We took the train into Boston with our good friend Patty. After we got there we took the hop on/hop off trolly tour, (because nobody wants to drive in Boston)!It was a nice day; here’s a shot of downtown with the clock tower in the background.One of the highlights was seeing Cheers!I only have outside pictures because they were charging admission to go in on top of any food or drinks you wanted; no thanks! Plus the line to get in was out the door!We did stroll through this old park. Very pretty with lots of history throughout.A statue of George Washington .People and geese enjoying a nice day in the park; all completely ignoring the “KEEP OFF THE LAWN” sign!Another critter enjoying the park.The Boston Fire department.A statue of a hometown hero, Bobby Orr, for making the winning goal for the Boston Bruins in the 1970 Stanley Cup game.And finally a beautiful bridge, kind of obstructed by the bumper to bumper traffic!
glochester
Another day we met up with Barb and Zach and Barb’s friend Nancy. she took us on the grand tour of Gloucester (pronounced Glowster) This was a statue in tribute to all the fishermen lost at sea.Beautiful day to tour the coastline!This was a statue in honor of the fishermen’s wives who lost husbands to the sea.Another statue in honor of the fishermen.Typical rocky coast of New England.This house was actually in Salem, but I included it because of the witches of Salem 🙂
gloucester, the hammond castle
We of course had to visit this castle! For those that don’t know, when Jan and I met, she was Jan Hammond. It’s an amazing Medieval castle built in the early 1900’sBuilt by John H. Hammond, Jr. ( No relation to Hammond organs, typewriters or Jan’s ex’s family) to house his massive collection of Medieval artifacts and his laboratory where he worked on many inventions in guided missiles and radio communications.This entry door is massive, solid steel!A proper Medieval castle entry complete with tower and moat (dry moat, but then alligators wouldn’t fair well this far north!)And of course gargoyles!The inside is very impressive! Lots to look at and take in! This is the main room.His castle is complete with a massive organ (no, it’s not a Hammond organ)There was this intricate and beautiful hand laid glasswork!An interesting and whimsical statue.This is a shot of the balcony where part of the 8200 pipes were for the organ, along with a stained glass window.One of the many rooms, this I believe was a sitting roomThe dining room.It even has an atrium courtyard! Depending on his mood, he had it rigged up so he could make it rain in there! Pretty cool!And in that courtyard; a nude self likeness statue of Mr. Hammond, just to creep out his guests!The library, complete with this unusual piano with a vertical string bed. It looks like a cross between a spinet piano and a harp!This door leads to the families private residence. It was specified in his will that these rooms were not to be accessible to the public when this property became a museum.They had very elaborate ornate furnishings for sure!And many beautiful stained glass windows too.The work area was particularly fascinating to me! He was working on some very advanced stuff for the time! This was a Dynamic Multiplier he developed to pipe his organ music or even recorded music throughout the castle! Very advanced for the early 1930’s; it involved over a dozen patents he was awarded! It was even stereophonic.More information on his many achievements in sound and radio.His first patent in 1909 for wireless communications! The boat is his yacht, I’m assuming he was able to communicate from the castle to the yacht, amazing for that time!And lastly, he even developed his own RV; made from a tractor-trailer! It had an automatic sand and salt spreader in case he wanted or needed to drive it in snow or ice!
This tour took us along some beautiful rocky Maine coastline.Along our tour this seagull followed us for quite awhile.Seagulls resting on the rocky shoreline.If you look closely at this shot, you can see a pair of Eagles soaring above the trees.Luckily, they landed in one of the treetops long enough for me to get a closer shot!Along the way we also had some friendly visitors looking back at us.Sunning themselves on the rocky outcroppings!And of course all along the shoreline many gorgeous estates.Here we see some crazy folks taking advantage of the sheer cliffs to do some rock climbing. Don’t fall, that water is extremely frigid!Our captain took us by this beautiful waterfall. Not much water but pretty.The rocky coastline is beautiful with all the different colors of granite !One last wildlife shot!
sailing on the Bagheera
One of the highlights of our time in Maine was our day tour on the Bagheera, a beautiful 1924 Alden Schooner that Jan was able to locate. It was in San Diego back in the 1980’s-90’s, where she took many clients and friends on for trips while she was working in title. She was able to track it from San Diego to Dana Point and then to Portland, Maine!We were joined by our niece Logan, her parents Lane and Ron, Ron’s sister Carrie and Joni and her friends Dawn and Diane. It was a cold, but beautiful day of sailing!That’s the famous Portland Head Lighthouse in the background.There were a few others on board as well, but plenty of deck space for all.The crew and a passenger helper tending the sails.I love this crew; very meticulous with their lines!As I said earlier, it was a bit brisk!There were some beautiful estates along the shoreline.A couple of lobster fishermen tending their traps.Another shot of the Portland Head lighthouse.Here’s a shot of the galley. It brought back good memories for Jan of Bryce entertaining her clients and friends in there with his magic; although she was disappointed that they had painted the beautiful woodwork white.We moved to Wells. Lane and Ron took us to one of their favorite restaurants in Ogunquit for, you guessed it, lobster!And of course something to wash it down!Jan and Lane enjoying the beautiful day!A beautiful wide sandy beach with hardly another person around! End of the season I guess.We weren’t completely alone though!
kennebunk with joni & friends
Left to right; Dawn, Joni, Diane, Jan and Carrie.On another day we stopped by a seafood market to pick up more lobster for a dinner with Joni and her friends Dawn and Diane. I think this might be a distant relative of our Jimmy! Ah, more lobster! Can never get enough! Thanks to Dawn and Diane for hosting us at their beautiful home!
