chestnutcurls | My time in Yankeeville

Okay, here's a detailed recap. I'll start with our first day. Lawson's Gallery stuff has changed and I can't figure out how to upload things the new way, so I'll just include a few pictures here.

Sunday

We went to Evan's parents' church in the morning, then back to the house. I didn't think we'd be going anywhere, but around 5:00 Evan's dad said, "Anybody want to go to the ocean?" :D We went to Rye Harbor, which was about 45 minutes away, and I communed with the sea for a while. I even found some kelp, which was foreign and exciting. Then we drove around the area and decided to go to Maine for lobster! It was fantastic. I have eaten lobster in Maine. I can die happy.

Monday
Monday was Whale Watch Day! Evan's dad, his cousin Megan (who lives with them), Evan, and I went back to Rye and set sail on the Atlantic Queen. Being on a boat is always great, but it took two hours to get to Jeffreys Ledge, where the whales hang out. Fortunately we saw a humpback whale as soon as we got there. I was at the bow of the boat, but there were tall people in front of me, so when the whale breached (jumped out of the water) right in front of the boat, I didn't see it! (Evan did, though.) I did see the foamy circle where he fell back in, so that was cool. And I saw a lot of his fluke (tail). Too soon we had to leave the whale and head back in. I was sad, but on the way back we saw two finback whales. The marine biologist aboard said they were as long as the boat! They were more shy than the humpback and didn't surface as much, so we mostly just saw their fins. But it was neat. :) None of my digital photos came out...they were just pictures of water. I hope some of my regular pictures have at least a fin in them.

Tuesday
We all went to Boston, which was #2 on my original list of Cities I Want to Visit, right after San Francisco. (How cool would it be if I continued this unexpected trend of one per year?) We parked in a garage and took the T into town. I'm endlessly fascinated by subways (I guess because I've never lived somewhere that had one), so I was overly excited. At the Harvard stop I was squealing silently to myself, thinking, "Wow, these people might actually go to Harvard!" I wished I could be cool and metropolitan like

alissamarie. Alas, I am backwoods and easily impressed. Anyway, we got off at the Fanueil Hall stop, and then took a bus to the Museum of Science, where we were going on a Duck Tour. You know, those amphibious vehicles that can be a car or a boat. The Duck driver took us all around town, and then into the Charles River, which (despite what I've heard) seemed much cleaner than the Mississippi. There were construction workers hard at work...feeding ducks.

The driver explained that you need four licenses to operate a Duck, which was interesting. One of them is a captain's license. He concluded with, "So while we're in the water, if anyone is so inclined...I can marry you." Evan and I turned to each other hopefully, but decided my parents would kill us. Evan's parents said my parents didn't have to know. LOL. Of course, we didn't go through with it, but it would have been a great story. Plus, we'd be married now.

After the tour, we got back on the subway and went to Boston Common. The weather was perfect and there were plenty of people there enjoying it. We had a late lunch at the real Cheers, which was originally called the Bull & Finch. I had a Burgermeister. It was delicious. Then we went across the street to the Public Garden. I have loved the Public Garden from afar all my life, mostly because of Make Way For Ducklings (of which I bought a copy in a bookstore nearby), but also because of a Lois Lowry book where the characters take a midnight ride on a swan boat. I don't remember the name of it now. So when I saw the swan boats, it was like I'd seen a celebrity. Evan's dad suggested taking a ride, so we did. It might sound silly, but sitting on that boat on a gorgeous Boston day next to Evan, it was like a lifelong dream I didn't know I'd had coming true. It was the happiest moment of my whole trip.

On the way back out of town, we visited Harvard, where I mostly stared in awe at the campus church and library. For a few minutes I really regretted my mediocre (but free) college education. We walked over to the Coop (the student bookstore) and Evan and I stood and gawked at the sheer size of it ("There's a whole floor for Fiction and Literature!"). I had bought my brother a Harvard long-sleeved T-shirt in the Common, and now decided I wanted one too, so I got a similar one. I came very close to spending $50 on a Harvard hooded sweatshirt with felt letters, but quickly came to my senses. Sigh.

Fast fact: did you know the Boston Globe only costs a quarter?!? Our newspaper is total crap and costs 75 cents. Go figure.

Wednesday
It turned out that Wednesday was Evan's mom's birthday- I'd been told it was Friday. :P Her friends threw her a birthday lunch at Longhorn's, and we went along. After lunch she took Megan, Evan, and me to the Canterbury Shaker Village. It was fascinating. The guy giving the tour had been raised in the village, though he wasn't Shaker himself. You can read about their way of life on the site. They didn't believe in marriage (I meant to ask why but forgot), so there were no kids; hence, most of the Shakers have died out. It's a shame because they sound like a really neat group.

Ironically, we followed the Shaker village with a trip to the outlet mall- there's no sales tax in New Hampshire. Evan and I got new clothes at the Gap outlet. He is Teh Hotness in his new shirts. :D On the way home, they dropped me off at

Jessica's sister's house so we could go to dinner! Rochelle and family were in the process of moving and I was really in the way, but I was glad to meet them briefly. Then Jess and I went to TGI Friday's and caught up. It was great to see her again, though weird to do so in a place where neither of us lives. :) Even weirder, it turns out that Evan's family and Rochelle's family apparently go to the same church. It's a small world after all.

Thursday
On Thursday we drove two hours to Mt. Washington. Mt. Washington is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, and has some of the worst weather in the world. I think most hikers consider it a rite of passage (Kathy's Daniel has climbed it), but we weren't hiking. Instead, we took a cog railway up the mountain. It was really neat. We spent a few minutes at the summit, above the clouds. There was a weather station and I suggested to Evan that we move there and monitor it. He pointed out that I'd probably change my mind once winter and the 100-mph winds came. I wish I had digital pictures from the summit, but sadly, my memory card had run out way before then. I have real ones coming, though.

We took the trip back down the mountain and left in search of food. After a hearty meal at KFC, we drove the Kangasomething road hoping to see moose. By this point in the week, it was official that I had never felt so carsick in my life. We were spending several hours a day in the van (plus more hours in other vehicles), and I wasn't used to the curving, hilly roads. I had pretty much reached my breaking point of motion sickness, so I spent most of the drive with my face in Evan's shoulder. We came upon several moose hangouts, but the moose must have been on vacation because we didn't see any. On the way back to Manchester, we stopped at a small-town ice cream place, and I had a smoothie and felt better.

Friday
It was our last full day with Evan's parents, and we were all tired. Evan's dad decided it would be fun to go to Vermont, just so I could say I'd been to Vermont. Are these people great or what? :D It wasn't a bad drive, but once we got there, there was really nothing to do but turn around and go back. LOL. We had lunch in Keene, which is a neat little college town. Then we rested at the house for a while. For dinner we went to Lobster Boat. Evan and I both had the seafood medley- lobster, shrimp, and scallops. It was SO GOOD. I'm hungry again just thinking about it. It was a nice ending to a great trip. :)

Saturday
Before dropping us off at the airport, Evan's parents took us to see the USS Constitution. It was really neat. We had planned to see some other local Freedom Trail stuff, but the weather was unusually hot. By the time we had toured the ship, we were all exhausted and ended up just sitting there till it was time to go. :)

New England is great. Every time I visit a new place, part of me is imagining what it would be like to live there. On our trip (especially in Boston), I had that feeling really strongly. I love Memphis and hope to stay here, but if we ever have to move, I think I could be happy in that area. Of course, the winters would be awful for me, but I don't know. Maybe God has planted a seed.