May 11, 2006

• We are in a remote town by the name of Stonington, Maine.  Look it up on mapquest to see where we are at.  The Inn we are staying in is great but it doesn’t have internet connection.  I’m actually on a real weak signal from some other wireless router somewhere near here.  At any rate, likely no pictures till we get to Boston on Saturday.

  
  

  A little rainy today but hopefully it won’t spoil our day tomorrow.  Maine is as beautiful as we thought it’d be and the little town we are staying in is awesome. We have a boat ride scheduled tomorrow that will take us to several different islands here as well as a couple lighthouses.  If it’s poor weather then the captain said we’re out of luck.  More on that later. 

  
  

  Here’s the latest rundown of days.  I’ll break this in to two posts as it’s likely to be way to long for just one. 

  
  

  Also…here’s a throwback to Pennsylvania and the quilts that Pam purchased from a nice Amish woman.

  
  

  

  
  

  Monday May 8th – Palmyra, NY (Drive from Niagara Falls – 2 hours)

  
  

  It’s about time I finish up the trip entries don’t you think?  It’s been three weeks since we’ve been back and I’ve felt overwhelmed with other duties and have put this on the back burner.  It’s hanging over my head and with a gentle nudge by Pam I’ve decided to get this all wrapped up. 

  
  

  We got up and said our goodbyes to our beautiful view of Niagara Falls and started heading towards our next stop Palmyra, NY.  I had done a quick search online to find a hotel near Palmyra and all I was finding were places about 8 miles or so to the South and nothing all that fancy.  After comparing the options available I made the fateful error of choosing the Econolodge. The fact that I made the reservation just after plunking down the cash probably weighed on my decision to go budget but once we checked in and saw the room I realized the error of my ways.  At any rate, we didn’t bother taking any pictures of it and vowed to spend a little extra next time. 

  
  

  We got in about 1:00 and after discarding our luggage we headed straightway towards the Hill Cumorah visitors center.  We didn’t have much literature on the area as far as church history sites to see so we figured that was a good place to start.  We entered the building only to be besieged by missionaries and shuttled around the visitors center.  I was hoping to see some artifacts and some more history than we did but the presentation there was of course first class and missionary directed.

  
  

  After we saw what there was to see at the Visitors Center we drop up to the top to see the Angel Moroni monument that you see below.  Impressive.

  
  

  

  
  

  Our next stop was further in to downtown Palmyra to the Grandin Print Shop.  Martin Harris had mortgaged his farm to pay the printer here to print the first copies of the BofM. They had a copy of one of the original books that was printed along with a lot of old printing equipment.   While interesting, we were both eager to get over to the Smith farm and the Sacred Grove before it shut down for the day so we cut our visit to the print shop short.

  
  

  

  
  

  The highlight of the visit, and the one we were most anxious to see, was the Smith family farm and accompanying Sacred Grove.  Pictured here is a rebuilt cabin that the Smith family lived in when they first bought the property and after they were moved out of the framed house. It’s not the original building however it is built on the original foundation and was recreated using drawings, historical documents, and journals.  We were able to go inside…pretty cozy.

  
  

  

  
  

  This home here is the framed home in which the family lived for several years.  It was initially Hyrum Smith’s home and where the family lived while a lot of the persecution of the family took place.  It is pretty much original.  The fireplace here is where Joseph hid the gold plates at one point.  He’d hollowed out the area underneath the bricks and hid them there in order to keep them from being found when people would ransack the house. 

  
  

  

  
  

  The last stop on the church history tour was the best.  We walked through the sacred grove and enjoyed the wonderful spirit present there.  It was very peaceful and made for a great finish to the day.  We walked through and stopped a few times just to sit and reflect on the events that took place there. Very cool

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  This picture here is of the visitors center at the Smith family farm and then across the street is the Palmyra Temple.  I love that they built a temple here.  I’m sure it doesn’t get the use that other temples do however what a great way to honor Joseph Smith and the the hardships that his family endured while living here.  A bit of a slap in the face to the those that persecuted them.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Tuesday May 9th – Cooperstown, NY (Drive from Palmyra – 4 hours)

  
  

  From one religious shrine to the next, our next stop on our trip was Cooperstown, NY..home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  For those who don’t know, I’m a baseball nut and have always wanted to go to the hall of fame and thankfully Pam agreed to indulge me with a day of the trip. 

  
  

  

  
  

  Part of what I enjoy about baseball is the rich history that the game has and how it honors the past.  Babe Ruth is the greatest.

  
  

  

  
  

  My favorite team, the Padres, have a very limited representation in the HOF.  They were an expansion team back in 1969 and only have one player with a plaque (Dave Winfield) but all that will change next year when Tony Gwynn will get in on his first year of eligibility.  He’s the greatest Padre ever and the picture below is of the bat he used when he socked hit number 3000 of his career.  I remember watching that game. 

  
  

  

  
  

  These two plaques are of the two greatest players in baseball history in my opinion.  Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.  Awesome. Of course Sophia couldn’t help but get in on the action, she’s going to be a star as well. 

  
  

  

  
  

  The aforementioned Dave Winfield donning a San Diego Padre hat and of course Tommy Lasorda.  I don’t know why I took the picture of Lasorda other than I was a bit surprised he was in there. Serra looks like one of those girls on “The League of Their Own” movie. 

  
  

  

  
  

  We ended up eating lunch at a place accross from the Hall called Triple Play Cafe.  It was horrible and gave both of us stomach aches.  We ended up heading back to the hotel, ordering some pizza, and relaxing in the hotel hot tub.  A fitting way to end the day.

  
  

  Wednesday May 10th – North Conway, NH (Drive from Cooperstown – 7 hours)

  
  

  In my opinion, this days drive was the most beautiful country we’d seen however Pam swears that Pennsylvania was prettier.  We again took the back roads and went through much of upstate NY as we headed through Vermont and eventually in to North Conway, NH.  The day was spent driving all day and aside from a stop at Burger King and a few pit stops we were behind the wheel. Absolutely gorgeous though.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Here’s our silly girls at Burger King.  The girls were so good the whole trip.  Serra would often play with Sophia to keep her entertained and wouldn’t complain when Sophia was screaming.  We learned fairly quickly that the only reason Sophia would scream was if she was hungry so we made it priority one to make sure we took the time to stop and feed in 3-4 hour increments even if she was sleeping.  This made for a much more enjoyable drive.

  
  

  

  
  

  Here again are the many moods of our little princess as taken by Serra.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Wow…we actually didn’t end up with any pictures of Vermont or New Hampshire.  We pretty much drove through there without stopping but take my word for it, it was beautiful.

  
  

  Thursday May 11th – Stonington, Maine (Drive from North Conway, NH – 5 hours)

  
  

  From North Conway, NH our next stop was Maine.  I’d really been looking forward to this leg of the trip as I’ve seen a lot of pictures of Maine and it always looked breathtakingly beautiful.   It didn’t disappoint however as we were leaving North Conway it started to rain and it rained the entire way to Stonington.  I had chosen to go to Stonington as I’d read about it in a magazine while working with Expedition Motor Homes and it seemed like it wasn’t a huge tourist spot but was beautiful and would give us a true feeling of Maine.  It’s located on Deer Isle. 

  
  

  

  
  

  Cappy’s Chowder House…sweet!  Also, the bridge we crossed to get to Deer Isle.

  
  

  

  
  

  We stayed at the “Inn on the Harbor”.  It’s a Bed and Breakfast that is located right on the harbor with views of the lobster boats coming and going.  I normally wouldn’t subject people staying at a Bed and Breakfast to two young kids but the staff assured me it was offseason and it wouldn’t be a problem. 

  
  

  

  
  

  The view from our private balcony was great and would have been even better had it not been so foggy.  Did I mention that it was still raining?  I had arranged with a local Sea Captain (Captain Walt) to take us out on his boat and take us around some of the surrounding isles and give us a tour of the area.  That would have been a blast but he called me and said that the fog was so thick that it would be dangerous and no fun to boot.  We were very disappointed (although Pam’s worries of being sea sick made her a little less disappointed than myself) but we still enjoyed ourselves.

  
  

  

  
  

  We spent a lot of time in our room…good thing it was nice. We’d picked up some breakfast fixings, ice cream, and hot chocolate at a local market and made ourselves at home in the kitchen.  It was nice to sleep in, wake up at our leisure, and enjoy a nice home cooked breakfast.  It was also nice to stretch out, have some hot chocolate and enjoy a nice wood fire.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  The wood burning stove was used a lot and was very nice. 

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Friday May 12th – Stonington, Maine

  
  

  Our second day in Maine was much like the first.  Lots of rain and not much to do because of it.  We got up, took our time, and then went for a drive in search of a good seafood restaurant.  Neither Pam nor I are seafood eaters, in fact I could go as far as saying I don’t like any seafood other than tuna fish, but since we were in Maine I felt like I had to eat some lobster.  Just like having to have a Philly Cheese Steak while in Philly.  Anyhow, on the way to find a restaurant we stopped at a model ship building store and took a look at some of their wares.  We were impressed with how intricate some of these boats are and also how expensive.  Some were upwards or $6,000…yikes!  I ended up buying a much cheaper one and had them ship it back to Vegas.  It’s now sitting in its box in my office waiting to be put together.  I plan to get to it sometime this week.  At the store the people had a big dog they called Mr. Shanty Man.  They told Serra that it ate paper and ever since then Serra brings up at odd times that Mr. Shanty Man eats paper.  Her memory is amazing.

  
  

  

  
  

  At the boat place we asked for a local restaurant recommendation and they told us to go to this place called the “Weathervane”.  They actually recommended another place if we were just looking for great lobster but when they were describing it to used words like “outside under a tarp” and I heard “picnic table” in there somewhere but we were looking for a more traditional place. 

  
  

  It was still a little early for dinner so we walked around in the rain checking out some of the local tourist trap shops.  One downfall of traveling in the “offseason” is that a lot of the shops are purely seasonal so there were a lot of places that were still closed.   I guess the season starts up around the last week of May or first week of June. 

  
  

  We ended up at the Weathervane and I ordered the Steak and Lobster as I knew there was a good chance that the lobster wasn’t going to do it for me. When they brought the things out I was dumbfounded with not only how big they were but I had no clue in how to eat them.  The waitress was fortunately nice and very understanding and gave us a few pointers in getting the meat out.  Serra thought it was pretty cool.  I actually enjoyed the meat in the claws and legs but got majorly grossed out when I saw Pam start taking apart the tail.  We both were trying to figure out how to get to the tail when we again asked the waitress to come over and demonstrate.  If I remember correctly you turn the tail opposite the body and it pops off revealing all the inards of the lobster, including it’s entrails and turds (collectively called the Tomole…pronounced just like the Tamale’s were used to eating).  You then push the tail meat up through the shell and eat away.  By the time I’d watched Pam do it and having done it myself I was ready to say goodbye to my lobster eating days and stick with steak.  Perhaps if it had been prepared for me and I didn’t have to deshell the thing I would have enjoyed it more…but it’s all about the experience right? 

  
  

  

  
  

  Rosie sleeps with her arms behind her head….no doubt a trait passed on to her and Serra by me.  Very cute.

  
  

  

  
  

  Saturday May 13th – Boston, MA

  
  

  We got up the next day with high hopes that the rain would be long gone only to again be met with weather forecasts predicting heavy showers.  Unfortunately they were right on with their predictions and we suffered through major downpours all the way in to Boston.  I had a bad feeling as we got within 30 miles or so of Boston and I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of me that they’d likely cancel the ball game that I’d arranged tickets for.  Boston Red Sox tickets are extremely hard to come by and I had an online acquaintance that had a friend in Boston with season tickets.  Anyhow, long story short, I had the tickets and was eagerly anticipating watching a game in the hallowed Fenway Park.  Unfortunately, as feared, the game indeed was canceled. DOH!

  
  

  We ended up checking in to our hotel and then took a cab to a nearby shopping center where we did a bit of shopping and ate at an Irish Steakhouse.  The only thing notable about it was that we ordered prime rib and was served a cheap sirloin.  When I asked them about it they insisted that we were eating their prime rib…..yikes!  Oh well.  We made it back to the hotel via cab and crossed our fingers that the next day wouldn’t be as wet.

  
  

  May 14th – Boston, MA

  
  

  Not only did it continue to rain this day but talk on the news was that it was a 100 year storm.  How lucky were we? We ended up grabbing breakfast at the hotel and asking around as to what we could do in the area and stay dry.  Another guest mentioned to us that there was a real great aquarium not too far away and that sounded like it’d be fun for Serra so we decided to do that.  Based on what the lady said it was a couple blocks away and after seeing the line for a taxi outside the hotel we decided to try and walk there and pick up a cab on the way.  BAD MISTAKE!!  We ended up walking 4 blocks or so without seeing one available cab and not seeing the aquarium anywhere in site.  We were also not only drenched but the two umbrellas we had were both destroyed by the wind….thus soaking the girls and myself.  We were miserable.  We made our way back to the hotel, dried off, and waited for a cab.

  
  

  We again took a cab and ended up spending several hours at the aquarium wandering around looking at the various sea life and penguins.  We ended up also catching a fun IMAX 3d Movie. It was enjoyable but we were physically drained and more than a little tired of the rain.  We actually looked in to moving our plane ticket up and leaving early but there weren’t any flights that were nonstop and at a decent hour so we decided to stick it out.

  
  

  We caught a cab back to the hotel, ordered in some Chinese, and called it a night.

  
  

  May 15th – Fly home to Vegas, land 11:00 PM

  
  

  We woke up to guess what…more rain!  Pam thankfully agreed to humor me by going on a Fenway Park tour in lieu of the game I missed on Saturday.  I’ll need to d/l the pictures in another post but it was very cool.  It was still cold and rainy but it was great to see a stadium where so much baseball history has taken place.  The tour was worthwhile and the only real downside was the parking ticket we got.  I had a hard time finding a spot and saw an open one where a bunch of other cars were parked.  I didn’t even look for any signs and that was unfortunate as we had a nice $55 ticket along with all the other cars there as well.  Bummer.

  
  

  By the time we finished with the tour it was about 2-3 and our flight didn’t leave till 8:00.  We weren’t sure what to do so we drove around a bit looking for something interesting but ended up in a bad part of town.  We were so tired and ready to go home that we both decided to call it a vacation and head for the airport.  We weren’t sure how long the rental car process would take and I really hate been rushed at the airport.  At any rate, everything went seamless at Thrifty and the airport was its usual frustrating self but we ended up at our gate about 2 1/2 hours early.  It felt great to me just to be there knowing that we’d just pulled off a fantastic family trip that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives and did it without any major issues (car troubles, sickness, accidents, speeding tickets, etc.). 

  
  

  We were so thrilled to be going back to Las Vegas and starting on the next chapter in our lives.  We had an appointment the next morning at 9:00 to sign papers on our house which subsequently closed that Thursday.

  
  

  And that catches us up….I now turn it back over to Pam.  It truly was a wonderful trip.  Ask us about it sometime, we’ll be happy to tell you all about it.

  • 11:41 pm
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