east coast trip - day 2

remember how we got to the knights inn in danvers, ma at 2:30 in the morning???  yeah, we slumped into bed and despite our better intentions slept until just after 8.  we kind of let ourselves... we knew it was forecast to rain thursday so, though i liked to think i could will it away, we planned to switch around our activities for the boston days.  there were a few reasons (besides resisting change of "the plan") that we thought it would be ideal to do things the first way, but it turned out to be just fine with our alterations.

so we wake up, and indeed, it's raining.  we go eat our included breakfast first thing.  i remember they had greasy pre-packaged "muffins" (read: moist cake : ), pastries, oatmeal packets, cold cereal, fruit (?maybe?), and i think bagels and toast.  not the world's best, but very far from the worst we've had!  so we loaded up on our carbs!  we tried a muffin or two and regretted looking at the nutritional info.  we both had a bagel and had to accept "cream cheese spread" which is not the same as cream cheese, but it was all right.  wow, could i sound like more of a whiner?!  we didn't know they'd be bringing out more oatmeal packets so i ended up with "original."  i decided i was going to have mine cold, so i could have more excuses to enjoy their fatty milk.  i had never had "original" but apparently it doesn't mean just plain oats... there was definitely salt!  so with the milk it was a little different, but an adventure!

i was lucky that will didn't just assume we'd have nice weather the whole time (like me : ) and he kept an eye on it.  so with a sigh i packed one pair of long pants, just in case (because i was still sure that the skies would clear for MY vacation, right??! : ) and a light zip up "sweatshirt."  that thing does not even have a hood.... this is foreshadowing, people... i will come to regret that a little!!

after we got ready we drove down through boston and south to plymouth.  hold on a minute, we were so entertained by the charm and character of the establishments and buildings we passed!  some things seemed kind of run down in some areas, but there was no shortage of character and it was fun to see so many different things!  i regret that i didn't take any pictures along the one road in particular! oh well.

here's a picture driving through rainy boston on our way to plymouth.

we were actually heading to plimoth plantation.  while telling my grandparents about our plans my grandpa asked if we were going to plimoth plantation.  we hadn't considered doing that until then, but it sounded interesting!  i'm so glad he said something and we looked into it!  despite the rain, i think this was honestly my favorite day of the vacation!  i was a little nervous, though with the rain...

if you're in the area, you should go!  i give it my full endorsement!

so we arrive and in a lower lot see a bunch of school buses.  i guess i thought maybe they shuttled people to some other location for certain things.  will said, "it looks like field trip city!"  i hadn't even considered that!  he was right, though!  we were sharing the place with hundreds of kids roughly 3rd to 6th grade : )  in some settings this can be kind of tough, but we truly truly loved having those kids there!  they were so excited and asked the most interesting things.  it was fun to observe the parents/chaperons and teachers and hear their comments to us.  they were pretty good sports with the rain - the kids didn't seem to mind too much.  they were better prepared than us with umbrellas, rain boots, etc.  there were other "tourists" like us, but it was mostly the school groups.

they start you out with a video explaining the plantation.  we sat in the back and watched the workers file in school groups and go over rules : )  after the video we were out of there before we could get confused for a lost kid!  they have a Wampanoag "village" and a 17th Century English Settlers "village" so they explained that and the layout of the plantation.  

with the natives they're all of native decent.  they're in costume, but speak with you as modern day people, aiming to educate about the people who lived when the mayflower arrived and the time after.  they strive to preserve the culture through gardening, home building, cooking, art, hunting, canoe building (but they're not called canoes), etc.  there weren't really any outside to talk with, but in the homes there were some.  being in the homes was pretty popular because it was warm and dry.  pretty smokey in there, though!  you could go in and sit (if there was a spot) and listen to them answer questions and impart their knowledge and demonstrate things.  it was fun to hear the kids ask - sometimes you could tell it was a "required" piece of information for their soggy school assignment and other times you could tell it was just a kid thinking of what kids think of!  we enjoyed sitting in there for a while just listening and learning.  then there was a second, smaller one where we could only stand.

check out how cool the spider web looks on here!

i don't think this picture does it justice for how crowded it seemed.  once we were able to secure a seat i tried to make room for the kids.  the kid next to me didn't seem to care about the strange lady right next to him.. haha

in the second home.  she is roasting her QUAIL!!  quail, people! 

there was something significant about their pots.  they were made out of something, not something else (lead?), which was giving the kids in the english village problems and killing them off.

we were fully enjoying the wampanoag village, but we knew there was more, so we moved on to the 17th century english settlers' village.  you walk down a fairly short path to get there and get pretty views like this:

at the english settlers' village they are also in costume, and also strive to educate, but it's a little different.  they are completely 100% in character!  whatever you ask or say, they respond in correct accent, syntax, vocabulary, etc from the perspective of a man or woman in period.  (all of the children were out to play, they said.... that was their weakest part, but we understood.)  so you go home to home, structure to structure to see, listen, and ask.  once again, having all the kids and their thoughts and perspectives made it fun and interesting.  gradually as time went on their field trips were ending, though, so eventually there were very few people (tourists) and us left.  with all the rain the streets were pretty empty.  it was fun to see the "outdoor" things - their gardens, community ovens, animal areas, fields, etc, but now there weren't trees to guard us as much from the rain.  we rain between buildings when we could, dodging puddles, but kept getting wetter and wetter.  but we loved this part of the "museum" too!  i guess i'm grateful it wasn't too hot!

just heading into the village.

 this was the first building we looked into and saw these guys working.  i think we had either forgotten we were supposed to talk to them or we hadn't quite caught on to the concept yet, so all i did was take a picture of them... and feel weird while i did so... : )

a community oven.  one or two had an oven in their home brought over, but they thought they just took up space when there was one outside they could easily use.  i'll keep my personal oven, thanks : )

they talked about how the settlers did make some things (furniture, pots, etc) there, but other things were made in England then sent over.  for the sake of the museum, all the hand crafted items were made onsite (usually in the "crafts" building, but while that's being remodeled, they have a portion of the visitors center where you can see them work on those things).

a view up the hill at all the neighbors!

probably standing in the same spot, but had a hard time getting much else in the background : )  we're getting wetter and wetter!  did i mention i didn't have a hood??

 sorry to this lady that i caught such a good face! ha : )  i think they called those little pot looking things "coffins."  they were going to fill them with chicken (which the lady in the background is de-meating) and maybe some herbs (with a definite h-sound) and other things from their garden.  i said something like, "oh, like a pot pie!" but it didn't sound like pot-pie was in their vocabulary... : )

one more shot of them without me trying to shove up past kids to the front.. ha!

 her lunch was eggs and butter.  mmmmm!!!!!!!  we haven't felt so compelled to add that to our menu quite yet... i asked what the little chunky things were and i think she said mustard... (she was getting paid to eat that, right???)

 will started to get a hankering for some of that butter so i told him he better get a goin' on makin' it!

back outside before we ran inside again!  we were having a great time!

 this guy was pretty good - did seem slightly less in character, but he was really nice to all the kids.  and see that round thing in the upper-right corner?  he taught us that was a "puddin."  it was meant to be put on a young child's head and act as a bumper in case they fell or knocked into something.  he said that's where "puddin'-head" came from.  cool, huh?!

 what a luxurious kitchen!

 look!  a new, old house!

 a garden in one yard.  they all had them... they wanted to eat!

these kids left not long after we got there.  then the guy asked will what business he was in (something to that effect).  will said he worked with computers.  he said, "ah!  yes!  pewter!  we have plenty of that around here!"  we thought that was pretty funny.  he spoke fast so i had a hard time keeping up with his accent, etc.  and then he kept on talking and talking and talking.  we started edging toward the door.  he kept talking.  (and repeating himself.)  we listened for any pause to say we had to go.  eventually we're out the door and so is he still talking! haha.  we finally said thanks and were on our way.  by then the street looked pretty empty.  i think all the kids were gone by then so it was just a few tourists left and they were all in out of the rain.

 we went up to the top of the street/hill to this building.  i can't remember what it was, or if we ever learned what it was.

 we went up the stairs and it was pretty empty.

 except for some cannons.

 this is the view over the ledge back out at the village looking down the hill.

if you looked out the left side of the look-out you could see their "fields" that the men went out to work in.  later as we left the village we walked along the path that you can kind of see on the far side of the field.

 i can't remember what they were talking about anymore, but i caught her at an opportune time : )  i think these are the ladies we tried to ask more about school.  they didn't think it was that important.  i didn't tell them i was a teacher! : )

 this chicken had come in while we were talking with them and they shooed it out.  we had fun watching it go around outside.  several homes had garden spaces and several homes had animal spaces.  they were divided into companies and goods were divided up among them.  some groups had cows, some goats, etc and they used what they had.

we asked one nice wet family to take a picture of our nice wet family! : )  livin' the dream!

 that view back up at the lookout with the community security system.  that corn must be getting taller now, almost two months later!

 this guy would normally be in that crafts building, but for now he demos making native wampanoag things in the back of the visitor center.

 this guy does wood work for the items in the english village.

 someone does pottery, but we didn't see them there.

 the moooooflower! : )

 the visitor center from the outside.

 the barn had some information about animal husbandry and different varieties they had back then.

 i didn't include all my pictures of the goats, sheep, etc, just the one with me : )

 when we got back to the parking lot there was a farmers' market going on!  we walked around it for fun (ok, and secretly hoping for a freebie..haha : )  that's where we first saw people selling lobster rolls and our interest was piqued.  we hoped we could find them slightly cheaper, though...

 we drove down to the waterfront to tour the mayflower II - a remake that sailed across the atlantic back in the 50s or 60s.  we asked the guy working there (not in any kind of character) about my ancestor who grandma had told us fell off the ship during a storm and was miraculously saved.  it was fun to hear him recount it in his words and how he went on to marry elizabeth tilly(???) and they were fairly prominent.  which, time out, how can someone not be fairly prominent when there's only so many to begin with!  anyway, he said he gets asked about him a lot... haha : )

 there was a family who was also exploring the ship and we took turns taking pictures of each other out on the deck.  can you see the thick rain blowing down at an angle???  we were super cold at this point because it was windy, rainy, and we were on the waterfront.

 we ran down the way 100 yards or so off the boat to see Plymouth Rock!  just  feet from the crashing waves it sits in the sand.

this memorial thing is over it and you have to look down over a railing to see it.

 though we were running to get out of the rain as fast as we could, i decided i wanted one more good picture of the ship!

 back in the car we discussed being on the lookout for a local (not national chain) pizza place (because we noticed they had a ton) pizza place for dinner.  right away we saw papa gino's.... a regional chain... : )  we decided that was good enough for us.  we pulled in, parked, and i braced myself for one more rainy run from the car to inside.  apparently gino's is the official pizza of the boston red sox.  i guess we made a good choice!  we were very cold and pretty hungry, so that may have been it, but it was really really good!  better than most of what we've had in the west... sorry! : )

 cheesy bread sticks we devoured!

 our pepperoni and onion pizza (a family favorite!) that we loved every part of!  yes, i was that girl taking pictures of all our food! ha.

after we ate we drove the long way back to danvers.  like.. the really long way.  we drove across into rhode island so we could say we did.  but... you're going to have to take our word for it because apparently we have no pictures!!!!!!!!!  bummer!  oh well!  we saw some cute, quaint little neighborhoods.

then we drove around the greater boston area because we wanted to see it.  we did drive by walden pond, through minute man historic park, and past mit lincoln lab where will had interviewed for jobs in the past.  we really thought we had pictures of those, but we can't find them... : ( wah.  oh well.  it being new england we also saw lots of trees and cute houses.

then we drove up to new hampshire to see it (and to say we've been! : ).  across the state line is nashua.

 i guess we do have proof of that one!

we finally made it to the boston temple!!!  it would have been nice in the daylight, but it was very pretty at night.  our camera doesn't win awards, so this was about the best we could do with the light we had.  

then we found a walmart to get a snack (yogurt and bananas!), buy an umbrella just in case for any subsequent days, and some dry shampoo for me.

back on the freeway going the opposite way we had a really nice view of the temple again. that's fun when the church is able to get property along the freeway like that.

we got back "home" later than we anticipated but it was a full day with lots of fun!  we were excited for downtown boston the next day and the weather was looking promising!

whew!  now that you made it to the end go eat the popsicle you've earned! : )  day 2 in the books!

east coast trip - day 1

we used to say that if we made it to five years without kids then we'd go on a cruise.......... thinking it would never happen....... ha!  well five years came and went and we still haven't gone on our cruise.  as the reality set in that five years was approaching and i would have to make sure that will had been serious and was ready to deliver we had more "serious" discussions about it.  will expressed he'd rather go on a trip to the east coast.  i thought that sounded fun, too, so ultimately, since it was something we both wanted to do, i guess the east coast trip replaced the cruise.  though, i would still happily set sail any day now!

last summer, before i was hired for the school year we figured it would be a year of subbing and whatever else.  so we decided that in order to have adequate time to plan and get excited we'd wait until the fall of 2014 when i wouldn't have a job anyway.  we thought new england and the east in september or so sounded nice, plus we'd have less people to compete with.  if, by chance, we had a child before then we told ourselves we'd still go.  then i got hired and we thought i'd have that job until the kids finally came.  we decided we still wanted to plan on going, but instead of going in the fall, we'd have to go in the summer.  it was determined that we'd leave the week after school got out and go in early june while at least some people were still in school.

then of course there were some unexpected changes causing us to be unsure if we should postpone our trip to the fall or if we'd even go at all!  everything was refundable except the airfare and if we didn't go we'd just use the tickets in another way.  the only other thing we'd paid for was our statue of liberty tickets.  about three weeks before we were scheduled to leave we decided for sure that we would be going and not to postpone - partially because will had found us such good rates on all our reservations and partially because we couldn't see the future to the fall because we still haven't found a crystal ball!  this, along with the end of the school year, did make it hard to have the same kind of anticipation i am so fond of leading up to trips and big events, but i did my best!

so now, the moment we've all been waiting for!  a series of posts about our trip so 1, we have it recorded, 2, we can tell about it in one place, and 3, you can all see how cute we are : )  (cute can be interpreted oh so many ways.... : )  just remember the humidity was through the roof!  that and we didn't always get a ton of sleep...

day 1 - traveling!!

to oakland to chicago to baltimore to boston.  yes, all in one day!  one very long day!

the day before we left was a temple tuesday morning so i'd already woken up early (like 3:55).  we did our last minute preparations and packing then went to bed excited and knowing we NEEDED to get rest, so naturally we had a hard time falling asleep.  wednesday, june 4 my alarm went off at 2:42 am....  rise and shine, sleeping beauty!  it's time for vacation!!  we were on the road by 3:15.  here's our first trip picture!

we were trying to document our multi-state day.  if we were a little crazier we would have jaunted over to Pennsylvania also to make it a 9 state day, but we settled for an 8 state day.  it looks like all our pictures for the first day were just out-the-window pictures of where we were... i don't know that it even crossed my mind to take a picture with us in it that first day!  oops!

we drove to the oakland airport and things went smoothly with our long-term parking.  though, when they have a "bus stop" outside, where else are we supposed to expect the shuttle bus to pick us up to take us to the airport?!  a nice lady told us we'd be waiting a long time and where to go instead.  check-in and security went smoothly as well and we were to the gate by 5:something for our 6:20 flight.  the world looks good when you're up and at 'em early like that : )

we flew to chicago for a layover.  since it was a "longer" flight they had "better" snacks, not just peanuts and pretzels.  so that entertained us : )  they had cheese filled ritz cracker packs, fancy wheat thins, and little "cookie crisp" things that were really just like sweet crackers with "chocolate chips."  so we had a nice discussion remembering the "cereal" that was cookie crisp and the commercials they had.  we also tried to sleep as much as we could on the plane.  (like all my quotation marks? : )

the complimentary drinks as well as our banana milk we'd drank between the time we'd left home and going through security (trying to use up our milk and bananas before we left!) caught up with us... i really didn't want to have to go on the plane.  it's not so much the tiny bathroom, but climbing over your neighbor and parading down the aisle that i'd rather not do!  i had been telling myself that i would just wait until we landed because the mental part is half the battle!  eventually will decided he'd rather go and we may as well go at the same time so we'd only have to climb over our new friend so much.  i guess i wasn't listening at the beginning well enough because suddenly i was unsure if i was breaking rules to stand there and wait while will took his turn.  i stood back a ways making sure not to make eye contact with anyone and telling will (in my mind) over and over to "please hurry! please hurry! please hurry!"  then i will admit while i tried, myself, to hurry, and despite my (irrational?) fears that someone would come open the door, it was like a little vacation in there and the most personal space i'd had all day on the plane!

our layover in chicago wasn't that long.  just long enough for another picture, bathroom break, and walk around... and a little waiting.

on the second flight we watched part of "an american tale" that will had loaded on the tablet.  it was fun to see the statue of liberty stuff knowing that we'd be going... and anticipating the lack of cats and streets made of cheese! (you have to see the movie : )  we hadn't started it right away, though, so we had to turn it off (and return all seats and tray tables to upright position) when there was 10 or so minutes left.  i guess we still haven't watched the rest, but we did get to see them "wewease da secwet weapon!!!!" haha : )  for me it was a fun throwback to the good old days.  i don't think will had ever seen it, though, so that was fun.

when we landed in baltimore sometime around 4 will rushed out to find the shuttle bus to the light rail that he'd take to the stop closest to the car rental place.  we are aware that you can rent a car from the airport... but are you aware that you can save some money if you get it elsewhere??!  my job was to get the baggage and wait for him... i'm not a very fast person sometimes, but my job was much faster than his.  he was rushing so we could get moving asap, but also because he had to get to the rental place before they closed.  so i'm hanging out with a backpack, cinch sack, purse, and two large suitcases discovering that i have poor cell service in the baggage claim area... this makes me a little nervous since now i'm on the other side of the country waiting for will.  i didn't want to go outside before i needed to because it was warm and humid.  i was able to get him a text saying i had poor service and if nothing else i'd just go out and wait.  the passenger pick up area was right outside, so i didn't have to go far.  i waited inside trying different locations, people watching, and only had to deflect one "stranded" person trying to guilt me into donating to their cause.  i can't remember for sure, but i believe he started with a patronizing term, so if he was ever going to have a chance he lost all hope with that.  i was able to send will a few more texts and he was able to give me a couple updates.  finally i went outside and didn't have to wait much longer out there.  he showed up in our white impala with the ac blasting since he had had to run from the light rail station to the rental place to make it in time.  phew!

the next leg of the day was driving from baltimore all the way up to boston.  we knew this wouldn't be a "short" drive, but again, renting a car and returning to the same place is much much cheaper than a one-way rental.  plus we were excited!!  we passed through maryland, deleware, new jersey, new york, connecticut, and massachusetts!  we had fun seeing how the scenery, road signs, restaurants, etc were different from what we're used to in the west.

we also experienced the joy of toll roads.  several months in advance we had ordered ourselves an "EZPass" so we could  put money on it and just drive through tolls.  that was convenient and fun... if your idea of fun is your money magically disappearing as you keep driving!! ha : )  i don't know that we understand them completely (or i don't, at least)... they have some weird things about adding money... like it will automatically add money for you but only if you're in the state it's registered in?  (not sure...) it all worked out, though! sometimes we went through the lanes where we could pay with cash too, just in case, but the EZPass worked every time!  

the land of will's nativity!!

this is the best i could do going over the george washington bridge into new york.  kind of artistic, huh? : )

we got slowed up by some construction in connecticut that seemed bad at the time, but we've had worse.

in connecticut we'd run out of our packed snacks, so around 10:00 we stopped off at a service area where they have gas and a couple fast food options all conveniently together like a rest area is in the west (like, not off on streets by a neighborhood or other shopping complex).  they had a subway so i was supposed to order some sandwiches while will got the gas.  do you realize the kind of pressure it is to order someone else's subway??!!  it's been long enough that i know what will likes and doesn't like - mostly.. but he surprises me sometimes!  i felt like i was doing pretty well, but was still glad when will came in time to say his own veggies.  because of the road construction and lateness of the hour will was anxious to keep moving.  i could tell that he didn't think the nice young man making our sandwiches was going quite fast enough.  however, for me, my heart went out to this guy as i watched him work because i could tell he was a kindred spirit!  i watched how he carefully placed each tomato slice and gave attention to detail.  i don't know how to really put it into words beyond that, but i had a real appreciation for this guy! : )  i tried to be especially nice.  then as we're walking out to the car will asks if they were on sale because it seemed like we hadn't paid enough.  i realized he was right but thought maybe there was some deal after a certain time of night.  we decided we should go back to check, just to be sure.  we had to wait while he finished the sandwich of another guy, but since this guy (unbeknownst to him) and i were practically bosom buddies at this point i was worried he might get in trouble for having not charged enough so we waited.  turned out he had just hit the wrong thing on accident and felt like he had to apologize, but then sent us on our merry way.  i tried to explain to will in the car how well i could identify with and appreciate my pal!  i think he kind of got it... : )

as we got into massachusetts it was fun, but a little weird too, to see the names of places on signs that we've become pretty familiar with in our research.  those new england states are little, but still pack a good drive!  the music was up, there was singing, lame jokes, and whatever else we could do to give ourselves the illusion of energy!  we finally got to our hotel/motel? in danvers on the north side of boston at about 2:30 in the morning.  there was the time change, of course, so it wasn't a full 24 hour day, but it was still plenty long!  it was, really, about a 21 hour day and we were ready for sleep!  we were excited and having a fun time, though! day 1 in the books!

great minds

ok fine... will kindly broke "the unfortunate news" that you were all too kind not to:

that at least one (probably more) other person has lay in bed at night and thought up "curry in a hurry."

sigh... oh well!  i guess my next best one is something like "naan yo' average indian!" ha : )