Travels in the northeast
I maintain there is little more powerful than weather. And the ocean is almost always humbling. Add weather like we have all had, an astronomical high tide, and you’ve got, not to make lightly, the perfect storm. Like it has for just about everybody in America, the last few days have represented some crazy weather… Read More Seacoast: Add Weather – Dec 2022
If for some reason you are headed west from New England on I-90 and I-80 towards Denver, this post might be mildly interesting. If not, don’t say I didn’t warn you. We are spending most of our time on this part of our trip on interstate highways, which is not our usual MO. We are headed… Read More Heading West – Aug 2022
It feels odd to be summarizing the summer of 2022 on the first day of August, but we head west in just days. Think Lewis and Clark meets Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, perhaps absent the enlightenment. The route below will not exactly be our route, but we won’t burden you with details. … Read More Summer of ’22 – Aug 2022
I thought this golf posting might make for a nice subset of the travel experience, particularly for those travelers who might travel to New England. Or, it could be I just have an unhealthy relationship with the game of golf and felt the need to vent. Prompted by my good friend David, inspired by Charl… Read More Black Swan Country Club – July 2022
We think nothing of traveling hundreds, if not thousands of miles to see beauty, interesting places, or random quirkiness. Sometimes beauty is right in your back yard, so to speak. This weekend, we walked about ½ mile down North Shore Road (and a little bit of Ancient Highway) towards the beach in our fair town… Read More North Shore Road – May 2022
Mind you – I am not a weatherman, but I have played a weatherman, so I am certainly a credible witness to this weather event. Prior to the storm’s arrival, the weather people were reporting that NYC would receive anywhere between 0 inches and 3 feet of snow. So really, how accurate do I need… Read More Blizzard of ’22 – Jan 2022
We don’t write a year-in-review post every year, but when we do, I always start by thinking, what the hell did we even do this past year? And after going through our pictures, I’m like – wow – we did a bunch! Of course, this is not an historical world view of 2021 – just… Read More 2021 in Review – Dec 2021
We travel 1,200 miles to get out of town, and who follows us? Our neighbors! Stalkers. And where does it go from there? Do they think we want to go out and see beautiful sights, eat lobster, shuck oysters and eat fresh seafood with them? I mean, what’s next. Seriously, we were delighted to have… Read More Out of Town Guests – Sept 2021
The surf on the NH coast has been up for the last two days as a result of some offshore storms, so I took my camera out to catch some of the sights. All of these pictures are from either Hampton, North Hampton or Rye. A few pictures are taken from the end of our… Read More Surf’s Up NH! – Sept 2021
Good morning, class. Good morning, class. Class? Class!? SHUT UP! Thank you. Now Sister Rosetta has informed me that your assignment for the last two months has been to write an essay entitled How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Who would like to read theirs before the class? Young man in the front row, please… Read More Summer of ’21
RUN! Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… our kids found us! We have moved three times in the last few years, but they keep tracking us down! Next step… Witness Protection. We had Child Unit 1, Child Unit 2, and their significant others here at the cottage… Read More Invasion of the Child Units! – Aug 2021
The other day I found an old letter I had written to my parents from a cross country trip I was taking with my good buddy David Trainor in his 1967 Buick Special back in 1975. Think of the letter (below) as a travel blog – before there were blogs… or travel… or intelligent life… Read More Road Trip ’75 – Mar 2021
I thought I’d share a little holiday/Christmas story. Maybe it’s not so little, but there is a treat for you at the end. I won’t be insulted if you skip to the end. But what kind of person does that make you? Probably like me. This story is really about the world-famous (??) Flintlock, a… Read More A Christmas Story – Dec 2020
2020 has been the worst year ever – right? Watching 2020 unfold was like watching porn. First it was titillating, then it felt unseemly, and lastly you got a sinking feeling in the pit in your stomach like you get two minutes after wolfing down a quarter pounder and large fry. No happy ending, so… Read More 2020 in Review – Dec 2020
I have posted several “heading west” blog posts over the years. But the truth of the matter is that if you live on the east coast, you inevitably need to, well, head west. I suppose you could go north or south, but really – who does that. Crazy talk. We headed west from New Hampshire… Read More Heading West – Sept 2020
Most people attribute the term “dismal science” to the study of economics, but I maintain it is the study and execution of the game of golf. Summer is winding down and I thought I would capture a few thoughts on one of the activities that, particularly in these strange times, can provide a little outside… Read More Golf: The Dismal Science – Sept 2020
You had to know I would be the one to point out there are meteorological and astronomical ends of summer. “How do you come up with this shit” should your first thought. The mind works in curious ways. So yes, this is the end of the meteorological summer – the 3 months of June, July… Read More End of the Meteorological Summer – Aug 2020
This may be a lot about naught. We are, after all, largely in shutdown mode. Being retired as we are, we have nothing to complain about, given all the unemployment, health, emotional and psychological tolls, and the myriad of issues young families face. But if you wanted to be depressed, you’d simply turn on the… Read More Summer Sequester – Aug 2020
OK, we weren’t really in Atlanta and we didn’t really go to Boston. But you get the idea – we headed north. In our never-ending search for the perfect climate, we have departed the Atlanta area and have headed north to New England. Nothing says leave Atlanta better than 90+ degree temperatures. Our first stop… Read More ATL to BOS – June 2020
Since this is (arguably) a travel blog, I thought I might talk about… travel. You can be forgiven if you have already forgotten what “travel” is. Perhaps this is where you queue the Dave Matthews Band, The Space Between… or the Eagles, Taking it Easy. This post in particular is about tweens. No, not teens,… Read More Tweens – May 2020
“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! (Hamlet) I have told my wife and kids that the next time I move out of this house there will… Read More Honey, I’m Home! – Aug 2019
It does not get better than driving with my good friends Raoul and Dr. Gonzo (“Don’t worry – I’ll remember your face”) down to the Cape (Cape Cod for you non-New Englanders). Our goal was to attend the annual Michael McGuire Gallery “Opening” (https://michaelmcguire.net) in P’town (Provincetown) this past weekend. Michael McGuire, a life-long friend… Read More Fear and Loathing on Cape Cod – July 2019
This may be our swan song post from New England while living here. With our house for sale but under contract, we have a lot of moving parts in our lives at the moment. We have, though, been able to travel with friends from the Massachusetts coast in Salem, MA, into sea coastal NH, and along… Read More Coastal Maine – July 2019
And so castles made of sand fall in the sea eventually Jimi Hendrix Technically, they will be removed by a bulldozer. But not just yet. And I guess technically they are not sandcastles. Alright, have your way. Check out these sculptures from this year’s Hampton Beach (NH) Master Sand Sculpting Classic! We continue our Northeast… Read More Castles Made of Sand – June 2019
We descended on Salem, Cape Ann and Boston (MA) for what we have alternately called Our Most Fabulous Trip, or our Northeast Trip. I think Our Most Fabulous Trip conjures up Wayne’s World. Party on, Garth. When I say “we”, I don’t mean the proverbial Brad and Karen. This time we are actually traveling with… Read More North Shore Boston – June 2019
Can I get an amen? We attended Gospel Night at the Pops inside Boston’s Symphony Hall last night. Let me just say Hallelujah! After meeting with friends and enjoying an unbelievable dinner in Eataly at La Pizza e La Pasta (let me just say – this was SUPERB!), we walked the short distance from the… Read More Gospel Night at the Pops – June 2019
We hoisted one yesterday for a guy named Bob. Maybe we all know someone named Bob. The Bob I’m talking about was special in that, in many ways – he wasn’t special. He was unassuming, quick to share a story or two from growing up in Maine, quicker with a smile, and under any scenario, would… Read More This Guy Named Bob – June 2019
A special thanks goes to Dr. Josh Siegel and the entire team (surgical center, physical therapy, tanning salon, latte bar) at Access Sports Medicine in Exeter, NH for the great work they did repairing and rehabilitating my left rotator cuff. Way to go! With every day, I’m feeling more and more like my old self,… Read More Shoulder Surgery Update – June 2019
Best of luck to the runners in tomorrow’s 123rd running of the Boston Marathon! There is lots of history and tradition in the Boston area on this Patriots’ Day, a day in New England that commemorates the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Activities include parades and battle reenactments in places like Lexington and Concord. More widely… Read More Boston Marathon – Apr 2019
It doesn’t seem possible, but at the end of this month (technically a month later for Karen) we will have been retired for 5 years! What the hell have we done? Retirement, for those uninitiated, is when you shovel your driveway down to bare pavement two hours after a major storm. Being anal retentive helps. Retirement is… Read More 5 Years Post Retirement – Mar 2019