Shippin up to Boston (June 2011)

Alright. This was an 8-day trip and we saw a lot of stuff, so it's a little daunting starting this long entry & i'm still unsure how best to cover everything but here goes..

For starters, this trip centers around the fact that my girlfriend's family is originally from Massachusetts. Her mom lived there as a youngster until they relocated to the U.P. of Michigan. Anyways, her grandpa on that side, whom Aina was very close with, passed last fall
So this trip was supposed to be to return his ashes to northwest Massachusetts. Unfortunately, her mom's sister & brother were unable to make the trek, as they had other pressing matters interfere - so that emotional event is on hold for now. But Aina & I, along with her mom & step-dad decided to go anyway... and we're all glad we did.

As it turns out, Niagara Falls is almost directly on the route to North Adams, MA. I had never been there & Aina hadn't been there in at least 10 years (they've stopped there on the way out to Mass. in the past), so we set that as our first destination. We set out from Green Bay around 10 that saturday morning and made it as far as Cleveland before finding a Super 8 to hunker down in for the night. After a delicious breakfast at next door Bob Evans, we took off and made it to Niagara around 2 in the afternoon. Too early to check in to our hotel, but we parked the car & made the short walk to THE park.

Walking across the bridge to the island itself was pretty cool, as there are some pretty intense rapids leading up to the falls. After Aina & her mom took what i thought was enough pictures of the rapids, I became impatient as my excitement to finally see Niagara Falls was starting to skyrocket. Can't fault them - it was our first real photo op after a day & a half into the trip - but i had bigger fish to fry! You can actually see the spray from the falls rising in the air from pretty far away & with every step the sound of crashing water gets louder...

And then... we were there! These are the Bridal Veil Falls. SUGGESTION: Check these out first. They're cool & all, but not nearly as awesome as the Horseshoe Falls; so it would be sort of anti-climactic to see them in reverse order.

Thought this was a neat pic of the world famous "Maid of the Mist" boat tour. My parents actually did this on their honeymoon (they kinda toured the great lakes region - Mackinac Island, Niagara Falls, etc) and said we HAD to do it... which we did.

We also did the Cave of the Winds tour the next morning... which I'll get to later

Having got our fill of the Bridal Veil Falls, we headed over to the Horseshoe Falls (notice the spray... you can see this from miles away as you drive into Niagara).

I've got a lot of trip to write about yet so I'm gonna let some of these pictures speak for themselves...

That's how close you get to the falls... I've heard how you get drenched with spray, etc & from up here it didnt look so bad but trust me, you get pretty wet haha.

Here's looking back at the Bridal Veil Falls... notice the observation deck jutting out from the cliff: that was our next stop.

You have to take a elevator, which is part of the observation deck, to get down to the river level for the Maid of the Mist tour.
Being big "Office" fans we were excited to ride the boat like Jim & Pam on their wedding!

Just a better view of one of the tour boats. If I remember correctly there were four of them & they depart every 20-30 minutes so there's not much of a wait.

Much better vantage point of the Bridal Veil Falls

Cave of the Winds

And then the climax of the boat tour...

being in the middle of the Horseshoe Falls! (you get closer than this but yeah, not a friendly environment for cameras with all the spray!)

Here's the view of the total package from the observation deck.

We hit up the gift shop on our way out & stopped at Hard Rock Cafe on the walk back to our hotel. I'm not a big dessert fan (probably cuz I don't like chocolate) but Aina's mom was obsessed with their Creme' Brule's (so much so that she actually went back later that night, & then again the next day for a total of 3 haha). After a little dip in the pool & some TV, we headed back to the park for...

the illumination at night. I guess they do this every night. Pretty neat & worth checking out.

AND a couple nights a week they do fireworks, which Aina loves.

We woke up fairly early the next morning to hit up the Cave of the Winds tour before heading out. I had read some reviews on TripAdvisor.com & most people said this was better than Maid of the Mist. Honestly, DO BOTH. They're both awesome, totally different experiences.

Another elevator ride down & a better view of how the boat gets encapsulated in the mist...

You start off along the river & then basically climb the deck to different sections, each bringing you closer to the Falls, & thus - getting you more wet. We saw how soaked people were getting the day before so we all wore our swimsuits, & I'd recommend it also. Here's Aina's stepdad Steve by the rapids.

The climax here is the appropriately-named Hurricane Deck. We took turns taking pictures from the bottom, where my camera was still safe.
Then I found a better spot to capture the essence of the Hurricane Deck (& still keep my camera safe)... if you choose, you can really get PELTED by the falls. Steve made sure Kim (Aina's mom) didnt get knocked over haha

We each took about 3 turns going in & out of the fray... it was a riot! I'm pretty sure Steve would've done this all day if we let him. But we didnt; we had a long drive to Massachusetts ahead of us. After a quick stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for Kim's 3rd Creme Brule', we were off.

It was about a 6-hour ride through New York state and I took my turn at the wheel just before reaching Albany. Had the bad luck of getting there around rush hour but I didn't get rattled & calmly made it through & into the mountains of Massachusetts. Driving through the Berkshires (part of the Appalachian Mountain chain) was pretty intense but I had fun behind the wheel. Can't imagine it's much fun in winter though...
We checked into our hotel in Williamstown & went over to nearby North Adams to visit Aina's relatives, eat pizza, & watch game 6 of the Stanely Cup (in which the Boston Bruins won big!)

The next morning (tuesday) we headed for Bennington, Vermont to visit Aina's great Aunt Aina (who she's named after). I was VERY excited for our day in Bennington after previously doing some research online & discovering that they have painted MOOSE sculptures all over the town!

We spotted our first moose just outside of town at the Apple Barn, which Kim was planning to stop at anyways, since they have delicious treats. I'm a bit of a syrup snob; I only like the REAL stuff, mainly because my mom is the same way & passed it on to me. Well, being in VERMONT, I HAD to get some so I picked up a sampler pack as a souvenir for mom.

We stumbled across some more moose on the way to visit Aunt Aina at the nursing home. May I just say that for 104 years old, Aunt Aina was very fiesty! I really enjoyed meeting her

There are something like 25-30ish moose throughout the town & we tried our damndest to find them all but were ultimately satisfied with finding & photographing about 15.

We drove by this eerily cool building and I remembered reading something about the Walloomsac Inn while researching Bennington. Apparently it hosted such historic guests as Thomas Jefferson & James Madison in the late 1700s (during Vermonts first years of statehood) and later, president Rutherford B. Hayes.

I also read about the Battle of Bennington Monument, & being a war history buff, insisted we make a stop to check it out. During the American Revolution, Colonel Seth Warner (here) & General John Stark (next pic) led a rebel force of mountain militia to intercept British troops advancing to overtake Albany & reach some much-needed supply lines.

John Stark famously rallied the rebel forces by declaring "there are your enemies, the Red Coats. They are ours, or this night, Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" The battle was a huge boost for the Revolution.

Not only are there awesomely painted moose everywhere, but there are a handful of neat covered bridges in the area.

The downtown area was really neat & I really liked this clock.

Constantly surrounded by beautiful green mountains... yeah, Vermont was sweet haha

And apparently there are ample REAL moose around here too. This might be one of my favorite all-time pictures. In case you havent figured it out my nickname is "Moose" - and with that in mind (I don't mean to toot my own horn but) this picture is pretty clever haha

Wednesday morning we left very early in order to get to Boston with plenty of time to see as much as we could in one day. We stopped at this scenic overlook on the Mohawk Trail thru the mountains, for this awesome view of North Adams in the distance. Too bad the picture doesnt do the view justice.

Best road sign EVER... in my opinion

After the scenic ride through mountains, we approached Boston. Once again, my excitement was childlike. My parents have been to Boston twice (my dad ran the Boston Marathon twice) and kept telling me all the cool stuff the city has to see, especially the historical sites associated with the American Revolution. They also advised against getting anywhere near the city in our car; so we parked in one of the northern suburbs & took the "T" subway in.

Once again following my parents advice, and having done some prior research online, I concluded that a trolley tour would be the best way to see all the things we wanted to see in as little time as possible; We went with Old Town Trolley tours. Tickets weren't cheap ($45) but they covered all the spots that we wanted to see & trolley's come through every 15 minutes so you are free to spend as much, or as little, time at each stop as you want.

Our first stop: the U.S.S. Constitution. "Old Ironsides" is the countries oldest commissioned ship & is famous for its success against British ships during the War of 1812.

There are tours available to actually board & explore the vessel, but I had lots to see yet & didn't want to wait a half hour for the next tour to start.

Bunker Hill was next on my list. The trolley route actually didn't GO to the monument, you have to walk there from the "Old Ironsides" stop, but it turned out to be a pretty short little 5-10 minute walk through a pleasant neighborhood. However, Steve & Kim weren't interested in walking very far (as Steve had recently had knee surgery) so we went our separate ways. Aina & I weren't exactly sure where we going but I knew the general direction and we ended up coming across Boston's "Freedom Trail," a red-brick walking trail through the city that leads to all the historical sites of the Revolution, which took us right to Bunker Hill.

The Battle of Bunker Hill was in the very early stages of the Revolutionary War. Colonial forces learned that British troops had planned to occupy the hills just outside the city for strategic purposes. Instead, William Prescott & 1,200 colonial forces stealthily occupied & fortified the highlands before the British had a chance, & a battle ensued. Though the redcoats eventually overtook the hills, the battle was ultimately seen as a victory for the Revolution as the British took significantly more casualties and the rebels gained confidence in knowing that they, relatively inexperienced militia, could stand toe to toe with the daunted British army. This is also where the famous "don't shoot til you see the whites of their eyes" quote originated from.

Next stop: Cheers. Though the show was a little before Aina & I's time, we figured what the hell, it's a pretty iconic bar. Conclusion: not really worth the stop. There's a bar kinda like the one on the show (it's not even the actual bar) and a gift shop. The 15 minutes between trolley's seemed forever. If you were a fan of the show - great, check out the gift shop & maybe get a drink at the bar. Otherwise, snap a picture of the sign while the trolley lets people on & off, & skip this destination.

We were only back on the trolley momentarily as the next stop was Copley Square. You see, I'm also fascinated by architecture (almost went college for it) and there were two buildings in the square that I wanted to see. The first was Trinity Church. Kind of an ugly looking structure but very fascinating nonetheless.

Right next to it is the Hancock Tower, the tallest building in Boston. I look at tall structures like this & just can't wrap my head around the design and construction... it really blows my mind. We walked around the church & stared up at the tower for most of the 15 minutes. We hopped back on the next trolley and headed for my favorite stop...

We lucked out BIG TIME here. The trolley runs 9-5, and Fenway tours start every hour. We got there right around 3 and had to RUN to the ticket office to buy tour tickets, while one of the guides (bless his heart) held up the tour for us. If we didnt get in to the 3 oclock tour, we wouldve had to wait til 4 (or not go at all) and then wouldn't have been able to ride the trolley back - and Fenway is pretty far away from the rest of the stops, including where we were going to meet Kim & Steve at 5. So THANK YOU tour guide.

After that mad rush settled & we calmed down a bit, it hit me - I was IN Fenway. It's basically baseball heaven. I've lived in the Green Bay area for 15 years and have been to Lambeau probably 15-20 times and always get goosebumps when I walk in and see the "Frozen Tundra." SAME feeling here. I've been to Wrigley & didn't have the same feeling of staring out at hallowed ground as I did here (then again i was much younger and i hate the Cubs bahaha). Also, this was the one thing I've seen that my parents havent in their 2 trips to Boston!




The tour guide was pretty entertaining and detailed how the Green Monster came about. Way back whenever, people were watching the games for free from the taller buildings across the street from the left field wall. This angered the owner to the point of building up the left field wall (or as the tour guide put it "the greatest overreaction in sports history") and the "Monsta" was born.

I was downright GIDDY at this point...

If it looks like I'm trying to fight back a big, dumb smile - it's probably cuz I am haha I'm on the Monsta!

Walking around to the other side of the park took us through the Hall of Fame - might recognize these two guys...

Another fascinating story was about "Pesky Pole." This right field foul pole is the shortest home run in Major League Baseball and in the 1950s a Boston infielder by the name of Johnny Pesky, who didn't have much power as a batter, hit a crucial bloop home run that hugged the pole. The Red Sox pitcher who won the game because of the HR affectionately coined it "Pesky Pole."

YET another interesting quirk at Fenway - this lone red chair amongst all green chairs in the outfield. It marks the longest home run in Fenway history, hit by Ted Williams.

After riding the trolley through the campuses of Harvard & M.I.T., we got off at Beacon Hill, a really ritzy, old-timey neighborhood. I had seen a picture online of a narrow, gravel street that looked like it was straight out of the late 1700s. We wandered around for 15 minutes trying to find it without any luck, but still really enjoyed the gorgeous neighborhood (notice the cobblestone street).

Can't remember what building this was that we rode past (i think a state house or something?) but notice the Bruins banner. The whole city was buzzing about game 7 of the Stanley Cup THAT NIGHT. Would've been cool to stick around for the festivites but we had lodging arrangements elsewhere.

When we split up with Kim & Steve earlier, we had made plans to meet up again in the "North End" for dinner before leaving the city. Well there were a couple historical sites IN the North End that we checked out quick before calling an end to our sightseeing. This was Paul Revere's house. You can take tours through his house but we were too late and, being quite hungry, didn't really care haha.

A quick walk up the road brought us to this statue of Paul, teeming with Bruin's spirit, with the famous Old North Church in the background. "Listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere" who hung laterns in the church ("One if by land, Two if by sea") to warn the surrounding patriots as to how the British were going to be coming in search of revolutionary leaders Samuel Adams & John Hancock (with intent to imprison them) and dismantle any weapons and supplies the militia were stockpiling.

Aina & I had seen a Food Network special on Boston's North End, which is a MECCA for amazing Italian cuisine. We walked up & down the neighborhood, reading all the menus in the front windows. The place Aina & I saw on TV, called Bricco, had a huge line - probably because it's considered one of the top 10 restaurants in the COUNTRY. I was told by a friend who had been to the north end, that you can't really go wrong no matter where you eat, and we were getting hungrily impatient and ended up choosing Mother Anna's. We sat in their outdoor seating area with this nice view of the city and stuffed our faces with Lobster Fettucini - AMAZING. Sure it was a little pricey but A: when in Rome, & B: you get a pretty big plateful. It usually doesn't take much to fill me up so this huge plate of Italian goodness was daunting but I rose to the occasion & polished it off, impressing myself (and Aina) in the process haha.

I was also told by my friend, and my parents, that we had to check out Quincy Market. We walked around looking for souvenirs and ended up buying some Boston Bruins t-shirts. The bars were PACKED with people in Bruins garb getting ready to watch the game (& eventually go crazy because Boston WON!). We decided it was probably best to be on our merry way before the madness ensued. We got back on the subway, found our car, & headed up the coast to our oceanfront lodging in Gloucester.

We got to the Good Harbor Beach Inn after dark (9ish?) and wasted little time heading out the back of our room & going for a moon-lit stroll on the beach. Aina & I plopped down on the beach, sunk our toes in the sand, & watched the waves get closer as the tide ever-so-slowly rose. After a busy couple of days of hustling to see as much as possible, it felt good to just sit & listen to the soothing sound of waves crashing. It was one of those perfect moments you wish would never end, but eventually we got cold/tired enough to head inside for bed.

Waking up to this view from our room was a great way to start they day. We rolled out of bed & immediately headed back outside to see what the beach was like in the daylight - conclusion: GORGEOUS.



I had researched the area online & thought Good Harbor Beach looked nice in pictures, but it shattered my expectations. These pictures don't really do it justice.





That's the Inn - high tide gets right up to the step, low tide unveils at least 100 yards of amazing beach. After a ridiculously huge breakfast at a nearby cafe, we set off to explore the town of Gloucester.

This statue in the harbor is arguably the most recognizable image associated with Gloucester. The Fisherman's Memorial, or "Man at the Wheel," is dedicated to "they that go down to the sea in ships." Gloucester, America's oldest seaport, had a BRUTAL storm in 1991 that was the basis for the movie "Perfect Storm."

Next, we headed just a short drive to the other side of the harbor to check out Stage Fort Park, which kinda juts out in the harbor & offers a great view on 3 sides. This park would be an excellent spot for a scenic picnic.

Besides an actual park area (swings, playground, etc) there's a neat little spot that used to be a military fort (hence the name of the park), which was a perfect location to protect the town's harbor.

There are 4 cannon relics still in place... which are pretty cool.

There's also a little beach, kinda secluded by huge rock formations on both sides, that seemed really nice.

A little further up the harbor is this mansion, and just past it, a castle... which is where we headed next.

Hammond Castle was once the home of inventor John Hammond, who was a pioneer in remote control technologies. For an admission fee, you can take self-guided walking tours throughout the castle & check out all sorts of medieval/renaissance artifacts that Hammond collected, as well as exhibits about his life and inventions.

We decided to pass on the $8 admission & were content with walking around the outside of the castle, which had some beautiful gardens & landscape features - like this cool drawbridge.

No castle is legit without some gargoyles on the premises.

This is the backside (facing the ocean), which has a lovely lawn area.

Topping it all off, this beautiful courtyard overlooking the ocean.

The house next door might not have been a castle but it was no shack either, & it had this sweet weathervane haha

We got back to our room around mid-day, just as the beach was getting crowded. We were kinda worried it wouldnt be warm enough beach weather in early June but the day was absolutely PERFECT. We spent the next couple hours in this fashion: soaking up sun until we got hot enough to brave the cold Atlantic ocean, then returning to our beach-towels to warm up again, heading back to the water, and so on. We all had a blast playing in the waves as they rolled in.

After a perfect afternoon on the beach, our big breakfast finally wore off & it was time to start thinking about food again. We headed to the downtown area to look for souvenirs and scout out some dinner options. Turns out that Gloucester has a pretty vibrant artistic community, and there were lots of neat shops showcasing impressive local art. We settled on the Topside Grille for dinner, and it was excellent. I'm one of those "when in Rome" guys so I had to try some more seafood. I got some Clam Chowder for an appetizer, which was AMAZING, and then I tried a Lobster Roll because I saw signs for them at pretty much every restaurant we came across. A lobster roll is basically a bun filled with lobster meat, mayo, & lettuce - nothing special but not bad.

After dinner, we set off to find a lighthouse I had seen online. Turned out to be an adventure as I knew the general area it had to be but there were some "private neighborhood/do not enter" signs that threw us off the trail. Luckily, a local couple out for a walk that had seen us driving around confused told us to ignore the signs and pointed us in the right direction.

We got out to "Eastern Point" right around sunset, which made for some gorgeous pictures (if i may say so..).

Eastern Point Lighthouse

Once again we lucked out - this was easily the best vantage point in the area to watch a sunset. It was another special, romantic moment but it was bittersweet because our trip was coming to an end

The last thing on our trip agenda - watch the sun come up over the ocean.

Yeah we had to get up early (5ish) but this view was certainly worth it.

My sneaky girlfriend caught me in a sort of awe/reflective mood. It was an unforgettable trip that I'll cherish forever.