle of town and wonderful municipal buildings and statues.
3. Fabulous churches - small and grand.
4. MANY graveyards - every church, some in private yards and many others.
5. Lots of "Dunkin Doughnuts" - every small town has at least 1 - it is sort of the New England "Starbucks" - and there are not many Starbucks.
6. Great old houses - grand and modest - most in good repair. (Hardly any "Bellevue French", northwest contemporary or craftsman.)
7. Snow blowers, etc. are available everywhere. Most businesses have "storm" entries. Locals are preparing for winter in many ways. It gets cold here (30 below we are told) but they say they have not had a real blizzard in several years. Bad weather can come in any time now and we have been lucky to have good weather so far.
8. There are Christmas stores in most every town.

We also drove into Maine along the coast in the Portland area. Great lighthouses and old coastal tourist areas.

We went to Niagara Falls on Monday - took a tour boat to the foot of the falls. You wear a raincoat as you get quite wet. The noise and the power are really incredible. There are actually 2 falls: American Falls in the US and Horseshoe Falls in Canada. It's quite beautiful! The Canadian side has focused on tourism for years and is quite developed. The US side, the town of Niagara Falls, did not focus on tourism in the early years. Now, with high NY taxes, their industry and business have left and the town has declined in population and is not in good shape. (Hope the State of Washington pays attention to this!)

The Allegany Mountain area was pretty. The term "mountain" seems a bit silly as they are just rolling hills. The leaves are turning and the color is getting quite dramatic.

We are now in the area where the St. Lawrence Seaway connects with Lake Ontario. There are over 1000 islands and it is beautiful. Towns are a mixture of old and new. Many beautiful old buildings with a lot of history. Some in need of attention and $. It gets very cold here in winter! After 1 day of rain, it is now sunny.

We have been very thankful along the way that we have our own bed, bath and kitchen! It would be hard to find motels on a trip like this.

Tomorrow we head to Holderness, NH. We will be on a scenic drive through the Adirondack Mountains.

We are currently at the Allegany Mountain Resort in Western NY. We are staying for a few days to explore Niagara Falls/Buffalo area. The country is pretty with green grass rolling hills and lots of trees that are starting to get Fall colors.

We drove through Chicago during rush hour, but that was OK as we were going so slow we could look around a lot. We also managed to hit Cleveland during rush hour, but traffic was a lot less there.

Some interesting things happened while driving quickly across the country. There was a trucker who had no load on his flatbed except a "tonka toy" dump truck that was all strapped down in the middle of the great expanse. We also saw a sign at a gas station in Wisconsin that said, "Get Packers tickets without donating your spleen!" We found this especially funny as we had just finished listening to the only radio program that we could get clearly that was some local doctor giving too much information about the spleen. There was also the "Spam" museum (a wonderful brick building) in Austin, Minnesota - it is apparently a "Hormel" town!