Boston and Maine to Connecticut and Niagara

July 9 Sun.  Not up to much today but we decided to go out to dinner and discovered a new chain 99 Restaurants.  We both had a combo meal with Tips and ribs and chicken, and we will have another nice dinner from the leftovers.

July 10 Mon.  Today Dan spends a couple of hours dealing with the truck.  A local Ford dealer gets him in and they can't flash the computer....so we need a new one.  That will take 3-5 days to come in (crap)  but we get the part ordered and I push our trip to Maine out 1 day till next Monday, thats the farthest they can push us.  Our current home can let us stay till Monday no problem.

July 11 Tues Boston Day.  We are up and off early today to catch a train into Boston.  The parking lot isn't far from our campground and I found that I can arrange for a parking pass for the truck on-line.  So we catch the train into town.  Then as I had purchase an on-off bus tour we figured out where to meet the bus and caught a ride down to the waterfront.  We decided to take the full circle tour for an over view of Boston and then back out the the Naval Yard to see the Constitution.  Well we seem to be on a streak with historical ships.  She's in dry dock.  so while we don't get to tour her we do get to see her from a unique perspective.

So we spent some time at the museum and then hoped back on the bus and when the route circled close to the water front again we hoped off and found a nice little fish house for some lunch, and I have to add this was the best fried fish I've ever had.  I skipped the chips, (and they were also great) to be able to eat all my fish.  Then as we had tickets for a harbor tour we wandered back to the harbor and climbed aboard a nice big boat for a science tour of Boston Harbor.  By the time we were back we were worn out and it was time to catch a train back to the car so we could avoid most of the rush.  I really want to walk the Liberty Trail and so we will make our way back here.

July 12 Wed Todays is Danny's birthday, but he really isn't up t doing much of anything except a drive over to Upton, MA.  Now why Upton you may ask.  Well it seems we have landed right in the middle of the Wood family territory and that is Danny's ancestors going back 7 generations.  We find the Upton library and the historical Society, but they have closed for the day, so we will have to be up and doing much earlier tomorrow to see the folks at the historical Society.

July 13 Thur.  Well we made it to the Society and have a great time chatting with the folks there.   When we said we were looking for the Wood family they just smiled and started bringing out books and maps and pictures.  One of Dans ancestors started a box factory in Upton and he made a lot of boxes for the hat factory that was located nearby.  The Area Thayer House still stands and we got directions to find it.  Also we found where the box factory was located and found just a few spare foundations sections located along the creek.  It was really exciting to see family history going back so far, and parts of it still present.

The Box Factory

Workers at the Box Factory

Products....Great delivery process

The Arba Thayer House today in Upton MA

July 14 Fri   Dan tried to find out about the new computer chip for the truck today but...no luck.

Jul 15 Sat

Jul 16 Sun




Jul 17 Mon  Today we pulled out of CG Farms Campground and headed to Maine...Kennebunkport.  First we cross into New Hampshire, then we get to Maine.  We are staying at Cherry Hill Farms and we had a very good reason.  They offer fresh lobster delivery.  Our first night here we are in too late for lobster and I wanted to take Danny out for his birthday dinner, so I ask the owner for a recommendation for a nice place to have dinner.  She takes no time to offer the perfect place, asks me what time we want to eat and then picks up the phone and calls to reserve a table.  We head downtown to Arundel Wharf and start at the bar for a drink before being escorted to our table.  What a great table!  And a great meal.

Jul 18 Tue.  Now today we are ready to order our dinner, yeah...these lobsters are soft shells, literally we opened them with our fingers.

Dinner Arrives

5 minutes later

Jul 19 Wed.   We had arranged to go out on a schooner today.  Now we had fog this morning and we hope it will clear out, and when we board the Eleanor it looks like its going to clear, but NOT.  So when we get out of the bay we find the fog just waiting for us and no wind.  So we head back in and we are only charged a reduced rate for the "sail".  We also had ordered lobster for dinner again.  Double lobster, 2 each.  The weather wasn't as nice as yesterday so we dine indoors.  And the lobster were in need of pliers and knives they must have come from a different place (?)

On the schooner Eleanor

double lobster

Jul 20 Thur.  Didn't do anything.

The lobster delivery truck

Jul 21 Fri.  We head out of Maine today and caught a picture of the delivery truck.  We decided to head to Mystic Seaport for a few days.  After crossing back into Massachusetts we drop into Connecticut.  For a west coast girl this crossing in and out of multiple states in a few hours just feels strange.  after getting settled in at our new campsite we decide its time for Mystic Pizza.  nuff said.


Jul 22 Sat  We head over to the aquarium today, its a nice little place, and we don't completely exhaust ourselves.

waiting for the parade to get started

Jul 23 Sun.  Now to the seaport village.  This is a great place and we could spend days here.  There is an antique boat parade today and so while we get to see the newly restored steam boat, we can't go onboard...but there is so much else to see and do.  We learn about coopers during the time of the whaling ships.  We learn about making rope, and the building they make it in is really long.  We have a really nice lunch and just keep walking.  Fortunately our ticket is good for 2 days here and we head on home to rest for tomorrow.

lining up the parade

turning yarn into rope

twisting all the way down....and back again

I always liked Longfellow.

Jul 24 Mon  Back to the village and we head over to see the restoration part of the village.  They have wood of every type and tools, just amazing tools.  We find the Mayflower, she is here being restored and while we don't get to go aboard we again get a unique perspective.  Maybe in 2 years we will be able to see all this work completed as they reflect her at Plymouth.  We do learn how they take pieces out one at a time and make patterns to copy the wood, and when the new piece is ready it slips back in.  Well not quite that easy but you get the idea.











Jul 25 Tue  Its a road day again, and this time we are headed across New York toward Niagara.  But as we really don't like going much more then 200 miles we stop off in Salisbury Center NY.  Now it is time to cancel to order on the computer chip, we are too far away to go back so we will order it when we are back in Florida.

Jul 26 Wed  Here we are just in the center of where the Erie Canal connected the shipping centers of New York.  While the original canal is pretty much gone and buried, and the second expanded canal is about the same.  We are at a place where we can get a ride on the "barge canal", this was the third version of the Erie Canal.  Great day just relaxing .

entering the locks

down we go

Jul 27 Thur  Another interesting little place we find.  Fort Stanwix National Monument.  We got a nice tour and ended up as part of the firing team, we learned all the commands and how a canon was fired.  Its a wonder they didn't blow themselves up.

Jul 28 Fri  Niagara Falls what is there to say!

Jul 29 Sat We went to Canada and saw it from that side....we went under the falls and over the falls(only digitally),we road the maid of the mist, we got wet and we loved every view and every spray.

Jul 30 Sun Too soon we headed on.

Jul 31 Mon Tarentum PA On down to Tarentum PA and we did a whole lot of nothing for 3 days.  After we made our way to the campground we spent 2 days trying to find a different route off.  Eventually we gave up.