Summer 2012 - Hershey, PA

We left New Jersey this morning and drove to Hershey, PA.  We toured the Hershey museum and went to the Hershey Lab where we each made a candy bar.  We had lunch at Hershey then drove to Lancaster to try to find the Amish community.  We didn't have any luck though.
After lunch, we headed south and arrived in Harrisburg, PA to spend the night.  We went to Cracker Barrell for  supper.  YMMMM.  Really good chicken livers.  :)

Summer 2012 - Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, 9-11

We stayed last night in Trenton, NJ.  Today we took a harbor cruise and went to
Ellis Island and toured the place where so many immigrants first arrived in this country many years ago.  We then went to Liberty Island and walked around the Statue of Liberty.  From there we took the ferry cruise to New York City where we had pretty bad hot dogs from a street vendor.  Virgil asked for a sausage dog.  the vendor responded that he was out, but he gave Virgil two wieners on his hot dog and offered him sauerkraut.
I have to comment on how kind everyone was to Virgil today.  As we got on the harbor ferry, the people were very concerned that he got on the ship safely.  When we disembarked at Ellis Island, one of the attendants on the boat put his arm out and said _just wait.  These people will never let you off.  The crowd was horrendous and pushing and we were having a hard time staying together.  He Webern in front of the crowd and yelled for everyone to stop.  He then told us to go.  A woman and her daughter tried to walk down the ramp and he sent them back until we got to the bottom, then he allowed everyone else to disembark.  the worker told Virgil to not stand in line when we came back.  After our stay at the museum there, we found a bench to await our boat.  When it arrived, the young man yelled for every one get in line.  We started to go to the line, but he pointed and yelled "not you.  You just sit."  So we sat back down on the bench.  He got things ready to board the boat, then motioned for us to come.  He held the crowd back while we boarded.  Then when we got off at Liberty Island, the lady there told us not to get in line when we came back, but to come to the bench right beside the entrance.
Feelings:  How does one describe feelings of awe and wonder and amazement?  Those were the emotions I felt while touring Ellis Island and walking around the Statue of Liberty.
We then went to the 9-11 memorial.  After we left there, Nell said, "It must have been horrible for all those people here to watch the attack".  The tone of her voice was somber and reverent and conveyed more than her words even expressed.
We took a water taxi back to New Jersey and went to a hotel a little South of Trenton.  We were exhausted from the day's exertion as well as from the heat and humidity.

Summer 2012 - Travel Day

Friday, July 6
MY BIRTHDAY.  This was a travel day.  We left the house we had rented, leaving some groceries and fans with Miller Pipkin, our new found friend.  He occupied the apartment underneath our rental.
Miller is a graduate student.  He is a nice young man.  He has the "modern morality", but still, he is basically a good person.  We had purchased fans to use in the rental and since we couldn't take them with us, we gave them to Miller.  His apartment is not air conditioned and he spends a lot of time outside.  Probably because he smokes in addition to the heat.
We bid farewell to Hermina, our landlady.  She was leaving to go to Armenia to spend time with her family.
We traveled as far as New Jersey.  It was about 4:00 p.m. when we arrived so after dinner, we went to bed.  We were pretty tired.

Summer 2012 - Kettery, Maine

Started the day with a parking ticket.  You know all those friendly people I've talked about?  I don't think that includes policeman.  When we arrived back at our rental house last night, there were no parking places at all except on place on the street.  We stopped a policeman who was passing by and asked if it was okay to park there.  He said yes.  Mel said he asked another policeman.  He said yes it was okay.  This morning, Melvin went for his walk and found a parking ticket on the windshield.  He is now at the police station questioning it.

Summer 2012 - Maine

Goodness we have seem some beautiful country these past few days.  Maine is no exception.  I think New Hampshire is my favorite though.
One thing I need to comment on.  The people we have met and with whom we have come in contact have been wonderful and friendly.  I probably said that in another blog, but it's so true.
The country is beautiful.  We are so blessed to live in this beautiful world the Lord has seen fit to give to us and especially, we are blessed to live in this great country and enjoy the freedoms that were fought for and won for us by our brave and inspired forefathers.

 We went to Kennebuckport, Maine to start our sight-seeing.  We waded on the beach for about10 minutes. It just so happened the beach we stopped at wasn't very nice.  It had much seaweed and smelled bad until we started wading.  Then the salt air neutralized the smell.

We saw beautiful homes along the shore.  

This is the Bush Complex at Kennebunkport.  Wow!!!!!  Evidently President Bush was well loved by the people of Maine!

 We went on a light house tour at Portland, Maine Casko Bay.  Portland has it's on history with John Smith.  Mr. Smith mapped the coast of Maine.  He kept the original Abenaki names, but one of the inlets was renamed Elizabeth after the English King's cousin.  Actually, I tried to google this information, and had no luck finding it.

This is a fat harbor seal we saw during our lighthouse tour.

Summer 2012 - Rhode Island

This is really for Tuesday, July 3

We went to Newport, Rhode Island today. We visiting 5 mansions from the "Gilded Age" owned by such folks as Cornelius Vanderbilt II , Cornelius Vanderbilt II and William Shepard Wetmore. https://tix.newportmansions.org/ecommerce/



These were considered summer homes or cottages. Even those these mansions were all extreme in their rich decor and style, I really liked the Breakers. It had a grand ballroom, but the children said they often rode tricycles in there and slid on trays down the ornate stair cases. The children were playful and mischievous and the family treated this mansion as a family home. We saw four other mansions and they were beautiful and "gilded", and they all had their own stories, but none so simple and filled with love as this one.


We toured the Breakers (above) the Marble House (depressing because of the story that went with it), The Elm, the Chateau-sur-Mer., and Rosecliff. All these mansions were summer homes for their owners. Some were the first to have electric lights. The norm for the day was 1 bathroom to a home, these mansions had as many as 20 - most with a beautiful bathtub as well as a sitz baths. One of the interesting stories was that, although they had telephones, they would not use them to call outside the home. That was considered rude. If they wanted to contact a neighbor, they would write a letter and have it hand delivered by a servant.
Only Male servants were seen by visitors. It was in bad taste for female servants to be seen. They were in the background tending the ladies, doing the laundry, tending to household chores. The ladies would change clothes 4 to 7 times a day. It was unthinkable to be seen in the afternoon in your morning dress. And of course, one would need a separate dress to go riding. A clean dress would be put on for each meal. From the looks of the clothing, it was no simple matter to get into those dresses.

Weeping Beech

The people walking beside this tree give a perspective of its size I think.  I told Nell I could plant one in my back yard and never mow again - nor would the neighbors because it would cover my yard and the ones on both sides of me.  It MAY be an exaggeration, but not much of one. The Weeping Beech is a HUGE tree.  Ray was trying to find Nell and here she came, walking out from under the tree.  LOL

I think this is Rosecliff.

  Hydrangeas are everywhere.  Purples and blues and beautiful.  It appears to be the flower or shrub of choice for this area.

After we visited the mansions, we went to Cape Cod where we had dinner in a busy busy seafood restaurant on the water.  While there, someone stole Ray's touch pad from the car.  He was bummed, but not as much as I would be.  He has such a wonderful attitude about EVERYthing!!!!

Summer 2012 - New Hampshire

Catching up!!!  TODAY!!
We drove through the mountains of New Hampshire.  We stopped to view a beautiful waterfall.

Pat looking at Sabbaday Falls

Sabbaday Falls - butterflies

 The story of Sabbaday Falls - Men were working on a highway.  It was turning winter, so the men stopped work on Saturday night and hid their tools with the idea they would return the next spring and continue work on the highway.  As they were leaving on Sunday, they called the stream Sabbaday (Sabbath Day) Brook.  The men never returned to work on the highway, but the name stuck.

Covered Bridge at White Mountain State Park

Covered Bridge used in film "On Golden Pond"

Car and walking bridge

Summer 2012 - Boston Harbor

Sunday, July 1
Posting date and actual touring date are different.

Virgil helping to fold flag after it was flown on the USS Constitution

 This was Boston Harbor day.  We toured the USS Constitution.  Virgil seemed to really enjoy this one.  I bought a US Flag and hoisted it up the Flag Pole.  After bringing it down, Virgil helped the sailor fold it.  

Virgil in front of the USS Constitution 

State Office Building where forefathers met.

Bunker Hill monument 

Holocaust Monument

These 6 glass towers each have one million names engraved in honor of the 6 million jews who were killed during the Holocaust.

Summer 2012 - Plimoth

Ray and Nell in front of Mayflower II

Okay, I finally noticed that the blog automatically puts the dates, which are usually different from what I put, so I'm going to quit and let Blogspot take care of it.
Soooo, On Saturday we went to Plymouth.  It was originally spelled "Plimoth".  We went through a village representing the Native Americans who lived in this area at the time the Pilgrims were here. We were asked to be respectful and call them Native Americans or Wampanoags.
This is in one of the homes in the village.  This young man was explaining that each dwelling housed 12-15 people - all members of the same family.  But he said the dwellings were used only for sleeping.  They didn't "hang out" inside.This website shows a good example of what we saw.  The indian girl shown on this website was one working in the village actually.  She was cooking a seafood chowder over a fie when we were there.  It was 90+ degrees.  http://www.galenfrysinger.com/plymouth_wampanoags.htm

This shows an example of the types of products the Pilgrims produced with primitive tools.  A really interesting thing about the  Plimoth Plantation (that is the correct spelling of the original place)  is that everyone in the village represented a real person.  We were encouraged to ask questions and interact with the people there, but they would always stay in character.  They were dressed in the traditional wool clothing of the period.  We were in our short sleeves and Capri pants and shorts and sweating big time.  I didn't see anyone sweat even though the temperature was in the 90s and they were dressed in long sleeves and stockings.  It was an interesting day.