Garfield hates Monday mornings. Sometimes, I do too, but this Monday morning was quite special.
We started out the day bright and early. Dad and I donned our fancy clothes for the NYSE, and then proceeded to haul Greta out of bed to get her dress on. Greta isn't exactly a morning person.
Dad led us to the Times Square subway station, where we boarded a train to Rector street. Rector street is right next to the site of the World Trade Center; the site of ground zero is still completely empty. Construction is currently in progress for making a handfull of new skyscrapers and two fountains at the foundation of the destroyed towers.
We walked away from the site, and to our delight the next street we saw was.... Wall Street! However, these days Wall St. is not so much of a street as a large pedestrian path with permanently placed police officers. There even was an K9 officer playing with his dog. It's not very often that you see an off-leash attack dog chewing on a toy!
Dad took us to the guest entrance to the New York Stock Exchange. Our reservations and IDs were checked, and our chaperone (One of Dad's connections from Blue Capital) came out to lead us in. Inside, our photos were taken, and we tried to explain our names to the ID manager. My ID came out as 'Marlow Durbin' after the man almost put me down as 'Low Durbing'. Greta wasn't so fortunate; she came out as 'Grenda Durbin'. We all joked about that as we walked onto the trading floor.
I can't explain how amazing it is to be in, essentially, the center of the world economy. Even before the opening bell was rung, men in suits were rushing around asking questions to other men and women stationed at stacked screens, typing furiously. I'd bet money that this floor has collectively over an acre of LCD. Maybe two.
The floor is divided into four rooms. Each room has a handfull of 'islands', each with about a dozen traders on the inside and outside staring at screens. I learned that the traders at each screen are assigned a handfull of stocks. They are in charge of meeting the buy and sell requests and determining prices. I didn't know that there is only one designated person for trading several companies' stock!
The next stop was a smaller, calmer room. Dad told me this is the new site of the AMEX, which is basically the Options trading area of the NYSE. Options, in a nutshell, are a type of derivative where you agree to buy or sell something in some amount of time for a certain price. However, unlike other derivatives, Options also include the ability to back out of an agreement.
After this amazing experience, we left the NYSE with many thanks to Dad's connection who let us in. We headed back to the hotel to change our clothes, and went back downtown to see the Statue of Liberty. Once we arrived at Battery Park, we headed over to look at the tickets for the Statue ferry ride. The tickets would have costed about 40 dollars total, had a 2-hour line and would only allow us to walk the grounds of the statue. Dad decided to opt out.
The rest of the afternoon was spent touring lower Manhattan, including seeing parts of SoHo, NoHo, Greenwich Village. Nothing can really top seeing the Stock Exchange, so we headed back to the hotel to chill. I took a nap for a couple hours, theb headed to dinner at a sushi restaurant. We finished up the day at the Columbus Circle mall. The reason Dad chose this mall is because it has a very famous statue in the front of a man with his, erm, southern region rubbed shiny. After this highlight of the evening, we chilled in a Borders, and headed back to the hotel to catch some Z's.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
I <3 NY!! (Day 19) 9/27/09
On Sunday, we groggily arose from bed and packed up for the Big Apple. After I finished my very delicious omelette and fruit, Dad and I headed out to Sara's. We picked up Greta, who was amazingly awake, and left our car with Sara and were chaperoned to the train station to New York City.
Our reservations in the train were for Business class, so our car was incredibly comfortable for a traincar It was the same quality as coach in an airplane, except there was about twice as much legroom. We got some work done, and before we knew it we were in the Big Apple.
Dad realized right as we boarded the train to New York that we forgot to bring our large Nikon D40 with us. It was still in the car.
He pointed out the fact that we are taking less pictures because it's rather tough to haul around a camera that large everywhere. He suggested the idea of getting a small pocket-camera.
We stepped out into the train station, and grabbed a taxi to tow our junk to the hotel. The first thing different about New York that I noticed was that the streets are lined with taxis, as normal, but they are all the same brand; NYC Taxi. Hmmm....
My first good view in NY was as we passed by a street running perpendicular to us. Dad told us to look out the window, and sure enough you could see probably 20 blocks down the street into a cavern of concrete. I then realized the sheer size of this city.
As if New York wasn't amazing enough, our next stop was our hotel in Times Square. Times square is by far like nothing I have ever seen before. The whole place is a cavern of advertisements, some massive billboards and some blaring electronic M&M ads. I think I was in a state of shock.
We quickly went into our DoubleTree, checked in, recieved our complimentary chocolate chip cookie (mmmm... still warm) and went up to our hotel. It was slightly larger than the Residence Inn in Boston, and Dad explained to us how this is incredibly large as New York goes.
After we put the bare neccessities in our room, I practically dragged Greta and Dad kicking and screaming out into the street, where I gawked at this canyon of cathode. (Well, these days the ads are all LCD, but alliteration must have its way.)
We then walked our way down to the other end of the square, and began heading North. Dad walked us past the Rockafeller building, where we speculated as to whether 30 Rock is filmed here or in Hollywood.
The street near the Rockafeller area is scattered with several shops which sell cameras and such. Dad walked into one and nearly bought a camera until I told him that he should comparison shop and preferably sleep on this investment. Of course, we walked past another shop where he was determined not to let me hold him up, and bought a camera. *Sigh*. We ended up with a 10 Megapixel Nikon Coolpix, which fits easily into a pocket.
Dad, Greta and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the north side of Midtown. We saw the glass Apple store, the southern end of Central park, and got chicken gyros on pita from a street vendor. These were actually quite tasty!
We then returned to the hotel and rested our feet for a bit. The last excursion for the day was going to Union Station, the New York cathedral (I can't remember its formal name) and dinner at an Italian place in that area. We finished up this amazing day at Times Square, which is all the more stunning at night.
As we were heading back to our hotel, we passed by a street painter. He was using paint-spray cans to paint a canvas an amazing night skyline of New York. His second painting was also of the skyline (he includes the World Trade center in remembrance) and he included the moon, stars, planets (layered before the blue night sky and protected with bottle caps during the overspray) and the Brooklyn Bridge. He sold them for $20, so of course we snatched it right up. I will put a pic of it soon. Quite incredible.
Our reservations in the train were for Business class, so our car was incredibly comfortable for a traincar It was the same quality as coach in an airplane, except there was about twice as much legroom. We got some work done, and before we knew it we were in the Big Apple.
Dad realized right as we boarded the train to New York that we forgot to bring our large Nikon D40 with us. It was still in the car.
He pointed out the fact that we are taking less pictures because it's rather tough to haul around a camera that large everywhere. He suggested the idea of getting a small pocket-camera.
We stepped out into the train station, and grabbed a taxi to tow our junk to the hotel. The first thing different about New York that I noticed was that the streets are lined with taxis, as normal, but they are all the same brand; NYC Taxi. Hmmm....
My first good view in NY was as we passed by a street running perpendicular to us. Dad told us to look out the window, and sure enough you could see probably 20 blocks down the street into a cavern of concrete. I then realized the sheer size of this city.
As if New York wasn't amazing enough, our next stop was our hotel in Times Square. Times square is by far like nothing I have ever seen before. The whole place is a cavern of advertisements, some massive billboards and some blaring electronic M&M ads. I think I was in a state of shock.
We quickly went into our DoubleTree, checked in, recieved our complimentary chocolate chip cookie (mmmm... still warm) and went up to our hotel. It was slightly larger than the Residence Inn in Boston, and Dad explained to us how this is incredibly large as New York goes.
After we put the bare neccessities in our room, I practically dragged Greta and Dad kicking and screaming out into the street, where I gawked at this canyon of cathode. (Well, these days the ads are all LCD, but alliteration must have its way.)
We then walked our way down to the other end of the square, and began heading North. Dad walked us past the Rockafeller building, where we speculated as to whether 30 Rock is filmed here or in Hollywood.
The street near the Rockafeller area is scattered with several shops which sell cameras and such. Dad walked into one and nearly bought a camera until I told him that he should comparison shop and preferably sleep on this investment. Of course, we walked past another shop where he was determined not to let me hold him up, and bought a camera. *Sigh*. We ended up with a 10 Megapixel Nikon Coolpix, which fits easily into a pocket.
Dad, Greta and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the north side of Midtown. We saw the glass Apple store, the southern end of Central park, and got chicken gyros on pita from a street vendor. These were actually quite tasty!
We then returned to the hotel and rested our feet for a bit. The last excursion for the day was going to Union Station, the New York cathedral (I can't remember its formal name) and dinner at an Italian place in that area. We finished up this amazing day at Times Square, which is all the more stunning at night.
As we were heading back to our hotel, we passed by a street painter. He was using paint-spray cans to paint a canvas an amazing night skyline of New York. His second painting was also of the skyline (he includes the World Trade center in remembrance) and he included the moon, stars, planets (layered before the blue night sky and protected with bottle caps during the overspray) and the Brooklyn Bridge. He sold them for $20, so of course we snatched it right up. I will put a pic of it soon. Quite incredible.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Mark Twain's House (Day 18) 9/26/09
Today, we got to go to the house of Mark Twain and the house of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Two seperate houses, of course.
We started off with Mark Twain's house. It's a quite an enormous house, and believe it or not he built it even before he published his hits Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The house has 11,000 square feet, 3 floors and beautifully exquisite decorations. Unfortunately, he lost his fortune and had to move out when he made a bad financial investment. Ah, too bad.
After the Twain house, we decided to go to Taco Bell for my first time! I got a burrito! It was awesome!
The next destination was the Harriet Beecher Stowe house. Stowe's house sits probably no more than 100 feet apart from Twain's, and it's less than half the size. We had a funny and informative tour guide, and we listened while we filled out the scavenger tour sheet that was given to us. It consisted of around a dozen pictures of objects in the house, and Greta and I found all of them. Actually, I found all but one and stole the answer off of Greta's answer sheet. Classic me.... =P
The day was wrapped up with Luna's Pizza at our second night at Sara's house. Greta ended up sleeping over there, to Dad and my delight.
We started off with Mark Twain's house. It's a quite an enormous house, and believe it or not he built it even before he published his hits Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The house has 11,000 square feet, 3 floors and beautifully exquisite decorations. Unfortunately, he lost his fortune and had to move out when he made a bad financial investment. Ah, too bad.
After the Twain house, we decided to go to Taco Bell for my first time! I got a burrito! It was awesome!
The next destination was the Harriet Beecher Stowe house. Stowe's house sits probably no more than 100 feet apart from Twain's, and it's less than half the size. We had a funny and informative tour guide, and we listened while we filled out the scavenger tour sheet that was given to us. It consisted of around a dozen pictures of objects in the house, and Greta and I found all of them. Actually, I found all but one and stole the answer off of Greta's answer sheet. Classic me.... =P
The day was wrapped up with Luna's Pizza at our second night at Sara's house. Greta ended up sleeping over there, to Dad and my delight.
Traffic Jam!! (Day 17) 9/25/09
Today, we woke up to do some driving and visit Plimouth. We hustled out of Providence, eastward towards Massachusetts.
Plimouth plantation is the site where the settlers who had the 'first thanksgiving' settled. We first watched an orientatoin movie, and then headed towards the Wampanoag village. This was a period correct village that featured several canoes, a firepit and a shelter that resembles a longhouse of sorts. The natives who were there did not pretend to be from that period, and they answered our questions in normal language. They were very informative.
The next stop was the English settlement, which included actors who pretended that they were in fact from the 1600s. They explained the tasks of the day and we got to watch a blacksmith forge metal into staves. There were a couple funny moments, like when one actress from the english settlement was asked for a picture by a tourist. She replied 'Pitcher? The pitcher's on the table. Would you like some water?'
Our last stop at Plimouth was the Mayflower II. This is an accurate representation of the Mayflower, staffed by both modern day and period-correct actors. We went to this, learned a bit (It finally stuck for me that the poop deck is named for the old french world for 'highest', and not for practical reasons). After, we left for Hartford.
We drove back through Rhode Island (picked up a postcard) and then drove to Connecticut. We unfortunately got stuck in an hour long traffic jam on 95. Thankfully we were assigned Johnny Tremain on tape so we had something to do. After what felt like a lifetime, we finally made it to the bridge that was causing the delay. It always amazes me how when just one lane is closed off, you get stuck in it's traffic for sometimes a dozen miles.
Finally, we arrived in Hartford at the Courtyard Marriott. We quickly checked in and left for Sara's House (Dad's friend from High School) to visit. Her kids are are 13 (Julian) and 9 (Emma) and we spent the night playing guitar and Guitar Hero. Julian also plays classical guitar, as is just a couple months younger than me, which is a pretty nice coincidence.
We left, and went to bed. Another fun driving day, except for that darn traffic jam.
Plimouth plantation is the site where the settlers who had the 'first thanksgiving' settled. We first watched an orientatoin movie, and then headed towards the Wampanoag village. This was a period correct village that featured several canoes, a firepit and a shelter that resembles a longhouse of sorts. The natives who were there did not pretend to be from that period, and they answered our questions in normal language. They were very informative.
The next stop was the English settlement, which included actors who pretended that they were in fact from the 1600s. They explained the tasks of the day and we got to watch a blacksmith forge metal into staves. There were a couple funny moments, like when one actress from the english settlement was asked for a picture by a tourist. She replied 'Pitcher? The pitcher's on the table. Would you like some water?'
Our last stop at Plimouth was the Mayflower II. This is an accurate representation of the Mayflower, staffed by both modern day and period-correct actors. We went to this, learned a bit (It finally stuck for me that the poop deck is named for the old french world for 'highest', and not for practical reasons). After, we left for Hartford.
We drove back through Rhode Island (picked up a postcard) and then drove to Connecticut. We unfortunately got stuck in an hour long traffic jam on 95. Thankfully we were assigned Johnny Tremain on tape so we had something to do. After what felt like a lifetime, we finally made it to the bridge that was causing the delay. It always amazes me how when just one lane is closed off, you get stuck in it's traffic for sometimes a dozen miles.
Finally, we arrived in Hartford at the Courtyard Marriott. We quickly checked in and left for Sara's House (Dad's friend from High School) to visit. Her kids are are 13 (Julian) and 9 (Emma) and we spent the night playing guitar and Guitar Hero. Julian also plays classical guitar, as is just a couple months younger than me, which is a pretty nice coincidence.
We left, and went to bed. Another fun driving day, except for that darn traffic jam.
Polls, my friends, Polls
Hey, if you're one of the 2 people who reads my blog, give yourself a pat on the back! One thing that I am having trouble doing is thinking up things for the poll that is probably to your right ---->
If you have any ideas whatsoever, I repeat, *any* ideas, please post a comment to this post with them. I can even put up multiple polls, so feel free to share your ideas, nomattter how goofy they might be!
Thanks,
Marlow
If you have any ideas whatsoever, I repeat, *any* ideas, please post a comment to this post with them. I can even put up multiple polls, so feel free to share your ideas, nomattter how goofy they might be!
Thanks,
Marlow
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Fun Driving Day!! (Day 16) 9/24/09
On day 16 of our journey, we awoke, packed up and left the Residence Inn at Boston. We then left for Salem.
Salem, in a nutshell, is the maritime town that dates back to the 1600s and has a history of killing people that it thinks are witches. Well, not exactly. The whole witch scare happened only in 1692 and never since then, but you get the idea. Lately it has become a tourist attraction with many shops and wax museums.
We arrived, and went to the highly touristy Salem Witch Museum. We got there just in time for their creepy witch presentation. The presentation was in a completely dark room, and started out with just an illuminated red circle with the names of those killed on the floor. This light went out, and then a spotlight pointed at objects on the wall (ie, a wax-figure diorama of the trials, hangings, and the devil) as a narrator told the story. It was done quite decently as it did actually scare me. After the presentation, the curator took us through a small exhibit with the stories of how midwifes ended up being blamed as witches, the history of witches and modern day witches.
Once this was done, we left for the historical maritime area. We watched another video presentation explaining the trade ships of different eras. The height of Salem was after the Revolutionary War, as privateer ships were converted easily to well-armed trade ships. It is said some people thought Salem was a country, for as many ships as it had. Sadly, the shipping was frozen during the War of 1812. When it re-opened, the ships of the day became too large for the harbor and the major shipping business shifted to Boston. The business slowly declined, until the last ship of an era tied finally tied up for good in the early 1900s. Salem's economy switched to mills, and is now a prominently tourist town.
After this visit, we went to the House of Seven Gables. The actual story of the house is somewhat different from that of the book, so when a woman bought the house in the early 1900s to save it from demolition, she altered it a bit. She also added a small ‘cent shop' (which were typically mad e by middle-class families in the day to make a little profit) in one room. This is somewhat innacurate as the family actually had no financial need for it. They also added a secret stairway to the third floor of the house, which was also in the book. The house reminds me of something between a maze and Hogwarts!
After visiting this, we drove down to the tiny state of Rhode Island to meet Jon and Daniel. We had dinner at Angelo’s which is a great Italian restaurant. I would recommend it for it’s high quality food and surprisingly low prices. After this, we went to Daniel’s dorm, which is a lot bigger than mine was in CTD. He actually got a shared room with three girls that has a kitchen and living space; not to mention that it is right next to the entrance. It's a nice dorm.
Apparently this building was designed in the 70s to be ‘riot-proof’ after the crazy riot era of the 60s. He showed us the parallel stairways, confusing walkways and many a feature that I’m sure would have befuddled the average hippie.
Daniel then showed us around the Dining Hall, Library and where Emma Watson is rumored to have her dorm. En route, we saw two college students climbing a statue for unknown but presumably mischievous reasons. Ah, college life.
We wrapped up around the Science building, and left for our hotel. Pretty good for a driving day!
Salem, in a nutshell, is the maritime town that dates back to the 1600s and has a history of killing people that it thinks are witches. Well, not exactly. The whole witch scare happened only in 1692 and never since then, but you get the idea. Lately it has become a tourist attraction with many shops and wax museums.
We arrived, and went to the highly touristy Salem Witch Museum. We got there just in time for their creepy witch presentation. The presentation was in a completely dark room, and started out with just an illuminated red circle with the names of those killed on the floor. This light went out, and then a spotlight pointed at objects on the wall (ie, a wax-figure diorama of the trials, hangings, and the devil) as a narrator told the story. It was done quite decently as it did actually scare me. After the presentation, the curator took us through a small exhibit with the stories of how midwifes ended up being blamed as witches, the history of witches and modern day witches.
Once this was done, we left for the historical maritime area. We watched another video presentation explaining the trade ships of different eras. The height of Salem was after the Revolutionary War, as privateer ships were converted easily to well-armed trade ships. It is said some people thought Salem was a country, for as many ships as it had. Sadly, the shipping was frozen during the War of 1812. When it re-opened, the ships of the day became too large for the harbor and the major shipping business shifted to Boston. The business slowly declined, until the last ship of an era tied finally tied up for good in the early 1900s. Salem's economy switched to mills, and is now a prominently tourist town.
After this visit, we went to the House of Seven Gables. The actual story of the house is somewhat different from that of the book, so when a woman bought the house in the early 1900s to save it from demolition, she altered it a bit. She also added a small ‘cent shop' (which were typically mad e by middle-class families in the day to make a little profit) in one room. This is somewhat innacurate as the family actually had no financial need for it. They also added a secret stairway to the third floor of the house, which was also in the book. The house reminds me of something between a maze and Hogwarts!
After visiting this, we drove down to the tiny state of Rhode Island to meet Jon and Daniel. We had dinner at Angelo’s which is a great Italian restaurant. I would recommend it for it’s high quality food and surprisingly low prices. After this, we went to Daniel’s dorm, which is a lot bigger than mine was in CTD. He actually got a shared room with three girls that has a kitchen and living space; not to mention that it is right next to the entrance. It's a nice dorm.
Apparently this building was designed in the 70s to be ‘riot-proof’ after the crazy riot era of the 60s. He showed us the parallel stairways, confusing walkways and many a feature that I’m sure would have befuddled the average hippie.
Daniel then showed us around the Dining Hall, Library and where Emma Watson is rumored to have her dorm. En route, we saw two college students climbing a statue for unknown but presumably mischievous reasons. Ah, college life.
We wrapped up around the Science building, and left for our hotel. Pretty good for a driving day!
Whales!! (Day 15) 9/23/09
On September 23rd, Dad woke us up so we could get on the train in time. Of course, despite our best efforts not to rush, we ended up with very little time to spare. We took the normal train to North Station and then another train to Park Street. Dad walked us all through downtown Boston down to the harbor, where we took some Dramamine for motion sickness and boarded our boat.
Our boat was actually a high-speed catamaran, which means that it essentially has two little hulls on either side of the boat and empty space straight down the middle. This apparently makes it faster. We did have to go 30 miles out before whales started popping up, after all.
We ended up with mostly baleen whales. The closest one got to be about 50 feet from the boat.. I think the wierdest thing we saw was the sunfish that came right up to the side of the boat. A sunfish is a really funky animal; the only way I can describe it that it has the body of a stingray without the tail and two flippers near its back.
On the way back from the whale area, our boat picked up to top speed (something around 40 mph, I think.) This time, however, we were going full-force against a strong wind. When I walked out on deck, I recieved the sensation of a train hitting me. The wind was so strong, it was substantially difficult to simply walk forward! I decided to bring my glass of water out, and as I attempted to drink it. the water sprayed horizontally out, onto my jacket and the person standing behind me. This wind was truly ridiculous.
After we arrived back in Boston, we left for the train station back to Lowell. This time, we weren't trapped in the parking garage, thank goodness! We wrapped up the day with some Malcolm in the Middle and went to bed. What a fun and exhausting day.
Our boat was actually a high-speed catamaran, which means that it essentially has two little hulls on either side of the boat and empty space straight down the middle. This apparently makes it faster. We did have to go 30 miles out before whales started popping up, after all.
We ended up with mostly baleen whales. The closest one got to be about 50 feet from the boat.. I think the wierdest thing we saw was the sunfish that came right up to the side of the boat. A sunfish is a really funky animal; the only way I can describe it that it has the body of a stingray without the tail and two flippers near its back.
On the way back from the whale area, our boat picked up to top speed (something around 40 mph, I think.) This time, however, we were going full-force against a strong wind. When I walked out on deck, I recieved the sensation of a train hitting me. The wind was so strong, it was substantially difficult to simply walk forward! I decided to bring my glass of water out, and as I attempted to drink it. the water sprayed horizontally out, onto my jacket and the person standing behind me. This wind was truly ridiculous.
After we arrived back in Boston, we left for the train station back to Lowell. This time, we weren't trapped in the parking garage, thank goodness! We wrapped up the day with some Malcolm in the Middle and went to bed. What a fun and exhausting day.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
John Kerry Burger!! (Day 14) 9/22/09
Today we woke up and rushed to downtown Boston for our day of touring the Freedom Trail.
I was absolutely exhausted so Dad and I went to DD's to get some 'caaaahfee'. We caught the 11:00 tour of the Trail, which was led by the tour guide Ray (or did he say Josh?). This guy is less of a tour guide and more of a comedic actor. He put on a show that was well worth the time and the sore feet.
Not a pirate, a privateer!
He first walked us through the Boston Common near where the State house was (and still is). He talked about how people from the 18th century all the way to modern day gather outside here to debate political topics. The top of the State House is covered in gold leaf, which was removed and covered with a grey paint during World War II so that the Nazi U-Boats couldn't spot its reflection from the ocean.
The next stop was the Granary Graveyard. He talked about how back in the day this place was just a littered mess of dead bodies. There were cows grazing and you could see dogs running around with dead people's arms in their mouths. Eventually, somebody got this place cleaned up. Now there are a bunch of thin-stone gravestones everywhere. There are so many bodies there that out of the 2000 gravestones there, each one represents 6-8 people. Do the math.
Us holding a real-1700's tea block. It was as hard as a brick.
After this site we went past several others including the State House and Faneuil Hall. Faneuil Hall is essentially a food court (Quincy Market) and across the street is a small strip mall with stores like A&F which can be heard and smelled from several hundred feet away.
Lunch today was New England Clam Chowda for us (Greta of course had pizza.) I washed it down with a little old-fashioned 8oz. Coca-Cola. Boy, they always taste better in one of those containers. I topped this off with a little Bahstun Kream Pah and we waddled away happily for the second segment of our tour. Despite the immense amount of caffeine that I had consumed that day (Two coffees back at the hotel, one before the beginning of the tour and a coke with lunch, probably a total of 250+ mg), I was quite tired on the beginning of this part of the tour. Dad says that this is because I was in the process of digesting a lot of food.
Site of the old 6-lane highway. It's now a dozen or so feet under that grass.
We went over to the north side and crossed over the park where a huge, overhead expressway used to be. Now, it was nowhere to be found. Dad was very confused, until the tour guide explained they had put the entire freaking thing underground. They had to displace enough dirt for this to fill the entire Yankees Stadium three times. Bostonians said 'Sure, let's do it!', and started driving for New York until somebody told them that this was just a metaphor.
We then went through the North End which used to be where the actual city was. Where the highrises now are is where people sent their cows to graze. This area was always occupied by the oppressed people in the world, including the Irish during the potato famine, then Jews, and is now occupied by the Italians (displaced during the days of Mussolini) who are still making those delicious cannoli to this day. Ray spent a good half-hour telling us which restaurants to go to, which was pretty much all of them.
Cannoli Joint
After talking about these restaurants, we were walking past an alley and Ray pointed at three Cadillacs parked side by side silently. Someone chuckled out 'I wonder how many bodies are in that trunk!'. He shushed them and we moved on in silence, questioning to some degree just how serious our tour guide was...
Paul Revere's house
The next stop was the Revere household which was pretty much a grey clapboard house with old colored windows. I don't really remember much about this house, but the next immediate destination was the Old North Church. Remember why this one's famous?
Statue of Revere with the church behind him
Church from the other side
After this, we went up to Cop's Hill to look at the grave of our Tour Guide's alter ego. He told us about some of the major events in his life, and how he died. Apparently he had been dueling his old arch nemesis, and even though he won the duel and killed the other guy, his nemesis's bullet hit him and caused a mortal infection.
Finally finished with looking at old stuff for the day, we headed out to meet Chelsea over at Harvard. We took the 'T' as they call it here to Cambridge 'Our fair city!' Massachusetts. Dad and Greta got their caffeine fixes at Peet's Coffee (I avoided any more after what I'd already had, and bought some water.) I thought it was oddly funny how, right next to the coffee store was a quite large 'Kaplan Test Scores and Admisssions' office. Quite fitting for at town holding three school's in the world's top ten hardest to get into (some would say MIT, Wellsley and Harvard are *the* hardest, I would say there are probably a few more like Oxford).
We caught up with Chelsea for the first time in a while. For all of you who don't remember, Chelsea Sky Link is the person who has perfect SAT, ACT, and all of the other test scores, and was admitted into every, I repeat *Every* school she applied to. These all being the Ivy League schools. They even wrote a Chicago Tribune article about her, on the front page with her picture. And the best thing is, she's so modest she never even brings it up. Wow.
She showed us the typical tourist sites in Harvard, like the statue of John Harvard which is known as 'the statue of three lies'. These lies being that
a) John Harvard didn't found the school, he just donated some books to the library
b) The model of whom the statue was carved isn't John Harvard and
c) They even got the date of founding wrong
Quite some mistakes for some of the world's smartest! We were all quite hungry at this point, so we quickly were guided through the Dining Hall (which kinda reminded me of Hogwarts) and then went to the local burger joint. They had a massive menu with names of burgers like, 'The Ted Kennedy: A plump, liberal amount of beef with tomatoes....' and 'The Michelle Obama, a hot, cajun burger with....
I ended up eating the John Kerry (as he was the only one of this list of whom I've met). It turns out that the only difference between the Kerry and Kennedy burgers is a small thing, like one has lettuce and one doesn't.
Again very full, we headed out after saying goodbye to Chelsea, and took the T back to Lowell. We got a small scare when we were leaving the train's parking garage and the exit was closed. We frantically drove around in search for another, and finally learned that there was another exit on the opposite side of this concrete maze. We made it there, drove back to the hotel and fell right asleep.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Photos!! (Day 10)
Here they are!
Beautiful Cadillac Mountain
-
The Summit
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A view of The Precipice
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Thunder Hole
---
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The Cliffs (Oh I don't remember their names. Look them up in the original post.)
Photos!! (Day 9)
Well, here are the long-anticipated (right, guys?) photos!
Notes: All but last pic are from Maple Grove Farms Vermont. Last pic is from a Maine gas station.
Sore Feet!! (Day 13) 9/21/09
Now, I may have complained a bit in the latest posts about not getting decent sleep. But last night's was beyond 'shabby'. Our room was hot, the couch mattress was hard and I kept rolling off of it, my sleeping bag was never less than a foot away from me, and just as I amazingly *did* fall asleep, I had to pee. Uggh.
Thank God for coffee.
I blundered over to the hotel lobby for my caffeine fix, and then set to my task of eating a far oversized hotel breakfast. I ended up having 3 pancakes with strawberries, scrambled eggs, potatoes, OJ, Coffee, a donut and a bad stomach-ache.
On the bright side, Dad gave me the fun assignment of looking up a Ferrari model that could seat 3+ people (for part of his new book, sorry no hints.) I looked through their website with little to no luck until I at last found the 612 Scaglietti. With a top speed of 199 MPH (C'mon, Ferrari, couldn't you just give us 200? Pretty please?) and an acceleration of 0-60 in under 4 seconds, this is a pretty fantastic car.
In a better mood with some of my food digested, Greta and I went out to play some tennis. Of course, we still stank, I can hardly hit the ball, but at least I can hit it =P.
We then left out for the first destination of our day. This was Lowell, Massachusetts. We went to the visitor center to do a basic tour and then watched the 20-minute orientation movie. We then walked along the 0.5-mile canal (for powering the factories) and went to the Boott Mills. This place was unique because there was actually a room full of the period's mechanical looms. And what's more, they were running them!
At first, we walked into the room after seeing the noise hazard sign to hear a cacophonous roar of the machines. We put in our earplugs, and then realized that out of the several dozen machines in the room, only 3 were running, and on the other side of the room. This was very revealing to the dangerous level of noise. What's more than that, when the attendees decided to turn on the three looms next to us, the noise at least doubled (Almost to Green Day concert levels!). It really made you realize how unsafe the working environment the millworkers had.
I then took a closer look at the loom. Essentially, it was a massive piece of metal powered by an over head belt, that moved every other piece of string in the cloth up and down as it shot the bobbin through. Imagine two baseball bats, both hitting a piece of wood back and forth. This was the source of all that noise!
After we visited this level of the mills, we went upstairs. Here, the full process of making cloth in one of these factories was explained to us. The process starts out with 'ginned' cotton (seeds and misc. crud removed) which then goes through a massive machine that straightens out the fibers at the bottom floor of the mill. This level was considered to be the most dangerous, as cotton dust flew everywhere (danger to the lungs) and you probably would have lost a finger or two, perhaps half an arm in this incredibly unsafe machine. Ouch.
The other machines on this level turned the straightened cotton into a loose form of string. It is long and straight, but is fluffy and falls apart easily.
At the next level, this loose form of string is turned into real string by, guess how? They twist it! After this process, the string suddenly becomes quite hard to pull apart and is tight. After this process, the small spools of string are turned into one, massive bolt on the next level. This bolt is fed into the looms on the top level.
Once we finished Lowell, we drove out to Concord for our second destination for the day. We were quite hungry at that point, so the visitor's center pointed us towards Helen's. Helen's is essentially a homey all-around american food restaurant that serves sandwiches, burgers, milkshakes, salads, soup and stuff. I had a sandwich with slaw and as we were lucky enough to get Helen herself as our waiter, she gave us little samples of frozen yogurt as our dessert.
With some food down our gullets, we were happy enough to set forth and see more old stuff. The next destination was the North Bridge. We stopped by and read the monument to the minutement and the graves of the 3 redcoats who died there in the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
Right next to the North Bridge was the old Manse, which is the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his ancestors. The man there proceeded to give us a massive 2-hour (felt like 2 years) tour that went incredibly in-depth into every room (we spent around 15 minutes in each room of this 8 room house. Do the math. A lot of time.) Feeling over-knowledged, we set off with the full history of this home, to go see another one.
We had originally planned to see Lowell, Concord and Salem all in one day. You should've seen the expression on the face of the local I told this to. It was getting on 4:00 and we still had most of Concord and all of Salem to see! Dad finally decided to ditch Salem and we would see what we could of Concord.
Our next tour was of Louisa May Alcott's house. Ring a bell? She's the Author of Little Women, one of the most famous books of the time, and I'd say all time. As our tour guide heard our dilemma, she decided to give us a fast-paced walkthrough of this house so we'd have time to see Walden with daylight. We did this. She walked us through the abode of this family, which was covered in the original paintings of 'Amy' Alcott (This is her book name, I don't remember her real name) Dad was surprised as to how much talent Amy had. The paintings were quite detailed, even in watercolor.
The highlight of this house was seeing Louisa May's room. She apparently wrote Little Women on a tiny little desk between two windows, and we were privelidged to see it as it was back in the time. This was pretty amazing.
After seeing the last of the old stuff for our day, we set out for Walden. Walden is just down the road from Concord but has been preserved so that there are no Mega-Mart's near it. We walked around the 1.7 mile trail to the site of Walden's house. His house was no bigger than a garden shed with a bed and a desk in it. Right next to it is a cairn (collection of stones) that was formed in his memory. All the passersby drop a stone there, and by the time we got there in 2009, it was quite large. It was about 15 feet in diameter and was taller than my dad, although not solid (People make little piles of the stones that go up to 7 feet or so) There were also a bunch of swimmers there, who were stroking the approximately half mile from one side of the pond to the other.
We left Concord with some good memories and really sore feet. Greta made dinner, and then we fell fast asleep for our next day of more walking.
Thank God for coffee.
I blundered over to the hotel lobby for my caffeine fix, and then set to my task of eating a far oversized hotel breakfast. I ended up having 3 pancakes with strawberries, scrambled eggs, potatoes, OJ, Coffee, a donut and a bad stomach-ache.
On the bright side, Dad gave me the fun assignment of looking up a Ferrari model that could seat 3+ people (for part of his new book, sorry no hints.) I looked through their website with little to no luck until I at last found the 612 Scaglietti. With a top speed of 199 MPH (C'mon, Ferrari, couldn't you just give us 200? Pretty please?) and an acceleration of 0-60 in under 4 seconds, this is a pretty fantastic car.
In a better mood with some of my food digested, Greta and I went out to play some tennis. Of course, we still stank, I can hardly hit the ball, but at least I can hit it =P.
We then left out for the first destination of our day. This was Lowell, Massachusetts. We went to the visitor center to do a basic tour and then watched the 20-minute orientation movie. We then walked along the 0.5-mile canal (for powering the factories) and went to the Boott Mills. This place was unique because there was actually a room full of the period's mechanical looms. And what's more, they were running them!
At first, we walked into the room after seeing the noise hazard sign to hear a cacophonous roar of the machines. We put in our earplugs, and then realized that out of the several dozen machines in the room, only 3 were running, and on the other side of the room. This was very revealing to the dangerous level of noise. What's more than that, when the attendees decided to turn on the three looms next to us, the noise at least doubled (Almost to Green Day concert levels!). It really made you realize how unsafe the working environment the millworkers had.
I then took a closer look at the loom. Essentially, it was a massive piece of metal powered by an over head belt, that moved every other piece of string in the cloth up and down as it shot the bobbin through. Imagine two baseball bats, both hitting a piece of wood back and forth. This was the source of all that noise!
After we visited this level of the mills, we went upstairs. Here, the full process of making cloth in one of these factories was explained to us. The process starts out with 'ginned' cotton (seeds and misc. crud removed) which then goes through a massive machine that straightens out the fibers at the bottom floor of the mill. This level was considered to be the most dangerous, as cotton dust flew everywhere (danger to the lungs) and you probably would have lost a finger or two, perhaps half an arm in this incredibly unsafe machine. Ouch.
The other machines on this level turned the straightened cotton into a loose form of string. It is long and straight, but is fluffy and falls apart easily.
At the next level, this loose form of string is turned into real string by, guess how? They twist it! After this process, the string suddenly becomes quite hard to pull apart and is tight. After this process, the small spools of string are turned into one, massive bolt on the next level. This bolt is fed into the looms on the top level.
Once we finished Lowell, we drove out to Concord for our second destination for the day. We were quite hungry at that point, so the visitor's center pointed us towards Helen's. Helen's is essentially a homey all-around american food restaurant that serves sandwiches, burgers, milkshakes, salads, soup and stuff. I had a sandwich with slaw and as we were lucky enough to get Helen herself as our waiter, she gave us little samples of frozen yogurt as our dessert.
With some food down our gullets, we were happy enough to set forth and see more old stuff. The next destination was the North Bridge. We stopped by and read the monument to the minutement and the graves of the 3 redcoats who died there in the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
Right next to the North Bridge was the old Manse, which is the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his ancestors. The man there proceeded to give us a massive 2-hour (felt like 2 years) tour that went incredibly in-depth into every room (we spent around 15 minutes in each room of this 8 room house. Do the math. A lot of time.) Feeling over-knowledged, we set off with the full history of this home, to go see another one.
We had originally planned to see Lowell, Concord and Salem all in one day. You should've seen the expression on the face of the local I told this to. It was getting on 4:00 and we still had most of Concord and all of Salem to see! Dad finally decided to ditch Salem and we would see what we could of Concord.
Our next tour was of Louisa May Alcott's house. Ring a bell? She's the Author of Little Women, one of the most famous books of the time, and I'd say all time. As our tour guide heard our dilemma, she decided to give us a fast-paced walkthrough of this house so we'd have time to see Walden with daylight. We did this. She walked us through the abode of this family, which was covered in the original paintings of 'Amy' Alcott (This is her book name, I don't remember her real name) Dad was surprised as to how much talent Amy had. The paintings were quite detailed, even in watercolor.
The highlight of this house was seeing Louisa May's room. She apparently wrote Little Women on a tiny little desk between two windows, and we were privelidged to see it as it was back in the time. This was pretty amazing.
After seeing the last of the old stuff for our day, we set out for Walden. Walden is just down the road from Concord but has been preserved so that there are no Mega-Mart's near it. We walked around the 1.7 mile trail to the site of Walden's house. His house was no bigger than a garden shed with a bed and a desk in it. Right next to it is a cairn (collection of stones) that was formed in his memory. All the passersby drop a stone there, and by the time we got there in 2009, it was quite large. It was about 15 feet in diameter and was taller than my dad, although not solid (People make little piles of the stones that go up to 7 feet or so) There were also a bunch of swimmers there, who were stroking the approximately half mile from one side of the pond to the other.
We left Concord with some good memories and really sore feet. Greta made dinner, and then we fell fast asleep for our next day of more walking.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Boring Driving Day!! (Day 12, I think) 9/20/09
Today I woke up and had a frozen nose and I was pretty bored.
So I decided to make some oatmeal and washed my laundry as I wrote yesterday's blog. Dad and I then packed up the tent and left. I called mom and we all talked to her a bit. We drove a bit, and listened to a couple discs of Johnny Tremain. We went to a Subway for lunch for the first time in a while. Then Dad and I did some Pimsleur spanish as we drove into New Hampshire. After we drove through a narrow slip of this state, we entered Massachusetts. Now we're Tewksbury near Boston. That pretty much summed up our day.
OK, maybe an exaggeration but today was still boring. Still, I saved you approximately 1 minute and 25 seconds by giving you the Cliffnotes version of my day. You can thank me any time.
However, I forgot to write about when we went down to the tidepools between the Oceanarium and the lobster place on the 'Lobsters!!' day. We went down because Greta wanted to compare the stuff that appears in rock tidepools to the stuff in sand tidepools. I was pretty unimpressed with it until Greta showed me how seagulls crack open mussels. She said they picked them up, got some elevation and dropped them until they broke. I, of course, did not believe her in the slightest. Until I saw one pick up a mussell, climb up about 20 feet and then drop it, and then retrieve it and eat it.
I pointed this out to my dubious Dad, and he recieved the same flabbergasting sight as I. Greta, of course, already new this and so she re-explained it to us with a quizzical level of nonchalance.
We took a couple pics, and left to eat our Lobbys (Yes, the hotel did make us pay for the damage.) (Just kidding). Posts of pics in a couple days.
So I decided to make some oatmeal and washed my laundry as I wrote yesterday's blog. Dad and I then packed up the tent and left. I called mom and we all talked to her a bit. We drove a bit, and listened to a couple discs of Johnny Tremain. We went to a Subway for lunch for the first time in a while. Then Dad and I did some Pimsleur spanish as we drove into New Hampshire. After we drove through a narrow slip of this state, we entered Massachusetts. Now we're Tewksbury near Boston. That pretty much summed up our day.
OK, maybe an exaggeration but today was still boring. Still, I saved you approximately 1 minute and 25 seconds by giving you the Cliffnotes version of my day. You can thank me any time.
However, I forgot to write about when we went down to the tidepools between the Oceanarium and the lobster place on the 'Lobsters!!' day. We went down because Greta wanted to compare the stuff that appears in rock tidepools to the stuff in sand tidepools. I was pretty unimpressed with it until Greta showed me how seagulls crack open mussels. She said they picked them up, got some elevation and dropped them until they broke. I, of course, did not believe her in the slightest. Until I saw one pick up a mussell, climb up about 20 feet and then drop it, and then retrieve it and eat it.
I pointed this out to my dubious Dad, and he recieved the same flabbergasting sight as I. Greta, of course, already new this and so she re-explained it to us with a quizzical level of nonchalance.
We took a couple pics, and left to eat our Lobbys (Yes, the hotel did make us pay for the damage.) (Just kidding). Posts of pics in a couple days.
Lobsters!! (Day 11) 9/19/09
Today (or Yesterday, by the time I'm done writing this) started off with a much better breakfast than on Day 10. Honey Nut Cheerios FTW!
Greta and I decided to play on the balance beam for a bit, which is a slippery metal pole a good foot and a half off the ground. We set our records of 31 seconds (Greta) and 16 seconds (Me, of course.) Then, of course, we both fell hard off the pole and simultaneously were in some degree of pain. We quit for the day on that one.
Dad wanted us to ride on the Carriage Trails (still at Acadia, of course) and so we set of to Bar Harbor Bike Rental to rent some bikes. Of course, right off the bat we had to bike up about a mile. Bike *UP* a mile. Like, straight up. We then made it to the top and were heading downhill again before Dad pointed out that I had misread the directions, so we got to climb up that hill again. I then realized that our exit was at the bottom of that mile straight up, and so Greta and Dad got to moan at me about making them do it. Fun.
Once we actually got to the Carriage Trails (which are a bunch of scenic gravel paths just wide enough for a horse drawn buggy), the ride began to take on a more positive mood. We went past pretty lakes and up and down gentle(er) hills and Greta began to stop complaining.
We made it back at around 12:00, and bought some supplies for Chicken salad for lunch. We had that, and took a siesta for a good couple hours after. Dad then decided that we should see the Mount Desert Island Oceanarium. It consisted of a small museum with lobster cages and the largest lob I've ever seen. An older fisherman came out and then talked about lobstering, netting and how to put rubber bands on their pincers (I got to demonstrate.) After I got their pincers, he proceeded to explain that if a lob gets ahold of you're finger, there is literally no way to get it off of you. Except for one, which is to put it in the water with only one leg touching the ground. It likes to have both touching, so it lets go of you to do that.
After this, we walked through the lobster hatchery, the touching pool and all of that stuff. Then we got to eat lobster!
Dad said I was crazy (and I probably was) but I'm not a huge fan of lobs. To me, it seems like too much work to have to crack open an animal that is staring back at you and then eat the little bit of meat that is almost as hard to chew through as gum. Next time, ground chuck for me. Fortunately, I got my substenance from the blueberry pie a la mode (spelling?) I had afterwards. That was good.
After this dinner we went to the skywatch. The skywatch was at the top of Cadillac Mountain, where the skies were very cold and very clear. Jupiter was incredibly bright, so all the scopes were pointed at it. Unfortunately, even through a good scope it looks like just a white circle. Kinda boring, if you ask me.
I got back to the camspite incredibly sleepy and cold, and decided to save this blog for today.
Greta and I decided to play on the balance beam for a bit, which is a slippery metal pole a good foot and a half off the ground. We set our records of 31 seconds (Greta) and 16 seconds (Me, of course.) Then, of course, we both fell hard off the pole and simultaneously were in some degree of pain. We quit for the day on that one.
Dad wanted us to ride on the Carriage Trails (still at Acadia, of course) and so we set of to Bar Harbor Bike Rental to rent some bikes. Of course, right off the bat we had to bike up about a mile. Bike *UP* a mile. Like, straight up. We then made it to the top and were heading downhill again before Dad pointed out that I had misread the directions, so we got to climb up that hill again. I then realized that our exit was at the bottom of that mile straight up, and so Greta and Dad got to moan at me about making them do it. Fun.
Once we actually got to the Carriage Trails (which are a bunch of scenic gravel paths just wide enough for a horse drawn buggy), the ride began to take on a more positive mood. We went past pretty lakes and up and down gentle(er) hills and Greta began to stop complaining.
We made it back at around 12:00, and bought some supplies for Chicken salad for lunch. We had that, and took a siesta for a good couple hours after. Dad then decided that we should see the Mount Desert Island Oceanarium. It consisted of a small museum with lobster cages and the largest lob I've ever seen. An older fisherman came out and then talked about lobstering, netting and how to put rubber bands on their pincers (I got to demonstrate.) After I got their pincers, he proceeded to explain that if a lob gets ahold of you're finger, there is literally no way to get it off of you. Except for one, which is to put it in the water with only one leg touching the ground. It likes to have both touching, so it lets go of you to do that.
After this, we walked through the lobster hatchery, the touching pool and all of that stuff. Then we got to eat lobster!
Dad said I was crazy (and I probably was) but I'm not a huge fan of lobs. To me, it seems like too much work to have to crack open an animal that is staring back at you and then eat the little bit of meat that is almost as hard to chew through as gum. Next time, ground chuck for me. Fortunately, I got my substenance from the blueberry pie a la mode (spelling?) I had afterwards. That was good.
After this dinner we went to the skywatch. The skywatch was at the top of Cadillac Mountain, where the skies were very cold and very clear. Jupiter was incredibly bright, so all the scopes were pointed at it. Unfortunately, even through a good scope it looks like just a white circle. Kinda boring, if you ask me.
I got back to the camspite incredibly sleepy and cold, and decided to save this blog for today.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Amazing Acadia!! (Day 10) 9/18.09
Well I woke up *this* morning (Friday, September 18th 2009 AD), and I had the frozen nose blues! Haha, well you've probably had enough of that, eh?
We ate breakfast, which for me was a Vanilla 'Hot Cereal' by Kashi. Unfortunately, though, it had a whole bunch of healthy stuff, which pretty much ruined the taste in my opinion.
After our 'Hot Cereals' we decided to leave for the main part of Acadia National Park. At first, Dad doubted that we could spend two whole days there. Well, he was in for a surprise.
As it was cloudless and a nice comfortable 65 degrees, the tour guide at the visitors center told us that we should hurry up to Cadillac Mountain (Sorry, Jon, no nice cars up there =P) We did as he bid, and were soon driving up probably the most beautiful mountain in my life. All the way up were better and better views, each one of either the Maine seaside with conifer islands specking the coast, or masterfully carved glacial mountains with the perfect mixture of forest and rocky outcrops. It was stunning (Dad said it looked as beautiful as Switzerland)
We made it up to the top, and climbed around the relatively flat rocks that covered it. In the distance, we saw a cruise ship that looked like a matchbox car, with smaller vessles for transporting passengers from the ship which were like tiny needleheads. I'd bet that we could see clearly out for 20-30 miles (Dad agreed).
After this stunning moment, we decided to take the Island Circle Road, a 2-lane one way road that circled the main attractions around the island. We went to Thunder Bay, which definitely made some noise as it dazed me with it's blue and frothy-white color. We then left for several other places like Otter Cliffs and Sandy Beach (apparently the only one with sand in Acadia.) They were all quite beautiful. Acadia will hold quite some memories with me.
We then decided to head to Bar Harbor for lunch. We went to a high-quality american food where I ordered a big juicy burger, Greta got fried shrimp and Dad got seafood quesadillas. Filled up to the brim (and maybe past it) I toddled away with my clique to go and explore some of the local shops. Mostly, the typical tourist stuff. There we a couple funny sayings on T-Shirts like [picture of golf ball in sand pit] 'Life is Crap' or a picture of a squirrell 'I'm so old I forgot where my nuts are!' and a license plate that said 'BAA HA BAH' (Get it).
We went back to the camp, did a bit of work, made dinner and now I am writing this blog from the pretty nice interenet that our campsite has! Cya tomorrow!
We ate breakfast, which for me was a Vanilla 'Hot Cereal' by Kashi. Unfortunately, though, it had a whole bunch of healthy stuff, which pretty much ruined the taste in my opinion.
After our 'Hot Cereals' we decided to leave for the main part of Acadia National Park. At first, Dad doubted that we could spend two whole days there. Well, he was in for a surprise.
As it was cloudless and a nice comfortable 65 degrees, the tour guide at the visitors center told us that we should hurry up to Cadillac Mountain (Sorry, Jon, no nice cars up there =P) We did as he bid, and were soon driving up probably the most beautiful mountain in my life. All the way up were better and better views, each one of either the Maine seaside with conifer islands specking the coast, or masterfully carved glacial mountains with the perfect mixture of forest and rocky outcrops. It was stunning (Dad said it looked as beautiful as Switzerland)
We made it up to the top, and climbed around the relatively flat rocks that covered it. In the distance, we saw a cruise ship that looked like a matchbox car, with smaller vessles for transporting passengers from the ship which were like tiny needleheads. I'd bet that we could see clearly out for 20-30 miles (Dad agreed).
After this stunning moment, we decided to take the Island Circle Road, a 2-lane one way road that circled the main attractions around the island. We went to Thunder Bay, which definitely made some noise as it dazed me with it's blue and frothy-white color. We then left for several other places like Otter Cliffs and Sandy Beach (apparently the only one with sand in Acadia.) They were all quite beautiful. Acadia will hold quite some memories with me.
We then decided to head to Bar Harbor for lunch. We went to a high-quality american food where I ordered a big juicy burger, Greta got fried shrimp and Dad got seafood quesadillas. Filled up to the brim (and maybe past it) I toddled away with my clique to go and explore some of the local shops. Mostly, the typical tourist stuff. There we a couple funny sayings on T-Shirts like [picture of golf ball in sand pit] 'Life is Crap' or a picture of a squirrell 'I'm so old I forgot where my nuts are!' and a license plate that said 'BAA HA BAH' (Get it).
We went back to the camp, did a bit of work, made dinner and now I am writing this blog from the pretty nice interenet that our campsite has! Cya tomorrow!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Maple Candy!! (Day 9) 9/17/09
I woke up this mornin'..... and took a jog....
*durr durr, dirr dirr, durr durr, dirr dirr*
But the emergency turnoff key kept falling off of me....
*durr durr, dirr dirr, durr durr, dirr dirr*
So now I've got the Treadmill bah-luuuues...
*durr dirr dirr darr darr durr durr:*
And they ain't gonna go away....
*durr durr dirr dirr doodaadaa doodadaa*
Thank you, thank you.
So that pretty much sums up my early morning routine. I ate breakfast and worked on blog settings, and finally at 9:30 Greta roused from the dead to eat hers. We then packed up to leave St. Johnsbury Vermont and stopped on our way out at the Maple Grove Farms factory.
The tour there started out with a ~10 minute video about making syrup and the history of Maple Grove Farms (which started out as a simple maple candy factory in the 1800s, and has expanded into syrup and salad dressings.) The tour guide then took us through the factory line, which essentially is a bottling and candy-forming facility. On the way down between facilities, we walked down a staircase which had a low ceiling with a stuffed duck overhead. Get it? Hahaha!!
Dad bought a syrup grade-sampler (from light colored fancy grade to almost opaque Grade B) and we left for Maine. We crossed through New Hampshire and into a roadside construction zone where they were blasting out rock, and then into Maine.
In Maine, we made it to Acadia National park, and set up shop in a campsite just outside of the boundary. I am now writing this blog on the amazinglyWiFi that the park has. I could hardly believe it, but it's true.
We're going to spend 3 nights (including tonight) in Acadia, and then we will begin heading southward towards Boston. If you're following us on the map, we're at point I:
http://tinyurl.com/mvk459
*durr durr, dirr dirr, durr durr, dirr dirr*
But the emergency turnoff key kept falling off of me....
*durr durr, dirr dirr, durr durr, dirr dirr*
So now I've got the Treadmill bah-luuuues...
*durr dirr dirr darr darr durr durr:*
And they ain't gonna go away....
*durr durr dirr dirr doodaadaa doodadaa*
Thank you, thank you.
So that pretty much sums up my early morning routine. I ate breakfast and worked on blog settings, and finally at 9:30 Greta roused from the dead to eat hers. We then packed up to leave St. Johnsbury Vermont and stopped on our way out at the Maple Grove Farms factory.
The tour there started out with a ~10 minute video about making syrup and the history of Maple Grove Farms (which started out as a simple maple candy factory in the 1800s, and has expanded into syrup and salad dressings.) The tour guide then took us through the factory line, which essentially is a bottling and candy-forming facility. On the way down between facilities, we walked down a staircase which had a low ceiling with a stuffed duck overhead. Get it? Hahaha!!
Dad bought a syrup grade-sampler (from light colored fancy grade to almost opaque Grade B) and we left for Maine. We crossed through New Hampshire and into a roadside construction zone where they were blasting out rock, and then into Maine.
In Maine, we made it to Acadia National park, and set up shop in a campsite just outside of the boundary. I am now writing this blog on the amazinglyWiFi that the park has. I could hardly believe it, but it's true.
We're going to spend 3 nights (including tonight) in Acadia, and then we will begin heading southward towards Boston. If you're following us on the map, we're at point I:
http://tinyurl.com/mvk459
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Ben & Jerry's!! (Day 8) 9/16/09
Today started off with a hotel breakfast in probably the best hotel we've been to on our trip. It was clean, friendly, modern, etc.
We left for Vermont at around 11:30. The drive out was very scenic and beautifull. Dad even took a couple pics of us, but like many things on this trip, you really have to go there to appreciate their full grandeur.
We are now at the Comfort Inn at St. Johnsbury, VT. Seeya tomorrow!
We left for Vermont at around 11:30. The drive out was very scenic and beautifull. Dad even took a couple pics of us, but like many things on this trip, you really have to go there to appreciate their full grandeur.
We then headed for Lake Champlain, and ultimately Vermont. We ended up taking a ferry across, as Nancy (Our GPS) decided that it was faster than driving to a bridge.
Ducks FTW
We drove about an hour into Vermont and stopped for the Ben & Jerry's factory. It was a lot of fun. There was an introduction movie about how the reason Ben & Jerry's makes ice cream is because it was cheaper than a bagel machine at the time they founded it. We then got to see the factory where it's made, and then got free samples of Mint Choco Chunk. You should see it if you ever go through Waterbury.
Classic Tourist Picture
Photos!! [September 15th]
9-15-09
Our first moose warning sign. You've gotta be pretty far north to see one of these!
Kilometers-Per-Hour speed limit
Crossing back into the US
Killing time at the border. It takes *so* much more time to get into the US than into Canada.
Beautiful Adirondack Mountains
Photos!! [September 14th]
9-14-09
Us posing at Algonquin
Peck Lake
My Sah-WEET- Aviators
Greta Posing
The lake from the far shore
Photos!! [September 13]
9-13-09
Ketchup Lays
Greta walking through a CN Tower bomb-sniffer
Jon!! Rogers Centre!! From way up high!! W00T!!
The *very* intimidating Glass Floor. Trust me, pictures can do it no justice. It's scary.
Views from the SkyPod (Upper level of CN Tower)
Sky Pod, which does not play music.
Jon!! Rogers Centre!! W00T!!
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