something else

Thursday, July 18, 2013

New England Road Trip - Boston and beyond



Arrived at hotel ready to go
As I drove interstate I90 on our way home the crescent moon in front of me brightly glowed and Kenna was fast asleep in the back seat exhausted from our New England jaunt.  I could feel myself tire, my eyes heavy from the long drive after a busy, exciting week after meeting my husband in Massachusetts. Then, as if it erupted from that brilliant sickle-shape arc in the night sky a shooting star streaked downward. I have never seen such a bright meteor. It made me think of the Owl City song, Shooting Star "Close your tired eyes, relax and then count from 1 to 10 and open them. All these heavy thoughts will try to weigh you down but not this time." I have to say, it was nice to leave those - heavy thoughts - back home, at least for awhile.

Our trip (Kenna's and mine) was perfect timing; my sister and her husband had left earlier in the week for Boston for their anniversary so while we were there in Boston we spent the time with them. By the time we arrived, neither one of them minded our intrusion.

Hubby soon met us at the hotel after we arrived.  I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder. He's been traveling a lot and with his company's merger there will be more, with the addition of other states.  Kenna was excited to see her father, she still cries every time he leaves. This merger is going to be hell, for both me and her!
 
Dinner and drinks at the hotel
  
 
 
 

  
We decided to stay at the hotel and have dinner there at the restaurant's outside patio. After being in a car for the better of the day I didn't feel like driving anyway.









I did try to make the long drive fun for her.  Her and I have been letterboxing a lot.  It gives me something to do with her that's cheap.
If you've never heard of Letterboxing, it's similar to Geocaching but without the GPS thingy.  You have to go on a site to plug in the area and get clues to where the boxes are hidden.


Kenna looking for a Letterbox.



Once you find it, enclosed within it usually will be a journal and a hand-carved stamp. You enter your Letterbox name, date, city your from and a note if you wish and stamp the letterbox journal with your personal stamp.  When we started doing this we originally were using one name and combining our stamps together but she wanted her own "handle" so she now stamps her own page.  We stopped a couple times on our way to Massachusetts to search for a few, but we only found one.  We did quite a few in Boston, Salem, Plymouth and Providence, RI though.

It's amazing to think they could be anywhere and people are walking past them daily without even knowing they are there, like the one I found on a busy Boston street.
Who would think...a letterbox in the middle of Boston near...Oops, can't tell you that. I found it tho with the help of some great clues!
Our New England trip took us to Salem, Ma. where I have to admit, I felt right at home. ;)

Finding our roots...we left our brooms home so we stopped at The Hazy Red Moon Witchery for replacements but unfortunately there must have been a run on them because they were sold out.




 
Salem is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I would have loved to have spent more time there. Next visit we will definitely do that, hopefully before the end of summer. 




But we spent most of our time in Boston while we were with my sister and brother-in-law and met a wide variety of characters and visited some very cool places. After we said our goodbyes to them we headed over to Plymouth, Ma then Providence, RI to meet up with an old friend of ours who transplanted there years ago.


"Ranger Smith" not only astonishingly handsome but extremely gracious. Kenna was smitten. He was locking the gates when we arrived but let us go in for a quick look. He then told us where he'd be later if we wanted to meet up with him.

 
 
 Linner with the ones I love.

After one "Skip and go naked" I'm feeling it!



The stressors of the rails. That's not my arm taking aim, really!
 
Nope, I could never be a city gal.

 
 







saying goodbye
Letterboxing at the graveyard.
One of our New England Letterbox finds.

Admitting to being a rockhound, I was in awe gazing upon the Plymouth Rock.  The history behind it, facts I hadn't known and other things I never really thought about, It makes you stop and wonder. We must never forget our past, good or bad.
Plymouth Rock


Plymouth, Ma

Plymouth, Ma




I've been watching a lot of Nemo these days and this reminded me of my 3 month old grandson, Cruz. Oh how I missed him!

And in Rhode Island, another beautiful state and our last stop before Kenna and I headed home, we found our last New England letterbox on Blackstone Blvd.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Short and sweet

This entry no doubt will be short seeing there is fewer hours in the day for me to sit down and write.  I suppose it's a good thing my other blogs all have draft posts sitting in the "waiting to be published" section that just need tweaking here and there for the most part.

I have been watching my grandson Cruz everyday since my daughter went back to work a couple weeks ago. I had forgotten how draining it is to be at the beck and call of an infant.  My daughter called me Friday morning telling me she wasn't going to drop him off because when she changed his diaper at his late night feeding and then again that morning she noticed a tinge of blood in it. We spent the day at the doctor's.  It wasn't until she was told he'd need a catheter and it might be something internal that it hit her hard.

He lays here next to me and I can't help but marvel at this blessing and although I may be a little partial, his comeliness is breathtaking.  I find myself at times watching him as he sleeps taking in all the wonders of this tiny human being.  This small, sweet innocent child who smiles at me every morning when I say "Good morning Bean" holds my heart in every beaming grin, grimacing frown and pouting lip.