Boston

We complete our trip by finishing in bean town, Boston! We decided to take a trolley around the town to soak up a little of the history and to help us decide where we might want to tour later in the day. The trolly guides are a riot, bad jokes and all, and a wealth of information, even if their facts don't always agree.

Freedom Trail

After the trolley, we decided to visit Paul Revere's house. After taking a quick moment to cross the street to take a picture we decided to go in, however, a High School field trip arrived and jumped in front of us... So much for visiting Mr. Revere!

We then decided to follow the Freedom Trail to the Old North Church (yes, of Paul Revere fame). This is a neat Church that shows how it was to worship before central heat! The pews are actually boxes that the members owned and brought heated bricks from home to keep them warm during the service.

Following the Church, we hopped the trolley over to Fanieul Hall, and central Boston. Here, Mr. Fox had his picture taken at the start of the Freedom Trail.

We finally made our way back to Mr. Revere's house and took our tour, sans loud High School kiddies.

After a nice lunch together in the basement of Quincy Market, we went back to the hotel, fetched the trusty jeep (oops, I forgot to take a pic), and headed to the airport.

A great weekend with Mr. Fox and my wonderful wife.

Salem

On Monday we were up bright and early to head to Boston ... A quick stop by Gloucester to see the "Old Man and the Sea" statue (sorry, no pics), there was not that much else there!

We took the scenic route, taking us through numerous quaint villages and towns, before arriving in Salem where we decided to spend the afternoon.

The House of Seven Gables

Salem is all decorated for Halloween, and you can imagine what that is like for a place famous for witches! There is a month long celebration and the place is full of 'colorful' people! No visit to Salem would be complete without visiting the Salem Witch Trials Memorial. This is series of 20 benches engraved with the names of those executed as witches.

After a nice lunch we hiked over to the House of Seven Gables where we toured the house, climbed a very small staircase behind the fireplace and generally learnJed how late 1700's folks lived. Mr. Fox was intrepid and tried his hand at ship captain.

Captain Fox

Finally, we visited the Salem Witch Museum, where we saw a presentation that chronicled the witch trials. All in all, a nice day, however, Lisa and I both agree that Salem is a pretty strange place, and will go in our book as 'been there, done that'.

We completed the evening by meeting up with my work colleague Dan and his wife Janice. They took us on a wonderful tour of Marblehead, north of Boston. Beautiful homes on the Atlantic ocean, caped by a great dinner at a local Italian restaurant!

Rockport

After a long delay on Saturday morning, I finally arrived in Boston around 5:30. We jumped into the orange jeep and headed to Rockport, MA. We are staying in a nice B&B, without the breakfast part, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The room has a big picture window looking out at the lighthouse and Sandy Bay. The lobstermen make their way up and down the shore here, picking up traps and dropping new ones.

We ventured into Rockport for the day, "a little drinking village with a fishing problem" is their tag line. It is a quaint village with a sheltered harbor and a lot of neat little shops and homes.

Bridges of...

Mr. Fox, revelling in the foliage!

The trio has spent the last few days scouring the backroads for bridges.  Here is a small collection of their pictures.

Henry Bridge

Paper Mill Bridge

Silk Bridge

The Truck

Mr. Fox, likin' the truck!

A quick post tonight...the team has been cruising, enjoying the fall sights and beautiful scenery.  Mr. Fox continues to explore the fall bounty!  I think he has been lobbying Lisa to get this cool truck for him, imagine if he had his own wheels!

The weather has not been cooperating, but it appears that they are touring the local covered bridges, something severely lacking here in Jacksonville, and probably Houston too.  I will post pictures and news of their adventures soon.

Backroads...

Hurricane Moutain Road

Today, Mr. Fox's band of adventurers decided to be bold.  They started with a bright sunny morning and meandered the backroads of New Hampshire and Vermont.   They took a lovely drive up a very narrow road up Hurricane Mountain, crossed back into Maine (a little side trip to see more leaves)! Lisa was thrilled that the temp had dropped to 48! brrrr...





Mr. Fox took in the autumn bounty at a road side stand, he looks like he is really enjoying himself.  He looks perfectly comfortable there among the gourds and squash!










He took advantage of another scenic stop to collect another leaf from North Conway, NH for his fall collection.

Today took them through the White Mountain Forest on their way to Vermont where they visited Vermont's Little Grand Canyon, Quechee Gorge. According to their texts, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous!





They ended up in Ludlow, VT where they will spend the next two nights at a really neat B&B.  The room they are staying is was Thomas Edison's favorite when he stayed there!

The Bridge...

Yea, that's Lisa!

Mr. Fox, Linda, and Lisa awoke this morning to a beautiful, sunny, autumn day.  They started out heading south toward New Hampshire and decided to see what they could see...and see they did! First up was a road side wonder in Rumford, ME.  They stumbled on a converted "Muffler Man" statue outside the visitor center, painted to look like Paul Bunyan.  Linda texted me that Lisa had found a new man.

After the morning flirtation, they continued down the road where a sign beckoned them to an old covered bridge. It turns out they were touring the covered bridge over the Sunday River in Bethel, Me. The original bridge was built in 1822 and has been repaired or replaced several times during its long life.

After the day's travels, they checked into their hotel in Conway, NH.  The view is spectacular, as you can see in Mr. Fox's photo.  On the technology front, they are having difficulty sending messages and e-mails, even through the internet connection.  Maybe this is what they mean by small towns having a slower pace!

Acadia!

Yesterdy Mr. Fox and the girls visited Acadia National Park just south of Bar Harbor, Maine.  The weather decided not to cooperate as it was overcast and foggy most of the day.  The pictures show a beautiful and somber park shrouded in fog and haze.

The drive looked like it was going to be a bust of a day, but when they arrived, the fog cleared enough for them to see just how beautiful the park is.  The waves crashing on the rocky shore and the wonderful views of the Northern Atlantic was truly spectacular.

Mr. Fox, staying on mission, continued to collect the fall leaves. As you can see, he does not want us to forget why he is on the trip!

The intrepid team is traveling around the great white north in an orange Jeep.  I will try to get a picture of it in the next post.

Mr. Fox collecting his leaves.

They are having a blast and are headed back to New Hampshire on Sunday.

Thunder Hole

Beautiful Acadia!

Maine!

Mr. Fox enjoying the view

The reason for the trip was to take in the beautiful changing of the leaves (and eat lobster), while the weather is not really cooperating, Mr. Fox was able to pose with some beautiful scenery.  They made their way up the eastern seaboard from Portsmouth, NH into Maine and through Kennebunkport.  In Kennebunkport they saw the former President Bush's compound.  Then it was on to Bar Harbor where they would stay for the night.

In an ironic twist of fate, as they arrived at the hotel in Bar Harbor, a Trafalger bus pull up with a load of tourists! (For those that don't know, Trafalger was our tour provider in Europe this summer!)

After lugging their bags up 3 flights of steps and settling in, it was already pitch black outside at 6:30pm!  They were then off in search of an authentic Maine Lobster dinner (this appears to be on Linda's bucket list)!!! From what I could tell, the dinner was a smashing success and they are having a wonderful time.

Posing with the star of the season!

Lobster!!

Off to New England

Mr. Fox is off on another adventure!  He is arrived yesterday in Boston, Mass courtesy of Jet Blue.  He and his trusty traveling companions, Linda and Lisa made their way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Known as 'Tugboat Alley', they watched as two tug boats docked a ship with the first salt delivery of the season!

Later in the afternoon, they journeyed over for a little history, visiting the home of William Whipple, as signer of the Declaration of Independence!