In and Around Portland

We have moved on from Salem and the State of Massachusetts. There was so much to do there and we loved our stay.

Now, we are in Portland, Maine, which has its own kind of beauty. We have been lying low because it has been so hot and humid, but we decided that we have to get out there or we will miss so much. We have been assured that this weather is unseasonable for the area and the locals, too, are having trouble dealing with it.

Above is a photo of the Maine coast line. Isn't it beautiful? Just a few yards to the left of this photo is the site of a major ship sinking, the Annie C. Maguire on Christmas Eve in 1886. You can see from the water crashing on the rocks why the waters here are so treacherous.

We took the Portland trolley tour as we like to do. Portland is the largest city in Maine, with a population of 64,000 people and 230,000 in the metro area. It is a very classy looking city for the Eastern Coast. Most of its building and even the streets and sidewalks are made of brick, stone or ballast from old sailing ships. In 1866, Portland experienced a fire that destroyed the city. In the rebuilding of the city, the townspeople wisely decided to build with more durable materials. So, there are wonderful Victorian-style buildings throughout Portland.

Above is a statue of a Maine lobsterman. Lobster fishing is a major economic driver in Maine and the statue honors those men, and now women, who risk their lives to bring in lobster for our plates. In honor of this fact, I had to have a Maine lobster. The only problem was that they brought the whole lobster, tentacles and all on the plate. As a Midwesterner, the only lobster I have had is in the form of the tails. Mel just laughed as I manuevered the lobster in all its glory around my plate. The waitress had no mercy for me and left me floundering with the little guy. I felt like I was back in biology class dissecting whatever they made me dissect. Yuck! A farm girl I am not. Then, there was this green stuff, the liver, which is supposed to be a delicacy. I was just disgusted. I hid these most unsavory parts under my napkin so that I could enjoy the part of the lobster that I was used to. For now, I am off lobster, until I get back to Chicago, where it is served in a civilized manner. Oh yes, there is something called the Lazy Man's Lobster, where the lobster meat has already been dressed from the shell. They charge about double for that service, so I guess I will eat beef from here on in.

Maine is the mecca for lighthouses with more than 60 dotting the coast of Maine. Given the jagged nature of the coastline, it isn't any wonder that this would be true. Above is a photo of Portland's Head Light, the oldest, built in 1791, and one of the most photographed lighthouses on the East Coast. This is the location, where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned his famous poem, The Lighthouse.

Because I have always associated Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with Cambridge, MA, I was surprised to find out that he had been born here in Portland and spent his first 30 years here. Granted his popularity didn't peak until the 1850's, but his poetry surely was informed by his early years here in Portland. Even Mel is familiar with Longfellow since the poet was part of the literary landscape of our childhoods.

Witches and Writers

Friendship Sailing Ship in Port at Salem, MA

My favorite witch, Samantha, has a place of honor in Salem.
The oldest candy store in America.

The House of the Seven Gables that served as the setting for Hawthorne's novel of the same name.

Tonight's blog will be short because it is so late. Today was our last day in Salem. We lunched on the Salem Wharf and had a table overlooking the Friendship sailing ship.

Then, we moved onto the Witches Dungeon, where actresses put on a short skit using dialogue for the transcripts of the Salem witch trials. Afterwards, they led us through a replica of the dungeons that held those accused of being witches, which turned out to be a dark, dank basement with cells and statues and occasionally, one would move (being one of the actresses) and our fellow tourists would scream in terror. Okay, it was hokey but the skit was good.

From there, we went to the Salem Witch Museum, which was even hokier than the dungeons. The only saving grace was that they did tell the story of the how all of the hysteria came about. It seems some teenage girls, being bored, started telling tales as pranks, but the results were the deaths of 20 people. After we heard the genesis of the tale, we pondered what the adults could have been thinking. The girls should have been spanked for their pranks. About 10 years after the hangings, one of the girls confessed that it was all a hoax. None of the girls were punished and the townspeople got mad at the recantor for bringing the whole mess up again. Yikes!

Then, we set out for the oldest candy store in America. I thought it would be fun to see what it looked like after our witch hunt. It was a very tiny store, but they still make candy on the premises, actually using some of the old candy molds. The molds seem to be made of cast iron, which never wears out, I guess.

Close by, was the House of Seven Gables that Hawthorne used as the setting from one of his most popular books.

After we finished touring, we returned to the RV to pick up our laundry. It has been so hot here, except for today, that I wanted to get everything clean before the next leg of our adventure. Last week, we had seen a very nice laundromat near the grocery store, so we went there tonight. Once the laundry was done, we did our food shopping and stop at a nearby Walgreens for supplies.

When we returned to the RV, our neighbors, Mike and Joanne, were sitting out as the evening on the water was absolutely gorgeous. We decided to join them to watch the sunset. One thing led to another and before we knew it it was 1o:00 p.m. We still had to make our bed and store our clothes away.

I wanted to mention that there was no blog last night much to my dismay. We had had such a lovely day that I wrote for two hours. As I was ready to publish, the computer hiccuped and I lost all the work for the evening. I will try to restore it in a few days but it will be hard to recreate my enthusiasm for a second try. Plus, we will me on our way to new adventures.

The Perfect Storm

I am sending out two blogs today because there was a subtext to our day. Because we had a lot to accomplish today, we woke early. We had noticed that RV sites had opened up right at the water's edge. We wanted to get to the office early to extend our stay an extra day and to move to the water. While Mel moved the RV to our new space, the park ranger asked how we were getting into Boston. I said that we'd be taking the ferry. He said it was a good choice because last night around 11 p.m., a 12 ton section of ceiling in one of the Big Dig tunnels collapsed killing a woman. This was shocking, sobering news because we used the tunnels to move from Plymouth to Salem. The local news has been carrying the story non-stop. Heads will roll, according tothe Governor.

Above is a photo of the Salem Ferry. Between showering, dressing and moving our base camp, we still made it to the ferry landing with ample time to spare for the 10 a.m. ferry run. Our cruise was uneventful.

Above is a photo of our RV parked at the water's edge.
Around 1:30 p.m., we were at the Old North Church in Boston's North End neighborhood. It was overcast, but we decided that we would move onto the U. S. Constitution. By the time that we arrived there, the clouds were gathering, so we decided to board the vessel before the rain started. By the time that we left the museum associated with the ship, it had started to drizzle. Mel decided that we would have time to make it back to the pier to catch the 3:00 p.m. ferry. Fortunately, by the time that we made it to the street from the Constitution port, Mel was able to hail a cab. It was 2:45 p.m. The cabbie assured us that we would be at the pier in 6 minutes. Of course, it was drizzling a bit and one of the major streets had a traffic accident on it. The cabbie took advantage of the traffic tie-up by gracefully and carefully driving through red lights. "They're not going anywhere." It took a little longer that the six minutes but we arrived at the pier at 2:58 p.m. as we watched the ferry pulling into port. We sprinted down the pier, waving to the dock hand that we were running as fast as we could.

Safely aboard inside the ferry, we felt snug and smug. As we cruised, the storm clouds really darkened and then I saw lightening flash on the northside of Logan airport. Oh! Oh! But the ferry was very stable on the waves. Then, the captain announced that everyone out in the open should come inside as strong storms with lightening were predicted. But we sailed on, though overcast, we had no real negative weather.

About midway to Salem, the captain announced that tornado funnels had been sighted in Salem and that it was hailing. Because of those conditions, we would stay at sea because we were safer there than on shore. That sounded reasonable, especially since we weren't experiencing adverse weather.

Above is a photo of the lighthouse that stands about 200 yards from our new site. It is not a working lighthouse or we would be blinded by the light.

Finally, the captain announced that there was a clearing in Salem and that we would be docking. However, because of the wind, he had difficulty docking the ferry and the rain started up again. We could see passengers waiting to board being whipped by wind and rain. We had no rain gear with us but were unconcerned as we were minutes from returning to the the RV. As we deboarded, it started raining heavier with thunder and lightening.

We had to traverse about 100 yards over aluminum gangplanks and as we stepped off onto rock and sand, Mel said, "It's good to be off metal in a lightening storm." I started to laugh because it was what I had been thinking the whole time we were trying to reach land. We made a mad dash to the Jeep, but got drenched anyway.

As we drove out of the parking lot, we saw two fellow travelers from ferry walking across the lot in the downpour. Mel drove over to them to offer a ride. As they gratefully jumped into the car, the sky just opened up, dumping loads of rain from the sky, a real nor'easter. Our passengers were hotel workers at the Hawthorne Inn, so we ended up driving back into town to deliver them safely to their destination. It was raining so hard that Mel could barely see to drive. Sheila and Rudy gave him good directions and eventually we arrived at the hotel. Then, we had to make our way back to Winter Island Park. Once there, we had to sit in the car waiting for the rain to subside.

Finally, we were able to get into the RV. I quickly discarded my wet clothes and slipped on my fluffy robe. I went into the bathroom to dry my hair. When I emerge, Mel said that he was about to abandon the RV as tornado-type wind gusts had hit the RV head on. I thought, "Great! I could just see the headlines, 'An unidentified naked woman was found floating in Massachusetts Bay.' " Mind you, I neither heard nor felt any disruption as I had the hair dryer going. Mel could have left and I would never had known. After the storm, to prove to me how bad it was, Mel pointed to the satellite dish. Fortunately, the wind had pushed it four or five feet until it lodged under a picnic table. Had it not been for the picnic table, we would have lost the dish. Needless to say, we did lose our signal.

When it was safe to go outside, we emerged to meet our new neighbors, Mike and Joanne, who said that they, also, thought about abandoning their RV. I seemed to have been the only one not aware of the impending danger. Then, Mel had to reposition the satellite so we could get video.

The photo above is of the damage to our neighbors' site. See the ratty tablecloth. Joanne said that it was brand new and she had just put it out this morning. Yes, that is how bad the wind was. She said that the hail was the size of large marbles. Fortunately, neither the RV nor the Jeep were damaged in the storm. "Wow!"

On The Freedom Trail

It was back to Boston for a 2nd day of touring. Yesterday was so hot and muggy that we weren't able to take in all the sites that we had planned. The ferry had made it so easy to access Boston that we decided to take it again. While we were cruising, we talked over lunch plans. Thinking I would please Mel, I had researched a good Italian restaurant in the North End neighborhood, known for its Italian restaurants. But Mel had other ideas. From the trolley yesterday, he had spotted a waterfront restaurant not far from the pier. So I agreed to his plan.

The name of the restaurant was Joe's. It was right on the water next to Columbus Park. We took the table closest to the water to take advantage of the gorgeous Boston skyline and the yachts in the harbor. The food and view were A+.

To our advantage, the restaurant was only three blocks from Paul Revere's house. The house is shown in the photo above. Paul Revere is the true Boston patriot, somewhat akin to Ben Franklin in Philadelphia. He was not a man of letters as many of our forefathers were, but he was a man of action and very productive. He fathered 16 children with 2 wives. His first wife died after giving birth to their 8th child. Within 6 months, Paul was remarried and went on to have another 8 children with his 2nd wife. Only 11 of his children survived to adulthood, so the house was never occupied by all 16 children at one time.

As we emerged into the garden, a gentlemen, dressed in garb of the time period, peeked over the fence and said, "Ah, I see that you, too, are waiting to be reimbursed by Revere. That happens a lot in this neighborhood with that rapscallion." We burst out laughing and by the time that we reached the gate, he'd disappeared. Had we not been together to see and hear him, we would have thought we were hallucinating. We love that stuff. We never did catch up with the guy.

There is a red brick line to follow on the Freedom Trail. If you follow, it will take you to places of note in Boston. From Revere's house, we found Paul Revere's statue in the Paul Revere Mall near the Old North Church, also known as Christ Church. "Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere"...H. W. Longfellow.

Here is the best photo that I could get of Old North Church of "One, if by land, and two, if by sea" fame. The story goes that Paul Revere had recruited the sexton of the church to light the lanterns. Robert Newman, the sexton, had secretly let himself into the church on the night of April 18, 1775 to hang the lanterns as the rebels or patriots had requested. He hung two lanterns, warning that the British were crossing by boat the Charles River. Once the deed was done, he let himself out of a rear window of the church. All this was undetected, until the British commander, who attended the church, figured out that it had to be Newman, since he was the only person with a key to the church. Newman was arrested, but because there were no witnesses nor evidence, he was set free.

The photo above is of the USS Constitution, or Old Ironsides. The ship is moored in Charleston Naval Yard and is still a commissioned Navy warship. The ship was built in Boston, but has been around the world. Its sides are made from 21 inch thick oak planks and it hull is reinforced with copper plate made by Paul Revere. It was named by George Washington, commissioned in 1790, carried 450 men and did service in the War of 1812. It fought in 42 battles and was never defeated. Nowadays, women serve on the ship.

This tour completed our trip to Boston, another great city with lots of history.

Two If By Sea...

We were up bright and early this morning so that we could take the new ferry service from Salem to Boston. The service just began June 24th so not too many people know about it yet. It was a great way to see the Massachusetts coast line and such an easy way into Boston. Who needs the headaches of driving and parking? The ferry docks right at the Boston Aquarium and we were steps away from Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market. Above is a photo of the Boston Skyline. Mel kept saying, "This is just beautiful"--the Old Man and the Sea!
Above is a photo of Faneuil Hall, built in 1742 and expanded in 1806, known as the "Cradle of Liberty." It was built as both a town meeting hall and a public market. A number of revolutionaries in the 1770's and abolitionists in the 1850's delivered important speeches here. It was from this place that the patriots of Boston debated the taxation questions of the day, which helped to launch the Revolutionary War. The second story of the building serves still as a gathering place to discuss issues. John F. Kennedy announced his run for the Presidency here and it can be rented for rallies and debates today.

After the talk on the Hall, we went to Durgin Park Restaurant in the North Market Hall for a tasty lunch of Boston Baked Beans and Yankee Pot Roast, which was as good as Pilot Pete's. Durgin Park has been around since Revolutionary times, but the current restaurant is only 130 years old.

Then, we took the Gray Line Trolley Tour from hell with a Goth-styled driver/narrator, who drove erractically, forgetting to tell us about the sights and sounds of the city. It was two hours of terror-Salem isn't that scary. Once we got to our original starting point, we deboarded and reboarded onto another trolley so we could tour Beacon Hill. This driver/narrator was so good that we felt much better about the tour line. We will be reporting Ms. Scary.

At Beacon Hill, we were able to see the Boston Commons, where the colonists used to bring their cows to graze and the Boston Public Gardens, where the person-powered Swan Boats and the Make Way For Ducklings statues are located. Beacon Hill is the place to live in Boston as it overlooks the Boston Commons. The condos there sell for $4 million plus and the buildings, clearly beloved, are old and decrepit. We assume that the interiors are fabulous. The photo above is of the Massachusetts State House that is across from the Boston Commons.

Here is a photo of the statue of Sam Adams, patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Adams statue stands in front of Fanenuil Hall because in 1772, Adams suggested that Massachusetts join the other colonies in organizing a Committee of Correspondence in order to share information about British oppression and rebel reactions. While this is the Sam Adams that the beer is named after, it was his father, who was the brewer.

Cape Ann Environs

Rockport, MA

Today, we drove around Cape Ann, which we enjoyed ever so much more than Cape Cod. We couldn't put our finger on it, but I think it was the geography. The land is much hillier and rocky, but gave us good views of the ocean as we drove along the seaside. We went clockwise around the Cape, starting at Rockport, then Gloucester, Magnolia and Manchester-By-The-Sea.
Our favorite town was Rockport. We hadn't expected it to be so picturesque and charming with boulder strewn beaches and cute shops and restaurants.

Gloucester Memorial

At Gloucester, we toured the wharf, where the movie, Perfect Storm, was filmed. Mel liked that there was boat building shops and project boats scattered along the piers. Gloucester is a working city, very proud of its seafaring history. It is the oldest seaport (1623) in America and the home of Gorton's Seafood. On the beachfront, there is the famous Fisherman's Memorial statue, sculpted by Leonard Craske and dedicated in August 23, 1925. This is a memorial to all of the Gloucester fishermen who have lost their lives while fishing. It faces the outer harbor in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Magnolia, MA

We continued our ride around Route 127 is very scenic. Besides fishing, the area is known for its granite quarries. Along the highway, there are big boulders nesting around the trees like they are waiting to be farmed. In Magnolia and Manchester-By-The-Sea, there were large homes, wooded areas and many ocean views as we wound through the villages and towns.

Manchester-By-The-Sea, MA

We headed back to Peabody, MA, where we had a lovely dinner. I wanted a small meal so I ordered the small prime rib. When it arrived, it was the biggest prime rib slice that I have ever seen. I asked the waiter, if there was a mistake and he assured me that it was the small portion. Half of it along with the rib is now in the frig for lunch tomorrow.

We topped off our day with a stroll through our home park and along the coast line of the harbor. It was such a lovely walk but felt like someone had turned on the air-conditioning as it cool down as the sunset.

Pirates!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest! SEE IT!!!! We did--twice!

Salem Sights

The photo above is not a witch statue. It is a statue of Roger Conant, the founder of Salem. Salem was founded in 1626 and its name is a variation on the word "shalom" or peace. But Salem was far from peaceful, given the history of the area.

First, around 1635, the town dismissed a minister, Roger Williams, who preached that the natives should be compensated for their land and believed in the separation of church and state. He went on to establish Rhode Island.

Then, of course, there were the witch trials of 1692. The Puritans, who escaped religious persecution from England, were intolerant of the Quakers who arrived in 1658, culminating in the torture, imprisonment and death for 15 months until the judge, whose family members were accused of being witches, declared spectral evidence inadmissable in the court of law. It seems that if you volunteered that you were a witch, then you would be left alone. But if you were accused of being a witch and could not prove that you weren't, then you were declared a witch and suffered the consequences.

Today, there is a modern day memorial, dedicated by Elie Wiesel in 1992, to the memory of the 20 people who had been executed as a result of the trials.

In the 1800's, Salem was home to Nathaniel Hawthorne, at various times in his life. Hawthorne was born in Salem, and then lived here again when he was married. He worked as a customs official (a government employee, who collected taxes from the ships using Salem Harbor). It was boring work, but gave Hawthorne plenty of time to pen great works, like The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. Above is a photo of the sailing vessel, Friendship, a replica of an 18th century commercial vessel that is moored at Derby Wharf in Salem Harbor. She was returning from Boston, after being part of the 4th of July festivities. She is the most recent ship of its kind built in Albany, NY in 1997.

In the eighteenth century, Salem had become a burgeoning fishing, shipbuilding and maritime trade center. Two months before the battles in Lexington and Concord, skirmishes between merchant ships, known as privateers, and the British navy broke out in Salem. Salem's fleet captured or sank 455 British vessels. By 1790, Salem was the sixth largest city in the country, and the richest per capita due to international trade with Europe, the West Indies, China, Africa and Russia.

So, why a picture of the RV in its sad little site? The trolley tour came through the city park and as we passed the RV sites, it was explained that the area is called Gallows Hill, where pirates were hung for their sundry infractions. Mel is so excited that he is parked where pirates once roamed (and died). The boy needs a hobby.

Please note that at least for today, we have no immediate neighbors, though there are other campers not far from us. When we came by on the tour, they had departed and we are alone. That will be short lived as tomorrow is Friday and the park will fill up again.

In Search of Witches

Our first view of the Boston Skyline.
Tobin Bridge crossing the Charles, heading for Salem
Only Mel could find a car show in the middle of no where. The Corvette is like the one Mel bought on his graduation from high school. Wishes he still owned it, of course.

My Dad owned a '55 Chevy in yellow. I was 10, when he bought it and he let me pick out the color. Wish I still had it, too.

Today was a travel day. We moved from Plymouth, MA to Salem, MA. Mel did a fantastic job of driving through Boston. However, driving through Salem was even more harrowing. We are staying at a city park that is located right on the water. It is beautiful but we had to travel through the narrow streets of historic Salem to reach the park.

While the park is beautiful, the sites are not what we are used to. We are on a grassy site on a hill, but they are like wide parking spaces with RVs parked right next to us-no trees for shade or privacy. To maintain privacy, all windows and blinds are shut. Since it is warm and humid, we need air conditioning anyway but it will be a long week unless our neighbors move. Of course, they probably weren't thrilled to see us arrive either.

In spite of the parking arrangement, we are delighted that our satellite dish, the Internet and our phone work well here. In Plymouth, we were in the deep woods, in a valley and the service was sporadic at best. We had no cable or satellite and had two workable stations, CBS and NBC, that were at best snowy. We like our creature comforts.

Once we were settled in, we drove to Reading, MA and had dinner at Macaroni Grill. We always love to find familiar places on the road. Then, we meandered back because Mel was in search of a movie theater. He wants to be ready for "Pirates" on Friday. When we first arrive at a new location, we like to ride around to get oriented to our new surroundings. We look for familiar places, like Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. We just like to know that our needs can be met even if we don't need anything immediately.

On this ride, we found a Supercuts, so we got badly needed haircuts. We were getting pretty shaggy. Mel asked where a theater was and the stylist gave us good directions. When we were finished with the cuts, we went in search of the theater, but found a car show instead. I was the one who insisted that we stop and walk around. While there, one of the car owners walked up to us and we started talking. We explained that we were in search of the movie theater and he gave us more directions. After the car show, we found the theater, so we are set for Friday. One thing about Massachusetts is that there are so many little towns in clusters around the state, so you move very quickly from one place to another. That makes it fun and interesting.

A Whaling Good Time

Happy 4th of July! Instead of fireworks, we decided to do something totally different. We took a whale watching tour that truly delighted us.

Our tour took us out into the ocean, further from land than either of us had ever been. We are used to lakes and rivers where you can see land somewhere. According to our captain, we were out there somewhere between Provincetown/Cape Cod and Glouster/Cape Ann. When we left Plymouth harbor, it was hot and sunny. The further we got out into the ocean, it became quite cool, overcast and foggy with little visibility.

When you take a tour like this, there is no guarantee that you will actually see whales. However, we were very fortunate and we saw several whales in two different locations. There are three types of whales in the Massachusetts' Atlantic waters: finbacks, minkes, and humpbacks. The whales in these pictures are humpbacks. We learned that humpbacks do not travel in pods as other species of whales will do, however, as you can see in the photo above, there were two humpbacks in reasonable proximity to each other. What we observed were these two whales working in tandem to corral the fish that they were trying to capture.

We got quite proficient at spotting whales, given our weather conditions. We learned that whales are getting ready to surface when you see their spout. When I figured this out, I knew to get the camera ready. Unfortunately, I never got a good shot of the spout. Another hint that they are getting ready to surface is that sea birds gather in a frenzy near the spout. The water turns turquoise and then, the whale's head comes out of the water. If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see the whale's mouth open, part of the baleen that filters the fish in and the water out, and the water streaming out from the sides of its mouth. What you can't see is that the bottom of the mouth can stretch out, like the pelican throat, to hold the fish filtered through the baleen. This whale was very close to the boat so it was very exciting to see all the action.
Fishing is quite a task for these behemoths. Humpbacks are around 4o feet long and weigh about 25 tons and need to eat a lot of fish to maintain those lovely figures. It is hard to get a good idea as to the size of this whale because there is nothing in the water or the horizon to give you a perspective of how big it is. We felt tiny around them.

Whales are pretty smart. They summer in the waters of Maine and Massachusetts and winter in the Caribbean. We did not hear whale sounds, but the naturalist narrator explained that they only give off the sounds in the Caribbean waters, I assume, for mating or parenting purposes. That was not explained.

And so it is the end... of the whale that is. In this photo, you can see some of the elements that I explained previously. At first, I thought the whale's head was emerging from the water but it is the hump, then the tail. We were told that the whale's name was Coral and is being studied by the marine biologists in the area. She is known by her white tail.

I wanted to mention the birds. We learned that these are not diving birds. They sit in the ocean like ducks would on a pond. Inevitably the whale will lose some of the fish and the birds are at ready to snatch the left overs. We wondered how many birds got too close and ended up as whale food appetizer.

When we returned to port, the sun was shining and it was hot as blazes. We did enjoy the natural air conditioning at sea. We decided to celebrate the holiday with lobster and steak. It is fun to splurge every once in a while.

As the afternoon progressed, the weather grew threatening. So, we headed to the cinema and saw The DaVinci Code once again. Having read the book, I had enjoyed the movie the first time, but Mel had been confused with all the action and plot twists. However, he found the movie much more enjoyable this time around because he understood the plot and knew where it was going.

For the first time in years, we missed fireworks. Earlier, we had decided not to go to Boston because of the threatening weather and because we were unsure of parking and finding our way back to Plymouth at night. We are in the deep woods. But we thought that we would go to Plymouth that had a concert and fireworks, too. The weather was not good and we didn't know where we could perch on a hill to overlook the harbor. The fireworks must have been good because we could hear them and we were at least 3 miles away. We did watch the Boston Pops though but were befuddled by the Aerosmith performance. Yes, we do like the music, but it just seemed odd for the 4th. And what was the deal with Dr. Phil and Robin? In Boston? Huh!?