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Travelogue: New England
April/May 2007
By
Roger W. Reini
By
date:
April: 27 | 28 | 29 | 30
May: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Friday April 27
This
vacation of mine, like a few others, was wrapped around a day of
work. When I left today, though, the day of work was a week
away. I woke up around 5 AM, the usual time for me to get up on a
work day. I did my normal morning routine, with the difference
being that I did not have to leave home at a specific time. I was
making sure I was taking everything I had to take (medicines) and
wanted to take (radio equipment).
By 6:40 AM, I had hit
the road. One aspect of this morning’s drive took place as usual:
a conversation on the FARL Tin Lizzy repeater with one or more of the
club members – in today’s case, Bill, WA8HEA. Unlike most
mornings, instead of heading east on Ford Road (i.e., towards work), I
was heading west, towards I-275 and out of town. I needed to get
some gas, not immediately but before long. After seeing $2.95 gas
on Ford Road, I thought I would wait until south of town to gas
up. I’d also stop for breakfast at the same time. I ended
up stopping at the Pilot truck stop on I-75 and Nadeau Road north of
Monroe, where the gas was 12 cents a gallon less expensive. Then
I went inside the Arby’s restaurant attached to the truck stop, a copy
of USA Today in hand, to have some breakfast.
The drive through
Toledo was not terribly busy, even though I was passing through during
the rush hour. Then again, Toledo’s rush hour should be less
hectic than Detroit’s. Knowing that I-280 was still under
construction, I took I-75 through town and picked up the Ohio Turnpike
there. The weather was cool and damp; the skies were gray, and it
rained off and on for the drive through Ohio. I made good time on
the turnpike, stopping once for a restroom break. Around 10
o’clock I was passing through Cleveland on I-90, no longer on the
turnpike. Owing to the fog, I could hardly see downtown until I
was very close to it. My drive took me close to AES Cleveland, an
amateur radio dealer I’d visited before. I stopped there for a
few minutes, but I didn’t see anything I really wanted or needed, so I
left without getting anything.
The drive through northeastern
Ohio on I-90 was a good one, but things slowed down at the Pennsylvania
border. There was a construction zone there, with a 45 mph speed
limit and a state trooper car with lights flashing. That meant
business: slow down or else! Of course, it’s a very good idea to
slow down when workers are near, but workers weren’t always in the
zone. Still, with police known to be in the area, I thought it
best to observe the 45 mph limit until the construction zone was
past. Traffic behind me may have thought otherwise, but I didn’t
want to risk a ticket. The drive through that short portion of
Pennsylvania was otherwise uneventful, and during the noon hour, I
crossed the border into New York and started on the New York State
Thruway.
At 1:20, I stopped for gas, and then I backtracked to
the restaurant area. Gas prices were definitely on the way up;
here, it was $2.989 a gallon for regular. The restaurant area was
in the middle of the thruway, accessible from both directions.
One could eat at McDonald’s or Denny’s; I chose to go with Denny’s
today, for I wanted to sit for a while and read the paper (the Buffalo
News). I decided to have their mini-burgers, which were of the
same size as White Castles. It ended up being a nice stop, a
chance to relax for a while. Soon, I was back on the road heading
towards Buffalo. Eventually, the tollway portion came to an end
for the pass through Buffalo. I paid my toll then continued
northeastward. There was a sign for I-190, for Buffalo and
Niagara Falls. I took the ramp for I-190, although when I came
here once before on the American side, I did not take that route.
Traffic slowed as everyone passed through toll plazas that were no
longer in use, and then it was on to Buffalo. With the dense fog,
there was no way to tell other than by the road signs. I didn’t
notice any of the skyscrapers in downtown; I couldn’t see them. I
drove under the Peace Bridge leading to Canada, but I didn’t see any of
it other than the portion I drove under.
North of town,
the fog subsided. Fortunately for me, the only area of Niagara
Falls that was misty was the area right around the Horseshoe Falls, and
that was normal. I drove along the Robert Moses Parkway into
town, noticing that there was still quite a bit of ice in the
river. I parked in one of the large parking lots of Niagara Falls
State Park ($10) and made my way to the Visitor Center. My first
stop after that was the observation tower affiliated with the Maid of
the Mist boat rides. The boats were not yet running this season;
I could see several of them beached on the Ontario side of the
river. I had never been to Niagara Falls during this time of
year, when there was still ice, and the ice made for a different look
to the scene. If I wanted to get the full ice experience, I could
make the trip during the height of winter.
While walking along
the bank, a couple asked me if that was Canada across the river.
I said that it was indeed Ontario, and they sounded disappointed, so I
clarified that was indeed Ontario, Canada. Looking over into
Ontario, it was much the same as I remembered it, though I noticed a
few new hotels, a second casino, and a large Ferris wheel that reminded
me of the London Eye. The view of the falls is much better from
the Ontario side, but as I did not bring my passport, I would not be
able to cross. I did cross the bridge leading to Goat Island,
where I was able to experience more of the falls, including seeing some
small falls, no more than a foot in height, several yards
upstream. I wondered if they would become the real falls in the
next few hundred or thousand years. They reminded me of a scene I
saw in an episode of The Flintstones where Fred and Barney cross a
small stream on foot, only a couple of inches deep – marked “Grand
Canyon”. There were occasional thumps caused by large chunks of
ice going over and hitting the rocks below. It was not possible
to get very close to the Horseshoe Falls, as the main observation area
was still very icy. That wasn’t bothering the seagulls that were
hanging out there.
One attraction I had not visited before was
Cave of the Winds. There is no longer an actual cave, but one is
able to go down on a wooden deck and get very close to the edge of the
falls, close enough so that raingear is essential. The deck was
still under construction, but visits to the upper part were possible,
and I took one visit. With the rest of the group, I rode down the
equivalent of 18 stories to the lower level, walked through a tunnel
that reminded me of the tunnels at work, then came out upon Niagara
Gorge. Here, we got a close up view of the deck being built, the
seagulls nesting in the area, and the natural sculpted ice that was in
the process of melting. I also noticed an ordinary lawn sprinkler
near one of the deck platforms, squirting away in the air, and I
thought that strange. Why would you need a sprinkler here when
there’s a torrent a few feet away? Before long, we had to go back
to the surface, and I walked back to my car. I’d spent two hours
here, but now it was time to head onward to my first overnight stop in
Syracuse.
Traffic on I-290 was rather heavy as I approached the
turnoff for eastbound I-90. However, the traffic was for
westbound 90; eastbound had hardly any traffic at all. This was
Buffalo’s rush hour. I could see the backups at the westbound
toll plaza and considered myself fortunate I wasn’t in them. The
eastbound drive was uneventful. I was listening to XM ‘60s on 6
saluting WLS Chicago, although I flipped over occasionally to Sirius
Disorder’s Mansion of Fun. Suppertime neared, and I stopped at a
service plaza for some Sbarro pizza. I also brought in my
Powerbook, for the signs on the freeway said that Wi-Fi access was
available. It was indeed available, so I retrieved my mail and
read what I could. During the 8 o’clock hour, I left the Thruway
at I-81 in Syracuse and followed the TomTom directions to the Hampton
Inn. Unfortunately, there was no Hampton Inn at that location, so
I reversed course, pulled into a truck stop parking lot, and got out
the laptop to verify the directions. Turns out the TomTom was
mistaken; I should have turned right after exiting the freeway, not
left. The hotel was very close to the exit, and I checked in for
the night. It was rather busy; there were a lot of kids there,
possibly for some event.
Top
Saturday April 28
I
got up around 6 and had breakfast at the famous Hampton Inn breakfast
bar – a dish of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, a blueberry muffin, and
another muffin that had some chocolate in it, a muffin I see regularly
at Hampton Inns. By 8 o’clock, I was on the road. My first
destination today was Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of
Fame. To get there, I drove through Syracuse on I-81, passing
close to the Carrier Dome. South of town, I turned off onto US 20
for the drive over to Cooperstown. I filled up the tank, and then
I was on my way. The road was hilly at times, so my brakes got a
good workout. During the early part of the drive, I listened to
XM ‘50s on 5. At 9 o’clock came Moments To Remember, the weekly
program featuring the pop music of the early part of the decade, before
rock & roll hit. My mom would have enjoyed this
program. As for me, it was a change of pace. I wouldn’t
listen to it all of the time, but it was OK in small doses.
Perhaps I should have been listening to MLB Home Plate, given that I
was traveling towards Cooperstown.
The drive into Cooperstown
along Highway 28 was rather scenic, heading along the western side of
Lake Onondaga. After hearing my fill of Moments To Remember, I
turned on Sirius Disorder and heard part of “Chimes of Freedom” by the
Kennedys, who host the Dharma Café every Saturday morning. And
right around 10 o’clock, I was in Cooperstown, looking for a place to
park. I found a spot near Doubleday Field, and I remembered
parking in this location before. It was a bit busier today than
on my previous visit in 2001 (on a Friday).
The Hall of Fame
opened at 9, so I went inside, bought my ticket using a AAA discount,
and started my tour. It seemed rather different this time than
last; I didn’t remember a short theater experience at the
beginning. I would learn later that the museum exhibits had been
substantially revamped in 2005, so I was definitely seeing a
presentation I had not seen before. And what a presentation it
was, from the initial amateur games to the first pro teams to the glory
years to today. There were sections devoted to Babe Ruth, the
Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson, women’s baseball, recent artifacts
from each team, the record holders and current active leaders, and of
course, the actual Hall of Fame. I noted with special interest
the current artifacts for the Astros and Tigers because of their recent
pennant-winning seasons. I saw artifacts belonging to this year’s
inductees, Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. I had heard about but
did not see Curt Schilling’s bloody sock, the integrity of which had
been questioned by ESPN’s Gary Thorne (he later retracted his
questions). I saw Gene Elston honored with the Ford Frick award
for broadcasting, and I heard a vintage call of an Astros-Cards game,
where Jack Buck called Joe Sambito giving up a game-winning home run to
a Cardinal (Willie McGee?). I visited the Museum Bookstore and
then the gift shop (separate facilities). Outside, I took some
pictures of statues on the grounds – a pitcher throwing to a catcher,
Satchel Paige in mid-windup, and a statue of a woman batter.
Nearby was a statue of the author James Fenimore Cooper, whose father
founded Cooperstown. By this time, I was hungry, so I stopped in
a nearby pizza place for a slice of sausage pizza and a diet
drink. Here, in baseball city, the TV was tuned to ESPN and its
coverage of the NFL draft.
By this time, I wanted to hit the
road for tonight’s overnight stop in Littleton, New Hampshire. I
programmed the destination into the TomTom, and it guided me on my
way. The first few miles took me through some back roads; if the
GPS had quit on me, I would have been terribly lost. But it
eventually guided me to I-88, and I knew where I was. I was
listening to the Tiger game, and it wasn’t going well. Both
pitcher Ledezma and manager Leyland were ejected in short order.
I didn’t listen for much longer, preferring instead to listen to game 2
of the Red Wings and Sharks series. I had that on for most of the
drive through New York and into Vermont as the Wings pulled it out and
tied the series at 1. Meanwhile, I drove through Albany and
headed north on I-87. I thought I might be routed through
Massachusetts, but no, I wasn’t. I stayed on I-87 until Glens
Falls, and then I took US 4 into and through Vermont.
The Wings
game ended successfully, as they pulled out a victory to even the
series at 1-1. Now, as I drove up I-91, I could listen to the
Astros on XM. It was dark as I pulled into the Hampton Inn
parking lot in Littleton. I was also hungry for supper but
wasn’t sure what I wanted. But I didn’t have far to go to decide,
for there was an Applebee’s in the same parking lot. I walked
there and had a late supper, a Santa Fe chicken salad. It was
pretty good.
Top
Sunday April 29
I
woke up around 6, checked e-mail and took a shower. The TV was
carrying local news from WMUR as I ate my breakfast. There were
an awful lot of presidential campaign ads on TV, I thought. And
then it hit me: this is New Hampshire, home of the first
presidential primary. Of COURSE there are going to be lots of
campaign ads here! But ten months away from the primary?
Hoo boy!
It was foggy and drizzly outside as I went to get my
heavier coat. I would need it for the trip up Mount Washington,
but I was wondering if there would be much to see. I wouldn’t
know for sure until I got there. At 9:17, I left the hotel and
drove to the Wal-Mart across the street. I’d heard about protests
to keep Wal-Mart out of New England, but they hadn’t succeeded.
Now a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart, no matter where it’s located, and this
one was no exception. I didn’t need anything here, so I didn’t
get anything. I left and set off for Mount Washington on US 302,
driving through Littleton and a few other small towns. I wasn’t
sure how far I had to go, so I began to get concerned that I might not
arrive in time for the ticket deadline. That remained a concern
as I drove the 6 miles from the main road up to the home base for the
railroad. However, I arrived in plenty of time. I also
arrived to plenty of fog. The train would go, rain or
shine. But it would not go all the way up due to the summit still
being snowbound. But I couldn’t complain too much, for the ticket
was substantially discounted as a result: half-price.
The
cog train consisted of one coach and an engine that pushed the coach up
the hill. The boiler (it was a steam engine) was tilted forward
so that it would be level on the steep slopes. I saw how steep
the climb was as the train tracks left the base, and I got a little
apprehensive. Once I got on board and the train took that slope,
though, it didn’t seem that bad. The steepest grade we saw was
around 23 degrees, said the brakeman. The steepest portion of the
track, which we did not encounter today, was 37 ½ degrees. There
were 11 other passengers on the train, including one family from
Germany (or a German-speaking country, at least). The train went
clickety-clack the whole way up, due to the cogs. That meant a
very pronounced vibration whenever the train went very slowly. We
passed a water tank at the 3800 foot altitude, and not too far beyond
that, we stopped. That was the end of the line for today.
The brakeman pulled over the platform, and we stepped out. Only
then did we fully appreciate the angle that we were now having to
counter. My footing was not always secure, especially with ice in
the area. Nobody slipped, but it would have been easy to.
My walking stick would have proven handy today, but it was down in the
car. I’d brought an HT (portable FM amateur radio transceiver)
with me, thinking receiving and transmitting would be affected by the
great height, but I didn’t hear anything. Things might have been
different had I reached the summit. I would transmit later on 40
meters (to the MidCARS net). Then we got back on board for the
ride down, where the engine wasn’t pushing us up anymore. We
would be more likely to push them down! This part of the ride
took only half as long.
My destination tonight: Freeport,
Maine, in the third new state for me. The GPS said to take US 302
through New Hampshire and into Portland, which I did. The XM
signal would frequently drop out due to blockages from either the trees
or mountains. Sirius’s signals, coming from more overhead, were
much less susceptible to these blockages, but I still kept XM on
because of the baseball coverage. I was listening to the Tigers
as I headed onward through New Hampshire. As I reached North
Conway, I started looking for a place for lunch. Having recently
pondered the genericization of America, and having recently contributed
to it by staying at Hampton Inns and eating at an Applebee’s, I chose
to eat at a local establishment, Muddy Moose. The Red Sox and
Yankees were on the TV’s in the bar area, and I could hear occasional
cheers from my table in the main dining area.
Back on
the road, I soon crossed the border into Maine. The
northeasternmost state, home to the fictional Hawkeye Pierce. US
302 was still a rural drive, but it began to become suburban and then
urban as I headed towards Portland. The Tiger game was still on,
and it was a close one. As I neared downtown, Brandon Inge was at
bat, and with one swing of the bat, he brought the game to a close with
a game-winning home run. Tigers win! I-295 was busy heading
out of Portland, but the traffic eased. South of Freeport, there
was a rest area with visitor information, and I stopped there. I
also saw the headquarters for Delorme Mapping, many of whose products
I’d used in the past. There was a store in the building, and
after leaving the rest area, I visited that store. I didn’t get
anything there, though. The Hampton Inn was a few miles up US 1,
and after stopping there, I unpacked slightly, just long enough to
check e-mail and put a few things away. My next stop would be the
L.L. Bean stores downtown. Now I’d been to a Bean store before
(Tysons Corner, Virginia), but the flagship was much larger. In
fact, it consisted of three stores, as well as an outlet a mile
away. I had no interest in the hunting and fishing store, but I
did visit the biking and rowing store. It had a good selection of
bikes, equipment and apparel, but I didn’t get anything here. In
the main store, though, I found a few items.
Now what would I do
for supper? I walked over to a place called Lobster Cooker, but
it was not open. I drove through town and saw a McDonald’s that
had been built in a house, but I wasn’t in the mood for
McDonald’s. I ended up eating at Pedro O’Hara’s near the
hotel. From the name, you might guess that it served Mexican food
and Irish beer, and you would be right. I had enchiladas there,
and they weren’t bad. I had a seat in front of an HDTV carrying
Baseball Tonight in glorious HDTV. It would have carried that
night’s game between St. Louis and Chicago, but the game had been
cancelled due to the death that morning of Cardinals pitcher Josh
Hancock.
Top
Monday April 30
I
woke up during the night with a bit of a sore throat. I
immediately dissolved an Airborne vitamin tablet into a glass of water
and drank it, took an aspirin, and went for some peppermints to suck
on, all in an attempt to keep it from turning into anything
worse. Was it the start of a cold, or was it merely a reaction
from the heater? Its behavior seemed to suggest the latter, and
it had subsided after breakfast. If it had been due to the onset
of a cold, I would have continued to have difficulty swallowing.
Still, I vowed to get some zinc lozenges the first chance I got.
That
chance came when I checked out of the hotel and drove to the grocery
and drug store next door. Shaw’s Osco was a very big chain in New
England. I knew the Osco name from the Jewel Osco stores in
Chicago. They had what I wanted, and it wasn’t long before I was
driving down I-295 and the Maine Turnpike sucking on a Cold-Eeze
lozenge. The weather was dreadful – moderate to heavy rain fell
while I drove through Maine and New Hampshire. It got harder when
I stopped at the welcome center off of I-95 on the Massachusetts state
line. It made it difficult for me to take a picture of the big
roadside sign “Massachusetts Welcomes You” without getting me or the
camera wet. I got the picture I wanted, eventually (not before
replacing the batteries), and then I went inside to see what literature
I could pick up. Much of it was for attractions north of Boston,
such as Salem or Gloucester.
Not long after leaving the welcome
center, the rain started to let up. Before long, it had stopped
altogether. When I left this morning, I had considered visiting
the Minute Man National Historic Park in Lexington and Concord, and now
that the rain had ended, I could do just that. I stayed on I-95
as it merged with the Highway 128 loop around town, and that took me
over to the park and its visitor center. The park itself was
spread out through the two towns and along the Battle Road, the road
between the two towns that eventually led to Boston Harbor. Part
of the Battle Road had been restored to its appearance during
Revolutionary days, and it served as a walking path between many of the
attractions. I first visited the Visitor’s Center, where I saw a
multimedia presentation of the story of the battle and the events
leading up to it. There were a number of facts I had never known
or had forgotten about the battle, such as how the British regulars
were harassed and attacked all along the road while retreating from
Concord, how Paul Revere was captured before reaching Concord with the
news, and so on. Then I walked over to the Battle Road trail and
walked a small portion of it. Every quarter-mile, there was a
milestone marking the distance from that point to Meriam’s Corner (near
Concord) and Boston Harbor. The first stone I encountered said
that Meriam’s Corner was 3 ¼ miles away, Boston Harbor 12 ¾
miles. Nearby was the site of Parker’s Revenge, where Patriots
under the command of John Parker ambushed the British regulars on the
run from Concord (the revenge was for the attack of the regulars as
they first entered Lexington).
Not far from there was a
grave marker for British soldiers, along with a recently laid wreath
and a small Union Jack. Attached to the flagstaff was a tag with
these words: “In Memory of the British Soldiers who gave their lives in
service of their King and Country. April 19, 1775. Unnamed
and seldom remembered, they have lain here 232 years. Rest In
Peace.” The reverse listed four URL’s for the Crown forces in
North America. It was a little unusual seeing that gravemarker in
that location under those circumstances, for back then, they were the
enemy. No longer, though. I said a prayer for their souls
and moved onward.
Soon I encountered the site where Paul Revere
was captured. The two others with him were able to get away, but
he was not. But his main mission was to reach Lexington, which he
did. The trail extended for 3 more miles to the west, and if I
had had time, I might have walked more of it. However, I did not
have the time, and I was also wearing shoes that had been rubbing the
back of my foot, so I went back to my car and drove over to Meriam’s
Corner, where I walked some more and used the restroom at the
farmhouse. Then I drove into Concord, noting the historic
buildings associated with the Alcotts and Emersons. Concord would
be worth a longer visit sometime. Today, though, my destination
was the North Bridge, where the Patriots first fired upon the British
regulars and sent them running from the town. The bridge was not
the original one, but it was in the original place. There were
two monuments erected for the centennial in 1875, and there was another
grave marker for British soldiers. The Concord River was in
flood, so I thought it inadvisable to walk from there to the visitor’s
center. Instead, I got back into my car and drove there.
The center had a gift shop with several interesting books, and I bought
three: The Battle Road by Charles H. Bradford, The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail
by Charles Bahne, and a travel book on Revolutionary sites in Boston
and environs. They would make for interesting reading, either
while I was on the trip or after I returned home. And speaking of
home, or temporary home, I needed to think about heading for my hotel
before rush hour started in earnest. I programmed what I thought
was the hotel location into the TomTom, and it took me out of town and
back to I-95.
I-95 became I-93 south of town as I proceeded
toward the hotel. Was the TomTom guiding me to the right
hotel? As I took the exit for Highway 37, I wasn’t sure. I
then caught a glimpse of a large shopping mall, and then I knew I was
headed in the right direction. A short time later, I was at the
Hampton Inn, located off the main highway in a light industrial
area. The view from my hotel room was of the Candlewood suites
next door. This would be my home for the next three days, so I
unloaded the car and unpacked the suitcase.
Now what would I do
for supper tonight? The area by South Shore Plaza, the large
shopping mall I saw on arrival, had several candidate
restaurants. There was an Uno Chicago Grill there, and I almost
went to it. But then I realized that I could go there anytime –
not to that specific one, but to another one in the chain located a
mile or so from my house. So I decided to find a more local
establishment. There was a Rock Bottom, and there was a 99, but I
noticed the Legal Seafood. Thinking I was in the mood for
seafood, I decided to go there. And I was indeed in the mood for
seafood, as I enjoyed the clam chowder (served at every presidential
inauguration since 1981) and a shrimp pasta dish. I needed to
walk that meal off, so I went back to my car, dropped off the planner
I’d attempted to write in during the meal, then went inside the
shopping center. I’d parked near a vacant anchor store with no
clear indication of what it used to be, although I thought I saw the
faint outline of a “Macy’s”. There was a Macy’s elsewhere in the
mall, a newer building, which may explain why this older building was
vacant. There was a large Apple Store here; I stopped inside for
a bit but saw nothing I wanted to get. Nor did I find anything
anyplace else here, so I went back to the hotel for the night.
Top
Tuesday May 1
Wonder
of wonders, there was no rain this morning! And with that
favorable outlook, I decided that I would indeed go into Boston and
walk the Freedom Trail. I knew that there were several subway
stops within close driving distance. The closest one, Quincy
Adams, was the next exit on I-93 past the one I’d been taking for the
hotel. That made it very convenient to drive to the garage and
park there. I then walked over to the elevators and took one down
to the station entrance. There, I bought a ticket worth $10 and
entered the subway system. At $2 a ride, the ticket was good for
5 rides. The car was full all the way into town; I had to stand
the whole time.
I left the train at Park Street station, then
had a long walk towards the exit for Boston Common and the start of the
Freedom Trail. There was a Green Line train that was stopped in
the station for some reason; I never learned why. Before long, I
had left the station and got my first look at downtown Boston and the
common close up. I was next to the visitor center, where I used
the restroom and bought a map. I’d forgotten to bring the
guidebook I bought yesterday with me, but I didn’t really have a place
to put it anyway. At least I could fold up the map and put it
into a jacket pocket. I then strolled around the common for a
little bit before setting off down the trail. The sky was
generally free of clouds, and there was a bit of a breeze. My
light jacket would suit me quite nicely today.
The trail went
uphill slightly as it ventured to the Massachusetts State House, the
state capitol building. Even though it was around 200 years old,
it was still known as the New State House. Tours of the building
were available, as was true for most of the buildings I would encounter
today. However, I chose not to enter most buildings in order to
save time and money (mainly time). There were events later in the
day that I did not want to miss, and touring many buildings might make
me miss them. Throughout my walk, I would encounter a number of
school groups making their own tours. One area with a high
concentration of school groups was the Granary Burial Ground, the final
resting place of illustrious individuals as Paul Revere, John Hancock
and Samuel Adams, the parents and other relatives of Benjamin Franklin,
and a woman rumored to be Mother Goose (but almost certainly was
not). Farther down was the site of the first public school in
Boston, the Boston Latin School (still in existence today though in
another location), the Old Corner Bookstore, notable gathering place
for early American writers (interestingly enough, there is a Borders
book store across the street from it), the Old South Meeting House and
Old State House, not to mention Faneuil Hall, all with ties to key
events and gatherings in colonial and Revolutionary times. I
walked onward, passing today’s City Hall and a memorial to the
Holocaust.
The trail passed through the former location
of I-93, now buried underground, but here, the trail disappeared.
The construction obliterated its markings. I was no longer sure
which way to go. I saw a sign and followed it, but I still didn’t
see any markings, so I backtracked. It turned out that I had been
going in the correct direction all along, so I got to walk along
certain streets twice. This was the North End, long home to the
Italian community. Many storefronts still had tributes to Italy’s
2006 World Cup championship team. As for the trail, it led past
Paul Revere’s house, which had been restored to its 17th-century
appearance and thus would have been hard for him to recognize.
Due to time constraints, I did not enter the house, which was furnished
as it would have been in Revere’s day. The Old North Church was
nearby, which makes sense given Revere’s role in Lexington and
Concord. Now here, I did enter. I saw the cubes of pews,
and I saw embroidered pillows commemorating visits by President Ford
and by Queen Elizabeth II. Next came a visit to Copp’s Hill
Burying Ground. Then it was time to cross over the River Charles
and pay a visit to the Charlestown Navy Yard, home to the USS
Constitution, Old Ironsides. It was open for boarding, but there
was a line. The views of Boston across the river were
outstanding, so I took some photos and then headed up Breed’s Hill to
see the Bunker Hill Memorial. It reminded me of the Washington
Monument but was not nearly as tall. The memorial was open for
climbs to the top. There was no elevator, so the only way to
reach the top was to climb a flight of nearly 300 stairs. I
passed on that opportunity.
Now how did I want to get back to
town? I could retrace my steps, but I wanted to take a ferry ride
from the Navy Yard to Long Wharf. I did retrace my steps down
Breed’s Hill to the Navy Yard, where I walked to the berth for the
ferry. I had a 15-minute wait for the ferry to arrive; the time
off my feet was welcomed. And so was the journey across the
harbor. It was rather cool on the upper deck, and that persuaded
me to not attempt to take a whale watching voyage during this
trip. I figured it would be too cool offshore to fully enjoy
it. Now it was time for me to enter the subway for the return
trip to the hotel. I had to change trains twice to reach the one
that would take me back to Quincy Adams station. During the
journey, I stopped for a hot dog. The train arrived just as I
received the hot dog, so I had to let the train go on without me while
I ate. It was gone within a minute of the train leaving, so I had
to wait for a while. Eventually, the trains came, and I was back
in Quincy/Braintree.
I had an opportunity to see some
baseball. Now I could have seen the Red Sox play at Fenway Park,
but after I priced the tickets, they were higher than what I felt like
paying. So I decided instead to visit their AAA ball club in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This would be the perfect opportunity to
pick up state number 40. I got an early start to the game because
around 4:15, I would have to pull over and engage in a conference call
with my boss and with the team from Smith College who were working on a
project with us. I ended up parking in a supermarket parking lot
and placing the call. Everything was on target for Friday’s big
presentation, the students said. I then learned that my boss
would not be coming for the presentation after all due to serious
health problems in her family. I would be the sole representative
from Ford there.
McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket was a nice stadium
for a minor league game. I bought a box set ticket behind home
plate, just on the edge of the netting protecting against foul
balls. I bought a PawSox home cap and wore it during the
game. I had a camera with me but took few pictures due to my
location. Most pictures would have had the netting in the
way. Now the PawSox were playing the Indianapolis Indians (who,
despite their name, were the top farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates),
so I could truthfully say that I saw the Red Sox play the
Indians. Never mind that it was Pawtucket versus Indianapolis,
not Boston versus Cleveland. Indianapolis led throughout the
game, though Pawtucket made it interesting at the end, only to fall two
runs short. By this time, it was dark, and I had a 40-mile drive
back to the hotel. I found myself yawning frequently on the way
home. A backup due to construction on I-93 didn’t help matters
much. But I made it to the hotel without incident, Back at the
hotel, the Wi-Fi connection wasn’t working, so I had to make a
connection through my cell phone to check e-mail. Then the pop
machine didn’t want to take my dollar bill, so I found one that did
take it. I could now drink a Diet Pepsi and stay awake for a
little while longer until I retrieved the e-mail.
Top
Wednesday May 2 I
got up after 6, took a shower, then went down for breakfast in the
lobby. The milk ran out for the cereal, but I was able to get
enough for my dish. The rain had returned this morning, although
the forecasters said it would soon leave the area. I wasn’t quite
sure what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to go into the city
again. Plymouth seemed like a possibility, and that’s what I
ended up doing. By the time I left for Plymouth around 9, the
rain had let up. I listened to the amateur radio on the drive
down, hearing a few pileups on 20 meters. Who the pileups were
for, I did not know.
About an hour later, I found myself near
downtown Plymouth filling up the car. Then I drove along the
waterfront, seeing a few Pilgrim-themed businesses along the way, until
I encountered Plymouth Harbor State Park, home to Plymouth Rock and the
Mayflower II. Frankly, Plymouth Rock was not an impressive
sight. The rock had been split in two at one point but had been
rejoined. It could only be viewed from above, for that’s the way
the structure housing it was constructed. Still, I took a picture
of it as well as its surroundings. Across the street was Cole’s
Hill, site of a mass grave of those Pilgrims who died in the first
year, a statue of sachem (leader) Massasoit, and a plaque commemorating
the National Day of Mourning, because from the Native American
perspective, the arrival of the Pilgrims meant the loss of their way of
life, the loss of their lands, and the near-genocide of their
people. The view from the hill was underwhelming, but that may
have had a lot to do with the gray skies and the threatened rain.
Nearby was a small garden park with a walking path, and I took a stroll
through there.
Slightly north of Plymouth Rock was the berthing
place of Mayflower II, a 20th-century recreation of the Mayflower that
was built in 1957. It was open to the public for tours as part of
the Plimoth Plantation experience (more on that later). I bought
a ticket to go on board as well as visit the rest of the Plantation
southeast of town. The exhibits prior to boarding showed what
life at sea would have been like during that era. Then I boarded
the ship. It seemed rather small considering how many were on
board for the voyage. There were guides on board as well as
actors portraying members of the crew or passengers. I spent
several minutes conversing with the “captain” of the Mayflower in his
cabin. I don’t recall how I explained where I came from –
Michigan didn’t exist back then, nor did the Northwest Territory.
He noted my size and pointed out that the Indians (he pronounced it
almost like “engines”) were also tall and large.
For
lunch, I visited a Friendly’s restaurant in town and had a turkey
burger. It was good, but it was quite messy, and I went through
my share of napkins, or perhaps more than my share. Then it was
off to the southeast and the bulk of Plimoth Plantation. The
grounds consisted of two main exhibit areas, a recreation of a typical
Wampanoag Indian settlement of the period and a recreation of the
Pilgrim settlement. The Indian settlement featured Native
American guides (not necessarily Wampanoag) dressed in typical period
clothing, but unlike their counterparts at the Mayflower or at the
Pilgrim settlement, they were not role-playing. There were
several structures that were made of tree branch frames and softened
bark formed to fit as walls and a roof. While I was there, two
men were hollowing out a log to make a canoe by slowly burning out the
inside. Then I walked over to the Pilgrim settlement, and here
the guides were role-playing. I didn’t interact with any of them,
for there were several school groups here today; I let them have the
fun. I saw a rooster strutting around his yard just like Mick
Jagger. By this time, the skies had cleared, and I saw that the
sea was now visible from this hill where the settlement was
located. It made for taking some nice pictures.
Back at
the main visitor center, I saw an interesting exhibit on how
Thanksgiving has been depicted over the years in the media and how that
first Thanksgiving has been portrayed at Plimoth Plantation.
Today’s portrayals are intended to be as realistic as possible.
Then it was on to the gift shop, where I picked up a carving of an
eagle to give to my aunt as a birthday present and a flute and book for
myself. On the road back to Braintree, I tuned in the Tiger game
and listened to it. Now on the way down, I had passed by a
Borders and a Best Buy and wanted to stop there when I came back.
Unfortunately, by the time I saw the stores, I had already passed the
exit for them. I ended up stopping at a Barnes & Noble that
was close to the hotel, and I picked up “Mayflower” by Nathaniel
Philbrick. I started to read it as I went to dinner at the local
99 Restaurant (a New England casual dining chain).
Back at the
hotel, I worked for a little while on this travelogue and started
packing for tomorrow’s departure. I got the directions for W1AW
and continued to read “Mayflower”.
Top
Thursday May 3 
It
was time to pack up and leave Boston this morning. My final
destination for the day was the Hampton Inn in Northampton, but I
wasn’t going there right away. At 9:15 AM, I wasn’t going much of
anywhere. I was on I-93 heading into town, planning to pick up
I-90 and the Massachusetts Turnpike and drive past Fenway Park.
The rush hour had not ended, so I was stuck in traffic. Things
eventually improved as I got onto the Mass Pike and headed
westward. I could see a little bit of Fenway from the road, but I
couldn’t see the Citgo sign that’s visible in the outfield. The
turnpike and its surroundings reminded me of the Eisenhower Expressway
in Chicago, albeit one without a train running down the median.
At the toll plaza for picking up tickets for continued travel on the
turnpike, I was confused by the signage, which seemed to suggest that
the lanes I should use were the ones for exiting onto I-95, which I
didn’t want to do. I found a lane and hoped for the best.
It wasn’t an EZ-Pass-only lane, which meant I was legal and could
continue onward.
I stopped at a travel plaza for a restroom
break and to pick up some munchies. I continued westward on the
turnpike, listening to the repeat of Baseball This Morning on XM
175. Soon, I reached the exit for I-84, which would take me to
Connecticut. Once I crossed the state line, I could say that I
had visited every state in New England. It was the 41st state for
me; all of the ones that I have not yet visited are in the north
central or northwest part of the country, along with Alaska and
Hawaii. This wasn’t the only reason I was visiting Connecticut,
though; my ultimate destination in the state was the headquarters of
the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and its amateur radio station
W1AW.
While traveling through the northeast part of the Hartford
area, I saw a shopping mall in the distance (The Shoppes at Buckland
Hills). It was lunchtime, and I figured there would be some place
to have lunch there or nearby, so I exited the freeway and backtracked
slightly to the mall. There was an Italian restaurant named Vinny
T’s of Boston next to a Barnes and Noble, so I went there. It was
early for lunch; I was one of the first diners there. I decided
on lasagna for my meal, along with a Caesar salad. The salad was
good, while the lasagna was just OK. It was also too much for me
to eat. Had I been staying in town, or had it been colder
outside, I might have boxed up the leftovers, but I had to leave them
behind. I walked over to the Barnes and Noble, where I picked up
a few magazines and newspapers, including a copy of today’s Times of
London (it had been printed in New York). Then it was off to
Newington and the ARRL.
For a while, I was wondering if I’d
taken the wrong street, but then I saw a large and impressive antenna
farm rise up ahead. This was ARRL headquarters. The
building housing station W1AW was right on Main Street, while the
actual headquarters building was behind it. I parked the car and
took some pictures of the grounds – the buildings, the antennas, and a
memorial to amateur radio operators who lost their lives in the
performance of their duties. Then I went inside and asked for a
tour of the station and HQ. First came a tour of the station –
the transmitters it uses to send out information bulletins and Morse
code practices to amateurs in the US and around the world, the
operating stations where visiting amateurs can operate, etc. I
and another ham from Florida were able to operate for an hour or so
after our tour, although conditions weren’t the greatest; I only made
one contact, a ham in Nebraska (did hear a ham from the UK,
though). Then came the tour of headquarters. The four of us
who were on the tour got to see the entire facility – the test labs,
the QSL bureau, the library of back issues, the room where the next
edition of QST Magazine was being laid out – the works. I was
given copies of the forthcoming issues of the two other magazines the
ARRL publishes, the QEX technical journal and the National Contest
Journal. In the lobby, there was a bookstore with the latest ARRL
publications, so I decided to avail myself of the opportunity to pick
up one of the newly published books.
When I left Newington, I
had the TomTom guide me out of town. It wasn’t very far to
Northampton, but it took much longer than expected due to Hartford’s
rush hour. It was bumper to bumper on I-84 into downtown and I-91
out of downtown. Not being familiar with the area, I was unaware
of any alternate routes, so I just endured it, listening to some
old-time radio on XM – Sgt. Preston of the Yukon and Gunsmoke,
mainly. By 6 PM, I was in Northampton, where I checked into the
Hampton Inn. The hotel was northeast of town, actually, with few
if any restaurants nearby. There were several restaurants in
town, but I ended up going to Montana’s Steakhouse, which was attached
to the Quality Inn south of town.
Top
Friday May 4
This
was an official workday for me, although given that I was on the road,
it would not be a regular one. I had awakened a few times during
the night; at one point, I decided to read the Mayflower book for a
while. I was up for good around 6, and I took advantage of the
Hampton Inn breakfast bar again. They have enough a variation
where I could feel comfortable eating there every day. For the
last week, that’s what I’d been doing, in fact. I didn’t want to
head for the campus until closer to the presentation time, so I read
the paper and worked on a design requirement proposal.
By 9
o’clock, it was time to head over to the campus. The main parking
deck was south of campus; the barriers were up. There were plenty
of visitor spaces on the second level, so I took one of them. As
I walked out of the structure, a young woman for whom English was not
her native language stopped me and asked me what a dashboard was.
It was in the context of placing a parking pass on top of the dash so
that it could easily be seen. I told her, and she went away
happy. I had no pass, nor did I see any way to get a pass.
But I was in a visitor’s spot. Would I encounter any difficulties
in a few hours? I hoped not.
According to the map I had
retrieved from the Web, the Campus Center was located along the edge of
campus, so I started walking along the perimeter. College towns
do look very similar. From what I’d seen of Smith so far, it
reminded me of the older portions of Michigan State. The Campus
Center, though, was a much more modern facility than MSU’s Student
Union. It seemed to be smaller, as well, which was reasonable
because Smith was a much smaller institution. There was a café
here, and the campus bookstore was in the basement. I went there
for a short time, looking for items I could get for my nieces and
nephew as souvenirs. I didn’t get anything right then, for I
planned to come back after the presentations.
The room for the
presentations was on the second floor. There were eight groups
presenting today, with topics ranging from an improved means of selling
or disposing of used textbooks to a PC that’s been ruggedized to
function well in tropical climates to the design of culverts that allow
the restoration of tidal flow to salt marshes without causing flooding
to neighboring houses. The presentation I was most interested in,
relating to power point usage, was first on the agenda. I met the
students again (I’d met them in February when they visited Ford for 2
days) and got to meet their parents and professor. I can’t give
any details of the presentation, but suffice it to say it went
well. The students were well prepared with answers to the
questions put to them, although I took one question that was out of the
scope of the project.
My original travel plans had me staying
the night in Bennington, Vermont. However, I had cancelled that
plan after having passed through Vermont last Saturday. I didn’t
need to go there just to say I had been in Vermont; I’d already been
there. Also, I would be leaving first thing Monday morning on a
business trip and wanted to get home as soon as I could. That
meant getting a good start westward on today’s trip. So I left
after lunch, unable to stay for all of the presentations. I went
back to the bookstore, bought some caps for my nieces and a monkey
hanging thing for my nephew, then set out for home. I gassed up
near the freeway, then took I-91 down to I-90, the Mass Pike, which I
took west towards New York. After crossing into New York, I found
that I had to use the restroom. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a
service plaza for some distance. I had to wait until I was past
Albany before I could stop and take care of business. I also took
out my laptop to check e-mail (free Wi-Fi here, you may recall) and
make a hotel reservation for the night. I decided to reserve the
Hampton Inn in Syracuse/Liverpool again, the same hotel where I’d
stayed last Friday. I knew the area and knew the hotel, so I knew
what to expect. I ended up driving for some 5 hours, arriving at
the hotel at 5:30. Perhaps I could have gone longer, but the next
large city was Rochester, nearly 100 miles away.
For supper, I
drove down to the Carousel Center, which was a short distance down
I-81. I could see downtown Syracuse off in the distance, and a
minor league baseball park wasn’t far away, either. I parked near
a Borders, then went inside. For supper, I had pizza slices from
Sbarro, a prime example of food court cuisine. This mall had a
Best Buy AND a Circuit City (unusual), and it had an Apple Store.
But it was the smallest Apple Store I’d seen, about half the size of
the ones in the Detroit area.
Top
Saturday May 5 
I
woke up around 6, made my e-mail and web checks, and went to breakfast
in the lobby. I did not see the chocolate-y muffins this morning,
the first time that had been true at any Hampton Inn I’d visited.
So I had a croissant this morning along with cereal and a small
yogurt. That put me in good stead for today’s trip. Around
7:15, I left the hotel and got gas at a Pilot truck stop across the
freeway. Then it was onto I-81 briefly and then onto I-90 for the
trip westward. Unlike last week, the weather today was
fantastic. There were few if any clouds in the sky as I drove
onward. When I stopped at a service plaza, I brought my laptop
with me in order to make an e-mail check. I knew today would be a
long day of driving, but as I passed Rochester and arrived in Buffalo,
I knew it would have been difficult for me to reach either of those
last night. There was no backup at the Buffalo toll plaza, unlike
last Friday; it wasn’t rush hour, either. I did not go to Niagara
Falls today; little would have changed in a week.
Near
the noon hour, I crossed into Pennsylvania and stopped at the rest area
and welcome center. The Lake Erie shoreline was close by, and you
could see the lake extending to the horizon. However, there was a
strong breeze, and it was rather chilly. I picked up some
literature for potential future trips to the Keystone State, then
continued onward. I flipped from XM’s ‘50s channel (more Moments
to Remember) to the ‘70s channel for this week’s rebroadcast of
American Top 40, which came from May 1975. Most of the songs, I
recognized and remembered, but there were a few that I didn’t remember
or didn’t associate with that period. And there was one novelty
song, “Shaving Cream”, that originally came from the ‘40s. The
point of the song was that “shaving cream” was used to substitute for a
certain four-letter word beginning with the letter S.
I stopped
for fuel and lunch halfway between Erie and Cleveland, then proceeded
onward. The AT40 broadcast was garbled during the last hour, with
segments being broadcast out of order, but I still listened to it and
enjoyed it as best I could. By this time, I was driving through
Cleveland, and after AT40 ended, I found the Wings-Sharks game on XM (I
was too far from Detroit yet to hear the direct broadcast). San
Jose had scored first, but Detroit scored all of the other goals in the
game. The game ended shortly before I crossed the Ohio-Michigan
border, and with that victory, the Wings needed to win one more to
advance to face Anaheim in the conference finals.
The rest of
the drive went uneventfully, although I was surprised to see that gas
prices had risen a quarter in my absence. By 5:15, I was pulling
into my driveway. After removing the HF antenna from my trunk, I
pulled into the garage. I was home, and it was time to unpack.
Top
THE END
Top
Back
to Travels page
©2007
R. W. Reini.
All
rights reserved.
Map images based on Google Maps.
Written
by Roger Reini
RevisedApril 20, 2008
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