Find out at the third and last post of my adventurous day with Carole and Steve in the Niagara Falls area. Oh, and bring a nickel ... and some wooden matchsticks!
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Monday, September 12, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Greetings from the Berkshires!
Amanda and I are on the road for a short tour of Western Massachusetts and a bit of Vermont being that I had been behaving myself on my days off and staying close to home lately and I figured I deserved a little bit of a trip. Yesterday we drove up to the Berkshires and poked around a little bit including a drive to the summit of Mount Greylock - Massachusetts' highest peak - where we found ourselves smack in the middle of a cloud. A very cold, very gray, very wet cloud! Gee, I wonder if that's why they call it Mount Greylock?? Believe it or not, there really is a massive stone memorial behind Amanda - it's just a bit shrouded.
Today we're off to visit Amanda's friend Darci in Bennington, Vermont where she now goes to college and then later in the day we'll drive over to Cavendish to spend the night before going down to Chester to visit new-found friends there before making our way back to Connecticut Friday evening.
I'm just hoping we leave the cold, gray, wet clouds on top of Mount Greylock!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Distracted Wanderer Climbs Clifton Hill
Continuing my travel posts from my July trip to Niagara Falls in Ontario, click over to read Clifton Hill - "The Most Fun By the Falls" at The Distracted Wanderer. The dinosaurs would appreciate it and so would I!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Greetings from Cape Ann!
Amy and I had a great time at Fenway Park yesterday even though the Red Sox managed to lose the game - but only by one run which made it close but close doesn't quite count in that case, does it? Regardless, it was fun and I didn't mind being in the "cheap seats" at all! More on that later though ...
After the game we came back up to the North Shore for an overnight stay in Rockport which is close to Gloucester and the Gloucester Fisherman. By the time we got here it was a bit late in the evening but I still wanted Amy to see the famous statute and of course I had to snap a couple of pictures even though I have pictures from the last time Jamie and I were in the area in December.
As you can tell from the flags in the picture above, it was a bit breezy on the water last evening and Amy even thought it was cool enough to don a hoodie. She said she could only imagine how cold it is there in the winter but I could more than imagine having stood in that same spot on a cold and gray December day. Still, there's something about the sea ...
Today we're heading back down to Salem and heading over to the Peabody Essex Museum to finally go on that Historic House Tour I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. We'll be meeting up with my friend Juli from the Hawthorne Hotel who will be joining us for the tour and lunch in the Garden Restaurant of the PEM following the tour. After that it's back home and reality but for today I'm going to enjoy one more day of my mini-vacation!
After the game we came back up to the North Shore for an overnight stay in Rockport which is close to Gloucester and the Gloucester Fisherman. By the time we got here it was a bit late in the evening but I still wanted Amy to see the famous statute and of course I had to snap a couple of pictures even though I have pictures from the last time Jamie and I were in the area in December.
As you can tell from the flags in the picture above, it was a bit breezy on the water last evening and Amy even thought it was cool enough to don a hoodie. She said she could only imagine how cold it is there in the winter but I could more than imagine having stood in that same spot on a cold and gray December day. Still, there's something about the sea ...
Today we're heading back down to Salem and heading over to the Peabody Essex Museum to finally go on that Historic House Tour I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. We'll be meeting up with my friend Juli from the Hawthorne Hotel who will be joining us for the tour and lunch in the Garden Restaurant of the PEM following the tour. After that it's back home and reality but for today I'm going to enjoy one more day of my mini-vacation!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Trekking to Toronto
Last Tuesday evening Jamie and I began our trip up to Canada when I got out of work a little early so that we could put part of our journey behind us by nightfall. If I was reading the maps correctly, the trip to Toronto was going to take somewhere around 9-1/2 to 10 hours so rather than get up in the wee hours of the morning I decided that we'd just hit the road Tuesday evening, drive as far as Albany which is a mere 150+ miles away, and spend the night at a cheap - but hopefully clean - hotel before starting out again in the morning.
The traffic was minimal and we made good time pulling into a Days Inn near the University of Albany just before it started to get dark. I'd booked the hotel through HotWire and got it for a mere $40 so even though it was nothing to take pictures of or blog about, it was a decent enough place to spend the night. It certainly wasn't the type of place I've grown accustomed to lately but good enough!
Rising bright and early the next morning - some of us more bright and early than others! - we were ready to hit the road again around 8:30. Our direction of travel took us on Route 90 West (aka the New York Thruway) before we took a turn north on Route 81 towards Watertown and Fort Drum, a relatively large Army base which is home to the Army's 10th Mountain Division. Not too far past Fort Drum we came across the last exit in the United States and Jamie started to get excited as she's been wanting to go to Canada for awhile now.
My goal had been to reach the American/Canadian border by 1:00 p.m. at the latest and we did just that reaching the New York side of the Thousand Islands Bridge System right around 12:30. We stopped for a little bit to fill up on gas (I had checked to see how expensive it was in Canada and decided that it would probably be a good idea to not buy gas there if I didn't have to as it was going for approximately $1.30 a liter) and take some pictures of the Welcome Center and the American span of the bridge.
As for Hugh Jackman, what can I say other than WOW! He put on an absolutely fantastic show - it was 90-minutes plus of non-stop singing and dancing and interacting with the audience. Jamie and I were sitting in what could probably be called the nosebleed section of the theater (the second to the last row in the upper balcony) but we still had a pretty good view of the stage. No photography was allowed but my friend Jamie out in Washington state was nice enough to send me some photos to use that she got from another friend of hers. Jamie is a HUGE Hugh Jackman fan and I couldn't help but think during the concert how much she would have loved to have been there.
For those of you who only know Hugh Jackman from his role as "Wolverine" the man is so much more more than that and an amazing stage performer. He began his love of musicals growing up in Australia and watching movies like "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Guys and Dolls", and "Singing in the Rain" with his very first role being in "The Music Man" when he was in high school. He performed the opening scene from the show for us playing all eight parts of the traveling salesmen on the train and I must say it was quite impressive! Equally impressive was his rendition of "My Boy Bill" from the musical "Carousel". Honestly, "Carousel" has never been one of my favorite shows but if Hugh Jackman took it Broadway in a revival, I'm afraid I'd have to go see it - he's just that good!
I wasn't too sure how Jamie was going to like the show as even though she's also a big Hugh Jackman fan, I really didn't know whether or not she was going to like the music as Broadway standards aren't her usual fare and she didn't even really know that Hugh Jackman sang until I told her we were going to the show. As it turned out she loved absolutely every minute of the show and only wished that we had been able to sit closer - like in the front row! Of course, she knew how much those tickets cost and said she was just happy to be in the theater at all when you got right down to it.
Following the phenomenal performance we walked back down to the subway stopping long enough to take a picture of the illuminated CN Tower -
We made it back to the hotel in time for Jamie to change clothes and make sure she had all of her stuff together before we took a taxi to the nearby Toronto Bus Terminal where she was boarding a Greyhound bus that would take her out to Winnipeg where she'd be meeting a friend of hers who had invited her out for the summer. Her bus left at 1:00 which might seem like an odd time but it was the only schedule that didn't require her to transfer anywhere along the way. This being her first long-distance bus trip, I wanted to try to make it as easy as possible for her - or as easy as a 1-day, 12-hour, 36-minute trip could be!
As we waited in line for her bus to board she struck up a conversation with another young lady who was also heading west and they ended up sitting together for most of the trip. I waited until her bus pulled out taking her on the rest of her Canadian adventure before I walked back to the hotel to continue the rest of my Canadian adventure on my own. In retrospect maybe walking alone through Toronto at 1:15 in the morning wasn't the best idea but I had no problems at all in getting back to the hotel.
Before calling it a rather late night, I snapped a picture from the hotel window and then climbed into bed and fell directly to sleep. Ahead of me was going to be a 2-hour drive southwest to Niagara Falls but first I was going to have to navigate my way out of Toronto minus GPS and anyone to read the directions to me! Obviously I was going to need to be well-rested!
The traffic was minimal and we made good time pulling into a Days Inn near the University of Albany just before it started to get dark. I'd booked the hotel through HotWire and got it for a mere $40 so even though it was nothing to take pictures of or blog about, it was a decent enough place to spend the night. It certainly wasn't the type of place I've grown accustomed to lately but good enough!
Rising bright and early the next morning - some of us more bright and early than others! - we were ready to hit the road again around 8:30. Our direction of travel took us on Route 90 West (aka the New York Thruway) before we took a turn north on Route 81 towards Watertown and Fort Drum, a relatively large Army base which is home to the Army's 10th Mountain Division. Not too far past Fort Drum we came across the last exit in the United States and Jamie started to get excited as she's been wanting to go to Canada for awhile now.
My goal had been to reach the American/Canadian border by 1:00 p.m. at the latest and we did just that reaching the New York side of the Thousand Islands Bridge System right around 12:30. We stopped for a little bit to fill up on gas (I had checked to see how expensive it was in Canada and decided that it would probably be a good idea to not buy gas there if I didn't have to as it was going for approximately $1.30 a liter) and take some pictures of the Welcome Center and the American span of the bridge.
Looking up at the spindly green suspension bridge that crosses the Saint Lawrence River, I was thinking that it was probably a darned good thing that my mother wasn't with us as she hates bridges and certainly would not have enjoyed this one at all!
She wouldn't have liked how high it was nor would she have liked how narrow it was!
The entire Thousand Islands Bridge System extends a distance of 8.5 miles running from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay, New York to Ivy Lea near Gananoque, Ontario; in other words, it's pretty big! I wish I had been able to enjoy the view more but alas, I was busy keeping my eyes on the road while trying to adjust to measuring my speed in kilometers rather than miles per hour. It's trickier than you might think!
Shortly after leaving the bridge behind, we approached the Canadian Border Crossing where we were fortunate enough to get a very friendly young lady who smiled broadly when, in answer to her question about our purpose for visiting Canada, I replied "Hugh Jackman is in concert in Toronto!" She said that was definitely worth the drive though she warned me that driving in Toronto could be tricky. It was going to be even trickier based on the fact that my GPS went into a vast nothing-ness at the American border as if the rest of the world didn't exist outside of America. I had rather suspected that might have been the case so was well-prepared with Google maps and printed directions. I dubbed Jamie the official navigator and off we went - into Canada!
I'm afraid my first impressions of the Great North were less than stellar as it started to rain shortly after we crossed the border and the entrance ramp to Canada Route 401 West (the only way to get to Toronto) was blocked off for some unknown reason. There was nothing for it but to take Route 401 East for close to 15 miles before we were able to turn around at the next exit and finally make our way west and in the proper direction.
My navigator decided to take a nap about an hour into the ride but I woke her up as we got closer to Toronto as she was going to need to start reading off directions for me on how to get to our hotel for the night in downtown Toronto. Traffic was also starting to get heavy though you can't quite tell from the picture above.
As we drove into Toronto on the Don Valley Parkway, Jamie got a quick shot of the CN Tower in the distance and lots of power lines up close!
We found our next stop for the night relatively easily and after parking the car in a very dark, very narrow, very low-ceilinged garage that cost $23 a night, we made our way up to the lobby and checked into our room. I had booked the hotel through Travelocity as one of their "Secret Deals" which meant I got it for a fairly decent price but again it was nothing to take pictures of or blog about. The Best Western Primrose Hotel in downtown Toronto is a'ight but that's about it. I must say that the staff was friendly and they were good about changing our room once I told them the air-conditioning didn't work but I don't believe I'd stay there again should I ever find myself back in Toronto and in need of a hotel room. That said, it was pretty well situated in downtown and it was relatively easy to get to the places we needed to be and that had been my key consideration when booking it.
The first place we needed to be was the Princess of Wales Theater where Hugh Jackman aka Wolverine was putting on a one-man show so we hopped on a subway and then took a short walk down to the theater stopping along the way for a photo op!
As for Hugh Jackman, what can I say other than WOW! He put on an absolutely fantastic show - it was 90-minutes plus of non-stop singing and dancing and interacting with the audience. Jamie and I were sitting in what could probably be called the nosebleed section of the theater (the second to the last row in the upper balcony) but we still had a pretty good view of the stage. No photography was allowed but my friend Jamie out in Washington state was nice enough to send me some photos to use that she got from another friend of hers. Jamie is a HUGE Hugh Jackman fan and I couldn't help but think during the concert how much she would have loved to have been there.
For those of you who only know Hugh Jackman from his role as "Wolverine" the man is so much more more than that and an amazing stage performer. He began his love of musicals growing up in Australia and watching movies like "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Guys and Dolls", and "Singing in the Rain" with his very first role being in "The Music Man" when he was in high school. He performed the opening scene from the show for us playing all eight parts of the traveling salesmen on the train and I must say it was quite impressive! Equally impressive was his rendition of "My Boy Bill" from the musical "Carousel". Honestly, "Carousel" has never been one of my favorite shows but if Hugh Jackman took it Broadway in a revival, I'm afraid I'd have to go see it - he's just that good!
I wasn't too sure how Jamie was going to like the show as even though she's also a big Hugh Jackman fan, I really didn't know whether or not she was going to like the music as Broadway standards aren't her usual fare and she didn't even really know that Hugh Jackman sang until I told her we were going to the show. As it turned out she loved absolutely every minute of the show and only wished that we had been able to sit closer - like in the front row! Of course, she knew how much those tickets cost and said she was just happy to be in the theater at all when you got right down to it.
Following the phenomenal performance we walked back down to the subway stopping long enough to take a picture of the illuminated CN Tower -
And a couple quick pictures of Saint Andrew's Church -
We made it back to the hotel in time for Jamie to change clothes and make sure she had all of her stuff together before we took a taxi to the nearby Toronto Bus Terminal where she was boarding a Greyhound bus that would take her out to Winnipeg where she'd be meeting a friend of hers who had invited her out for the summer. Her bus left at 1:00 which might seem like an odd time but it was the only schedule that didn't require her to transfer anywhere along the way. This being her first long-distance bus trip, I wanted to try to make it as easy as possible for her - or as easy as a 1-day, 12-hour, 36-minute trip could be!
As we waited in line for her bus to board she struck up a conversation with another young lady who was also heading west and they ended up sitting together for most of the trip. I waited until her bus pulled out taking her on the rest of her Canadian adventure before I walked back to the hotel to continue the rest of my Canadian adventure on my own. In retrospect maybe walking alone through Toronto at 1:15 in the morning wasn't the best idea but I had no problems at all in getting back to the hotel.
Before calling it a rather late night, I snapped a picture from the hotel window and then climbed into bed and fell directly to sleep. Ahead of me was going to be a 2-hour drive southwest to Niagara Falls but first I was going to have to navigate my way out of Toronto minus GPS and anyone to read the directions to me! Obviously I was going to need to be well-rested!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig
I took this picture just before I left the parking lot at Niagara Falls State Park for my drive home and I have to say that it was fairly accurate - though it hadn't factored in a few stops along the way for gas, a Tim Horton's iced coffee, and a Roy Rogers roast beef sammich. After all, that's a lot of miles to go on an empty stomach and even though my car gets good gas mileage, it's not quite good enough that I wouldn't have needed to make at least one stop!
It ended up being a very beautiful and pleasurable drive home as the weather was perfect, the traffic was light, and my iPod provided a good soundtrack to drive to. I pulled into my driveway at 9:40 p.m. with a grand total of 1,178 miles on the trip meter from start to finish - not bad! All in all it was a great trip and as soon as I'm not working double shifts and have time to sort through the 1,370 pictures I took, I'll tell you all about it!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Greetings from Niagara Falls!
Sadly this is my last day in Canada and I'll be heading back over the bridge to the American side shortly. It's been a very busy couple of days filled with so much to see and do coupled with very sore feet from all of the walking but oh so worth it! Yesterday I met up with a blogging friend from Canada who could be my long-lost sister we're so alike when it comes to things like history and old cemeteries and such; Carole and Steve drove me ALL over the place and fit so much into one day that it was amazing - and I've got close to 400 pictures to prove it!
As soon as I can tear myself away from my beautiful B&B I'm going to drive over to the American side of the Falls to try to get a few pictures from that angle and then I'll start the 7-hour drive back to Connecticut and reality. In the meantime, please enjoy the picture of the Canadian falls that I took Thursday evening. Oh ... and those things that look like black spots on the right side of the picture - those are actually birds of which there were a lot! Heck, if I were a bird, I think I'd pick Niagara Falls as my home, too!
Ah well, speaking of home, I'm outta here ... once I figure out where I stuck my passport!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Greetings from Toronto!
I've got a full day ahead of me but wanted to post at least one picture from yesterday's travels and what says Toronto better than the CN Tower? Off to Niagara Falls here shortly with fingers crossed that I've not forgotten about to navigate the old-fashioned way without benefit of a GPS device; I knew I should have brought along some post-it notes!
Ah well, head southwest and look for the falling water ...
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Onward to Ontario
With many thanks to Frank who came in and took over for me early in dispatch yesterday, Jamie and I were able to hit the road a little bit sooner than I had originally planned for our journey north through Massachusetts and New York then onward to Canada. The weather was great, the traffic was light, and all in all it was nice 155 miles of pavement towards our stop for the night near the University of Albany. I told Jamie to pull out the camera and take a few shots as we drove through the Berkshires but I've apparently yet to quite teach her the fine art of shooting from the passenger seat. Still, there were a couple of decent shots.
That isn't one of 'em!
Being that we were driving west, the sun was either doing pretty things like playing hide and seek behind the clouds or causing major road glare!
I thought I had done a good job of cleaning the windshield but apparently not!
This was the "Welcome to New York" sign which was hidden behind a bunch of road construction vehicles. I think Jamie did well to get any sort of shot at all considering the location and the fact that we were whipping by at 65 mph!
This morning we'll continue heading west a little bit before we take a turn towards the north and the Thousand Islands region of upper New York State en route to the Canadian border. I thought it would be nice to approach Toronto from the east around Lake Ontario rather than drive up past Niagara Falls as that area is on tap for tomorrow and the next day. So ... time to pack up and hit the road before the sun gets any higher in the sky. After all, Hugh Jackman awaits!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Meandering Back to Maine
With the sun just starting to break through the clouds around 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning, I left Connecticut and headed north to a state that I've rather come to like recently in spite of all of those Stephen King books that I've read that have kept me far, far away from Maine for many, many years! The way I look at it now, until I see a maniacal clown while I'm here then it's all good as there is just too much good stuff in Maine to not go there! I'd had a wonderful time in October when my mom, Jamie, and I spent time there and I was really looking forward to this trip even though it was going to be a quick overnight jaunt.
Of course to get to Maine from Connecticut, one has to pass through New Hampshire (albeit briefly) where they have these humongous state-run liquor stores that are feast for the eyes and the palette if you're a drinker at all. Even if you aren't much of a drinker, the stores are a great place to stop and use the restroom and stretch your legs - especially if you haven't gotten out of the car since leaving Norwich!
I took the above picture for Barb as I know she loves her wine and the selection at the state-run stores is quite wide and varied! I don't know much about the cost of wine but I'd willing to bet it's quite reasonable if for no other reason than that there's no tax on it in the State of New Hampshire. You really have to love a state that has their own supermarkets for alcohol and no tax!
Interstate 95 through Portsmouth is no stranger to me at all having traversed it many, many times over the years and I'd have to say that the stretch through New Hampshire is probably one of the best parts of I-95 on the entire East Coast. Granted, it's only about 17 miles from the Massachusetts border to the middle of the Piscataqua River Bridge where you cross over into Maine but those 17 miles are in darned good shape. So good in fact, that I really don't mind paying the $2 toll to drive on it!
Speaking of taking pictures, I took this one shortly after crossing over into Maine and I'm glad the state was open for business as otherwise I'd have driven that whole way for naught!
I took the picture above at the Kittery Information Center as I thought it was rather amusing that the State of Maine cared about what I ate! Of course after I'd thought about it, what it mostly did was make me feel guilty about the chocolate chip cookie I'd had for breakfast and lunch as I was pretty sure that didn't count as a meal at all!
Arriving at my destination - the seaside village of Kennebunkport - around 2:30, I figured that I was probably too early to check into the Bed & Breakfast I was spending the night at so I took a drive up Ocean Avenue out of town towards the north. Unfortunately, the blue skies of Connecticut had not followed me up to Maine so it was a bit overcast AND it looked like the tide was out but that certainly wasn't going to stop me from taking a few pictures of the ocean!
I found a place that had a spot for cars to park for 15 minutes and climbed out to take a few pictures of the ocean and the anchor that was there. Not being the most observant person in the world, I didn't exactly realize where I was until I read the inscription on the plaque with the anchor.
As a light bulb slowly came on, I realized that I was looking across at Walker's Point - the summer home of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush. D'oh! That would explain why so many other cars were pulling over, snapping pictures in that direction and then driving away.
The estate, which sits on a piece of land that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean that was originally named Point Vesuvius and then Walker's Point, was purchased in the late 19th century by St. Louis banker George H. Walker who built a mansion there in 1903. Later, the estate passed on to his daughter Dorothy Walker Bush and her husband Prescott Bush. President George H. W. Bush spent much of his childhood at the Kennebunkport estate and upon the death of his parents, he inherited the property which came to be known as his "Summer White House".
I really can't say that I blame the man for taking the chance to go there as often as he could during his Presidency as it certainly had to beat the heck out of being in Washington - or even Texas for that matter as you can't get these kinds of views in Texas! Oh, and I should probably mention that it never even dawned on me to pull out my zoom lens to try to get closer pictures of the house though in retrospect, perhaps I should have. Oh well, next time?
I traveled a short ways further up the coast but as there wasn't much to see that was near the ocean that I could get to, I eventually turned around and headed back down to Kennebunkport but I stopped a few times along the way to take a few more pictures. The skies were trying to clear up and the sun had come out a little bit but it wasn't exactly ideal conditions for picture-taking.
This is St. Anne's By the Sea Episcopal Church which is built on a piece of land that was donated by the Kennebunkport Seashore Company and is constructed from sea-washed stones that were gathered from the local area. Work on the chapel began on May 27th, 1887 and upon its completion five years later, the church was consecrated on August 24, 1892 by the Rt. Rev. Henry Adams Neely, Bishop of Maine. Since that time it has been in continuous use as a summer chapel as one of 18 historic summer chapels in the Diocese of Maine. Unfortunately, though, that means it's only open mid-June through Labor Day and the best I could do was take a picture through the closed gate. I'm thinking that another trip to Kennebunkport will be in order during that time as I'd love to go back when visitors are welcome as the grounds looked absolutely gorgeous.
Speaking of absolutely gorgeous, by now you're probably wondering what my final destination was for this trip, aren't you? Well I'm not going to tell you just yet but I'll give you a hint ...
... it was the absolutely gorgeous yellow house above that is located on the top of a sweeping lawn which is known locally as the River Green because it overlooks the Kennebunk River and if you think the house looks nice from a distance, wait until I show it to you up close! I guarantee at least a couple of you will jealous!
Of course to get to Maine from Connecticut, one has to pass through New Hampshire (albeit briefly) where they have these humongous state-run liquor stores that are feast for the eyes and the palette if you're a drinker at all. Even if you aren't much of a drinker, the stores are a great place to stop and use the restroom and stretch your legs - especially if you haven't gotten out of the car since leaving Norwich!
I took the above picture for Barb as I know she loves her wine and the selection at the state-run stores is quite wide and varied! I don't know much about the cost of wine but I'd willing to bet it's quite reasonable if for no other reason than that there's no tax on it in the State of New Hampshire. You really have to love a state that has their own supermarkets for alcohol and no tax!
Interstate 95 through Portsmouth is no stranger to me at all having traversed it many, many times over the years and I'd have to say that the stretch through New Hampshire is probably one of the best parts of I-95 on the entire East Coast. Granted, it's only about 17 miles from the Massachusetts border to the middle of the Piscataqua River Bridge where you cross over into Maine but those 17 miles are in darned good shape. So good in fact, that I really don't mind paying the $2 toll to drive on it!
Speaking of the Piscataqua River Bridge - here it is ... and yes, I took these pictures while I was driving but I took them quickly and carefully - honest!
Speaking of taking pictures, I took this one shortly after crossing over into Maine and I'm glad the state was open for business as otherwise I'd have driven that whole way for naught!
I took the picture above at the Kittery Information Center as I thought it was rather amusing that the State of Maine cared about what I ate! Of course after I'd thought about it, what it mostly did was make me feel guilty about the chocolate chip cookie I'd had for breakfast and lunch as I was pretty sure that didn't count as a meal at all!
Arriving at my destination - the seaside village of Kennebunkport - around 2:30, I figured that I was probably too early to check into the Bed & Breakfast I was spending the night at so I took a drive up Ocean Avenue out of town towards the north. Unfortunately, the blue skies of Connecticut had not followed me up to Maine so it was a bit overcast AND it looked like the tide was out but that certainly wasn't going to stop me from taking a few pictures of the ocean!
I found a place that had a spot for cars to park for 15 minutes and climbed out to take a few pictures of the ocean and the anchor that was there. Not being the most observant person in the world, I didn't exactly realize where I was until I read the inscription on the plaque with the anchor.
As a light bulb slowly came on, I realized that I was looking across at Walker's Point - the summer home of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush. D'oh! That would explain why so many other cars were pulling over, snapping pictures in that direction and then driving away.
The estate, which sits on a piece of land that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean that was originally named Point Vesuvius and then Walker's Point, was purchased in the late 19th century by St. Louis banker George H. Walker who built a mansion there in 1903. Later, the estate passed on to his daughter Dorothy Walker Bush and her husband Prescott Bush. President George H. W. Bush spent much of his childhood at the Kennebunkport estate and upon the death of his parents, he inherited the property which came to be known as his "Summer White House".
I really can't say that I blame the man for taking the chance to go there as often as he could during his Presidency as it certainly had to beat the heck out of being in Washington - or even Texas for that matter as you can't get these kinds of views in Texas! Oh, and I should probably mention that it never even dawned on me to pull out my zoom lens to try to get closer pictures of the house though in retrospect, perhaps I should have. Oh well, next time?
I traveled a short ways further up the coast but as there wasn't much to see that was near the ocean that I could get to, I eventually turned around and headed back down to Kennebunkport but I stopped a few times along the way to take a few more pictures. The skies were trying to clear up and the sun had come out a little bit but it wasn't exactly ideal conditions for picture-taking.
Can you imagine living in that house in the picture above and being able to look out your windows and see the Atlantic Ocean spread out before you? I don't think I'd ever get tired of it if I had that view!
This is St. Anne's By the Sea Episcopal Church which is built on a piece of land that was donated by the Kennebunkport Seashore Company and is constructed from sea-washed stones that were gathered from the local area. Work on the chapel began on May 27th, 1887 and upon its completion five years later, the church was consecrated on August 24, 1892 by the Rt. Rev. Henry Adams Neely, Bishop of Maine. Since that time it has been in continuous use as a summer chapel as one of 18 historic summer chapels in the Diocese of Maine. Unfortunately, though, that means it's only open mid-June through Labor Day and the best I could do was take a picture through the closed gate. I'm thinking that another trip to Kennebunkport will be in order during that time as I'd love to go back when visitors are welcome as the grounds looked absolutely gorgeous.
Speaking of absolutely gorgeous, by now you're probably wondering what my final destination was for this trip, aren't you? Well I'm not going to tell you just yet but I'll give you a hint ...
... it was the absolutely gorgeous yellow house above that is located on the top of a sweeping lawn which is known locally as the River Green because it overlooks the Kennebunk River and if you think the house looks nice from a distance, wait until I show it to you up close! I guarantee at least a couple of you will jealous!
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