Beantown

Our last stop before returning to England was Boston. We drove the car back to the airport to return it, took the airport bus to the T underground, took the blue line to Bowduin and walked into the Beacon Hill district to find our next Airbnb. This was a studio apartment in a run down building and itself in need of lots of TLC. Not the kind of room you want to spend any time in. Boston is so expensive and this was a reasonable option within walking distance of all we wanted to see, so for a bed for 3 nights it sufficed. we did feel the owner was remiss though and obviously carelessly relying on the fact that people will take it as a cheaper option - not the spirit of Airbnb though and the shenanigans about its location and where to pick up the key (from a key safe attached to a tree fence around the corner from the apartment?!) led us to believe this host was only concerned with making money.

However Beantown proved to be an interesting, not too busy delight. We walked the Freedom Trail, going over our school history lessons about the Tea Party and Paul Revere and we visited the USS Constitution and heard from a guide how they conquered our ship HMS Guerriere in the war of 1812, where one of our cannonballs apparently bounced off her side earning her the nickname Old Ironsides.

We loved the red brick sidewalks, tall elegant town houses and the dark gaslit streets of old Boston and tried oysters and seafood at Legal on the waterside, watched athletic street entertainers jump over 3 of their audience at Faneuil/Quincy Market, had a drink in an Irish pub Emmetts and lunch in the Green Dragon where once Paul Revere plotted with his fellow patriots in the 1700s. I even found the 'make way for ducklings' sculpture that I had read about at the Eric Carle museum in Amherst. A beautifully illustrated children's book from the 40s, the starring ducklings have been brought to 3D life here and it was obvious that small children loved them. 

We were sad to leave the USA, we've seen so much and enjoyed all our stops. Sleaze and elegance side by side in NYC and NO, peace and beauty in the mountains and lakes, fabulous people who are so friendly and open and willing to help - all laid back and easy. It's a great country, let's hope it gets the 'right' president! ?????

Leaving Massachusetts, back to Maine for one night

on Friday 21st, we left the lake cabin as the leaves were further stripped from the trees by fresher winds and the chipmunk's house was becoming buried under pine needles. A roofer chap had come to put a guard around the chimney pot against leaves and squirrels and we could feel the preparation for winter beginning all around us. I am sad that we were too late for hummingbirds here. The houses have  feeders outside their windows for them and Jim said they have 3 or 4 at a time hovering in the height of summer.

We were sorry to leave this peaceful place but we were going back to Kennebunkport so knew we were headed for another good evening. It was misty and moody though as we hit the interstate 95 heading south, and eventually raining as we crossed into Maine. After we'd checked in to our lodge, we walked to the sea and back into Kennebunkport.  This is where George W has a house on the coast and apparently his boat mooring just outside our lodge window. It is such a pretty little town even if it is very touristy. We met another English family from Cornwall - the only other English people we have met on our entire trip. They were moving on to the White Mountains to see the fall colours, we fear they may have missed them by now.

An enormous thunderstorm blew up overnight and rain hammered on the metal roof above us - it was good to know that we were moving on to Boston by car in the morning and not attempting to sightsee on foot. 

Kennebunkport, ghosts in the trees

Last evening in Brookfield

Thursday 20th October

For our last excursion in Brookfield, we went to the Salem Cross Inn, minutes up the 9 highway and to an enormous restaurant overlooking a valley of cow fields and forest. Jim and Carole had tipped us off to going to the downstairs bar which was best as the rest of the place was empty and echoing. 
We almost immediately got talking to the couple next to us at the bar and once the barman had kindly turned down the TV at my request I was able to hear them and join in an interesting and highly charged ( from Laura) conversation mainly about their current political mess. Laura was very fired up about how no woman likes Clinton, but none can say why and that everyone can see what Trump is, but the choice between the two is slim. Almost all the people we have talked to are horrified that these two candidates are the only ones they have. Along the way we talked about how we find the fact that there are gun shops everywhere frighteningly casual (being English and sheltered from such 'privileges?') and Laura told us that the belief in being allowed guns goes way back to Americans having them to protect themselves against the government! And modern Americans still have that belief. This was news to us and shocking. I cannot believe you can convince yourself that you are buying a gun merely for protection against any human being. What an interesting evening. The barman joined in, as did two other couples on a safer subject of where to go and where to eat in Boston. 

A stimulating night to finish our time at the log cabin.

Jim and Carole on Wickiboag

Wednesday 19th October 
On a balmy like early evening after day's temperatures of 80f, we went to dinner with our new-met friends in their lakeside house on Wickiboag Lake in West Brookfield. A much bigger lake than we are on and just as beautiful with its fall colours.

We sat on their terrace overlooking their (shared) beach and heard about how Carole and her first husband had owned this house, the house next door and the one next to that at one time. After his untimely death she hadn't wanted to go there much because of memories and I guess the other houses got sold off, but since meeting Jim, they have made it their home and Jim has put a lot of work into improving it since retiring. A close knit community here too - they know all their neighbours, share boats and paddle boards and maintenance of their grounds between themselves and obviously socialise with them on the communal front open space. In the summer they rarely cook more than once a week as they all take turns in cooking outdoors for each other. A good life for 60/70 year olds. 
They have both lived full lives, Jim is a Vietnam veteran and was wounded and sent to a Japanese hospital at the age of 20. Then had his own business for several years. Carole travelled a lot with her husband and lived in Kensington for a year with 2 small children. She also lived in Paris as her husband was researching for a book he was writing and because she had time whilst he did this she took a cordon bleu  cookery course. Needless to say we had a great meal of rare beef with bernaise sauce, baked pots with sour cream and corn and salad, an American slant to traditional food but very tasty. 

It was the evening of the third Clinton/Trump debate, so we watched the first 45 minutes with them before excusing ourselves because it somehow feels too intrusive to watch something so emotive with people you hardly know. They have no problem with expressing their opinions though. We have again had our eyes opened to a different view listening to their take on it all. 

It was an interesting evening with easy outgoing people who made us feel very at home and comfortable. 
Perhaps we will see them in England one day as we have swopped contact details. 

View from Jim and Carole's 

Hot sun and a slow life

We have taken full advantage of our lakeside house and totally chilled out and relaxed as we have everything we need here. After exploring the hippie, LGBT town of Northampton which we thought was going to be more interesting than it was, we thought why do we need to travel far from the house apart from to have dinner in and around the pretty town of West Brookfield.

Our hosts have popped by to help with a sticking lock on the front door. We were lucky they were around from New York, staying with a relative in order to build a shed for her! Their tales of how they came upon the house by chance when passing by, seeing it was for sale and 'open house' and so deciding to view it on a whim, were interesting. The 80 year old lady who owned it had transformed the place from a 4 room den with a loft accessible by ladder into this wonderful space with bedroom in the eaves and another on the basement level. Proper staircases to both. She also had an art studio at the back of the garage, perfect for one of our hosts who is a jewellery designer, so she and her partner were 'sold'. The old lady held out for the amount she wanted for it: "top dollar", but it is clearly worth it for them to be able to retire to from their hectic life in NYC. Canoeing, paddle boarding and fishing on the lake are favourite past times and no one could fail to enjoy the surroundings.

We had an average meal in the West Brookfield Tavern on Monday evening and were about to leave when a very friendly couple arrived and started to chat to us. After an interesting conversation swopping stories of  travels, they invited us back for a drink in their lakeside home on Wickaboag Lake. Another interesting house, part of an association of which many houses are holiday homes, as theirs had once been. Now it seems they live here all year round - and the winters can be quite harsh with 20mph winds blowing off the lake and snow drifts up to the roof. Hard to imagine on this balmy evening, temperatures have been mid 70s today. We were invited back for a meal in a couple of days time, very kind of them, we only hope it is a sensible size! 

Log cabin on a lake

14th October
Travelled to our next stop: West Brookfield, Massachusetts. Arrived and we were blown away. An absolutely fantastic log cabin, beautifully appointed, sun pouring in across the Brookhaven lake and through the windows of the  '3 season' porch, we couldn't have had it better. Sat in the sun with our first glass of the evening and then couldn't resist taking the canoe from our own jetty on the still sunlit water and around the bend of this lake. Houses on all sides , so completely private and peaceful. We discovered later after talking to the owners that they intend to retire here from NYC and we couldn't blame them. Tranquility and beauty, especially at this time of year.

Pete lit the fire in the log burner after splitting logs on their clever contraption outside. We listened to music with the fire roaring - (an immensely efficient stove and it needs to be, given the double height of the living room) and eventually we went to bed under the eaves of the vast wooden roof , having to open the window as the heat had risen considerably!

And I saw my first chipmunk! So sweet,  although they are pests of course - there is a notice here to be careful to close screen doors against them so I can't take one as a pet. 

 Like 'splat the rat' in reverse, you position the cutter on top of log and slide the weight up above the cutter and drop it - easy, even I can do it! The owners did have to request a large sturdy stump log to attach the whole contraption to however. 

From Plymouth to Portsmouth, via Chichester, Epsom and Durham

Wednesday, we travelled East to the coast; Portsmouth, Massachusetts. Big ships, pretty old town alongside the river and sun shining. Another good lunch of lobster and crab and a wander around, then a big shopping trip in Kittery's Trading Post - clothes to take home and now we are not sure we can get them in our luggage!

Highway 4 from where we are to the east coast  takes in all these English town names which amused us. The driving is easy and roads pretty with the tree colours, even the big interstate highways are beautifully tree-lined with mountains in the distance.

Pumpkins and 'guys' are everywhere, lots of houses completely over the top with ghosts and ghouls decorating their front yards.

Sun along highway 10

A warm day again, sun shining in a blue sky and we decided to visit Hanover, West of where we are staying and then North following the Conneticut River on the border of Vermont state. A stunning drive on these quiet roads took us through the most picturesque landscapes, glassy lakes and ponds and archetypal New England villages.

Hanover itself is home to Dartmouth University and its faculty buildings surround a green in splendid grandeur. Once the home of Bill Bryson and clearly a rich town. The spire of the church was being refurbished sadly so was covered in scaffolding, but they have renewed the copper spire and also a copper roof on another nearby building, which was hard to view in in the sun's glare. The whole town oozed gentility and 'go-away rest of world'. In fact this whole area does that  - it is wholesome living and you begin to see why so many Americans don't bother to learn about the outside world nor travel to it. 

We had a great lunch in the Canoe Club Restaurant -  best food we have had in New Hampshire so far . We drove back a different way so as to take in more of these gorgeous villages and the surrounding countryside.

On Golden Pond

Columbus Day public holiday, 10th October

In high cold winds, but bright sunlight we boarded a boat trip around Squam Lake. This is where they filmed On Golden Pond. We got out into the centre amongst white capped waves,  and the skipper turned back as the little catamaran was taking on water as we rolled in the swell! It wasn't that bad, but he obviously had to think of his passengers' safety. 

It was an interesting trip all the same, with stories of the lake's history back to the natives who canoed across it, hunting and fishing and it's current inhabitants; one house overlooking Red Hill being worth  4million dollars and a solitary house on a tiny island whose owners 'enlarged' the island by transporting boulders in the dead of night. The highlight for me was seeing loons, these pretty spotted ducks that are a symbol of these lakes. I still haven't heard enough of their "loooon" call though. Pete managed to get some zoomed in shots of this diving duck and there was much excitement from all the boat trippers as these birds are quite elusive. 

We went on to a trail hike around the shore at Five Fingers Point. Our guidebook said a 2.7mile loop which could be walked in 1 hour! They are having a laugh, the pathways are tricky, rocky and tree rooted, so we managed the round trip in 2 and a half hours! We excuse ourselves a little because we chose to stop and sit on the lakeside whenever there was an opening down to it, the views and colours too good to not spend time over. 

We came 'home' and watched the second Trump/Clinton debate (fiasco) on Pete's iPhone, there being no TV here and our old iPad struggling to stream live coverage. It held our attention for the duration though, despite the small screen. 

All things American

Things we have observed and heard.

A racoon crossed the road in front of us one night, it's bandit eyes lit up in our headlights as it slowly and self consciously side stepped out of our way. Later that night we were woken by a loud crash - our racoon had found our bin! Luckily there were no goodies in there for him, so no mess to clear up.

Americans don't seem to have electric kettles or toasters. In both our last two houses we have found an ancient contraption like a small oven/grill but neither of them have worked. We have toasted under the top element of the oven, which does not appear to be called a grill. (Possibly a broiler?) Kettles are stove top and quaint. But they do have good coffee machines that we can't get to grips with! I suppose because they are not tea drinkers an electric kettle is not necessary.

They love our accent and I love their speech. 'Gotten' instead of got. 'Beautiful' to describe anything nice. 'Folks', not people. A sign in a bear hunting area saying 'Got bears? We do!' - most peculiar English! 'Not the bathroom' sign in a bar above a stairway that looked as if it could lead to the toilets. 'Not the exit' another one. Everything shortened where it can be: 
" he was hiking in the whites" (white mountains). Sign outside a cafe: soup? it's on bro. 

Our waitress in Portsmouth restaurant asked what we thought of their 'shit shows' (the Tump/Clinton debates) , we were tactfully non committal, but she wasn't holding back ' they both suck' she said and she added she was worried, and how was it possible they had ended up with such lame choices. I don't blame her. 

They can't eat a plate of food without adding things; 'you want some protein with that?' Said to Pete when he asked for spinach and cheese ravioli. Lasagne is offered with sweet Italian sausage or meatballs?! Build your own pizzas from an enormous list of ingredients. Salads almost always have to have something sweet in them, but we've had some great ones. 

Everyone is so polite and helpful. Smiles and 'how are you?' as you enter every establishment. "You're welcome" in response to every thank you. Glasses of water automatically with every meal. People stop and offer help if you look lost. People offer suggestions of where to go and what to see and will strike up a friendly conversation at any time and tell their life story if you're interested. 

Their school buses have not changed from every film I have ever seen them in. They have a very sensible rule that says when the hazard lights are blinking on the stationary school bus, you must stop in case a child runs out from behind it. The gas station's owner in Rangeley said his wife was a school bus driver and I think I have just found my new vocation..... the roads are so easy to drive around here it could be a very pleasant job.

Give way signs are triangles like ours, but with 'yield' and drivers yield to pedestrians even if they are not on marked crossings. 

The little house in New Hampshire

Our last day in Rangeley was a sedate drive out close to the Canadian border for another fine view from Quill Hill. Then packing and tidying the house.

Friday with the temperature soaring to 79 we drove 5 hours to our next Airbnb destination; The Doll House in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Such a cutsie house deserving of the name. We met Susan, our host who drove by to meet us, then walked into Plymouth. This is a university town and has a brick built high street , not the typical New England clapboarding. We found the bistro, heavily recommended and ate at the bar as it was full. It is Columbus Day holiday weekend, so I guess even more people were out enjoying themselves than would normally be for this little town. We met 3 people and Pete struck up a conversation with local, Cameron, who was an interesting guy. We discovered that both he and the lady on my side at the bar were going to vote for Trump. There are a lot of his supporters in these states of course. Cameron gave a long explanation as to why he will vote this way, despite considering himself a liberal. He believes that America's complacency needs a shake-up and that will happen if Trump gets in. I personally don't follow that logic, even though he had all the convincing facts and figures at his fingertips to prove his point. We enjoyed conversation and he tipped us off to some music venues around the area and restaurants. We swooped contact details and will try and meet up with him again. 

The detail in this little house is wonderful. Spriggy fresh wallpapers, gingham curtains, pretty lamps and soft furnishings. It could be a film set for a wholesome New England family residence. Just perfect. 

Quill Hill

Attention to detail in the Doll House.........

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