Rockport Adventures

The official last weekend of summer has come and gone, and Kate and I made it a good one.

Kate came over Saturday night and we had some spaghetti and meatballs with some bread and butter. It was a simple yet enjoyable meal. Kate had baked some brownies and brought some over and I had bought some ice cream so it was brownie sundaes for desert. Top that off with some diet orange soda and it was one classy meal.

Sunday was up in the air till noon or so, and Kate suggested going to Rockport, Massachusetts. She had been a few years ago and really enjoyed her time there. I myself had never been so I was eager to explore another picturesque New England seaport.

I sort of caught Kate off guard on this first photo. The town as you'll see from the photos is really quaint and pretty. The flowers are still in bloom and the streets were still crowded with tourists checking out the galleries, shops, and restaurants located in the many weathered shacks and homes that make up the town. This is a nice shot of part of Rockport's small harbor. The weather was a little cool, high 60s (Fahrenheit of course) but otherwise it was a spectacular day. There was a great ocean breeze that gave me some much needed invigoration as we strolled around.
The above shot is a look across the harbor at the granite cliffs where are a prominent feature of many coastal locations in New England.
A lone boat moves along with others only barely visible on the horizon.
We ate at this small cafe/ diner called the Red Skiff. We both really enjoyed our meals. Kate had a turkey club sandwich with some fries and I had some whole belly fried clams with fries and cole slaw, and a cup of clam chowder. The clam dinner was only $13.25, and the portions were quite nice. Regretfully I only thought of getting a photo of the food after I had cleared half of my plate.The faux lighthouse seen here is on a small street island off of one of Rockport's main streets. I was somehow amused by the energy saving light bulb inside of it.After walking around the town for a while we went for a short drive to Halibut Point, a small state park out on the end of a peninsula. Within the boundaries of the park is a quarry. We picked up a brochure at the visitors center. The park had numbered points of interest and Kate and I amused ourselves walking around finding them. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt for adults. One of the numbered attractions below were these pins that the quarry operators would use to split the rocks. We were reminded frequently by signs not to swim in the quarry.The park has some gorgeous coastline and we had fun climbing around on the rocks and pausing to enjoy the sun, the breeze, and the sound of the crashing waves.Peek-a-boo. The rocks were piled up before I arrived, it may seem tough to believe, but I don't have that much free time.I briefly considered asking Kate to take a picture of me drowning after I saw this sign, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to write about it and get it into the blog.The master is seen at work above. Well... hopefully next weekend will be another for the.... blog. Happy Monday.

Sigur Ros: Friday Night

Jess Wheeler (friend from St. Joseph's college) had emailed me a couple weeks ago about this show, and invited me along. I was glad to go see a band that I had not yet seen, and that has received good critical acclaim in the past. Also the concert was at the Bank of America Pavillion which is my favorite non-club venue in the city. It is a great amphitheater on the Boston waterfront with an excellent sound system. The band was great. They were very different than anything I've seen live before. They put on some interesting theatrics in addition to a great musical performance. There were interesting props, a fantastic light show, some movies projected behind the band, in addition to streamers and confetti that was shot out on the crowd during certain songs. The Icelandic lead singer was very eccentric, hair that reminded me of a 17th century wig/ pony tail, glitter on his face, and a black outfit that included tassels and a cape. He played all but a couple songs on the guitar with a bow (think Jimmy Page). While I've always thought of Sigur Ros as being sort of derivative of Radiohead's softer collection, some of their music was quite intense. One song in particular had great percussion session that the band demanded audience participation in with a up tempo clap. Some of the better songs from the show were actually on the latest album which I had purchased before to familiarize myself. Perhaps I'll have to consider looking into some of their older material.

It was good catching up with Jess as I had not seen him since last November.

Thursday in Back Bay...

Somewhere some college kids were thirsty.... and then there was John Madden (college friend... not the football hot head) and I exchanging banter at Bukowski's over supper and beer. Two thirty-somethings clawing onto our youth as time drags us towards... well whatever it is that tomorrow has in store for us. It was nice to see John.... I had some music to give him, but left the cd in my backpack forgetfully as we parted ways. We'll be seeing Dr. Dog playing at the Middle East in a couple of weeks so I suppose I can hand it off then. I was incredibly tired tonight, and alas here I am, still awake, typing away.

I was going to write something witty but instead I decided to post this picture of a failed kite flying experience this summer. I feel it best describes some of my emotions and enthusiasm now before I go to bed.

May all of you have a pleasant Friday.

MFA Boston

Kate suggested taking advantage of "free admission night" on Wednesday at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We went on a short guided tour that focused some of the museum's most prominent pieces and women's role in art. It was a nice tour and the woman who gave it was very well educated on the pieces, art history, and the history of the museum. I'd like to go back and do some more themed tours.

After eating Kate and I resorted to UNO's where we hadn't been for a couple of years. It was getting late, and the Huntington Ave. UNO's was convenient to the museum. The meal was a bit lack luster. I remember years ago really enjoying UNOs. I like the sauce on the pizza how it had a heavy basil flavor, however my pizza tonight was lacking flavor, and the vegetables on it were clearly not fresh. Kate had a burger which she described as a large "McDonald's" burger. The service was pretty poor and the prices have gone up. Needless to say we probably won't be back any time soon.

Belated posting

About a month ago Kate and I headed up to Schenectady NY to visit with her mom and Aunt. We had a handful of pictures that were taken so I thought I'd post some of them and supply a brief narrative.


En route to New York we finally found a reason to stop at the Pizza Hut in Framingham which is lost in time. It still looks essentially like the old dining restaurants of my youth, although the interior is more circa 1990s then the darker decor of the Pizza Huts of the 1970s and 80s. Most Pizza Huts, at least in New England have either closed up shop or have been redefined as fast food and take out as opposed to the sit down dining experiences I remember. I was pleased to see that the Book-It promotion is still going on today. I enjoyed many a free personal pan pizza as a wee lad.



After the long drive I had no trouble catching some Z's. The ape on top of the head rest is one of Kate's childhood stuffed animals "Coco".
On Saturday Kate and I went to John Boyd Thacher State Park and did some hiking and exploring. Kate's mom thoughtfully printed out directions for us and some descriptions of the park. Our first impression of the park wasn't the best because we parked the car in a lot for a fee, and we were greeted with what appeared to be a large public pool in disrepair, and a large picnic area that did not seem to have many patrons. Once we found our way over to the ledges that are the show piece of the reserve, the park redeemed itself. We hiked the "Indian Ladder Trail" which takes you to the base of the impressive escarpment. The photos were taken along the trail. The last picture is of a red spotted newt that we came upon hiding beneath some ledge.


After enjoying the park and the great weather we headed back into town and had a nice dinner with Kate's Mom, Donna, and her Aunt Nancy.

Weekend in the sticks

Kate and I headed up to Maine this weekend for a little escape from the hustle and bustle of the world. My father owns a hunting camp in Wellington, ME (Population: 253). Wellington is north of Skowhegan, the closest notable town that has any sort of urban quality. My father offered up the camp for us to use so we might take advantage of many "outdoors" opportunities that are within such close reach.

Before heading up we had a delicious pot roast dinner with my parents, and they got me a birthday cake for my "31st". My actually birthday came on the ninth when Kate also had bought me a cake and took me out for supper.

Following supper with my parents Kate and I dropped by a Blockbuster Video to rent a couple of DVDs to take with us for the evenings (TV reception is limited to CBS and NBC in Wellington).

It was raining pretty good on the drive up. Upon arriving at the camp (trailer pictured below) there was a large, hairy, spider greeting us on the wall directly in front of the car. Kate wanted me to try and smack it, although I suspect it intended us no harm. However, I was equally creeped out so I caught my wits, grabbed my Maine atlas an gave it a good "wop". We are pretty sure it escaped unscathed because there were no guts, and it was not to be seen anywhere on the ground. I tried to find out what type of creature it was, and it may have been a "wolf spider", although this thing was 3 inches across and they only list those as being 1-1.5 inches. We are kicking ourselves for not taking a picture.

Exhausted from the night's adventures I plopped down inside as soon as we were unpacked and I had fired up the water pump and electricity.

We slept pretty good, and took our time getting on the road. Around 11:30 we headed to the town of Harmony and got a couple of Italian sandwiches for lunch before heading north to Borestone Mt.

On the way we had to stop for a moose crossing. There were two moose, a bull and a cow. Both took their time crossing the street and stared at us for a few minutes before finally heading off into the woods.

After arriving at the Borestone Audubon reservation we began a hike. While it wasn't a long hike, the terrain was steep and primarily made of makeshift stone steps which could be precarious, especially on a descent. Maps were thankfully made available of the trail system at the entrance. The hiking trails were well marked, and maintained. The Appalachian trail goes through the park and there are a series of waterfalls, canyons, and gorges that can also be visited.

Near the top of the mountain the terrain becomes so steep that metal rebar was driven into rocks, cliff face, and the trail strategically to give foot and hand holds. In one of the pictures of Kate above you can see a hand railing behind her.

Following our hike we drove further north to Greenville which is located on Moosehead Lake. Moosehead is the largest lake in Maine, and also ranks amongst the country's largest. What makes it particularly unique is that it is largely undeveloped, and will likely remain that way for many years because much of the land surrounding it is either state owned, or owned by paper companies which enable the conservation of this other worldly environment. The coast of the lake is rocky like the coast of the ocean, and the waters are cold year round. A famous old steamboat called The Katahdin is moored in Greenville's harbor. It was built in 1914 at Bath Iron Works, where my father is employed today, and 4 generations of my family worked up until me, the first to break this unintended trend. Kate an I had a nice supper at The Black Frog in Greenville. The Black Frog has been involved in locale controversy due to a menu item that you can reportedly get for free if you are willing to strip down nude, run through the restaurant and jump off of the dock into the lake. If the menu item had involved lobster, and it had been summer, perhaps it would be tempting.

"Skinny Dip: Thinly sliced prime rib served in a baguette roll with au jus on the side for dipping. If you run down the long dock naked and jump in the lake, the sandwich is free......10.95"

The menu of "The Black Frog" is very entertaining and worth a read. Check out the link. My only criticism is the lack of comprehension of veganism..... but hey I don't really get vegans either so who am I to be picky.

After having a filling meal we headed back to the camp, after stopping at the Greenville grocery store to pick up junk food of course. Kate is trying to decide amongst her options. Myself, I chose to have a Twinkie and a beer. Mmmmm mmmmm.The next day Kate and I decided to stop at the Empire Grill in Skowhegan. The Empire Grill is actually part of the set of the movie "Empire Falls" based on Richard Russo's book. The film was aired as a mini series on HBO and starred Paul Newman, Ed Harris, and Helen Hunt. I read the book back when I first met Kate, largely because I learned that she was reading it. It was a good slice of life book with a very "Dickens" like tragedy that transforms the protagonists of the story. The book actually inspired me to read many of John Irving's books who was said to be a influence on Russo.

Kate suggested stopping there and we were glad that we did. The food was good and the atmosphere was great. It was pretty busy when we first arrived, however we were late for the brunch rush and things cleared out before we left. I took the chance to snap the photo of the diner bar with Kate's camera.

After eating we stopped in to Sabattus to say bye to my parents before heading off into the fog and rain to return to Boston.