14,000 miles in the Prius. (Which now has 115,000 miles on it)
28 states. (Massachusetts, Connecticut, NY, NJ, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, NC, SC, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, NM, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania) We were so close to Nebraska that we could see it, but didn't actually get there. We also went to the District of Columbia.
38 different beds.
Besides sightseeing, it was a people-rich trip.
Barbara got to see all three of her best high school friends, one of whom she had not seen in over 30 years. (Diane, Cindy, Kathy)
Barbara also got to see her college roommate who lives in New Mexico. (Jan)
Mark got to see one of his high school friends in Atlanta. (Dennis)
We reconnected with a wonderful woman with whom we taught in Egypt. Anne, a Belgian, is working at an international school in Washington D.C.
We also reconnected with a friend who we had not seen since 1984 and had a great day with him in N.Y.C. (Weldon)
We got to see lots of family: All 3 of our children, all 4 of our grandchildren. Both of Mark's brothers, 2 of Mark's sisters. Mark's wonderful parents. One of Barbara's English cousins. (Clare is a 2nd cousin once removed actually!) We got to meet Maura's Dad in Big Fork.
We had a reunion with our CPS 7th grade team. (Denise, Dick, Barbara, Mark, plus Jack and Maureen) A great meal in Fort Lauderdale.
We got to visit with good friends who left Nantucket last year after that horrible winter and who moved to San Diego. We miss them so it was great to see them in their new life. (Frank, Linda)
We got to see good friends who moved recently to the Berkshires and see them in their new home. (Nan, Jim)
We met with lots and lots of former students which was wonderful. Some were total surprises, others we had planned in advance (Alex K , Martha C, Michael M, Amber G, Sarah P, Scott A, Elaine M, Chris K, Keri F, Ian D, Sam H)
We drove familiar roads and new roads, always a great combination.
We visited White Sands National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Cabrillo Point National Park and the Tijuana Estuary National Wildlife Refuge. We walked in many state and city parks such as Balboa Park in San Diego and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We visited museums such as the Timkin and Mingei in San Diego, the Getty Villa in L.A., the Mexican-American Museum in L.A., the Clark Museum in Williamstown, and the Rockwell in Stockbridge. We saw seven or eight plays and performances.
We had pretty much every kind of weather including getting snowed in when we were in Washington, D.C. Overall, however, we were lucky with the weather, especially when making the long drives cross country.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Concord, May 6, 7
We drove from Pittsfield to Concord on new roads, something we always love to do. We wound our way through the countryside in northwestern Massachusetts, ending up on the Mohawk Trail and eventually on Route 2. We stopped in West Acton for a fish lunch and ate outside, optimistic for our first glimpse of the sun in over a week. We even braved the upper 50 degree temperature to eat outside.
Before the gang came home from school, Mark and I visited the North Bridge in Concord to see the statue of the Minute Man, the first-ever sculpture of Daniel Chester French, done in his early 20s. We were quite ready for a walk and it was interesting to see the sculpture after readying about French while we were in Pittsfield.
It is always delightful to be with Jecca, Willy, Otis and Hank and to see their loving family and their busy lives.
Willy made burgers on the grill and we had bought the fixings, per Jecca's request, for banana splits. Jecca had duty till 11:30.
The next day, Saturday, Jecca and Willy, of course had classes. Mark went to visit his sister, Carol in Bridgewater and Barbara stayed home with Otis and Hank. The boys bicycled into Concord (4 miles each way) and she met them. They picked out a Mother's Day present for Jecca and then went to the Concord Cheese Shop for lunch.
The boys had rehearsal at the Concord Youth Theater for their upcoming show, Robin Hood for the entire afternoon. Willy had a crew race.
We all went to Ginger in Bedford for dinner. It was very busy and Mark didn't get his meal until after the rest of us were done. They did the right thing and did not charge him for it, but...poor Mark.
The next morning, Mother's Day, Barbara got some lovely presents - 3 pairs of character socks, new slippers and a gorgeous overshirt. (Don't know what it's called, but a gauzy, filmy beautiful green "shirt" to wear over another shirt.) The boys gave Jecca a book of short stories.
Then, we left Concord and headed for the boat. We shopped, as usual, before embarking. We ate at Common Ground on Main Street and had a very nice lunch. The boat ride was uneventful and we arrived to a sunny day -yay, it's been so long since we really saw the sun.
And, what a great homecoming. Nick and Liz were waiting on the front porch to help us unpack. They had flowers on the table and had made a wonderful meal. We had a nice tour of all the work they have done on the cottage - a new upstairs bathroom, newly painted downstairs hall and bathroom, a fixed bookcase etc. Liz took down all the curtains and washed them. Nick painted the front door and all the old baseboard heaters. And, at our house he put in a gutter and downspout on the front porch so that we aren't always dripped on. Wow...very impressive.
Home.
Before the gang came home from school, Mark and I visited the North Bridge in Concord to see the statue of the Minute Man, the first-ever sculpture of Daniel Chester French, done in his early 20s. We were quite ready for a walk and it was interesting to see the sculpture after readying about French while we were in Pittsfield.
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| Minute Man |
It is always delightful to be with Jecca, Willy, Otis and Hank and to see their loving family and their busy lives.
Willy made burgers on the grill and we had bought the fixings, per Jecca's request, for banana splits. Jecca had duty till 11:30.
The next day, Saturday, Jecca and Willy, of course had classes. Mark went to visit his sister, Carol in Bridgewater and Barbara stayed home with Otis and Hank. The boys bicycled into Concord (4 miles each way) and she met them. They picked out a Mother's Day present for Jecca and then went to the Concord Cheese Shop for lunch.
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| Hank, Concord Cheese Shop |
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| Otis, Concord Cheese Shop |
We all went to Ginger in Bedford for dinner. It was very busy and Mark didn't get his meal until after the rest of us were done. They did the right thing and did not charge him for it, but...poor Mark.
The next morning, Mother's Day, Barbara got some lovely presents - 3 pairs of character socks, new slippers and a gorgeous overshirt. (Don't know what it's called, but a gauzy, filmy beautiful green "shirt" to wear over another shirt.) The boys gave Jecca a book of short stories.
Then, we left Concord and headed for the boat. We shopped, as usual, before embarking. We ate at Common Ground on Main Street and had a very nice lunch. The boat ride was uneventful and we arrived to a sunny day -yay, it's been so long since we really saw the sun.
And, what a great homecoming. Nick and Liz were waiting on the front porch to help us unpack. They had flowers on the table and had made a wonderful meal. We had a nice tour of all the work they have done on the cottage - a new upstairs bathroom, newly painted downstairs hall and bathroom, a fixed bookcase etc. Liz took down all the curtains and washed them. Nick painted the front door and all the old baseboard heaters. And, at our house he put in a gutter and downspout on the front porch so that we aren't always dripped on. Wow...very impressive.
Home.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Visits with two sets of good friends, May 2 - 5
We drove the fairly short drive (250) from Erie to Binghamton, still in grey weather. We arrived at Kathy and Jay's in time for a nice lunch, which is a given when you stay with Kathy. Kathy and Barbara went to Barnes and Noble where she bought a much-needed U.S. road Atlas. (Ours is 2005 and missing about 20 pages, including half of Montana and all of Massachusetts.) We had a lovely dinner of speidis, salad and pilaf.
The next day, Kathy, Mark and Barbara went to Raymour and Flanigan's, a furniture store, and....we bought a new mattress! We had no intention of buying one in Binghamton. We have been talking about the need for a new mattress for our house for over a year. It is hard to find the time to test mattresses when we are in Hyannis as we are always going or coming in a bit of a rush. Kathy and Jay have just bought a new mattress from Raymour and Flanigan and we had a great night's sleep on it, so we thought we'd just go and write down model numbers. But, the store said that they would deliver, free, to the island. We were incredulous and made them check with their headquarters as we did not think that the salespeople really understood that we live 28 miles out to sea. At any rate, we ended up buying a new mattress, much to our own surprise.
Later we all went to Nick's Italian restaurant in Endicott for dinner and chatted the night away. (Watched Ted Cruz drop out of the primaries after losing badly in Indiana.)
While in Binghamton we had very good news from Montana that Maura got the job at the middle school as a liaison between the school and the Missoula Mental Health authority. Yay!
The next morning, we got up and drove, in the rain - again!, to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to visit Nan and Jim at their new house.
We brought speidis and we had a nice dinner, although did overcook them a tad. Nan is working at a middle school in Lenox and Jim is working at Chesterwood, the summer estate of Daniel Chester French who designed and built the Lincoln Memorial among many, many other things, including the Minuteman statue at Old North Bridge in Concord.
The next day, May 5, Nan and Jim went to work and Mark and I went to Williamstown to the Clark Museum. The drive was beautiful, about 20 miles, but....still grey weather. We have not seen the sun since we left Montana! We had never been to Williamstown which is a beautiful village with bucolic Williams College in its midst. The Clark Museum is great - just the right size for a few hours. We loved the collection of impressionists; the Clarks collected the largest American grouping of Renoirs. And, we saw some Monets and Lautrecs which we have never even seen copies of. So, it was a lovely morning.
We ate at the Water Street Pub in Williamstown and then headed to Lenox to meet Nan when she got out of school.
The three of us then went to Stockbridge to the Norman Rockwell Museum of which Nan is a member. It was equally impressive and so different. We watched the film first and then toured the museum. We always knew that we liked and were familiar with Rockwell's work, but were quite amazed at the size of the paintings that produced the covers of the magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Life. He was a hard-working and very prolific artist, producing over 4,000 works of art. The museum has all his covers for Saturday Evening Post in chronological order and it was a real walk-through of decades of American history.
The special exhibit was illustrations by Mac Conner who illustrated books, ads and movies. He lived into his 100s and had never had an exhibition till this one at the Rockwell.
Afterwards we visited his studio which was moved to the site. That was also very interesting as you can see his props etc. and how his work evolved. The studio is set up as it would have been in 1960. For example, he was working on a commemorative for the United Nations. It started with the U.N. flag in the center with three diplomats and lots of faces of people from many nations. But, he scrapped that in favor of a beautiful painting of faces and the major religions of the world. Instead of famous people, he put in faces of people he knew. His bushy-bearded postman became a Jewish rabbi. His wife, who had recently died, is in the top right corner holding one of their grandchildren. It is a lovely, poignant painting. He was basically a story teller.
Jim met us afterwards and we took a tour of the area including seeing where we stayed several years ago on our one visit to the area when we visited Tanglewood with Chris and Ken. We also went by Rockwell's house, quite a few "cottages" of the wealthy, the Kripalu Yoga Center and Shakespeare and Company. Then we went to the historic, beautiful old Red Lion Inn for a lovely dinner.
The next day, Kathy, Mark and Barbara went to Raymour and Flanigan's, a furniture store, and....we bought a new mattress! We had no intention of buying one in Binghamton. We have been talking about the need for a new mattress for our house for over a year. It is hard to find the time to test mattresses when we are in Hyannis as we are always going or coming in a bit of a rush. Kathy and Jay have just bought a new mattress from Raymour and Flanigan and we had a great night's sleep on it, so we thought we'd just go and write down model numbers. But, the store said that they would deliver, free, to the island. We were incredulous and made them check with their headquarters as we did not think that the salespeople really understood that we live 28 miles out to sea. At any rate, we ended up buying a new mattress, much to our own surprise.
Later we all went to Nick's Italian restaurant in Endicott for dinner and chatted the night away. (Watched Ted Cruz drop out of the primaries after losing badly in Indiana.)
While in Binghamton we had very good news from Montana that Maura got the job at the middle school as a liaison between the school and the Missoula Mental Health authority. Yay!
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| Kathy, Jay, Mark at Nick's |
We brought speidis and we had a nice dinner, although did overcook them a tad. Nan is working at a middle school in Lenox and Jim is working at Chesterwood, the summer estate of Daniel Chester French who designed and built the Lincoln Memorial among many, many other things, including the Minuteman statue at Old North Bridge in Concord.
The next day, May 5, Nan and Jim went to work and Mark and I went to Williamstown to the Clark Museum. The drive was beautiful, about 20 miles, but....still grey weather. We have not seen the sun since we left Montana! We had never been to Williamstown which is a beautiful village with bucolic Williams College in its midst. The Clark Museum is great - just the right size for a few hours. We loved the collection of impressionists; the Clarks collected the largest American grouping of Renoirs. And, we saw some Monets and Lautrecs which we have never even seen copies of. So, it was a lovely morning.
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| An early Monet that we really liked, Clark Museum |
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| Degas Dancers, Clark Museum |
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| We forgot the artist! Clark Museum |
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| Monet |
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| Rodin's The Thinker |
We ate at the Water Street Pub in Williamstown and then headed to Lenox to meet Nan when she got out of school.
The three of us then went to Stockbridge to the Norman Rockwell Museum of which Nan is a member. It was equally impressive and so different. We watched the film first and then toured the museum. We always knew that we liked and were familiar with Rockwell's work, but were quite amazed at the size of the paintings that produced the covers of the magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Life. He was a hard-working and very prolific artist, producing over 4,000 works of art. The museum has all his covers for Saturday Evening Post in chronological order and it was a real walk-through of decades of American history.
 |
| Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge |
The special exhibit was illustrations by Mac Conner who illustrated books, ads and movies. He lived into his 100s and had never had an exhibition till this one at the Rockwell.
 |
| Illustration by Mac Conner, Rockwell Museum |
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| Rockwell's Studio |
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| Inside Rockwell's Studio. Note his wife in upper right corner behind Rockwell. Also note his model for his iconic painting of a little girl integrating a school in the south. His postman is the bearded rabbi. This is the painting he did in lieu of the U.N. and famous ambassadors. |
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| Nan and Barbara, Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge |
Jim met us afterwards and we took a tour of the area including seeing where we stayed several years ago on our one visit to the area when we visited Tanglewood with Chris and Ken. We also went by Rockwell's house, quite a few "cottages" of the wealthy, the Kripalu Yoga Center and Shakespeare and Company. Then we went to the historic, beautiful old Red Lion Inn for a lovely dinner.
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| Red Lion Inn |
Iowa to Indiana to Pennsylvania, April 30, May 1 - No Photos!
We have no photos for the long drive (425) on Saturday, April 30 from mid-Iowa to mid-Indiana. (We stayed in Elkhart at the Garden Inn, a nice private hotel with a big pool and hot tub.)The reason for no photos is that it rained the entire journey and visibility was pretty rotten.
We took the car to a Jiffy Lube for its third oil change of the trip. And, we went to a very nice grocery store, Martin's, for our dinner. We went to the hot tub at the hotel with about 100 kids having 3 different birthday parties! The decibel level was pretty high, but we like kids and stayed for a good soak.
The next day, May 1, Sunday was no better weather. It was foggy and drizzly throughout the day and the fog got even more dense about 5 miles from our destination, North East, Pennsylvania, which is to the east of Erie. You could barely see the car in front of you and it was like driving through dense, light grey, cotton.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was the opposite of the Garden Inn last night - it was pretty empty. We took a nice good soak in the hot tub and dried off in the sauna. We ate left-overs from the previous day.
We took the car to a Jiffy Lube for its third oil change of the trip. And, we went to a very nice grocery store, Martin's, for our dinner. We went to the hot tub at the hotel with about 100 kids having 3 different birthday parties! The decibel level was pretty high, but we like kids and stayed for a good soak.
The next day, May 1, Sunday was no better weather. It was foggy and drizzly throughout the day and the fog got even more dense about 5 miles from our destination, North East, Pennsylvania, which is to the east of Erie. You could barely see the car in front of you and it was like driving through dense, light grey, cotton.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was the opposite of the Garden Inn last night - it was pretty empty. We took a nice good soak in the hot tub and dried off in the sauna. We ate left-overs from the previous day.
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