Rockin' in the USA: July 2011

On the home straight....Thanks USofA

This morning we left Marion and the beautiful Cape Cod and headed back to Boston and the airport. Dropped off the rental car, went through the myriad of security and 6 hours later landed back in San Francisco.....what took us 8 weeks took 6 hours to get back. I get to start and finish in my two fave US cities.....we are now in a hotel and fly back to NZ tomorrow night arriving back on Tuesday NZ time to hit those lovely storms, remember what winter really means..and straight into work with a 3 day meeting at the Mount...mmmmm
We have had a blast and have seen so much of the states, met up with long lost family, spent time with locals to see what it is really like to be American, seen some very cool towns and sights and found ourselves hanging around water, marinas and boats as often as we could....(I won't miss fried food, hot dogs, portions big enough for 6 people and sweet bread though) To be honest, living in NZ isn't quite so bad - we really don't know how lucky we are ....we hope you have enjoyed reading the blogs and see you all soon....

Tracy's top 5 states (in no particular order)

Maine
Virginia
Utah
Wyoming
Florida

Tracy's top 3 cities/towns

Boston
San Francisco
Portland

Mike's top 5 states (in no particular order)

Maine
Massachusetts
Colorado
Wyoming
Virginia

Mike's top 3 cities/towns

Boston
Portland
Jackson Hole

Mike's summation of America (his once and only guest appearance)
The US of A is made up of 50 quite different countries they call States all in search of their own identity. America itself seems to be unsure what its identity is, well apart from demonstrating its strength as a superpower, at enormous cost both in mankind and money ($3trillion in debt last count)

America is obviously in a state of depression which is clearly apparent in many parts, however you can't help but get the feeling there is more to come. However, people are generally upbeat and mostly very friendly, those not in the "tipping" service industry genuinely so. It is an amazing place to visit so vastly different to good old NZ. Trip has been awesome and I would like to thank my lovely girlfriend for writing this blog (he he I wrote that bit!)

Cape Cod....

After one night in Cambridge, Travis and John kindly invited us to stay at their beach house in Marion which is very close to Cape Cod so we drove down there for the last few days of R and R. Had a great time at their place as they both sail and have a 45ft yacht which we checked out....had a few beers on the lawn at the Yacht Club and helped John prepare the yacht for his trip in Nov/Dec to the Bahamas for the winter - he is trying to convince Mike to come back and crew - apparently it is a quick trip across the gulf stream from Florida.
Cape Cod is a big boaty area so we drove around a few small towns and to the tip of the Cape called Woods Hole...this is where you catch the ferry to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. If we had had more time we would have definitely headed out there....lovely checking out the towns around Cape Cod and some lovely beaches. Also was nice spending time with Travis and John and hearing more family stories, drinking lots of wine, eating at dinky restaurants and learning about the history of the area - can see why this place is popular. Another area to put on your list of must sees.....

Ps funny story - One local couple Travis and John introduced us too are British - when they are at their home in Marion (and not one of the 5 others around the world) they fly the Union Jack. One of the American ladies down the road was most offended and told them flying that flag was illegal - he he he

We seem to gravitate towards boats....

Mike trying to pretend he is a yachtie.....not a stink boater

Another adventure (the boat's name)

Personal service to your yacht - pick up and drop off in the yacht club boat - beats rowing a dinghy or finding your tender

Having a beer on the yacht club lawn

So the neighbour owns this jetty with grass on right next to the yacht club....

Marion harbour

Yup nice house but nice rates to go with that - prob around 25-30k for a waterfront property (rates in these towns pay for fire services, schools, upkeep etc)

Falmouth on Cape Cod

Mind out - boat coming through....

View from Travis and John's deck at Marion

So pretty in the sunlight - nice way to end the touring

Another one of those take the photo yourself shots.....at a fish restaurant

Travis

Me and the cuzzies....

Woods Hole

Not a very flattering pic of their beach house (which is lovely) early morning

Bye bye Harvey the RV...

So we ditch our home for the last 8 weeks in the backblocks of Boston and spend an hour waiting for them to go through it and argued for compensation for our lost time at the start of the trip which we finally got after a few phone calls.....bye bye Harvey...We then loaded up a rental car and headed back into Boston city to hunt down a long lost relative. She is my second cousin and has lived in Boston for 38 years, started the trip with family on the west coast and ending it with family on the West Coast.....they live in the best spot - right in Cambridge (not the Tron....) but right in amongst Harvard and Harvard square. Did you know that Harvard has a 30 billion endowment - mate that place could run the economy! Two second walk to the square and Harvard, metro stop and pubs etc - amazing. It was great catching up with Travis...after lunch etc Travis took us through Harvard grounds as she had worked there and we caught the metro into town to check out Boston. I have been here before but Mike hadn't and he really enjoyed it. Had a beer at the Cheers bar (where they filmed that 80s TV series) and headed back to meet John and have some dinner. (Trina and Andrea if you are reading this, Travis was your mum's bridesmaid!)

We took this photo of ourselves before we dropped the RV off

Harvard old part

Harvard

Nice place to study here

Harvard

Charles St Boston

Boston

Cool cobblestone streets in Boston historical district

Boston Common

Having a beer in Norm's seat in the Cheers bar

Travis and John's house in Cambridge, Boston

Let's go Red Sox, let's go....4th July baseball game

If you haven't been to Boston you should go - it's a great city - very pretty, relaxed, historical and so easy to get around. We left lovely Maine in the fog early morning on the 4th July and headed to the south of Boston for our final night in the RV. Ditched the RV at the biggest campground I think we have ever seen and headed straight for the Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park. Awesome seats behind home plate (great birthday present from Rich and Gee). All of the streets around the park are closed down and they set up the ticket stalls on the actual streets - with souvenir booths, food places, bands etc - fun atmosphere and stinking hot....

Headed inside for a beer in the cool stand and then watched the game - quite a cool start as they celebrated independence day and then got into the game - surprisingly it was quite fun with music in between and people getting into the spirit of things and being an animated crowd (that doesn't happen a lot as they are very polite). They don't replay bad calls and we were part of the cleanest mexican wave I have ever seen - not one plastic cup thrown once - pah.....unfortunately the Red Sox lost to the Toronto Blue Jays (not cool when you start cheering for the wrong team so I found out).....had a bite to eat and then headed back to the RV to clean it out and sort out for the big drop off the next day. This meant missing the big fireworks for 4th July but we were a way out of town and with a million other people we thought maybe not....sadly.

The streets around Fenway Park

Boston Red Sox

Cool atmosphere before the match

Good beer

Fenway - cool old ground

Independence day - Stars and Stripes - a huge flag dropped down over the scoreboard

cool old sign

Fenway

the pitch

Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

National anthem singing

The park is full for every game

Go the hot dog sellers - check out the ball net behind the home plate

If a ball goes into the crowd they keep it, they often hit them in too

Sebago Lake...

So way back in our trip, just south of Memphis we met some people in a swimming pool. They invited us to visit them in Maine when we were there – foolish! We discovered that they were only 20 minutes from Suzy’s camp – SOOOO we contacted them and turned up at their ‘beach house’. Ditched the RV in the parking lot and ended up spending two nights with them….

They live in the summer in a kind of campground but you own your unit. I heard about who was swinging, who was suing who, who was a nutter, who was new, who was a republican/democrat/liberal, etc etc. Once word got out there were a couple of NZ’ers hanging around, everyone around popped by and we were kind of interviewed. Everyone ‘loved’ kiwis etc. In fact it was a real education into the daily life of every day Americans – fascinating.

Glenn and Yvette were very good to us. They taught us how to eat a whole Maine hard shell lobster, cooked up fresh clams and took us out on their pontoon boat on the lake – just lovely….in fact we want one of these boats for Paua – IMAGINE canal cruising – perfect! Gave us a real insight into daily life of a local here which as you can imagine is very different to ours. Their friends took us out too - such great hospitality! Famous people houses around too Demi Moore, John Travolta apparently....

Sebago Lake area is awesome, beautiful fresh water, cool dinky places to eat and drink, and places are CHEAP – I mean to buy a lake front home maybe $300….honestly it is ridicuolous how cheap. Whilst the house is cheap, water front properties pay extremely high rates (in Cape Cod anywhere from $20-30k a year). Anyway we did a good sell job for NZ tourism and handed over the kiwi from our dashboard and a whole lot of stuff from the RV and headed on our way ….