You're Sure To Fall In Love With Old Cape Cod...

If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air....Yesterday, we spent the day in Cape Cod, specifically Provincetown, MA, at the very tip of Cape Cod Bay. It was rainy, overcast and foggy, but we decided that we had to soldier on so that we see all to be seen in Massachusetts. Provincetown is about 70 miles from Plymouth, where we are staying. Winding roads did beckon us.

A quaint little village is not Provincetown. To our surprise, Provincetown reminded us of a small Key West, but lacking class and warm. The too narrow streets of whaling days have been overrun with cheap junk shops, not the charming artsy shops that we expected. It was kind of honky tonk with the juxtaposition of young families with strollers and the night people of South Beach, if you get my drift. The truth is I wasn't feeling well and felt disappointed and overwhelmed by it all. I wanted to love it, I really did. Mel was enjoying the freak show but I just wasn't that into it.

We found out that people here claim Provincetown as the 1st landing site of the Mayflower. It was at this part of Cape Cod Bay, where the Pilgrims conceived and signed the Mayflower Compact, the document that stands as the first attempt at self-governance in this new land. The Pilgrims spent 5 weeks here before moving onto Plymouth, which proved to be a safe harbor for the vessel and passengers.

Below is the content of the compact:

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
"There followed the signatures of 41 of the 102 passengers, 37 of whom were Separatists fleeing religious persecution in Europe. This compact established the first basis in the new world for written laws. Half of the colony failed to survive the first winter, but the remainder lived on and prospered."

Please note that there weren't the thirteen colonies yet; everything was considered Virgina. Above is a photo of a monument in Provincetown, depicting the signing of the compact.
Above is a photo of Pilgrims Monument in the fog. The monument dominates the Provincetown landscape. If you are lost, just look for it. Supposedly, on a clear day, you can see the Boston skyline. Today was not that kind of day. This monument is a replica of one in Siena, Italy and was built in 1910 to commemorate the hardships of the Pilgrims and European migration to these shores.

As we drove along the coast, small cabins were available for rent on the beach. Now, these are what we call cottages.

While we were in Provincetown, I became ill with an undiagnosed ailment. I got dizzy (I know who can tell the difference), achy and headachy. So, we ended our walkabout and returned driving along 6A, so we could take in many of the coastal towns that dot the Cape. When we reached the RV, I went to bed for a nap, hoping that my symptoms would subside, but no, I have some kind of virus and am hoping that I do not end up with a sinus infection. I was like a limp rag this morning so I slept in. At noon, I showered, hoping to perk up a bit.

We decided to take in a movie, The Devil Wears Prada, a non-event movie. It is cute enough to be a rental, but it won't stack up to Superman Returns. I feel bad that we didn't like it more because the actors are impressive and the clothes beautiful. I think we had too high of expectations for this movie, but it could have been better. I guess I just don't understand the life style of fashion, even though I do enjoy looking at great clothes, but there are so many important things that need to be done in this world and it all seems so petty and superficial. Mel hit it on the head as usual, "It wanted to be a comedy, but took itself too seriously." I read that the movie is an homage to the American working woman and I do agree in that respect.

After the movie, we had a small supper at Uno's again. No pizza this time. Just wanted regular simple food. Then, Mel, still trying to keep me jolly, drove into Plymouth, which we haven't done. It was so charming and more of what I had expected of Cape Cod. But, I can't judge the Cape to harshly, the weather was awful and I didn't feel well. We'll give it another chance later this week.

Upon seeing Plymouth, we have decided to spend the day there tomorrow as there are many great looking restaurants and lots to see and walk about. Hope I am 100 percent!

Sorry, if this is disjointed. Contribute it to my on, then off again, fever spikes. Really though, I have been awake since noon and really am feeling so much better. Hopefully, it was one of those 24 hour things. We have too much fun to look forward to this holiday weekend to be sick.

How The Other Half Lives!

Above are photos of privately owned mansions that we saw along Bellevue Avenue and Ocean Drive in Newport, RI. Newport is our new favorite place-East Coast. We don't know what we will see on Cape Cod, but we highly recommend a visit to Newport, if you are looking for a long weekend getaway. We wished that we would have stayed longer but the weather just wasn't with us.

We are now in Plymouth, MA. We moved here yesterday and fortunately had good weather for driving and re-setting up camp. We used the remainder of the day for camper maintenance, so there wasn't much to write about.

As we crossed the border from Rhode Island to Massachusetts, we immediately noticed a change in the air. It is like living with aromatherapy and is good. Massachusetts may be the home of the pinewood forest of song. I know it is odd to write about aroma, but we are both experiencing this phenomenon. If it weren't so humid, we would love to sleep with the windows open, so we could be surrounded by the delightful odor. We have been riding around with the windows open just to breath in the fresh air.

Also, we must be in a valley in the pinewood forest because Internet access is very slow or at times non-existent. Because we are in the woods, we cannot use our satellite dish and the campground does not offer cable so we are limited to local TV, which at best is snowy. We will get a lot of reading done this way.

This morning we woke to rain, so we decided to go to see Superman Returns, a great summer movie. I didn't know how I would feel about a new actor playing Superman, but the movie just sucked me in and I am in love with this new guy, Brandon Routh. Kate Bosworth makes a great Lois Lane, but I can't believe that she can resist Clark, although James Marsden is adorable, too. If you like action and romance, this is a movie for you. The franchise survives!

What made the experience even better is that the theater was in a shopping mall and one of the restaurants was Uno's so we had a Chicago Special before we went to the movie. Yummy!

The Cottages and All That Jazz

Yet, another rainy day in Rhode Island, but we didn't let that stop us-at least it wasn't as bad as yesterday. Our goal today was Newport, Rhode Island and the Newport Flower show.

As we crossed the Verrazano Bridge, we fell in love with Newport. Before coming here, we were told that even in pre-Revolutionary times that wealthy Southern plantation owners would come to Newport in the summer to escape the heat. The Newport we were seeking was the Newport of turn of the 20th century and the Jazz Age. We weren't disappointed. I took almost 400 pictures today with the constant comment of "Oh my lord!" We saw one opulent mansion after another along Bellvue Avenue and Ocean Drive. I wish I could show you all of them.

Above is an American castle, Rosecliff, the site of the Newport Flower Show. I am quoting here from information about Rosecliff. They tell it better than I ever could.

"Newport's most romantic mansion was built for Tessie Hermann Oelrichs in 1902; her father had amassed a fortune from Nevada silver mines. "Tessie", as she was known to her friends, was born in Virginia City, Nevada. Her father, James Graham Fair, was an Irish immigrant who made an enormous fortune from Nevada's Comstock silver lode, one of the richest silver finds in history. During a summer in Newport, Theresa met Hermann Oelrichs playing tennis at the Newport Casino. They were married in 1890. A year later, they purchased the property known as Rosecliff from the estate of historian and diplomat George Bancroft. An amateur horticulturist, it was Bancroft who developed the American Beauty Rose. The Oelrichs later bought additional property along Bellevue Avenue and commissioned Stanford White to replace the original house with the mansion that became the setting for many of Newport's lavish parties.

Stanford White modeled the palace after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles, at a reported cost of $2.5 million. Rosecliff has a heart-shape staircase, and Newport's largest private ballroom.

In 1941, the mansion and its contents were sold for $21,000. It was used as a setting for some scenes in the Robert Redford movie of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1974) and for a ballroom scene in Arnold Schwarzenegger's True Lies (1994)."

"Rosecliff mansion overlooks the Cliffwalk and the Atlantic Ocean. The setting for some of Newport's most lavish parties of the Gilded Age. A tradition that lives on today as Rosecliff mansion still hosts weddings and events all year, including today's Newport Flower Show."

We were so lucky to be here for the Flower Show because in this garden beyond the tents, there was a Jazz combo, providing music to help set the mood for this wonderful party. Mel wouldn't walk to the ocean because the grass was too wet from all the rain, but it was fun to hear the music as we walked through the flower show.

Here is a photo of Newport's harbor with sailboats and the Verazzano Bridge behind it. Those clouds are pea soup fog that hung over the bridge as we arrived and left Newport.

Just as we were about to leave the Cottage area, Mel spotted a sign for a 6 p.m. Candlelight Tour of Belcourt Castle. Above is a photo of the castle. Below is a commentary on the history of the castle.

"Belcourt Castle was constructed for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, who inherited a fortune from his father August Belmont, the Rothschild Banking representative in America. His summer cottage incorporated his love for horses and armor, medieval and renaissance architecture within 60-rooms. A bachelor of 36, he had 30 servants - butler, house staff, footmen/stableboys, kitchen staff and groundskeepers - whose aggregate wages were about $100.00 a week for round-the clock service.

As early as 1888, during the Gilded Age Society extravaganzas, Mr. Belmont met Mrs. William Kissam Vanderbilt, wife of his best friend and business partner in several sporting ventures. Alva E. Smith, daughter of an Alabama cotton merchant, was educated in France, married the second son of William H. Vanderbilt and had three children before she divorced Vanderbilt to marry Oliver Belmont in 1895.

After Belmont's death at 50 in 1908, Mrs. Belmont became involved in the Women's movement and actively supported votes for women. She died in 1933, still the owner of Belcourt. Belcourt was sold by the last surviving brother, Perry Belmont, in 1940. It remained unoccupied until 1956, when the present owners, the Tinney Family, purchased the house as a residence. Belcourt Castle soon evolved into a museum as the Tinneys added their fabulous art collection from 33 European and Oriental countries."

"BELCOURT CASTLE is the former summer cottage of Oliver and Alva Belmont, a society couple of the 1890s and 1900s. Oliver commissioned the 60 room chateau-style mansion in 1891, with construction carrying through until 1894. Oliver was mugged in New York City that year and was unable to move in for the 1894 summer season. Belcourt's gothic-mediaeval decor saw no parties, balls or soirees.
Oliver Belmont arrived at Belcourt in July 1895, the beginning of the social season. However, being a bachelor, there were few festivities at Belcourt. That changed after Alva Vanderbilt of Marble House divorced her husband, Oliver's best friend, and soon after (in 1896) married Oliver himself. The couple spent their summers as Belcourt Castle until Oliver's untimely death in 1908, from complications following an appendectomy.
Widowed, Alva Belmont started a renovation project at Belcourt, one that would see Oliver Belmont's dream of living above his stables evolve into an even grander and more eccentric composition of classical European styles, dating from the Renaissance on forward.
After Alva moved to France, Belcourt changed hands many times, first within the Belmont family and then out. The castle became dilapidated and was at risk of demolition until the Harold B. Tinney family purchased the delerict mansion for the price of $25 000. In eight months of ownership, the Tinneys managed not only to greatly improve the castle, but fully furnish it and open it up for tours in July 1957.
Over the years, the Tinney collections and Belcourt have evolved greatly. Guests at Belcourt may enjoy such sights as the Golden Coronation Coach, a Russian imperial chandelier, German throne chairs, stained glass and antiques from thirty-three European and Oriental countries. The notable stained glass collection includes pieces from many different eras and represents the largest private collection of stained glass in the United States."

For my part, this cottage was a bit overdone. I mean, I like opulence as well as the next person but even I, who am over the top most of the time, thought this was too much. The tour guide explained why--because he could. Alva was a bit wacky, too, after Oliver's demise, she undertook a remodeling job that was about as crazy as his thoughts. She was a bit of a witch. Her daughter, who loved another man, was engaged to an English duke with Alva's help. Alva wanted to be associated with royalty. Oliver and Alva deserved each other. However all good things must come to and end, and so this life style fell out of favor with the onset of World War I and the Great Depression. It seems the Vanderbilts, Belmonts, etc. lost their wealth during these hard times. Mel loved the castle-a great place for a Halloween party. I just thought it was creepy!

Rainy Day In Providence

It started to rain just past midnight last night and continued all night, all day and all night again. This is the first time on this entire trip that we had a complete washout. But undeterred, we drove to Providence, RI for a day trip. Above is a photo of the high school in East Providence on Hope Street. How elegant is that? It'd be easy to be true to your school.

In search of food, we drove through Providence and ended up in Pawtucket, RI, where we found Gregg's restaurant, a basic Greek-type restaurant, but with the best apple pie that Mel had ever eaten-so he said. Above is a sample of just one of the beautiful homes here. Providence is the home of Brown University-so think Evanston with hills.
Providence is the location of Rhode Island's state capitol. I caught this shot of the Capitol from the east side of the Providence River. You may know that Rhode Island is the smallest state in the union, and from east to west is 37 miles wide and north to south is 48 miles long. You can get around quickly here.

We aren't really sure what this building is but it is a beauty. We saw it on our way out of town. It started to deluge so we decided to take in a movie in Wakefield.

We saw what we have voted as the worst movie ever, or at least for 2006, Nacho Libre. Normally, we like Jack Black, but this was just bad movie making and insulting to Latinos everywhere as well as sacriligeous. It is totally politically incorrect. What were they thinking? We don't know why they wasted the celluloid on this drivel. We seriously thought of walking out just because we were embarrassed for Jack Black, not just because it was bad. It was that painful to watch. See Click instead or Cars, even better.

Forward To Rhode Island

Today was moving day again. While we enjoyed the area and Connecticut is beautiful, three days is sufficient to see and do. We moved from Old Mystic, CT to Wakefield, RI about 35 miles to the east. I have included photos of whale statuary, similar to our Chicago Cows. Both were found in Mystic, CT. This one was near Mystic Pizza.
This whale was near our campground, where the Somewhere In Time restaurant was located. We aren't sure which either of the whales are illustrating, but we are sure the locals know. The area has strong ties to the whaling industry, but we heard that there are few whales left because they have been fished out, so I wasn't too keen about hearing of whaling history.

Here, we are passing by Mystic Seaport, a whaling place, on our way to Rhode Island. The ship is the Amistad 2000 that I wrote about in a previous blog. In New London, CT, there is a restoration of one of Wyland's Whaling Walls. We are hoping to take in whale watching while in Rhode Island, if we have time.

This is a photo of the beautiful countryside in Rhode Island. U. S. 1 runs along the coastline so there was water to the south of us. Our campground is located at Worden Pond, which I would describe as more of a lake, but we are buried deep in the woods. This is the closest that we have come to roughing it, which in our case isn't too rough.

After we were settled in, we decided to see Click, the new movie with Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale. We were pleasantly surprised that the movie was so entertaining, since the critics don't seem to like it. I was prepared not to like it because I don't care much for Adam Sandler and his characters, but I found this movie refreshing, though I would be very careful about taking kids to see it. Everyone had strong parts. It was funny, but the message was poignant-along the lines of Spanglesh and 50 First Dates.

After the movie, we went to a Greek restauant that had great food. We actually discussed the movie and Mel asked, "What would you do over again?" We both answered that we wish we would have spent more time with our kids as they were growing up. We were so involved in making ends meet and providing for them physically that we felt we were gyped out of just enjoying them. On the other hand, we could recount great memories and hope that they remember them, too. Feeling nostalgic, tonight. Stupid movie!

Through The Periscope

We woke up today to a weather report that said 80's and 100% humidity. How is that possible without rain? Now, it is 69 and 89% humidity and we are sitting with the air conditioning on just to relieve the humidity. I have a jacket and shorts on-my body is so confused.

The cool photo above actually was taken through a periscope in the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, CT and the photo is of the 1st nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, commissioned in 1954. In 1958, the Nautilus traveled to and under the North Pole. The story of this adventure was written in a book, "Nautilus 90 North"-one of my childhood favorites. At the time, I felt that Admiral Rickover was one of the smartest men in the world.

We started out our morning at a little diner, named "Somewhere in Time," furnished with 1950's dinette sets, cute and a great breakfast. Then, we drove to Groton, CT to the submarine base that includes the Submarine Force Museum. Wisely, they have the museum just outside of the base, so idiots cannot see any of the truly important fleets housed there. The photo shows the entry to the museum. The two circles represent the sizes of the Holland class subs to the Ohio class subs as they have grown over the years.

This photo is a replica of a Polaris missle silo that are carried on our subs, except that the subs carry more than one of these missles. Makes you wonder what is the North Korean's Kim Jong is thinking, when you see these lined up on a sub. Maybe he should have seen the video that was shown in the museum on strategic defense.

The best part of the museum was to actually board the Nautilus for a tour. Usually, I don't like climbing around in submarines, but they did a nice job on this one. Don't laugh, I actually have been on several submarines and they can be hot and uncomfortable as you climb through those hatches. Oh yes, I must add that the Museum of Science and Industry has done a beautiful job on the U-Boat 505 exhibit.

Okay, now I am officially concerned, I just saw on the web and now on CNN that seven suspects have been arrested in Miami for planning an attack on the Sears tower. Glad the FBI were on there toes, today. Stay safe everyone.

After we finished the museum, we drove through Groton that has many beautiful Victorian homes along the Thames River. Then, we drove back to Mystic and toured the Olde Mystic Towne, (similar to Long Grove) with lots of unique shops. As a treat, Mel bought me gold sea turtle earrings to go with my Valentine's Day sea turtle bracelet. I had given up on my search after we left Florida. Who knew that we'd find them in Connecticut.

By 4:00 p.m., we were hot and tired, and with a theater right there, we decided to see the movie, Cars, for a second time. If you haven't treated yourself to a movie lately, we highly recommend this. When it comes out in DVD, we will add it to our collection.

At 6:30 p.m., we came out of the theater feeling good and finally cool. I thought we would head home to the RV, but Mel had other ideas.

This morning, he saw a flyer for a car show in a small coastal town in Rhode Island. "Let's try to find the car show." So, armed with only a map and the name of the town off we went to Rhode Island, in search of the car show. After a few missed turns, we stumbled across the road that was mentioned in the flyer and in a matter of minutes, we were at the car show. Mel was happy to find it but was disappointed at the quality of the show. According to Mel, the car shows are so much better in Chicago--and we all know Mel knows what he is talking about.

A Day in Mystic Seaport

Today was a hot and steamy day in Mystic. We went to historic Mystic Seaport, a re-creation of an 1800's seaport town. A few of the buildings were authentic to the area. Some were moved from other sites to complete the town, but four of the ships are on the National Historic Register. The ship in the photo above is of the Amistad, built right at the Mystic shipyard in 2000. This ship is a replica of the original Amistad that was the focal point of the 1841 Supreme Court case that was argued successfully by John Quincy Adams on behalf of 35 Africans, who had been kidnapped from West Africa, then mutinied to save themselves. Upon winning the case, they were returned to Africa. The replica was built to be a classroom and a monument to those who suffered from the slave trade.
It took us most of the day to tour the town, as there were many buildings and an active shipyard, which delighted Mel. In addition to the indoor ship yard, there was a working sawmill and a lumber yard that provides the wood for the rebuilding of the wooden ships.

Once we crossed the Mystic River to visit the town of Mystic. We drove down the roads along the river and were able to take this photo of Mystic Seaport from the opposite shore.

Again, here is another photo of Mystic Seaport from the opposite shore. Shown in the photo, are the Amistad to the left, then, the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling ship, built in 1841 and the Joseph Conrad, another whaler build in 1882. Both the Charles W. Morgan and the Joseph Conrad are ships on the National Historic Register.

After Mystic Seaport closed, we drove less than a mile to the village of Mystic and miraculously found an on street parking spot just as we crossed over the bridge. Mystic has two blocks of charming little stores so we did some window shopping. We closed our day with a pizza from Mystic Pizza. To our surprise and pleasure, the pizza was good, not as good as Chicago, but truly edible, especially the crust.

So we went home tired, sweaty, stuffed, but happy campers.

Magical Mystic Moving Day

As I am writing this on Tuesday, June 20th, we are experiencing a raging hail and rain storm. I am using the computer battery because I am afraid that the lightening storm will fry the computer. This is the strongest storm that we have experienced during our adventures.

Yesterday, we left Long Island aboard the Cross Sound Ferry, between New London, CT-Orient, LI, NY. We were one of the first vehicles on the ferry so we had a front row spot. Mel took this picture of Mickey, piloting the RV across Long Island Sound and up the Thames River. Our voyage was strange. On the starboard side, we had sunshine and on port side, pea soup fog. It was as if the ferry boat captain had found the center lane between the two and steered to ship forward to New London. By the time that we reached New London, CT, the skies had brightened and when we drove off the ferry, we were in sunshine. This is a photo of New London's Historic Waterfront. New London was founded in 1648 by Governor John Winthrop and originally named, Pequot, for the local Indian tribe (Moby Dick, anyone?). It was renamed New London in 1658 and was a thriving whaling town in 1784.

We crossed the Thames River to Groton, CT and headed to our campsite in Old Mystic, CT. Once we were settled in, we drove to Stonington, CT for lunch at Captain's Dock. We instantly fell in love with this little seaport town, clinging to the shore of Wequetequock Cove. The tour book guides don't even mention this gem, but we thought it was the best thing we have seen since leaving Philadelphia. Stonington was founded in 1647 and was claimed by the Massachusetts in 1658, but after a long trial, Connecticut reclaimed it in 1666. We drove up and down the narrow streets, enjoying the beautiful architecture from the period.

And here it is Mystic Pizza of movie fame. We did not get to stop here, since we just had lunch, but will come back another day, when we tour beautiful Mystic. Between the movie and seaport lore, did you know that Mystic was really an Indian word describing a large river, the Mystic River, whose waters are driven by tides and wind? We didn't either. It is celebrating its 352nd birthday this year.

Happy Father's Day!

Hope that all you fathers out there have had a spectacular day. As you can tell from the photo above, the weather on Long Island was perfect. While New York City's temperature was to be 92 degrees, with the Atlantic breezes, it was only about 82 delightful degrees.

We started out with lunch on the Long Island Sound-side of Long Island on the North Fork. We had lunch at the Soundview Cafe, not far out of Greenport. We had a waterside view that was so lovely we would have been content to stay there for the day.

Since it was Father's Day, Mel took the lead for where we would go. I wasn't doing the driving so I felt he should decide where and how far we would go. While we had lunch, Mel decided that because this is our last day on Long Island, we would take a long drive through the Hamptons on the South Fork. We drove through Southampton, where there was one mansion after another but all surrounded by ten foot tall box hedges. Guess they didn't want us peons riding through there neighborhoods. Lovely, nonetheless.

Then, there was Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Amagansett and finally, ending in Montauk, at the very tip of Long Island. We were surprised at the topography of the area. The towns along the Atlantic Coast were typical flatland beaches buffered by huge dunes to protect the flatlands, but as we approached Montauk, the land turned into hills with beautiful views of the Atlantic and Block Island Sound. The photo above is the Montauk Point Lighthouse and since it is on the highest point of Montauk probably could be seen for miles and miles.

At the Montauk Point refreshment stand, these shark teeth were hung over the doorway. These jaws were from the largest fish ever caught on a rod and reel, landed in Montauk on August 6, 1986. The shark was 17 1/2 feet long and weighed 3,427 pounds. I guess it was a Great White Shark, but what do I know.

Returning from Montauk, we decided to tour through Sag Harbor, from where we could take a ferry to Shelter Island and from Shelter Island to Greenport. We like these ferry shortcuts. The whole time that we have been here, I have wanted to visit Shelter Island, but the locals were not too enthusiastic, so Mel refused to take the ferry there. Since it was our last hours on Long Island, he relented. You would know that we saved the best for last. Sag Harbor was lovely, but we fell in love with Shelter Island-pretty drives, homes and boats and darling restaurants. Shoot! Above, is a photo of our favorite Shelter Island house and boat, all caught while we were on the ferry. We'd be happy with either or both.

Finally, we made it back to our home base. Above is a photo of Greenport Harbor from the water with its' proud metal eagle guarding the harbor. We felt that of all the towns in North Fork of Long Island that we liked Greenport the best. It was a lovely town with great people

As I wrote this, Mel has been torturing me with NHRA drag racing, followed by the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs. I am thoroughly nauseated at this point so I will end writing for today. I sure hope Mel enjoyed being in charge for Father's Day because tomorrow, we are going back to normal-shared decision making. Ha! Ha!

The Fleet Is In!

We had planned to drive west toward New York City today to first visit the northside of Long Island and then make our way back on the southside of Long Island. We dressed in shorts because the temperature was supposed to be 92 degrees and sunny. When we left the RV, it was overcast with a sprinkling rain. So, we decided to have lunch in Greenport at "The Loft" that was recommended by the campground office.

We had a charming waiter, Steve, who laughed and joked with us and wasn't even gay. There were only three or four other couples there. As we were eating, the chef joined us to find out how we liked our meals. Mel had ordered St. Louis ribs and I had commented that I would be the judge of whether or not they met my criteria for St. Louis ribs, given I was born and raised in St. Louis. Fortunately, they passed muster, because I wouldn't have had the heart to tell the chef that they were wrong. We decided to have dessert, which is usually a treat for us. They had strawberry shortcake on the menu so I ordered that as it had been awhile since I had it. Out came the chef, what did I think of the dessert? It was scrumptious, so he was pleased. Really, these little places are so happy to have people in their establishments. I ended up keeping the bill because for Mel's ribs, the computer printed out, "Nice Rack." Too cute!

The photo above is of the Greenport train station that we found as the train pulled in. This would be another way to get into New York City, but at this point, I think we will just remember our 2000 trip to New York. It is 2 1/2 hour trip to the big city and Mel just cannot face the commute. Can we say McHenry?

I just realized that my photos are out of order here. Nonetheless (Kendra take notice!), the Annapolis training fleet had pulled into port for liberty in Greenport. While you cannot see them, there are eight to ten training ships in port. Since the last week of May, the midshippersons, who had graduated, have been at sea, gaining their sea legs so to speak. Here they have caught up with us in Greenport. Who knew? When we walked the waterfront yesterday, they weren't there and then today, they were.

As we walked down the pier to look at the wooden ships more closely, we ran into our charming waiter from "The Loft." Steve was on break so he walked along with us and was fascinated when we told him of our adventure. He is 21 and at the end of the season, which we learned is July 1st through Labor Day, he is leaving for an eight month stay in London. He'll spend 4 months at school for the Fall semester and will spend the Spring semester touring Europe. But before he leaves, he and his mother are taking a trip to Chicago, a city he learned about when he took a course in museum history. These New Yorkers have never been to the Midwest, so be nice to them when they visit. Okay?

Regarding "the season," Jim told us that the kids do not get out of school until June 23rd. I told Mel the other day that I saw a crossing guard and he said that wasn't possible, since it is summer. Oh well!

After our lovely cheerful lunch, the skies had not cleared and it remained cool. So, we decided to take in a movie. I called the theater to find out that Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, was playing. We walked to our little theater, but we were in a different area and there were no sofas. The problem with documentaries is that they are about reality and usually don't make you feel good when they are over.

The environment is serious business and no one in government seems to be paying attention. I do believe that we have the technology, the brains, even the money, but lack the political will, to take action. While you have petroleum czars in the drivers seat, nothing will improve. If Al Gore is not running for office, he could turn into a statesmen, which we are sorely lacking. This may be a better role for him. He could join with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to foment changes in our policies. Maybe, they could be our era's Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. These are very smart men and they can now speak for the best interest of the country. You know, do the right thing, not the politically expedient thing.

Sorry about the soap box, but we continue to be in despair and desolation. We were the ones, who have run away, remember?

Finally, I close with this photo of a perfect little house in Greenport. Isn't it charming? The gingerbread is just adorable. Cutesy!