Summer 2021

Exhausting!  Walked 18,289 steps, almost 8 miles.  Not like a crazy day at Walt Disney World, but at 46 years old it was plenty.  Started with a walk through downtown to the Science Museum.

First, Plimoth is spelled correctly, as the Old English wrote.  The area was Plimoth Pitouxet for the Natives.  After we ate a not-so-filling breakfast (kaiser rolls with cream cheese, milk and cereal scraps, and some juices we got at yesterday's hotel, I stepped outside and walked around the pond with ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens around.  Part of the hotel atmosphere with shady picnic tables to boot. Our first stop was Plymouth, MA.  We had 3 points of interest to explore: the Plimoth Patuxet museums with live theater throughout an historic Patuxet homesite and a 17th century English village, The Mayflower II (WWII gift from England), and a Grist Mill.  Here are some interesting facts I learned for the first time today Companion crops were sowed in mounds of soil.  At the tip of the mound 4 corn kernels were placed, when they got to be a hand tall, 4 bean seeds were placed in the middle of the mound, and after a week when the beans trellised up the corn...

Rough night when Chris and I got the pull out couch.  But the boys were hot cause they closed the bedroom door and the A/C was in the hall.  We survived to tell the tale.  No breakfast, no ice machine, nothing but some beds and walls (thin at that as I heard the neighbor's TV until I turned on the A/C). I ventured out by myself this morning to grab some breakfast from McDonald's (6 miles away). Was back just in time to pack up the car, hurry Henry along (even though I was the last one out), and head on to the Topiary gardens (you know, the ones I excluded yesterday... we actually passed them on the way to the hotel last night...sweet).  After some silly photos, we made it to the cool Rail Excursion in Portsmouth.  We biked on a duo and quad cart on the railroad track, about 90 minutes round trip.  We were all 5 exhausted when done, yet I had a 2 hour drive to the Cape yet.  Lucky me! Two stops along the way to the Cape were the Sandwich Glass Museum (d...

Today was a good day.  We woke the kids early at 7AM, had pastries, coffee, and juice delivered by the front desk complimentary, and headed out to catch the opening of the aquarium at 9:00AM.  Was nice to catch the trainers feeding breakfast to the beluga whales and sea lions.  The penguins were all out for the morning greet too.  We walked over a frog swamp to spot them amongst the lily pads, and then ventured inside.  a VR movie awaited the boys (after I coughed up tickets) at 10:15, so we wandered around for a bit first, even got to touch a shark, sea urchin (no, not one of mine), and use the restroom (a necessary pitstop...get it?) It was at 11:30 that the real fun started when I surprised Watson with a sea lion close encounter on the big stage during the aquarium show.  Early birthday gift, and such a great photo-op.  We enjoyed the show as a family too in the VIP seats with cushions (nice!).  That was the end to a great morning start on Day ...

Chris' back says that 1 hour car drives are enough. Hopefully a hot shower will help. A new lady at the front desk, must be the owner; can't imagine paying another employee with as little business. 'Cause of Covid no continental Breakfast, so that's first today. Then on to Seaport Museum.  Wow, what a breakfast! HUGE: Henry ordered the Hungry Man (2 French toast slices, 2 pancakes, 2 sausages, 2 eggs, and a slice of ham, with homefries), Watson got blueberry waffle with at least two berries per hole, Jessup and Chris got omelets that were folded twice, and I got California Benedict with a side of fruit. Yummy! And the restaurant was aptly named Mystic Diner. We got to the Seaport Museum around 10:00 when it opened. Kind of like a tour of Old Salem or Historic Williamsburg (tiny homes with tradesman). Except that Mystic has lots of ships to climb aboard. The whaling ship was cool especially how they discussed the whale blubber being turned into oil. The ship was ac...

@Norwalk Sheffield Island Ferry - cancelled. Found out 20 minutes before leaving. Seriously? Weather downpour. Tried a little trail, rain. Tried the beach, rain, now at a pit stop off 95. Scenic, no! @I-95 Ate picnic lunch at the pitstop, which was packed for the Island. Then off to the Gillette Castle. @East Haddam Caught the end of the film on Mr. Gillette. Turns out the guy was from Tryon, NC, spent his career writing , producing and acting as Sherlock Holmes after the story by Doyle. Gillette coined the phrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson." We got swept through the castle and ended up traipsing through the woods back to the parking lot. 1st off the list. @Norwich And... you guessed it, show cancelled. No July 3-4 fireworks. Seriously? It's barely drizzling. No fair, no food, no fun.  Fine, we will drive to... @Niantic Aderi hotel. Boy, the place was a bit shady, but we can survive one night.  Huge parking lot, maybe 10 cars.  We'll check in later.  We ended up dr...