Quiet Fourth

We started our day at St. Malachi's near Boston. Early morning masses are for the older folks and this was no different. The cantor and the music were good, but a bit slow. The priest, a diocesan priest, worked in missions in South America. His sermon was wonderful. Then we drove through the campuses of Harvard and that other school -BC... Yes, I almost talk about them like I do that school up north.... We didn't make it to BU, but we did look at Boston College. Later in the day we also drove around the campus of Yale.

Then we headed Rhode Island. The fifth new state we've been in. We stopped in Newport to see one of the fancy summer homes along the shore. We visited the home of the Vanderbilts - the Breakers. It had a self-guided tour with digital hand-sets - kinda cool. Unfortunately, this was not built by Commodore Vanderbilt, the train mogal, but by his grandson.

Sarah Flipped in the back yard of this house! Then we headed over the Claiborne Pell bridge (which I may post a picture of if I have time later) and headed for Connecticut - state number 6. We are staying the night in Bridgeport. Tomorrow - New York City.

Not Our Boat

This wasn't our boat..... But we did see helicopters hovering overhead and wondered what was up.

Ship in Boston Harbor runs aground

Vacation activities

This has been the girls favorite evening activity-- swimming. Of course, Debbie's favorite activity is reading and she has finished four books. Bob is reading a book and he is blogging and checking on work once a day. Sarah finish one book and has started another and Maria is starting to enjoy the required book she has to read this summer.

More Bahston

We continued our tour of Boston with the other part of the package we purchased. A tour of the Boston Harbor from the harbor. This boat looks like the one we were on. Before we got down to the pier, we walked through old Statehouse. We saw John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and Abagail Adams. (or actors), but we didn't get to hear them speak.

Here is a view of the a view of the harbor. Of course, this ride wasn't as windy and cold. In fact, it was a beautiful day and just a tad bit hot. After the harbor tour, we had lunch as Chart House, right there on the harbor.

Then after lunch, we travelled up one or two stops on the trolley to see Paul Reveres house, and the Paul Revere statue and Old North Church in the back ground. We found out that Revere wasn't the only courier to run that night... and he didn't make it all the way to Concord.... Samuel Prescott did. But Revere is remembered more thanks to Longfellow. Poem From there we returned back to the hotel and relaxed.

Boston

NORM!! No, nobody called "Bob" or "Debbie" or "Maria" or "Sarah" when we entered the place, but we did eat well at Cheers. Maria and Sarah didn't understand what the hub-bub was about. They've never seen "Cheers".

We were taking the Trolley Tour of Boston when they stopped at Cheers - or the Bull and Finch Pub. I asked the driver if they served food. When he answered yes, we jumped off.

The tour took us to several parts of downtown Boston. Bob's favorite was of course Fenway Park. We didn't get to go inside. We could only see portions of the field and the left field scoreboard from the outside. But at least I can say I saw it. It's in the category with Candlestick and PacBell, Fulton County, Kaufman and Tiger Stadium that I have only seen from the outside. (and someplace called Crosley Field)

The day was getting late when we got to the interesting historic part of town - Bunker Hill and the U.S. Constitution. We snapped some shots of Old Ironsides and realized we didn't have time to get up to Bunker Hill. So we headed back to the hotel. We parked at the end of the Red-Line and took the subway into town. It was the girls first experience with that!

DAR SHE BLOWS !!

DAR SHE BLOWS !!!!
Thar She Is !!

There She Goes....

Yes, we went Whale watching today! We got up at 4:30, watched the sun rise at 4:51, had breakfast on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor and then went whale watching. We rode on the "Friendship V". According to the GPS, it is a boat that can cut through the seas at 30-33 mph. It took us from 68.2 W 48.23 N to 67.34 W and 44.9 N. Unfortunately, the app that could have told me that distance, I forgot to set.

It was a bit chilly out there, as you can see. Actually, the temperature wasn't cold, but at 30 mph or more.... the wind chill was a killer! When we got to the feeding area, called the "Ball Park", the sun came out and it was quite pleasant!

The girls were cold, but they loved it! However, they were very quite in the car afterwards... The cold air takes it out of you!

Here are some of the other shots we got of the flukes. They said that this is probably a juvenile humpback. Rare to see it alone. The observer didn't recognize it as one they know.

The best shot of a fluke was probably taken at the highest zoom -- I think that is why it's a little blurry.

We also saw birds... this one was rare, but I didn't get it's name...

We also saw lighthouses. Again, I didn't catch the names.

Good Morning Sunlight

Good Morning! Sunrise over Bar Harbor Bay! No, we didn't get up at 3 AM and go up to Cadillac Mountain to watch the first beams of light. We just watched it come up over the bay. 4:51 in the morning, Yaaaaaawn - back to sleep for a bit.

Be sure to check yesterday's entry.