Tag Archives: Travel

Is It Finally Spring?

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It was a beautiful day. I wore a pull over “hoodie” but tossed my winter coat in the car just in case. I didn’t need it.

It looks like the Herring Run for 2011 has come to an end, as fast as it started, it seems to be over. I drove over to the Middleboro Herring Run today and there was not a fish in sight.  The gulls were also absent. After all the activity of the last few days it was almost spooky!

 I went on to Plymouth to see if I could find the fish ladder there. I was told there was one just a few hundred yards from Plymouth Rock.  What I found was a hidden gem in plain sight!

Everybody knows about Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II and even Plimouth Plantation but nobody ever mentioned the Town Brook and the little park called Brewster Gardens to me.

I parked at a meter on the waterfront not far from Plymouth Rock and started looking for a brook or stream connected to the harbor that fish might use to migrate to their spawning pond. I admired the little decorative benches along the way. I took some pictures of the shadows they cast on the sidewalk. I liked the patterns they made.

 Crossing the road there was a park and that is where I found the brook. There were lots of people out and about. They were walking their dogs or feeding the ducks..in spite of a sign saying not to. This, it turns out, is Brewster Gardens.

I checked out some of the statues then crossed the little bridge to a path that followed the brook.  As I wandered along I took pictures of the area. It was so lovely and the sky was so blue.

  It didn’t seem like a very long walk before I came to the Jenny Grist Mill. This presented a lot of photo ops. The lady in the ice cream and souvenir shop told me to continue on to the top of the hill where I would see a pond. She said there were tons of photo ops there too. She was right.

I walked around the pond getting pictures of ducks and a swan. The swan was on shore and seemed to be doing some form of Swan Tai-chi or yoga. It was quite comical to watch.  Once  the swan wandered off, I headed back to the car. I wasn’t sure how long I had been but I had only put enough money in for an 1 1/2 hours.

Back at the waterfront I saw a couple more ducks and stopped to get their picture before I returned to the car. That’s when I saw a terrific scene. A flock of ducks was coming into the harbor but they weren’t flying…they were swimming. They looked like a tiny armada.  It was the cutest thing. Definitely worth watching.

Once they got a little closer I got a better picture. I believe they are Merganser ducks.

As what almost always happens after I stumble onto something, I will do a little research on the park and it’s statues and the Grist Mill and fill you in on my findings.

Thar Be Whales Out thar!

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Wednesday 3/30/11

I am still on my quest for National Parks Stamps and stickers. It’s a bit early in the year for me to be running down to the Cape but it’s such a pretty day and the weather is supposed to go back to winter for the end of the week. In fact they are saying we’re going to get an April Fool’s Day Nor’easter. With that in my future I couldn’t pass up a sunny, spring day like today.

I got a late start for a number of reasons and almost changed my mind about taking a drive like that (about 1 1/2 hours) just to turn around and come back but I justified it by promising myself I would stop in Bourne to take some pictures on my way back. As so often happens with my “seat of the pants” plans, that was not to be. But I would not be disappointed either.

The drive down was uneventful, the traffic this time of year isn’t bad and I reached the Salt Pond Visitor Center around 2pm. I was getting my Passport stamped and chatting with the clerk in the gift shop when one of the rangers rushed in with a pair of binoculars in his hand.

He said they were seeing the whales off the coast with the bird spotting scope. He was heading out to the deck to see if he could see them with the binoculars. He said the Right  Whales were in the area and the Humpbacks were just returning. He hadn’t seen them himself yet but one of the other employees had said she was seeing breaching behavior which is typical of Humpbacks.

He suggested I go down to Nauset Light or Coast Guard Beach to see if I could spot them from the shore. He told me Nauset Light was a little higher ground so that was where I headed.

In spite of the sun, it was  pretty brisk with the breeze off the ocean. I layered on a hoodie and winter jacket, grabbed my binoculars and camera and headed to the stairs down to the beach. At the head of the stairs is a landing with a bench so I made myself at home there. I no sooner set my things down and turned to look out to sea when I saw my first “blow”. Another followed and then another! I grabbed the binoculars first as they have more range than the camera. Through those I could see a whale flipper slapping and rolling on the surface. The only whales that I know for sure do that behavior are humpbacks. A few minutes later there was another spout but this one was a definite “V” shape, a trademark of a Right Whale.

A mother and her son came down to join me so I pointed out where I had been watching. The mother was skeptical but it wasn’t too many minutes before the little boy yelled that he could see it, pointing excitedly in the same direction I had been looking. More people joined us adding their opinions as to what kind of whales we were most likely watching. The show went on for probably 1/2 hour, maybe 45 minutes. My co watchers slowly drifted away, I think because of the cold. I tried to get a couple of pictures just to confirm the sightings but I knew it was a long-shot.

I watched as the various spouts worked their way up the coastline eventually disappearing altogether. I packed up my gear, snapped  a picture of Nauset Light and headed home. I made 1 stop at the Christmas Tree Shop in Sandwich where I was finally able to see where the trail goes up over the Sagamore Bridge. I have been saying for ages that I wanted to climb that bridge and get pictures from there. Now I know where to get access.

From there I headed home. I was tempted to make that stop in Bourne but it was too early for sunset shots and I didn’t feel like “hanging around”. I was more than satisfied with my day after seeing the whales.

As a surprise ending I saw a rainbow trying to form as I pulled around the rotary in Taunton. It was very faint but I tried to capture it. It was a great ending to the day.

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Roger Williams National Memorial, Providence RI

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As the quest for the National Parks Stamps continues, I may not have succeeded in getting the Adams National Historical Park but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t successful. I took a quick trip into Providence, RI. Providence is only about 30 minutes from my home so when I say a “quick trip”, I mean it.

I was heading into Providence to see the Roger Williams National Memorial. This time I went to the web page www.nps.gov/rowi to download the directions. Then I backed it up with Map quest. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Garbage in – Garbage out”? Well I did it again. I entered the wrong address! The Memorial is on North Main st, I entered South Main St.

I found my way to S. Main St. with no problem. The directions were “spot – on” but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a memorial. I parked at a meter and fed about $1.50 in quarters into it’s maw and began to search on foot. According to Map quest (which I still didn’t realize was the wrong address) it should be on my left. There was nothing. Confused I returned to the car and pulled the little Passport book out and that’s when I realized my error. Rather than back track I decided to see if S. Main would turn into N. Main . So back in the car I continued on down South Main and sure enough. With no fan fare or street sign change, there was the National Parks Sign.

As I stopped at the light I realized I was right next to the visitor center. I made a left to go around the block and at the next light I saw a little parking lot designated for Roger Williams Park. I had arrived.

The park is a very attractive little park. I didn’t see any big statue to Providence’s founder but there were a lot of trees and picnic tables and benches. I bet it would be a great place to have your lunch in the summer or just to sit and “commune with nature”. (Sorry that’s my inner flower child coming out.)

After snapping a couple of pictures I made my way to the Visitor Center to collect my stamp. The Center was manned by a really nice ranger who was friendly and informative.

There was a short movie about Roger Williams that was very interesting. It was only about 5 minutes long but that 5 minutes was crammed with information.

Most people learn in school that Roger Williams left the persecution of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in search of religious freedom. I remember when I learned about him in school he wasn’t much more than a foot-note to the Puritans and there was sort of a bad-boy image. It was “ see what happens when you question authority? You get sent away.” Although there is some truth to this image, I think it may have been a bit slanted as there was so much more to this man.

Roger Williams was trained as an Anglican Clergyman but while he was still in England he became more and more sympathetic to the Puritans. Some Puritans sailed to the New World in 1630 to escape the severe restrictions, persecutions and penalties they faced in England and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A year later Williams and his wife Mary followed with another group.

Williams soon clashed with Governor Winthrop. Williams became a “separatist” pushing for a clean break from the Anglican Church. The colony wasn’t ready for so radical a step. Williams also clashed with the Puritans on jurisdiction over what were know as “Matters of Conscience”. These were the first of the Ten Commandments. In Williams opinion, there was no place for civil jurisdiction over such matters.

He disagreed with the colonists where the Native Americans were concerned as well, arguing that Native Americans had as much right to property as the English Settlers. He went on to denounce taking civil oaths in God’s name and paying church ministers from civil taxes.

At some point he crossed a line and the colony refused to tolerate him anymore sentencing him to deportation. To avoid arrest he fled the colony. He spent that winter with the Narragansett cementing a life long friendship. Eventually the Narragansett deeded Williams the land at the headwaters of Narragansett Bay for a colony that he named Providence.

Williams was always a friend to the Natives of the area and although still exiled from Massachusetts Bay Colony, Governor Winthrop had no qualms about calling on Williams to intervene and negotiate on the colony’s behalf whenever relations with the Natives became strained.

I didn’t realize that Rhode Island was the last colony to ratify the Constitution but Williams pushed hard for the First Amendment and Rhode Island did not ratify until that amendment was included. Hence, we are guaranteed freedom of religion thanks to Roger Williams.

All that from a man that was considered a troublemaker and banished to avoid arrest. Sadly, Williams died destitute, only the year of his death being known.

Quite a different take than I got in history class. But to borrow a famous radio phrase: Now you know the rest of the story!

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Classic Car update/ Sedona Trip Update

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Classic Car update

My sister sent my car picture on to a friend of hers who told her the car is a Buick…late 30’s early 40’s. My, my but I hope I look that good in another 10- 15 years!

Sedona trip update:

I got an email from the Native American Journey’s group. They are available to take us to the Bottom of the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. I’m calling them today to finalize the reservations and get the details.

That works out good because we’ll do the Grand Canyon Railroad and Rim tour on Monday and then go back for the Bottom of the Canyon tour on Tuesday.

That’s all I have time for today…I’m running late. I’ll get back to my New Bedford story tomorrow!

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Sedona Trip Update

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Good morning.

Yesterday I told you my sister and I would conference call for plane tickets. We did it! We got our tickets and the  flights aren’t too bad but I will tell you that it was one of the most challenging bookings I’ve ever done. I had both my desk top and lap top going to check the different sites. Twice we went to book a fare only to be told the price had changed. The fares were jumping up right in front of me!

I have Kayak.com set to send fare alerts for the trip and I didn’t get one until today and that one is still over $100.00 more than the flight we booked.  All I can say is I’m glad that’s done. We are flying Southwest. I haven’t been on Southwest in years but their  “got to getaway” online price was better than anything else I could find besides, “Bags Fly Free” on Southwest 🙂

While I had Sandy on the phone I reserved the rental car. We were in for a shock there. The base cost of the rental was reasonable but then the taxes and miscellaneous charges kicked in almost doubling the cost of the rental! I’ve rented many times before and don’t remember this. I’m not sure if Arizona has extra fees or if I just never noticed it before. This may bear looking into for future reference.

After that call I got back on the phone and booked the Grand Canyon Railroad. I tried booking online but it never asked if there were seniors  in my party and it didn’t let me add the Rim Tour so I called. I got a wonderful agent who applied the appropriate discounts, Senior and AAA and waived the National Park fee of $16.00 because I have a  National Parks Pass.

That done I moved on to the Verde Canyon railroad and the Blazin’M.

We lucked out with that call because they said they were running a special on first class on the train when you combine  it with the Blazin’M. The cost for first class and dinner was only a couple of  dollars more than the coach cost so of course we’ll go first class.

2  more tours to book.

I moved on to the Bottom of the Canyon Tour. I pulled up the reservation page on the Native American journey’s web page and filled it out. I haven’t heard back or paid anything. It seemed to me it was kind of  “up in the air”. I will give it a couple of days to get a response and it if no luck  I will call them. Since I don’t know if we got the day I requested I held off booking the trail ride.

It’s coming together.

I’m going to sign off for now. We have snow on the way and I want to run down to New Bedford to the Whaling Museum. I still need to collect my stamp from my last visit and it’s in the New England National Park Challenge so I can get my first stamp in the challenge. I’ll let you know how I make out in my post tomorrow.