Decided
we needed a break from the crazy drivers in Boston so made our way to the
calmer climes back in Vermont. Crossing
back into New Hampshire we stopped at the Andres Institute of Art and went for
a walk through the sculpture park there.
Some of the sculptures there are just plain weird, others just regular
weird and a lot of others just right. Of
course, it’s a personal thing.
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| We Are One Together |
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Sue & Jean posing at Inherent Conversation
(but we were a bit too knackered to actually have one) |
 |
This one is called Upheaval and reminds me of the critters
from the film Tremors that starred Kevin Bacon |
Stopped
for lunch at Parker’s Maple Barn in Mason.
Mason is a tiny place
 |
Parker's Maple Barn all decked
out in autumn colours |
in the middle of nowhere and it was jam-packed
with people. Clearly a good sign. And it was.
It started with the car park – ample room for the RV then there was the
food. It was delicious. Maple ribs go down as a winner in my books.
When
we left Mason we continued north to Greenfield before turning east and
travelling into Vermont. At Greenfield
some local farmers have made a trebuchet primarily for taking part in
competitions to see who can chuck pumpkins the furthest. Sadly we didn’t get to see the Yankee Siege
Trebuchet in action but have no doubt it can chuck a pumpkin half a mile
(actually my imagination sends it further and it ain’t pumpkins its sending but
you don’t need to hear more about that).
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Yankee Siege Trebuchet - our inner 10 year olds were
disappointed not to see it in action |
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| I know lots of people that would have fun with this giant mace |
As
we headed into Vermont we noticed that the colour started disappearing and the
trees were becoming bare. Not really
surprising as were climbing into the Green Mountains. We had planned to go hiking in Vermont but we
are fair weather hikers and it rained and rained and rained. Every time we got rugged up to go out it
rained … true story.
As
soon as we left the mountains the colour came back into the trees. It didn’t appear to be as vibrant as the
previous couple of weeks but lovely to see all the same. The rain was holding off so we stopped off in
Adams (we’re back in Massachusetts) and went for a walk on the Ashuwillticook
Trail. The trail is along an old railway
line and runs south for 11 miles to Pittsfield and of course we didn’t do
anywhere near that. Just enough to blow
the cobwebs out. The foliage was just
lovely and the locals friendly.
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| Ashuwillticook Trail |
 |
The gorgeous
Bridge of Flowers |
A
bit further on from Adams is the town of Shelburne Falls that has converted the
old trolley bridge into a pedestrian bridge covered in flowers. A word of warning for those towing RV’s –
don’t trust your GPS. The first road our
GPS tried taking us down had a 9’9 overpass (we’re 12’8). Once we were in the town it tried taking us
over the bridge that had clearance of 10’9.
Won’t be leaving that way.
Checked out the side streets for going round the block – 12’8. Just as we beginning to think we’d have to do
a 30 point turn in these narrow streets to get out of
this
town we
spotted a car park. That was merely a 2
point turn and, as we now found ourselves in a car park, parked the RV and
walked back into the town and over the bridge.
The garden was initially set up back in 1928, fell into disrepair and
was reconstructed in the 1980’s. The dahlias are quite beautiful at this time
of year. Would love to see the bridge in
the spring time.
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Beeswax candles being made
in the museum |
Our
next stop was at South Deerfield where we had hopes of seeing the world’s
largest candle. This we did but it was
overshadowed by the store that surrounded it.
If you’ve never been to Yankee Candles you just haven’t lived. What an amazing place. Entering through the museum was probably a
good thing – we’d never have gotten back to it if we started in the shop.
 |
World's Largest Candle - would
burn for 7 years once lit (that's
a lot of candlelight dinners) |
Arriving late in the day was also a good
thing as we could’ve easily spent several hours in the store. No mean feat for two non-shoppers. Pretty much any scent you can think of is
covered including 2 of my favourites, beer and bacon. The bacon smelt delicious, the beer smelt
like slops on a hotel floor the morning after a big night. Several themed gift shops but of course, the
predominant item is candles. Thousands
of them. I know I’ve already said this,
but what an amazing place.
Stopped
in Springfield overnight (thanks Walmart yet again for your hospitality). Located the Springfield Museums and, in this
busy part of town, managed to find four car parks together within a couple of
blocks. What other crazy people take
RV’s into downtown areas? The art and
science and natural history museums are all closed on Monday. This being a Monday we had to satisfy
ourselves with a memorial garden dedicated to Theodor Seuss Geisel, a man more
commonly known as Dr Seuss. We were more
than happy to get re-acquainted with The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, Sam-I-Am
and others.
 |
Jean in the story tellers seat with an aptly titled book
"Oh The Places You'll Go" |
 |
Sam I Am with his Green Eggs & Ham
(actually the ham looks pretty green as well don't you think?) |
Made our way to the south of Boston where
we were planning to park up for a few nights and explore Cape Cod and Rhode
Island. On the way we saw a couple of
architectural delights, Bancroft Tower in Worcester and a replica Irish Round
Tower in Milford. Bancroft Tower appears
to be missing a castle and the round tower is missing its ladder (hope the
defenders aren’t still holed up inside).
 |
| Bancroft Tower complete with romantic couple out front |
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| Replica Irish Tower |
 |
Told you it was massive (can you
even see us in the photo) |
Spent
a day in Plymouth soaking up the pilgrim history of the place. Stopped off at the National Monument of the
Forefathers, a massive tribute to the first settlers that was built in 1905. From there we dropped down to the foreshore
and went aboard the Mayflower II, a working replica of the original Mayflower
 |
Over 100 passengers and
30 crew were on the original
- looks way too tiny for
that number of people |
and one of the Plimoth Plantation attractions.
It’s decked out 1700’s style with museum staff in period costume telling
stories of their voyage. It was sailed
from England to the US back in 1957 and is still taken out from time to time.
We
walked around Plymouth taking in the sights including Plymouth Rock. The jury is out as to whether it is the
original as it wasn’t commemorated until about 100 years later but it is a
focal point and has the year stamped into it and has pride of place on the
foreshore.
 |
| This rock won't be floating off with the tide any time soon |
We
then headed out to Plimoth Plantation where they have a Wampanoag homesite
complete with locals dressed in period costume who are happy to talk to you
about life back when the first settlers arrived and life today. There is also a 17C English village also
complete with locals in period costume but these ones role play as 1627
residents, 7 years after the landing. A
bit tricky when they ask where we are from as our ancestors hadn’t discovered
New Zealand yet and there’s no way these dudes would have heard of
Aotearoa. Still, we had fun yarning with
them.
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| Making a canoe by using fire to burn out the inside of a log |
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| Bark covered dwelling for winter - smaller summer dwellings were covered in reeds |
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| 17C English village - US version |
The
next day we were promised rain, rain and more rain which we got in
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No building is complete
without a roof dragon |
bucketloads. Decided hiking and scenic
vistas were off the menu so went for a day trip over to Rhode Island where the
attractions we had planned to see didn’t involve much of the great
outdoors. Unfortunately half of them had
closed for the season. We’re now back to
our pre-summer hit and miss schedule.
 |
Hachiko the Faithful Dog,
famous story in Japan, made
into a movie in the US at this
railroad station in
Woonsocket, RI |
Ah
well, at least we can save some of our tourist dollars. We finished the day at a glass museum at
Sandwich. Not in the same league as the
museum at Corning but well worth the visit.
In hindsight though, should have passed on the glass blowing (which we
saw twice at Corning) and spent more time in the museum. There were so many interesting things to see
and read about. I know! In a glass museum! Who would’ve thought.
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Very few of these glass money banks have survived,
probably due to them having to be smashed to get
your money out |
 |
| Canary yellow glass has uranium in it - this photo taken with flash |
 |
| They fairly glow under a black light - this photo taken without flash |
Not
as much rain forecast for the next day so we headed for a scenic trip out to
Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod.
Unfortunately by the time we finished our lunch the rain had kicked in
again and the views from the top of the Pilgrim Monument were virtually
non-existent. The walk up and down ended
up as our fitness for the day. A quick
coffee then we headed back to the camp in the wind and the rain.
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| Pilgrim Monument at Provincetown |
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| Looking down the stairwell |
More
rain forecast so instead of a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard we headed to our
fall back destination of Rhode Island.
Bested again by the ol’ closed for the season gig around Little Compton
but found Newport a great place to wander through. Mansions galore and speccy scenery. Even a tower that is believed to have been
built by Vikings. Or by any of the
following ancients: Chinese, English,
Portuguese, Knights Templar, Early colonists.
More than likely it was a folly put up in the 1800’s but who are we to
judge or condemn. If they want to pass
the tower off as Viking masonry I’m good with that.
 |
| One of the many mansions in Newport |
 |
| ... and another |
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| Viking Tower at Newport |
No
rain on our day trip to Martha’s Vineyard.
In fact we had plenty of sunshine.
Yay! First stop of course was
lunch. The fact that it was at the Black
Dog Tavern was pure coincidence although the beer we washed down
 |
Black Dog Tavern -
great spot for lunch |
our lunch with
was pure indulgence. After lunch we
hired a taxi to take us on a bit of a tour of the island. Went to Edgartown where we saw some charming
New England styled houses and the tiny Chappaquiddick Ferry. In Oak Bluff a lot of the houses are
colourful and styled as Gingerbread Cottages.
Such a contrast between the two towns.
Back at Vineyard Haven we went walking around the town for a couple of
hours until the ferry arrived to take us back to the mainland.
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Edgartown houses can only be natural cedar or white painted clapboard
- this house has both bases covered |
 |
Two large or three small cars max on the
Chappaquiddick Ferry - no room for our RV |
 |
| The houses at Oak Bluffs are so much more colourful |
Time
to leave Massachusetts and head westwards.
Rhode Island is such a tiny state.
Took us a whole 45 minutes to cross from east to west and that wasn’t
even in a straight line. Followed the
coastline of Connecticut for a few miles before heading northwest to the
Gillette Castle State Park. Build by
actor William Gillette (he was most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes with the
cape, deerstalker and pipe) in the early 1900’s it was brought by the State on his
demise who turned the whole area into a State Park. The castle is closed for the season but
people are most welcome to walk the grounds which we duly did. Gillette had a scale model railway running
through his property so we walked part of the track even finding the old
tunnel. No graffiti on this one. Spent the grand total of 1 night in
Connecticut before heading back into New York.
 |
| Gillette Castle |
 |
| Jean & Sue at the pint-sized rail tunnel |
 |
| Yep, still autumn |
Stopped off at the World’s Longest and
Highest Elevated Pedestrian bridge in Highland crossing the Hudson River. It was originally a rail bridge but, after a
fire in the 1970’s, was re-purposed as a pedestrian bridge which worked out
cheaper than demolition. Apparently it
is the strongest structure across the Hudson which makes me a tad nervous with
a couple of bridge crossings coming up.
We did the bridge crossing on a Monday along with every man and his dog
(why aren’t they at school or work?). There’s
an elevator to take you down to a small park at the bottom – 21 storeys
down.
 |
Bridge on the Hudson River Rail Trail
- so high up you can't see the hundreds of people on it |
 |
| The elevator is a recent addition |
Finding somewhere to camp close to New York
city at a price we’re prepared to pay and all the services we require (showers,
laundry and WiFi) was a time-consuming task.
We were hoping to be in Sleepy Hollow (such a cool name) for Halloween
but it’s not to be. We’re a little ways
north of Sleepy Hollow but close to the train that will take us into Grand
Central Station.
Our first day trip turned into a bit of a
marathon (rather Ironic with the NY Marathon scheduled for Sunday). We didn’t take the train but drove to Long
Island. All the way to the lighthouse at
the end. Once we’d got so far along the
island we just thought we may as well do the job completely. Long Island isn’t a small island but we were
wondering where all the traffic was coming from and, more importantly, will it
be done by the time we head back to camp.
Short answer: Who can tell and NO!
Once we finally got off Long Island it was plain sailing but, Wow!, what
a mission. No wonder we drink so much
beer (and wine and moonshine and Tennessee Fire and … )
 |
Nikola Tesla behind bars and barbed wire - his old laboratory
on Long Island was contaminated in subsequent years however
his supporters hope to turn the site into a museum
once it's cleaned up |
 |
Montauk Point Lighthouse at the end of Long Island ... just like
this photo is at the end of this post |
this
town we
spotted a car park. That was merely a 2
point turn and, as we now found ourselves in a car park, parked the RV and
walked back into the town and over the bridge.
The garden was initially set up back in 1928, fell into disrepair and
was reconstructed in the 1980’s. The dahlias are quite beautiful at this time
of year. Would love to see the bridge in
the spring time.
