Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

Part One of our New England Trip (Boston) can be found here.

After saying goodbye to my brothers and their wives, Steve and I loaded up our car and began our trip north to Maine. We were glad to get out of Boston without too much stress, although we did have a few confusing moments navigating, even with a GPS.

Steve wanted to check out Gloucester MA, so we drove a route that was near the coast. Gloucester is where the movie “The Perfect Storm” was filmed - a movie that both Steve and I enjoyed. Steve wanted to see the fishing boats and the Fisherman’s Memorial Statue, but since we had a fairly long drive ahead of us, we knew we didn’t have a lot of time to explore. We took a short walk along the harbor, checked out some of the fishing boats, and then returned to our car.

We drove toward the Fisherman’s Memorial and got stuck in traffic. Frustrated, we decided to leave Gloucester and continue our drive to Bar Harbor.  I only took one photo there - of a sailboat in the harbor, but it was so sunny the photo didn’t turn out as I hoped. We were hot and sweaty and couldn’t wait to get further north where (we hoped) the weather would be cooler.  We were both bummed out. The next time we head east, we’ll have to visit again.

I created this map on Google so you can see the route we drove while we were in Maine. After leaving Gloucester, we headed up the highway to Bangor. We just HAD to go to Bangor, because one of my favorite authors lives in Bangor: Stephen King!

It wasn’t hard to find his house. I knew what it looked like from photos posted online. And not many people have gates that look like spider webs, with iron bats and three headed serpent-monsters mounted to the fence posts.  The big *K* in the circle was a dead giveaway too. His address is actually published on the internet and I think there are photos of his house on Google Earth. It was a little bit out of the way, but we just had to go!

We ran into another couple visiting his house. They were from Canada and had driven down to take in the foliage as well as visit the King house. Both fans of the writer, the guy told me that Stephen King’s book “On Writing” inspired him to start writing. I felt a little strange in the adoring fan role, especially when people in the neighborhood went by walking their dogs. But I’m sure they see this all the time. It’s not like I was going to break into his house, strap him to his bed, break his ankles and tell him I was his “number one fan”! (Reference to the book Misery. *grin*) How fun it would be to go trick or treating at his house!

Bangor is a cute little town. And the street he lives on has many beautiful older homes. But none stand out as much as his does. I’m so glad we went!

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As much as I’d love to write about our ENTIRE trip in one blog entry, it’s not going to happen. I took so many photos.. more than I realized! It would take me a week to write about the entire trip at one time. In fact, I’m still going through photos, editing, resizing, choosing what to share, etc.  But since I’ve finished up with the Boston photos - and our visit with my family - I thought I’d at least blog about that first part of our trip.

Steve and I arrived in Boston around 5:30pm on Thursday night. We caught a shuttle to Thrifty Car Rental to pick up the car we’d be using throughout our travels around New England. I wish I could say the process in picking up the car was a quick process, but I’d be lying. Not only was the line of customers long when we got there, but the three gentleman staffing the counter were moving like pond water (Steve’s description).  It took more than 45 minutes to pick up our car!

Luckily, our friend Gip (who also house sat for us - Thanks Gip!) loaned us his GPS, so we were able to find our way easily to our hotel, The Embassy Suites at Logan Airport. We chose that particular hotel because it would be most convenient for my brothers, who were flying in the next morning and would not have a rental car. They could utilize the free shuttle to the hotel.

We loved our stay at the Embassy Suites. All except for one thing: the parking fee for our car. They only offer valet parking and it was an extra $34/day to park our car there. Ridiculous! I did look into shortening our car rental period to avoid that fee, but it would have been MORE expensive to rent the car because we wouldn’t  have it for a full two weeks - about the same as paying the extra $34/day to park.

TIP: If you ever plan a trip to Boston, you probably won’t need a car to get around. The mass transit system is quite efficient, and very reasonable, and there are stations conveniently located all over the city. If you’re staying in a hotel, chances are they will provide free transportation to and from the airport, and possibly to the T station if there isn’t one located near the hotel. There is a train station only a short walk from the Embassy Suites Hotel.

Steve and I got to the hotel just in time for the Managers Reception (an Embassy Suites custom). Finger foods were available, as well as soft drinks. In other Embassy Suite Hotels we’ve stayed in, alcoholic drinks were also provided free of charge, but the Boston location does not do that. (Bummer)

We set the alarm for 7:30am on Friday morning, as my brothers would be touching down around 8:45am from Philly. They got a heck of a deal on RT tickets from Philly to Boston (via Southwest) - only $39/each way!  My brother Mike called when they were taxiing, and Steve and I went downstairs to partake of the free breakfast buffet.  (My brothers Mike and Steve and their wives/GF flew to Boston together. My brother Marc was already in MA with his wife Denise. They were staying at a timeshare on Cape Cod and would join us on Saturday.)

This hotel had one of the best breakfast buffets we have ever experienced. There were made to order omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, homefries, fruit, cereal, breads and pastries, oatmeal, juices, coffee and tea, and probably more that I missed. The made to order omelets were delicious with many ingredients to choose from. A similar breakfast buffet would have easily cost upwards of $20/pp. We never left hungry, that’s for sure.

After we ate, we got the call that my brothers’ plane had landed and they were waiting for the shuttle to the hotel. I was so excited! I had butterflies of happiness in my stomach!

They arrived before the end of the breakfast buffet, so we took their bags up to our room and they grabbed a big round table in the breakfast area and ate. We sat and visited with each other for a good hour before making plans for the day. By that time, their room was ready (next door to ours!), so we moved the bags and changed into comfortable walking shoes.

The T Station was only a short walk (about 1/4 mile) from the hotel - through a playground and soccer field. The ticket kiosk was a little confusing to figure out at first, but an attendant talked us through buying a Charlie Card (re-loadable and discount fares). A swipe of the card, and you’re through the turnstile.

We took the Blue Line from the Airport Station to State Station, close to the Visitor Center for the Freedom Trail.  It was only three stops and about 10 minutes. We decided to walk the Freedom Trail starting from The State House and walking all the way to the USS Constitution (about 2.5 miles one way).

We stopped to browse some shops at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which was really neat. I’m not a shopper, so I didn’t really care about going into any of the outlet stores and shops, but I did enjoy a walk through Quincy Market. Quincy Market is all about food. It was really crowded, but anything you could possibly want to eat could be purchased there - to include desserts and candy. The sights and sounds and smells were great. As were the colors. I just wish it wasn’t so crowded.

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What a fabulous trip to New England! We’re home now, and I’ve got so much work to catch up on before I can start to sort through and make a blog entry about our travels.

It’s so nice to be back in Alaska. We were welcomed home with snow - winter has arrived. Truth be told, we’re more at home in the chilly arctic than we were with the warm east coast weather. But what a magnificent trip we had! The foliage was gorgeous, and the countryside was stunning. Everyone should experience autumn in New England. I’m so happy we were able to make this trip. Not only was it the perfect time to go, but now we can officially say that we’ve seen all 50 states!

Of Maine, NH, and Vermont, I have to say that Steve and I really loved Maine the most, with NH coming in second. Vermont was also quite beautiful in places, but unfortunately we didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy the real beauty of Vermont due to the storm damage. We saw so much road and property damage. It was so very sad. We have the highest regard for the road crews of Vermont. They are doing a magnificent job of putting the state (especially the interior) back together. It’s amazing how much they’ve accomplished since Irene hit in late August. I believe the storm had an adverse impact on the foliage too, as many trees were already stripped of leaves, while others were past peak - even in the lower elevations.

I’ve got much to write about, and many photos to share, but it’s going to have to wait unfortunately. Please bear with me!

Thank you for following my blog and your comments! I can’t wait to share what we saw with you all.

Until next time…