We pulled into Tom’s cousins Kevin and Laura’s house right around dinner. We were greeted by Kevin and their son Joe because Laura was out picking daughter Jane up from college for the weekend, which was great for us since we got to spend time with the no-longer-kids, excepting their oldest son Vincent who lives in San Francisco and was too far away to come home for the weekend just to see us. :)
When discussing the next day’s plans after dinner, Laura told us that they had a nearby park around the Fresh Pond Reservoir, which turned out to be the perfect walk in the morning. A 2-mile path runs around the pond, and while it’s in the middle of the city the pond and the path are fenced off and surrounded by a band of woods thick enough to allow you to forget you’re in the city. Because the path is so insulated from traffic, most regular dog walkers allow their dogs to run off leash, which is great because the rules are that off-leash is okay if the dogs are sufficiently trained to be under the owners’ control. This rule has caused most owners to have super well trained dogs who trot along with their people, sometimes happily greeting other dogs, and generally enjoying their exercise. We were slightly embarrassed by our dogs who aren’t well enough trained to run off leash where there are other loose dogs, not to mention squirrels, but it gave us a good chance to work on Ty’s reactive behavior. Plus, it was a beautiful morning with lots of fall color.
When discussing the next day’s plans after dinner, Laura told us that they had a nearby park around the Fresh Pond Reservoir, which turned out to be the perfect walk in the morning. A 2-mile path runs around the pond, and while it’s in the middle of the city the pond and the path are fenced off and surrounded by a band of woods thick enough to allow you to forget you’re in the city. Because the path is so insulated from traffic, most regular dog walkers allow their dogs to run off leash, which is great because the rules are that off-leash is okay if the dogs are sufficiently trained to be under the owners’ control. This rule has caused most owners to have super well trained dogs who trot along with their people, sometimes happily greeting other dogs, and generally enjoying their exercise. We were slightly embarrassed by our dogs who aren’t well enough trained to run off leash where there are other loose dogs, not to mention squirrels, but it gave us a good chance to work on Ty’s reactive behavior. Plus, it was a beautiful morning with lots of fall color.
After our walk and breakfast, we decided to go into Boston to walk the Freedom Trail, which includes a loop by the Massachusetts Capitol. Laura had to work for part of the morning, so we left with Kevin as our driver and tour guide. As we drove down the infamous Storrow Drive with its multitude of 10’ underpasses, we were very glad to be going into the city in Kevin’s car rather than our camper.
The Capitol building is at the very beginning of the Freedom Trail, so we checked that off the list early in the day.
We spent the rest of the day wandering Boston and seeing the many sights, and ended up walking the whole Freedom Trail with the exception of Bunker Hill since it was almost 5PM by the time we walked away from the USS Constitution.
We walked past and through a number of Boston cemeteries where all sorts of famous historical people are buried.
We ate lunch in a partly-covered partly outdoor market where I had a gigantic ice cream that cost less than these $8 mangos.
We saw this Paul Revere statue, as well as the “one if by land, two if by sea” steeple.
We visited Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, which is still commissioned but is set up as a museum so you can see how the sailors lived and worked.
The next morning we took another walk around Fresh Pond with Joe, before heading south to visit my cousins Maria and Dan in Plymouth. Dan is Canadian, so our timing was perfect for a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. The holiday dinner was also appreciated because their no-longer-kids also came home, so we had time to visit with Maddy and Anna as well as the still-at-home Charlie. The now-adult Chris Vannozzi also joined us for dinner, so we had a great time catching up with everybody. We met Chris’s brother Tony and Tony’s wife Kate for breakfast the next morning, and enjoyed not only the company but the real New England diner food. Later that day Charlie planned a hike and guided us along the coast to a nearby state park. It wasn’t as grand as Acadia, but it also wasn’t nearly as crowded, and we stood on the beach and threw rocks which was surprisingly fun when guided by a 15-year old.
We left Plymouth with plans to pick off Providence and Hartford, the Rhode Island and Connecticut capitals. On the way out, we stopped at a local diner for breakfast with my Wells friend Dee, which was delightful. But, as we were sitting there, I got a text from Maria telling me that her mom, my Aunt Eileen, and fallen and broken her foot. Our plans are super flexible, so we volunteered to head for Long Island the next day, after driving through Providence and Hartford.
Fortunately Dee had enough presence of mind to snap a selfie of the three of us.