A few months ago we were deciding on a place to visit this fall. We decided on the Maritime Islands in Canada. We had been so looking forward to going to this place that we had never been and did a lot of research to find when would be the best time to see fall colors, and what are some cool things to do. The Bay of Fundy has been on my bucket list for about 10 years now since I saw a movie about it while visiting the Epcot Center.
Well, unfortunately Covid ruined our plans, yet again. Blast the Corona Virus! Rick got sick the 21st of September and I followed with symptoms 4 days later. We knew it was going to be a close call because I would have to have a Covid test the 10th (last) day of my quarantine to be able to get into Canada. Rick's came out negative and mine came out positive. Such a disappointment. I knew that I would be ok to travel a few days later but there was no way of knowing if we could get into Canada so we completely rerouted our plans. We knew we wanted to see fall foliage so we decided on flying into Portland, Maine and traveling out from there. While we were disappointed in having to change our plans we ended up having a marvelous and memorable vacation!
We got in late to Portland and stayed right close to the airport at the Sheraton. It was a very nice hotel with a good breakfast! The next morning we drove over to the Portland Head Lighthouse and park. It was really fun to be by the ocean! We watched sailboats cruising in the bay and got to get right up to the lighthouse. While we could not go inside we sure enjoyed the beauty of the area.
We stayed another night at the Portland Sheraton and then got up early to drive over to Boston. We knew it was going to be a big day because we wanted to walk the Freedom Trail. We got checked into our hotel at the Cambridge Marriott and then walked across the street to catch the T (train) to the Boston Commons. It was just two stops from our hotel which was super nice.
The first order of business was to get lunch. We found a nice lunch area that had several different spots to choose from. We spotted a Philly Cheesesteak place and that was it! Unfortunately, my taste and smell had not come back but I could tell that it tasted good:) Rick really liked his!
We got started on the Freedom Trail walk. The first stop was the old cemetery where Paul Revere is buried. It is super cool to walk around those old cemeteries. The gravestones had dates clear back from the 1600's.
We passed Ernesto's Pizza spot in Little Italy and knew we needed to have a slice. (Even though we just ate an hour before) What we didn't know was that "a slice" of pizza was a quarter of a whole pizza! I seriously could only eat part of it and had to throw away the excess.😔 We should have shared.
As we were walking through Little Italy we came upon a local who asked us if we had been to one of the famous bakeries. We told her we were heading that direction. We mentioned that we were going to Mike's Pastries and she suggested that we try another place called Modern Pastry. We took her advice and were not disappointed. While it had a long line (just like Mike's does) it was worth the wait. We got a plethora of desserts (for later, of course)
We walked over to a beautiful courtyard and Rick couldn't wait to eat his cream puff!
I love this statue of Paul Revere!
After seeing the sights we made the long walk back to the T to get back to our hotel. My feet were killing me and we were both glad to get back to our room.
The next day was Sunday and we went to the Cambridge Ward. Sacrament Meeting was great! We hadn't known as we were planning our trip but this very weekend was the Boston Marathon. In Sacrament Meeting we had a lot of runners get up and share their experiences with training and running and likening their experiences to the Gospel. It was great!
After our meetings we drove over to Concord and went through the Minutemen National Park. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and learned more about the months of tension before the Revolutionary War started. I'm so very thankful for those farmer's and patriots that gave up so much. Because they were being taxed without representation from the motherland (England) they knew they wanted to have their own rights in this land. Courage was the call and the patriots delivered as they fought the world's strongest military. It took years but with the lead of general Washington (and God, of course) they were able to prevail to become a new nation with freedoms the world had never known.
After stopping at the Visitor's Center, we made our way to the Old North Bridge. It is pleasantly situated over the concord River. This is where the Revolution had "the shot heard around the world" which officially started the war.
I loved this tree so much and had to get a picture. Concord is such a beautiful quaint New England town and the colors were breathtaking!
Later that evening we met up with Isaac Etiang, our dear friend from Uganda, and his wife, Cheryl and newborn, Naomi. It was good to visit with them and see their beautiful daughter who inherited her daddy's blue eyes:)
The next day we drove out towards "The Berkshires", the mountains of Massachusetts. We passed the temple on our way!
The drive was incredible with so much fall foliage. Pictures do not do it justice!
We found a couple of places for some fun photo shots!
Our destination was Stockbridge and the town was decorated up nicely for fall.
This white pumpkin was HUGE!
We stopped at a main street cafe for lunch. Even though it wasn't too chilly we just had to get the hot apple cider. It was delicious!
The bees thought so too!
Next we made our way over to the Norman Rockwell Museum. We came here a couple of years ago but wanted to come back. It really is a phenomenal museum with Rockwell's paintings.
Here are a few cool ones that we liked....
We decided to purchase a couple of prints.
I chose "Home for Christmas" and Rick chose "The Golden Rule".
We are excited to hang them in our home/office.
That night we came back to Cambridge and found a cute little Italian restaurant. I had the lasagna which was super good! Rick loved his spicy penne, as well!
The next morning we checked out of our hotel Fairfield Inn and Suites Cambridge and drove around downtown Boston to get to the highway that took us down to Hyannis. Let me interject here that I am so grateful for Rick for driving everywhere. We went through some pretty busy places and he did such a great job. I was happy to help with the navigating! (google maps helped too;)
We got checked into our hotel, Courtyard Hotel Hyannis, and then made it in time for our ferry over to Nantucket. We had never been to Nantucket so we were excited for the day. On the ferry ride over, Rick arranged for us to rent a couple of e-bikes on the island. The company met us at the ferry dock and we took off from there. We really didn't know where we were going so we just rode around for a few minutes to get our bearings.
After stopping at a store to buy some T-shirts and a restaurant for some lunch we rode our bikes out to the east end of the island. It was a nice path for our 14 mile round trip ride. We stopped at the Sankaty Head Lighthouse and took some pictures and found a public bathroom then headed back. Needless to say, my rear end was glad to get back! We grabbed an ice cream from the pharmacy in town and then went back to wait for our return ferry.
While we enjoyed our time on Nantucket we probably will not be returning. I'm sure it is more fun in the busy summer season but we had a hard time finding shops and restaurants open. Even still, we are grateful to have made the effort to go there. It will be a spot in our memory books!
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