Xlentcrap: East Coast Trip

I had a great trip to the east coast. I started in Medford and flew to Portland, Oregon then on to Minneapolis, Minnesota. I had a 7 hour layover so I kept busy with a pedicure and manicure, I watched a movie on my iPad and bought a t-shirt at the Harley Davidson store.

The airport is absolutely massive. It's like a mall. Lots of shopping, restaurants, mini-spas etc.

New York -

I arrived in Albany around 10:00 pm and a crazy Romanian cab driver took me to the hotel. We stayed at an awesome 1890's brownstone. It had many of the original implements such as a tiny radiator in the bathroom. Dad and Jackie let me in and I went right to sleep.

In the morning we had breakfast in the garden.

Dad and I took a walk around Washington Park.

Dad and I found a virtual geocache!

I was getting pretty warm and we headed back to the hotel so I could get ready for GRADUATION!

My Dad dropped me off at The Egg downtown. The ceremony was downstairs. I was met by a young lady who guided me to the registration and another young lady took me to the staging area where she helped me put on my cap and gown.

Empire State Plaza

It was a lovely ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance that is expected. I got to meet a guy who was in my last class and we had a great time talking. We had great speakers. Two of the graduates were married, two others were mother and daughter and one gentleman walked for his active duty son who was stationed in Afganistan. He got a standing ovation, that part made me cry. There was a buffet afterwards in the lobby but the place was so packed I thought we would have more fun on our own.

Dad asked me if I wanted to change out of my gown and I told him - hell no, I'm wearing this back on the plane! I did wear it while we walked all the way back to the hotel. We had a nice walk back and stopped to get vodka and tonic on the way.

My dad is a ham. He was saying "Look Martha! That building is bigger than our silo back home!" Some of the locals walking by were laughing very hard.

The buildings in Albany are beautiful!

Cobblestone streets.

We sat in the garden and had a drink as the sun went down then had dinner at a great Italian place down the street.

When I got back to the hotel it was late and I went to the sink for a glass of water to take my pills. The tap sputtered a bit and this rust colored crap filled my glass. I had to laugh, just another stereotypical thing in New York!

The next morning I went for a walk to take pictures of the buildings.

Our Hotel.

Downtown.

We checked out of the hotel around 11:00 am and headed to Rhode Island.

View from the car - just trees.

more trees.

and more trees.

We made it to Aunt Ruth's house in Coventry. She has a lovely home in a park setting. Her back yards are the woods.

The neighbors cooked up a crab boil in honor of our arrival which lasted well into the night. We ate a ton of little neck clams, lobster, corn, potatoes, and saugies (hot dogs). We sat around and told jokes, watched the little fireflies and looked up half-naked photos of some football player on my phone. Way too much fun!

There wasn't enough room at Aunt Ruth's so I stayed at the Hampton Inn down the road. It was very comfortable and I got great sleep.

The next morning Dad picked me up and we headed to Massachusettes to pick up his sister Sue and my cousin Carol to take a little tour around his neighborhood where he grew up.

Aunt Sue had a very good friend who has a farm. All the animals were pets. Even the big Ox was simply tethered with a large dog collar.

This was my grandmothers house. It looked a little different when she lived there. They have pained it and have made a lot of improvements.

Nana and her sister Florence - together their whole lives and still side by side.

Great Grandfather Reynolds - the whaler.

Grandfather Stubbs

Dad in front of his school

We went to the whaling museum. Some of the Reynolds whaling memorabilia are housed here.

This set of whale bones hung from the ceiling - and was still a little on the stinky side.

Cobblestone streets in New Bedford. They look a little scary for bicycles and impossible to walk in high heels.

There were little sailing boat regattas going on in the bay.

Lunch on the wharf with Aunt Ruth.

Big tanks of lobster.

This lobster had claws bigger than my hand!

Lobster everywhere - this is their home after all.

We drove around to look at the mansions by the shore.

Aunt Ruth and Ben.

Dad grilled steaks and veggies and we had dinner on the porch. We had a little company!

We headed for Maine. Traveling on the east coast is actually pretty boring. There isn't anything to see except for trees and signs. The bridges were nice and the roads were nice too, just not a lot of scenery.

more trees.

It was so nice and sunny when we arrived in Maine but as we neared the coast, the clouds began to roll in. There was a storm approaching.

We stopped for lunch and I got some pictures of the beach and town!

On the boardwalk.

more trees

I wanted to see a moose!

The Five Gables Inn was a lovely place.

My room was on the 3rd floor and the stairs were steep and narrow, my dad says the houses were build by off-duty ship builders and they built the buildings the same way as ships.

We walked across the street and down the pier.

Then the fog started rolling in!

And the thunder, then the rain. The storm was a big one.

Aunt Ruth on the porch of Five Gables.

Dad and Jackie appreciating the rain.

Dinner on the pier.

I had lobster fettuccini for dinner. It was so rich that I would later regret the choice.

Rain, rain, go away! I'd love to see some Maine today!

It was raining so hard that we had to rely on indoor fun. We went to the Boothbay Aquarium but unfortunately, many others had the same idea.

The guy with the red jacket was a lifeguard for the shark petting tank. He was there to guide people how the pet the baby sharks.

It rained all day but the next day was nice and I got out for pictures.

We were headed out of town and I dragged Dad and Jackie out to help me find a geocache in Maine. With a little help from the cache owner - I found it! The view from the cache site (Don't Overlook this Overlook). It was beautiful.