New England

I woke up in the morning and I ran 8 miles. I started at our hotel and ran through Waltham, Massachusetts. When I made it to 4 miles I turned around and ran back. It was a tough course because it was very hilly. I am training to run in a half marathon in June so I run wherever I am - vacation or no vacation.

Today we decided to get out of the city and head north. First stop - Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Portsmouth is a charming, quintessential New England town. It was founded and settled in the 1600s. It is full of red brick and old New England-style homes. Alison found a highly recommended place to eat brunch. It was a tiny hole-in-the-wall establishment so there was a nearly hour-long wait, but they told us we could explore the town while we waited. My grandparents found a bench to do some people-watching while Alison and I took a stroll. We stopped in at a local toy store where we bought gifts for Skylee and Holly.

Brunch was worth the wait. We all had some type of egg dish, but what really set this meal apart was the giant blueberry pancake that Alison and I shared. It was absolutely delightful.

After brunch, we got back into the car and continued north to Kennebunkport, Maine. We made two stops - one was at a local beach. It was what I would expect from an Atlantic beach in April. Cold and windy, but also beautiful. My grandma, Alison, and I got out and walked around the beach while my grandpa read a book in the car. I also flew my drone, although it was extremely windy so I did not fly it for very long. When we were done at the beach we drove to a nearby lighthouse.

After this first lighthouse, we made our way toward Portland, Maine via additional lighthouses. We tried to visit one that turned out to be a private residence so we readjusted our route to visit the Portland Head lighthouse. This was the best of the lighthouses. It was located in a large public park. The lighthouse itself was beautiful. It was originally commissioned by George Washington. We explored the area around the lighthouse and I flew my drone (the wind was much calmer here). While was flying some young kids came over and asked me what I was doing. They were very excited to hear I was flying a drone. They hung around and asked me a million questions. They had so much fun trying to spot the drone. They were particularly excited when it landed. One young boy who sat on a bench by me while I piloting my drone told me he enjoyed meeting me and shook my hand before I left.

We drove into Portland, Maine. This was our final destination. We dropped our stuff at our hotel and walked to dinner. We ate at Gilbert’s Chowder House. It was awesome. Portland was pretty quiet. Their busy season is from Memorial Day through the summer. Gilbert’s was very quiet too. We found a corner table and enjoyed some award-winning chowder. It really was divine. Afterward, my grandma, Alison, and I each had lobster rolls and my grandpa had a couple of hot dogs. The lobster rolls were everything you would expect from a Maine lobster roll. When we finished eating we sat there and talked for a long time. The restaurant was not busy so there was no pressure to leave. We shared a lot of old stories and memories. These are really special moments that we share with my grandparents and they seem to happen often while we travel with my grandparents. After dinner, I wanted to fly my drone, but we were very close to an international airport so that was a no-go. Instead, Alison and I took a walk around Portland. It is also a pretty New England town. It is also very full of red brick buildings. We walked over by a nearby church and watched the sunset and then we walked down by the waterfront.

The next morning Alison and I took another stroll. This time our mission was to try another Maine specialty - the Holy Donut. They make donuts out of potatoes. We bought 8 of these donuts and brought them back to the hotel to share with my grandparents. They were in fact quite good.

We drove back down to Massachusetts, but this time we headed toward the coast to visit Rockport. One of the popular attractions in Rockport is the “paper house”. The walls of this house and the furniture are built primarily out of newspaper. When we drove up we thought this was going to be a waste of our time. It looked like a fairly typical house. Once we walked inside our opinion changed. The walls and furniture really were out of a hundred thousand newspapers many from the early-mid-1900s00s. It was very impressive.

Next, we visited Halibut State Park. This area is an old granite quarry. The quarry has filled in and is now a lake. Behind the lake is a beautiful ocean overlook.

We headed into the main area of town to find a place to eat lunch. This area is known as the bear’s neck, so named because a bear got caught in the tide in the 1700s. Now it is a wharf that is full of shops. We obviously had to go into the first candy shop we saw. They had homemade salt water taffy. Each couple left with a bag. It was very good taffy.

We thought we would eat lunch at Roy Moore’s lobster shack. It was a very small hole-in-the-wall restaurant consisting of tanks full of fresh lobsters in the front and a cramped open seating area in the back. We considered eating here (they get great reviews), but my grandpa wasn’t feeling it. We went to Roy Moore’s fish house instead. They had a larger menu, as well as, adequate (and indoor) seating. We had a very enjoyable lunch. Alison ate some of the best-baked scallops she has ever had and I had a very delicious Mac and cheese.

We had time for one last stop. We drove back toward Boston making our way to Minute Man National park. I like visiting this area because I enjoy revolutionary war history and I have fond memories of my first time visiting these sites when I attended the National Blu Scout Jamboree in 2004. We stopped at the main visitors center and watched a short film about the events at Lexington and Concord. Then we drove out to see the Old North Bridge. It must have been a wet year because this whole area was very flooded. While we were at the visitor center for the bridge we ran into a lady named Dot. She was from Scotland and really wanted to see the site of the battle of Lexington and Concord. She took the train from Boston and was very disappointed with the signage. She managed to find someone to give her a ride to the visitors center, but she was looking for someone to take her back to the train station. We said we would, but first, we wanted to go over to the bridge (the path was underwater from the visitors' center). We drove to another parking lot with access to the bridge. We took a picture for Dot too (her phone was dead) and promised to email them to her. She then proceeded to ask me to take pictures of many random signs for her. I was happy to oblige. We dropped her off at the train station and headed to the airport. There was a lot of traffic (pretty typical of Boston), but we made it with plenty of time.

Alison was upgraded to first class on our flight home. So she was very nice and traded seats with my grandma.

We very much enjoyed this trip. We got to visit a new baseball stadium and some new states as well. The food was excellent and the company was great. We really enjoy traveling with my grandparents.