Maryland and Massachusestts

Maryland is the 2nd “M” state and Massachusetts is the 3rd.

Let’s start with Maryland first.

No… Not really. Maryland is part of what I think of as the political area…It’s close to Washington DC and  Annapolis is in Maryland and I can remember going to the Naval Academy with my family  to visit my brother.

academy

That’s what I remember the most, that and how impressive it was to see all of the young cadets marching past. I can’t even begin to put into words what I was feeling but I can remember it to this day and it was about 40 years ago, maybe 42. I really don’t remember much else about the visit except seeing my brother and being so proud of him. It was a very emotional visit. So I suppose I could cross it off but I think it needs another visit to be official. 🙂

M is for Massachusetts

Yes..I better say yes. I’ve been living here since 1974. Hard to believe it. I originally came out for company training for 6 months. Once the training ended the only openeing was right here in Malden, MA so I stayed.

Massachusetts has everything you could want; mountains,  ocean, cities, rural area, summer sun and winter snow.

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We’ve got National Parks and history. My word, we have history galore from Minuteman National Park with it’s Patriots Day Reenactments to   Boston’s Freedom Trail. There’s Salem, MA of the historic witch trials, Old Ironsides, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall.

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As if that wasn’t enough we have nature! We have Whale Watches and Deep Sea Fishing, we’ve got seals  and zoos and aquariums.

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seals 077 copy

Whale Watchin 119 copy And we’ve got Old Cape Cod with a scenic train and the National Sea Shore and the annual scallop festival. We can even boast great white sharks now!

And we have Lighthouses.

Gloucester 114 copy

Maine does not have a monopoly there! I believe there are 63 in all.

Annisquam Baker’s Island Bass River (West Dennis)
Bird Island Bishop and Clerks Borden Flats
Boston Harbor Brant Point Brant Point (Old)
Butler Flats Cape Ann (Thacher Island) Cape Cod (Highland)
Cape Poge Chatham Clark’s Point
Cleveland Ledge Cuttyhunk Deer Island
Derby Wharf Dog Bar Breakwater Duxbury Pier
East Chop Eastern Point Edgartown Harbor
Fort Pickering (Winter Island) Gay Head Graves
Great Point Hospital Point Range Front Hospital Point Range Rear
Hyannis Lightship Nantucket I WLV-612 Lightship Nantucket II WLV 613
Lightship Nantucket LV 112/WAL 534 Lightship New Bedford LV 114/WAL 536 Long Island Head
Long Point Marblehead Mayo’s Beach
Minot’s Ledge Monomoy Point Nantucket Cliff Range
Nauset Ned’s Point Newburyport Harbor (Plum Island)
Newburyport Harbor Range Front Newburyport Harbor Range Rear Nobska Point
Palmer Island Plymouth (Gurnet) Point Gammon
Race Point Sandy Neck Sankaty Head
Scituate Stage Harbor Straitsmouth Island
Tarpaulin Cove Ten Pound Island Three Sisters
West Chop Wings Neck Wood End

Head west on RT 90, from Boston and you’ll find Springfield, home to Dr. Seuss and The “Big E” (Eastern States exposition) and the Basket Ball Hall of Fame.

Speaking of sports, Massachusetts is a pro sports kind of place. We have the Boston Bruins, The Red Sox, Fenway Park and Red Sox Nation. Out in Foxboro we have the New England Patriots and we’ve got the Revolution..not the 1776 revolution but the pro soccer team.

zdano-chara-towers-over-competition

We host golf tournaments like the Deutsche Bank PGA tournament.

0979-80-TigerIronShot

Heading back to Western Massachusetts Rt 90 rises upward to the Berkshire Mountains. The Appalachia Trail winds it’s way through here and we have Tanglewood and Jacobs Pillow  for culture.

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There’s still more. Massachusetts loves politics. You can find a political discussion almost anywhere and everyone has an opinion. 🙂 And we have higher education, Colleges and Universities abound.

Harvard Yard

Harvard Yard

There are too many to list.

Don’t get me wrong, Massachusetts is not all peaches and cream. After all, we had the “Big Dig” too and are still dealing with the consequences.

bigdig

Talk about a major screw up! Traffic is worse now than ever. And we’re starting to head back to the bad old days of “Taxachusetts”…just when we thought it was safe to take our hands out of our pockets good old Governor Deval Patrick put his hands right in!

Deval

But even with all that I still am pretty pleased with my adopted state. It’s a great place to visit and not too bad a place to live.

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2 Comments

  1. I like Boston for visiting. We have done many things together over there. The freedom walk, museums, Old Ironsides, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall. and much more. Some day I hope to wander back for a visit.

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