Into Boston to the MFA on the MBTA

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It’s a  beautiful Monday in June. The Sun is shining and there’s a nice breeze, a perfect day for a little jaunt into Boston. I had to make a brief stop in Randolph and then I was parking at the Quincy Adams T-station for a ride on the red line.

I was meeting my friend Nancy at the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts) on Huntington Ave, Boston. I wanted to see the Chihuly Exhibit. I became enamoured of his work when I saw a chandelier in a casino at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau the Bahamas. I remember I stopped dead and exclaimed” WOW Look at that!”. Luckily the friends I was with knew the piece was a “Chihuly” . That one introduction made such an impression that 7 years later I recognized the name when I heard about the exhibit.

It’s a temporary collection so I was anxious to get into see it before it moved on.

I hadn’t been to the MFA in years so I checked the web page for  the address  and their directions for coming in on the MBTA. I also went to the MBTA web site and entered my start and end location in their “trip planner”.  Both advised to take the redline to Downtown crossing and change to the orange line. Get off at Copley Place and walk 7 minutes to the MFA.

Flower Vendor in Copley Square

Be warned…they are wrong! A better way is to take the red line to Park St. Station and change to the Green line. One of the green line trolleys stops right in front of the MFA! But I didn’t have that information when I started out so in Copley I asked directions from a doorman who directed me down Huntington..maybe a 10 minutes walk. He must be a runner because even a jogger wouldn’t have got there in 10 minutes.

I walked and walked and periodically asked directions always being told to keep walking. Along the way I took pictures of the sights of Boston. Boston is a great city for strolling and enjoying the sights. It’s full of history and old buildings with wonderful architecture.

 I also saw the green line trolley stops and could have grabbed a trolley at any one of them but the people I asked made it sound like I was almost there each time  I asked.

City Reflections

It was a beautiful day for a walk but I had hurt my back a couple of days before and was not at 100%.

Duck Tours

 Where I started out strong as I continued to walk my lower back began to spasm and pretty soon my thighs were burning, then my knees.

Old Town Trolley! The Best Trolley in Boston

By the time I reached the Christian Science building I was done in. I wasn’t even taking pictures anymore .Just cut me off at the waist and give me a new lower body all I wanted to do was to find the that museum. By the time I spotted the MFA even my ankles and feet hurt. I was hot, thirsty, in pain and cranky and it only made it worse when my friend Nancy pointed out the Green line stop right in front of the building.

Appeal to the Great Spirit at the MFA

 I’m not used to having to cry “uncle” over a simple walk but this one nearly “did me in.”

Appeal to the Great Spirit

At the ticket booth I told them I had a complaint about their website. I told them how following their directions put me in Copley Square and that it was not an easy 7 minute walk like it said on their web page. The girl at the desk wasn’t even surprised. She said it was a glitch and their IT guys were working on it! No ‘I’m sorry ‘ or anything as she swung right back into her speech about upgrading to a membership!

It was now 1 pm so Nancy & I decided to have lunch in the cafeteria and let me cool off. I got my first glimpse of the exhibit on the way to the cafeteria.

Chihuly

 I think it ‘s going to be worth the aggravation.

Inside the MFA

There’s a restaurant and a cafeteria. The restaurant is quite pricey so we went to the cafeteria. That wasn’t too bad. They had the usual cafeteria fare; hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, pizza, chicken fingers, things like that. I settled for a slice of pizza and a large cold bottled water. I added a package of cookies for desert. That totalled out at about $7.00. I would have gotten a discount if I had a membership.

We took our time over lunch so by the time we headed off to the exhibit my frame of mind, if not my body was in a much better place.

Fort Rodmen, New Bedford MA

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Fort Rodmen~ Fort Tabor…you say tomato I say….well you get the idea. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the same place, at the end of Rodney French Blvd.  I first heard of the old fort from a co-worker who grew up in New Bedford. I told Jay he should be working for the Chamber of Commerce because he knows all the neat places in New Bedford and sings their praises all of the time.

Anyway, let me address the name confusion first. Construction of the fort began during the late 1850’s . The local citizens of New Bedford called it Fort Tabor after the mayor of New Bedford during that time. The army renamed the fort after Lieutenant Colonel Logan Rodman of the 38th Massachusetts Infantry, a New Bedford native. He was killed in the assault on Fort Hudson, Louisiana in the Civil War.

There really were 2 forts on this location. A placard identifies the location of the earthen works fort that was used while the stone fort was under construction. It’s amazing how small that structure was based on the outline of the foundation that has been laid out with the paving stones .

Originally this area of New Bedford was known as Clark’s Point and Clark’s Point lighthouse was built there in 1797. As the Stone Fort grew in heght it obscured the lighthouse so a 2nd lighthouse was built in the Fort itself.

When the coast guard made a move to decommission the original lighthouse in the channel, once again the town rallied together and petitioned to keep Clark’s Point Light. The town won. 🙂

In memorial to more modern wars, there  is a World War II Exercise Tiger Tank on display in the park to honor the service men killed in an exercise in preparation for D-Day.

 

Landing exercises were being executed in Lyme Bay, England. The area was chosen for its similarity to Utah Beach. On April 28, 1944 as a mock beach landing was being attempted 9 German E-Boats attacked the convoy which was only protected at 50% strength. It is estimated that 946 American Servicemen died in the operation. 308 from friendly fire. To this day there is only limited information available which has sparked charges of a coverup. It’s doubtful we will ever know how everyone died but here at Fort Rodman Military Reservation they will be remembered.

There is also a beautiful memorial to the Vietnam Veterans. It is filled with symbolism that is explained with a great deal of sensitivity on the descriptive placard.

One last item of interest is the Military Museum which is also on site. I confess, I didn’t take the time to go through there this time. I was interested in some of the nonmilitary aspects of the grounds.

One of the first things I noticed was a play ground that was getting lots of use as I walked by.  The land around the fort right up to the retaining walls was seeded with grass and well maintained. The paths were paved and there were benches along the paths so you could stop and stare out to sea.

As you continue around the property you come to the side with the channel and there’s the old Clark Point Light house.

 There were tables and benches and a long concrete wharf lined with streetlights. There were a couple of concrete benches on the wharf .

 The first one wasn’t bad but the one at the end was pretty disgusting. I’m not sure if the seagulls had lunch there or if human fisherman had cleaned their catch on it but it was covered with dried fish guts and blood. That was the only discordant touch in the lovely park.

There were several beaches and they were far from packed. It could have been because it was windy so not especially hot. But the rumor I heard is that even on hot days these are “forgotten” beaches and usually not too crowded.

I will definitely have to return over the summer and give you updates.

Thanks for the Delays, Walmart.

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Well, as you may recall my vacation got off to a rough start with all kinds of confusion around tours and the rental car. Well that little dark cloud was just waiting for me to get back from vacation  to start in again.

I stayed over at my sister’s because the plane came in so late so Sunday morning we backed my car out of her garage to let her park her car and oops! My car had a flat tire. Yup, flat as a pancake!

My nephew is very handy. It was so nice to have someone around that is calm and controlled and knew what he was doing. He came over with his patch kit but wasn’t able to rescue the tire. We tossed the deceased in the back of their mini van and George’s wife Kelly drove me up to Walmart. That was the only place in the vicinity that was open on Sunday for tires.

Judging by their attitude they knew they were the only game in town. They weren’t rude exactly but they certainly didn’t give you the feeling that they wanted to help. We even explained that I was from out-of-town and looking at a 3 hour plus drive to get home. They didn’t care. They said it would be at least an hour maybe longer before they would get to my tire.  All I wanted was the old tire off and the new one on the rim …a 10 minute job at most.

They were not to be swayed so we asked them if they could call us when it was done. They took down Kelly’s cell phone and back to my sister’s we went. And there we sat. Granted it was a nice time to catch up with everyone. My other nephew, John, George’s brother was there so it was like a “mini” family reunion. The time went pretty quickly with all the visiting and catching up but I suddenly realized that it had been over 2 hours and we still hadn’t gotten a call so we called them.

Walmart :”Oh yeah ( Very nonchalant). You tire’s right here.”

Us: “Is it ready?”

Walmart: “Sure”

Us: ” We’ll be right down”

 We got there and the tire was “right there”. It was leaning next to the desk. I paid the bill and the employee said “Thanks” and turned away. I said “You mean you aren’t going to put it in the car for me?”

He gave me a look and a heavy sigh ands said he “supposed he could”.

I asked him why they didn’t call as agreed. His answer was that they paged us in the store. I responded that we weren’t in the store and that they were made aware of that when we dropped the tire off. He just shrugged and said there was a shift change so how would they know?

OMG!? Is this customer service? I fumed all the way back to my sister’s. There George put the new tire on the car and I was finally on my way. Any thoughts I had of making stops on my way home like the Saratoga Battlefield had to be canceled. Thanks Walmart.

 First thing Monday, I called the manager of that store and let him have it. His response? “Oh I haven’t had any complaints recently.” Oh Boy..no complaints recently. Does that mean you had complaints before?

Good luck Walmart customers in the Queensbury Store! They are not customer friendly there! My sister said she won’t set foot in that store and I can see why!

But at least I am finally back in Massachusetts and home. I’m ready to start some local exploring until my “next great adventure.”

Sedona Vacation 2011, That’s a wrap!

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As is my habit, I am including a summary of my vacation. I like to fill in any gaps I missed or answer any questions that came up during the series of posts and just give you  my final take on the vacation as a whole.

This was my 2nd trip to Sedona and Northern Arizona. The first trip I traveled alone. This trip with a companion, my sister. The first trip was really unbelievable because I had the freedom to do what I wanted , when I wanted and didn’t need to think about anyone else. This trip required that I be a bit more considerate but seeing my sister’s reactions and sharing her observations as a “first time” visitor made it totally worth it.

That’s the thing about vacations. I love going alone but when I do I wish someone was with me so we could oooh and aaahhh over the sights together but when you travel with someone you have to balance the things you want to do so that everyone stays happy and satisfied. After all, vacations don’t come cheap these days. Luckily my sister and I usually get along pretty good as far as agreeing on what to see and do.

So I will rate this vacation as an A for me. I didn’t give it an A+ because I’d seen a lot of the stuff before but even seeing it a 2nd time was great.

The Grand Canyon Railroad is always a fun ride and now I know the best seat is the Observation dome car.

The Petrified Forest is interesting but doesn’t take long unless you’re a real “rock hound”. The Teepee formations and the painted Desert were more interesting to me.

 The wildlife wasn’t much better this time than last time. We saw a mule deer this trip. Sandy saw 2, one as we were driving down 89 A  and one from the train. I saw a mule deer family last trip in the Grand Canyon National park but not outside the park.

We saw a Roadrunner this trip and I saw one last trip. We didn’t see a live Pronghorn this  trip but I did from the Grand Canyon train last trip. We had to settle for the mounted  head at the Blazin’ M ranch this time.

Speaking of the Blazin’M, the show was just as good, maybe even a little better this time but the food was nowhere near as good as it was in my first visit. But food aside, I would go back to that show in a minute. It’s great fun. Of course leading up to the show was the Verde Canyon railroad and that was special with two great views of bald eagles!

As for new stuff, I think for me anyway, seeing the Pueblo at Tuzigoot and the cliff dwelling at Montezuma’s castle were the high points right after the Grand Canyon of course. The Painted Desert was pretty cool too.

As for the Grand Canyon, I love the breathtaking views from the rim but I can’t help feeling pretty special to be one of the 1% to make it to the bottom of the canyon.

 I also have to say that the tour guide (Joe) from Native American Tours proved to be the most thorough guide I’ve had in Arizona. What he shared in his one tour came up over and over in all the rest of our adventures.

Back to wildlife…we didn’t see any javalinas this trip but we saw a “flycatcher” and I got a picture of that. That little red and brown bird was pretty neat.

 There were the little lizard things too. Just like Florida they are everywhere!

The desert was beautiful too. The cactus was in bloom from all the rain.

That’s not something that happens all the time and the Red Rocks of Sedona are always beautiful. The color is just so rich and vibrant.

It’s “dark sky” too so with the minimal lights at night you have awesome viewing for the stars and the night sky.

Enjoy a little vino and who knows, you too can believe in aliens! 🙂

I’d like to make one more trip basically as a photo-op.  If I can I think I would like to spend a full day at the Grand Canyon and just work on pictures…maybe camp there one night so I can hit sunrise and sunset. I’d also include a trip to Monument Valley and Canyon De Chelley, again for photos. There’s also the slot canyons up near Page, Arizona that are known for awesome and unusual pictures.

So that’s my thoughts. I hope my sister enjoyed the trip as much as I did. I’m looking forward to our next joint adventure. With any luck it will be Alaska in 2012. (have to get there before the glaciers melt or the end of the world arrives in Dec of 2012)

Our last bit of vintage Sedona was the Hot Air Balloon we were able to watch from the balcony of our time share unit on Saturday morning before we left. That just made the trip complete as I saw Hot Air Balloons on my last day on my other trip. 🙂

Last Night, Sedona

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As we left Flagstaff on 89 A we were following a couple of motorcycles and I was contemplating how it would be to take a bike on those hairpin curves coming up. It was at that moment that I saw one of the bikers point to the left. I was confused as I thought it was a hand signal but there was no turn off there. Concentrating on what the motorcycles were doing I almost missed it! Sandy yelled “Deer”. I glanced around but didn’t see it so I reply with a loud..”WHERE!” Of course her reply was “There!”. (Who’s on first?) Anyway I finally spotted a doe bouncing off through the pine forest. It was definitely a mule deer. It ran with its tail down ( a white tail deer has a tail like flag when it runs) and it bounced more than bounded. It made me think of a cartoon animal bouncing with springs on its feet.  Yea! Wildlife!

It’s my last trip down the winding Oak Creek Canyon for this trip. And as if the sunset gods knew it was my last chance the sky lit up in reds and golds over the red rocks of the area. Afraid I wouldn’t get to the bottom in time to get “my sunset picture” I pulled off to a wide spot on the shoulder. I grabbed my camera and bolted outside to see what I could capture.

Unfortunately there was no iconic rock formation for the foreground (like Snoopy Rock or Bell Rock) but I won’t complain. Who knows when I will have another chance like this.

Parked as I was in a precarious place on a winding road, I didn’t dare stay too long or wait out the setting sun. I grabbed what I could and returned to the car to finish the drive down the canyon.

It seems like Sedona was putting the finishing touches on our trip, a nice sunset, a bouncing mule deer. Too bad we didn’t see any javalina’s while we were here.

It was time to think about packing up, clean out the fridge and getting ready to leave in the morning.

Back at the Time Share, we stopped at the reception area to print out our boarding passes and complete the check in process online. I dropped off a couple of boxes of clothes that I was shipping home and then it was time to go back to the unit and finish packing. It was nice to be able to drop off the “if it fits it ships” boxes. The Time Share charged my card for incidentals for the postage and then they gave the boxes to the postman on Saturday. If I had to go to the post office in the morning I wouldn’t have had time before we left for Phoenix.

A nice perk of the time share is an apartment sized washer and dryer. We’d used it mid-week and tossed in a last wash now so that we could take home clean clothes. It’s nice to get home and not be faced with a pile of dirty laundry. On the other hand, if the TSA is going to paw through my suitcases giving them dirty underwear might be a deterent..maybe? I’m still miffed over the loss of that $50.00 camera battery but what can you do???

I will wrap this up now as we did absolutely nothing special that last night so I won’t waste your time with useless drivel. 🙂 I mainly wrote this post to tell you about that final beautiful sunset. As always I have to say that the pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice.