Soap Box "dorks"

Thought I best drop a line. Brooke has started bloggin' and what a start. What is up with guys anymore, some are giving us a bad name. Having daughters make you appreciate what clowns we men can really be. We act so primitive at times, you'd think we still drag women around by their hair. Seems most men have or feel some sense of entitlement. I love her last line, "your one of a million, not one in a million. Get over yourself".

I'm proud of her. I have always believed, and hoped the girls would believe, that they have the option to tell guys "no" if they are not interested on going out on a date with them. I have been surprised at how many parents think that their daughter should always say yes regardless. What are we teaching our girls? Maybe that is why we see so many divorces anymore. I don't believe, when it comes to dating, people feel they can be real and honest. Good grief, if you don't like the guy why lead him on or make him spend the money. It seems more selfish to do that then to just say no. If guys have the option to chose who "they" want to ask, then shouldn't a girl have the option to chose who "they" want to go with? Seems fair to me.

Enough of my soap box tonight. I am proud of her and believe there is one lucky dude out there.

Is it over?

Hard to believe we're back home.  We still wake up daily home sick for the sound of the ocean and the cool breeze of Maine.  It came and went so fast.  It was long enough to enjoy but not so long that you got bored.  Both Elaine and I just look at each other each day and say, "can we go back?"  It was one of the most enjoyable experiences I can remember.  I do have to say we had a great time in San Diego a few years back.  We went as a family and had a lot of fun.  Those trips and experiences are so worth it.  The memories and stories last a life time and bring a sense of peace and contentment.  

I'm going to try to stay up on the blog.  I really enjoyed posting our activities and letting everyone know what we did on our trip.  It's a kind of journal and fun to remember the things you do and have done.  I find myself going back on the trip in the blog and rereading some of our activities.  There might be something to this journal thing after all.

Sloggin'

It was a really quiet day.  We spent the time just walking through town, stepping into little shops, and just enjoying the area and each other's company.  We stopped in a little Celtic shop and got talking to the fellow behind the counter.  Found out he was from New York and a female impersonator.  Uhmmm....  He was a nice fellow and took an instant liking to Elaine.  He told us how he got there, the story of his father's passing, and how we should all be understanding of each other.  We enjoyed the conversation.

This was a little wall we found during our walk.  You think they don't want anyone to sit on it?  We haven't seen a skate boarder so we thought they must just be grumpy people who don't want anybody on their property, we sat on it anyway...I'm typing this standing up!
This is Perkins Cove.  We spent a lot of time down here just wandering around and going in the candy store.  This is the bay where the Lobster boats hang out.  Just right behind me is the Lobster Shack where we had dinner.  Fresh.
Here it is!  Real Lobster.  We actually picked them out and waited for them to cook.  We just sat and laughed thinking about how all of you would have run out of the place screaming.  It wasn't as good as baked lobster but you can't come to Maine and not have a lobster.  The owner of the place was real nice and asked if we needed to be shown how to do it.  We said we had been reading up on how to eat a lobster and went to work.  It turned out good except for the green goop that made Elaine almost gag.  It is actually the liver and some actually find it good.
This is the restaurant we ate at.  It has a famous reputation for great lobster.  It sits right in Perkins Cove and the Lobster they get is from the catch that day.  Very fresh.
The Lobster Shack.  This is the original building that use to be an actual lobster shack.  We looked at some old photos in the library of the wharf and saw this actual building in them.
This is the view from the Oreweed restaurant where we had desert.  We got to sit right by the window.  Just beautiful.  We left from here and walked down the Marginal Way which follows a path out to the point on your left in the picture.
My my, who is this handsome young devil.  This is my tree.  I loved taking pictures through the limbs.  This is along the Marginal Way and one of our favorite places to stop and look out over the Ocean.  It has been a fun trip.  We had a fire last night and didn't want to go to bed because that meant we would have to get up and go home and cook for starving kids!  We have missed you guys but we had a great time.  Thank you for letting us do this, it means a lot to us that you have taken care of business why we have been gone.

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Portland and Lighhouses

We got up yesterday morning and went to a little place for breakfast called Huckleberry's.  I got blueberry pancakes and have never seen so many blueberries in my life.  I thought they were blueberry patties.  I did find some pancake in it, don't get me wrong...they were good.  We also had a guy sit down behind us that received a phone call and was talking at the top of his lungs.  His friend has just passed away and he was pretty upset.  Just behind him was an old man and his wife and he was one grummpy sucker.  As the guy was talking out of the blue this old guy yells, "keep it down!"  Elaine and I just looked at each other and the gay couple behind us started chattering about how rude it was to be on your phone.  Elaine and I felt sorry for the guy and got to talk to him later.  Interesting start to and interesting day.

This is Kennebunkport which the Bush family owns.  The old President Bush use to go here a lot.  Nice place out on it's own point.  Overall Kennebunkport was boring.  We were expecting a high tourist town but it was pretty dead and blah.  We were excited to leave and get on to Portland.

Portland wasn't much better.  It took us about two hours to go 29 miles.  Every mile the speed limit changes.  Your going 35 then it goes to 25 then it goes to 45 then it goes back to 35.  We just laughed and wondered why we just didn't jump out on the freeway, it was an adventure but something we wish we would have missed.  This is a picture of Portland from our boat.  We did really enjoy going on the boat and it was worth the trip up.

This is the boat we went on.  It was actually really smooth.  The day was pretty windy and we thought they would have cancelled it but they said it was actually a good day to go out.  We stood right there on the front next to the pole.  Very fun.

This was our captain.  He was a riot.  He talked the whole 90 min. we were out.  Who should be president, what is up with muslims, and the complete history of the World.  He actually make it really fun.

Here is Elaine on the front of our boat.  We spent most of the tour up front looking out.

This was an old Civil War fort in the middle of the harbor.  We were really surprised at how much civil war and WWII stuff went on here.

This is a WWII gunnery used to protect the harbor.

Our favorite place to eat.  We ate there three times while we were here.  The food was great and the service was excellent.  We would highly recommend it to anyone coming this way.  They were celebrating their 25th year in operation, we thought it fitting to go!

These are some sunset pictures. It was a gorgeous evening and we just spent the time walking the marginal way and talking.  It was really nice.

We have more pics we'll show ya when we get home.  Beautiful place.

Roamin' the Beaches

This is from the private beach and Beachmere.  The sites are just amazing here. The whole beach is lined like this with homes and rocks and ocean.  There are some amazing homes here and some small cottages.  Would be fun to get the whole family back here and rent one of the properties.

We thought of Brooke when we saw this.  This is on the Marginal way path.  There is shot after shot like this as you walk along the path...and a lot of old people too.

Nubble Lighthouse.  We were bummed because we couldn't get to it.  It actually sat across a little body of water.  You can see the men on the roof working on it.  We also ran into a little old man who started talking to us.  He was once a minister and when he found out we were Mormons he said he had missionaries drop by and give him the mormon book.  He, his wife, and mother-in-law were there celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

What? Dad and Mom in the same picture? I know what your thinking, who let him mess up the picture?  Oh, Nubble Lighthouse behind us...a little thing we came across.

We couldn't pass this up and not get a picture.  This is a backyard of one of the houses along the shore drive.  Just looked so relaxing, two chairs setting out overlooking the ocean.  There are just a bunch of houses like this with perfect views of the ocean.

Need I say anything? This is in Perkins Come. A little lobster village just a small walk away from our place on the Marginal way.  The flowers were nice.

This is Grove street.  The whole street is lined like this. Amazing, little houses and trees.  We walked up this street looking for a place to eat. Everything closes at 5:00 or is open from 11:00 to 3:00. Might be the off season but they have some of the strangest hours for operation we have ever seen.  We did find a place.

This is the garden behind our place.  Little pond, walking paths, and beautiful trees and flowers.

This is our place. It is a studio apartment, little kitchen, living room, and fireplace. We have a little deck off the back too. The first night we were here we had a hard time getting in the front door. Both doors are visible with the fireplace in between. Elaine got the back door opened so we felt relieved until I woke up the next morning, went out the back door and found Elaine's key still in the door. We just looked at each other and laughed...then we thought of how lucky we were.

We forgot to tell you that when we were driving into Maine we hit a toll road.  We didn't realize that there were toll roads up here and didn't have any money.  We started getting closer to the both and noticed we needed a $1.50.  Elaine started digging and we came up with .78 cents.  We jumped off on the last exit we could and ran into another toll booth...it was only .75 cents.  We gave them our money and stopped in a Rite Aid in town and got us some money...and candy.

Plymouth, Salem, to Maine

Our last morning at the B&B.  What a great place.  It felt like home and we found it hard to leave there and Plymouth.  Little did we know the trip that laid in wait for us.  Getting to Salem was like working a jig-saw puzzle.

This is Brenda and Roger with their little grand daughter (adopted from China) Natalie.  They were great hosts and friends.

Elaine was found guilty and has to spend the rest of her vacation with Bob.  A terrible sentence I wouldn't even wish on Bryan.

One of the original beams from the original dungeon where the witches were held.  They found the original dungeon when they were digging in 1957.

This poor fellow was crushed to death.  If you admitted or denied that you were a witch they would take your land.  He did not confess to either so they tried to crush him to get a confession.  He lasted three days before he died and never confessed.  He was 76 years old and his family got to keep the land because he didn't confess.

Picture of what the witch hangings probably looked like.  The hangman came around once a month and hung everyone in the dungeon who was found guilty.  I'm sure if you were in the dungeon you'd be hoping he'd get by a wagon or something.

Original witch house. Late 1600's.

Flowers in garden of Ropes Mansion.

Ropes Mansion Gardens.

Salisbury Beaches.  Thought of Jen, Josh, and Jackson.

Beachmere.  This is the Main Building.  We are staying in a little place off the main property.

Looking at the ocean from the lawn of the Beachmere.

Takin' It Easy

We started the day out shopping.  Looking for that perfect Boston Celtics t-shirt.  Hard to believe we couldn't find one.  Just south of Boston and no shirts.  Elaine was ticked off, "Why don't they support their team?"  It was pretty funny, she was all upset with Boston.  This is me at the Cape Cod Canal.  This was the area Ezra Perry lived.  We are close to the Herring spawning ground where history says he lived on a big hill near the Herring stream.  It was fun thinking we were walking on the same ground he and our ancestors did.

This is the Sagamore Bridge we crossed to get into Cape Cod.  On Monday when everyone was coming back from the Cape there was a 15 mile back up.  We skirted around on the opposite side and missed all the traffic.  There is a similar bridge just West called the Bourne Bridge.  We are on the North side of the canal here.  We had just gotten back from the Bourne Marina.

This could be the hill Ezra Perry lived.  It is one of three large hills by the Herring Spawning river.

This is Karly and Madison.  They are the grand children of Roger and Brenda.  They had a little Lemonade stand and made about $60 selling out front of the b&b.  They also was our little servers for breakfast.  Cute girls.

This little pirate boat sat out in the harbor.  They put kids in another boat and then the pirate boat attacks them and they have a big water fight.  I was totally scared when they attacked us!  It thought, how could this be happening in today's modern society?

This was our favorite place to eat, "Cabby Shack".  The best Clam Chowder and the favorite place of all the bikers in town to hang out.  Some amazing bikes.

Just a sample of one of the bikes we saw in Plymouth.  The town is like a magnet for bikers.  Old Harley riders, crouch rockets, & choppers.  They were all over the place.

Today we are heading out and going up to Maine.  It has been an unbelievable experience being here.  We have seen so much and had so much fun being together.  I will catch you up once we get to Maine.  Today we are going to stop in Salem on our way up.

See ya!