A Month in Massachusetts (7/12/25)

 I grew up in Massachusetts, and spent much of my adult life there. It’s where Paul and I met, and where my kids grew up. All of my siblings are still here, and most of my childhood friends.

These days when we visit, its usually for a week or so, and many times I fly in on my own. Although our daughter lives in L.A., our son still lives here in MA. We booked a month in an RV park near him with several thoughts in mind, mostly some leisurely visits with family, and also the opportunity to see more people than we usually have time to see. We succeeded on both fronts.

Basically our time there can be divided into two: visits with friends and family, and outings with Stephen, our son. The highlights from some of our more notable outings-

Our first day trip was to the historic town of New Bedford MA, an old coastal fishing town. By the mid 1800s, New Bedford was considered to be one of the richest cities in the country, in large part due to the whaling industry.

Two types of whales were hunted the most frequently on the east coast- the Right Whale and the Sperm whale. In fact the Right whale got its name because it was the “right” whale to hunt. It moved slowly and floated after it was killed.  Interestingly, species such as Humpbacks were not sought after because when they died, they sank, making it virtually impossible to harvest them. By the late 1800s, the Right Whale had been hunted almost to extinction. Now the biggest threat to the Right Whale is entanglement in fishing gear. Estimates say that 83% of all Right Whales have been entangled at least once.

The Blue Whale is the largest mammal on the planet and can grow to be 100 feet long. Their tongue weighs as much as an elephant.

In keeping with our whale theme, another of our outings was a whale watch that we took from Boston.  Any excuse to be on the ocean is probably what went through our minds. Stellwagen Bank is a marine sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts.

Paul and I made several trips there many years ago, on our own boat  and were enthralled with the whales. We had a family of 3 circling around our boat for a short while, actually rolling to look at us. The thought “we need a bigger boat” went through our minds.

This trip was not a disappointment either, with plenty of opportunity to enjoy the humpback whales.

In and amongst our trips to the beach, shopping, etc. we took another day trip up to the town of Lowell, where the Lowell National Historic Park is located.

Lowell was a planned industrial city, which made use of a canal system to generate power for the mills. We booked a tour of the Pawtucket Canal by boat, getting a different take on the whole system.

The canal system diverts some of  the water from the Merrimac River to the Pawtucket Canal and into the town of Lowell.

One of the problems with re-routing a river to come through town via canals is that when there is a serious flood-the town will be what floods.

 

Until 1850 there was no flood protection for the town, but that year, an engineer named James Francis built a massive flood gate. Many townspeople thought he was crazy, and they called it Francis’s Folly.  The wooden gate was 25’ x 27’ and at least a foot thick.

It was held up by a shackle. Well, on April 22, 1852, the call went out to drop the gate. the only way to drop it was to take a hammer and chisel to the shackle- which they did, and the gate worked exactly as it was supposed to, holding back the flood waters.

Thereafter it was called the Great Gate.

The rest of our time was spent visiting family and friends, although we did find a lighting store that was going out of business and we bought some light fixtures and fans for the new house. Our rig is packed to the gills.

So…

We saw my brothers and sisters several times..

We met up with Rich, one of Paul’s fraternity brothers….

We had dinner with long time boating friends Peter and Susan, on their boat…

And we saw our good friend Maryellen a couple of times- once with her daughter and her family. Maryellen was our next door neighbor for years… “Best neighbor Evah”.

We actually saw quite a few more people but I am terrible at taking pictures when I am with friends and family. Guess I am having too much fun to think of it!

The house is now starting to look like a house:

Finishing off Summer (09-20-23)

 After visiting Paul’s mom in Texas in August, we needed to get our rig to Fresno, CA.  I am flying to Boston to see family and Paul is going to wait for me with friends in CA. 

Tired of taking the same roads back and forth across the southwest, we detoured and headed to northern AZ, trying to stay somewhat out of the heat. It’s monsoon season in Arizona and we drove right into a storm.

We stopped for a couple of days to visit friends, north of Phoenix, where we did a lot of eating, a little bit of hiking, and spent a couple of hours at a small bar, listening to great music.

A few days later I was on my way to Massachusetts. Being on the red eye, I didn’t get much sleep, but I flew first class, so at least I was comfortable.

I spent the first couple of days at my brothers, celebrating my sister in laws birthday-which included lunch at a restaurant on the water in Gloucester MA.  

We liked the drink at the restaurant so much we bought the ingredients to make it at their house.

The following day, after lunching with some childhood friends, who I have known since I was two, I moved on to an Airbnb close to my son Stephen.

Having the Airbnb gave us a place to hang out, cook dinner, and relax. Of course, we also explored, and drove up to Gloucester for lunch. Without a reservation it was supposed to be over an hour wait, but to our surprise, they called us in 20 minutes and led us to one of the best tables in the house!

Reminiscing about his childhood and mine, we talked about our almost yearly vacations at the beach in New Hampshire. I started coming here when I was about 9, and the tradition continued until my kids were that age- Lots of great memories. We ended up booking a couple of rooms near the beach, so we could have two days to enjoy it.

Of course we had to buy books to read at the beach!

After spending a week with him it was time to move back to my brothers for a couple of days before flying back to CA. Along the way I met up with an old neighbor friend, her daughter, and her granddaughter.

The last hurrah before flying out was an afternoon with all my siblings.

One of my layovers on the way back to California was in Salt Lake City, which we flew into at sunset:

I thought it was hilarious that on the way to Boston, because of the time table, there were no meals served on either plane- but on the way back, for the same reason- we were served dinner on two different flights.

After spending another couple of days with our friends,  our plan was to move further north in California, to do some hiking, but Paul’s mom started having some health issues, so we turned around and went back to El Paso.

Spoiler alert- she improved and stabilized, allowing us to do some exploring- but not too far away. 

Late Winter, Late Spring (05/05/22)

You will notice that it is now June, and I am writing about February- April.  I am not a fan of blogging much when we are at the house, so I put it off, and off, and off, and here we are in June. The problem is, now that Paul and I are on the road for the summer I WANT to write about what we are seeing- but I have to finish other posts first. I also discovered part of my problem- ever since I got my iPhone Pro, I take most of my pictures with my phone.  That means I have a LOT more pictures to sort through in order to find pictures for my blog.  Very annoying, so, this summer I am back to using my camera. Anyway, to continue:

This year, winter lasted a very long time before springing into spring- the weather was cool, and windy almost every day.  That meant no heating the pool until later than usual, and very few days on the boat.

We did manage to have a good time though- here is what I remember of it:

February brought the fireworks extravaganza, back after a two year hiatus due to Covid.  We booked our usual RV site, and spent a lot of time watching the fireworks.

Our friends Debbie and Al, from Michigan brought their RV and visited for a while…

Our daughter Jess, who lives in L.A. has asked us for years to come to L.A. for her birthday but we hate driving in L.A. so much, we always put it off.  Well, this year I found an RV spot right on the beach, available for her birthday weekend.  We took the truck camper and towed the Jeep, which made it a little easier to deal with L.A.. Once we had our site, we told her the weekend was hers to plan and we would be up for almost anything. 

Our first night there, we went to one of her favorite restaurants (one with the strangest items on the menu, but then, I am not from L.A.) 

 

We shared several plates and had a glass or two of wine.

Saturday was “the big day”. Her 32nd birthday, and the party that goes with it.  She wanted to have a bonfire party on the beach behind our camper. She invited about a dozen friends, and the original idea was that we would make dinner and margaritas.  As used to entertaining as we are, feeding 15 or so people  100 yards from our rig made no sense.  So, we did make the margaritas, but we ordered food from a Mexican restaurant.  The weather was perfect for a beach party and everyone had a great time.

The highlight of my weekend was meeting this guy.  Noah was 9 months old at the time, and SO adorable. He had never touched sand before, so I was fascinated watching him learn about it.  At first he tried to get it off his fingers, but within minutes, he was sifting the sand through his fingers and watching what happened.

He also enjoyed playing cornhole.

After sunset, Jess  and her friends left to go out and hit the bars, and Paul and I got to relax.

Sunday was a quiet day- we spent some time at her apartment, where Paul could handle some “Daddy Do’s” and then we had dinner at the camper before leaving for home the next day.

There is always something going on in Havasu, and March was no exception.  In addition to our usual outings, we attended the rodeo for the first time.  Quite fun!

We also attended Mustangs VS Camaros at a local restaurant.  The owner of the restaurant drives a 1968 SS Camaro and invites all Mustang an Camaro owners to come show off their vehicles.  

Of course we had to bring Thelma. 

Paul and I took the camper and Teryx to Alamo Lake State Park- its only about 3 hours from Havasu and has some really cool off road trails.  We spent a fun few days taking the Teryx through some slot canyons. 

At one point we got into a bit of a pickle, trying to head up a steep incline.  We had to back down, which put the Teryx on very uneven ground. So, it was time to get out the winch, to make sure we didn’t tip it.

When the canyons got too narrow, we explored them on foot.

In April we started making tentative plans for the summer, and it didn’t include heading to the east coast, so I flew out for a week to spend time with my son and my siblings. I do love flying into Boston.

Stephen and I took some day trips to our favorite places- including Gloucester- where we used to spend a lot of time when we had our boat in MA.

Easter Sunday was spent with my siblings- this was my first time seeing them since Covid.

Back home, it was Jess’s turn to visit us.  She brought several of her friends for a party weekend at the PPP.

We ended April with a trip to Fresno CA, where Paul went to college, and is still friends with many of his fraternity brothers.  We were celebrating 75 years of Sigma Chi, and 100 years of Sigma Tau, the original fraternity.   We had a great time celebrating with them.

And then it was May- but May deserves its own post.