Massachusetts – Where I’ve Been

I’ve been to Massachusetts twice.  I’ve seen the Boston area in the east, the central small villages/townships, and Springfield area in the west.

My first visit was back in October 2007 on a New England road trip with three other women (mentioned in my Connecticut and Maine Blog Posts).  During that trip, we didn’t realize how close all the states were.  We got from Providence, Rhode Island to Boston in 45 minutes and that was with traffic!  So, we learned we could cover a lot of ground during this trip.  If you’re physically able, the best thing to do in Boston to see all the sites is to walk the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail. 

 

You can get more information at the visitor center at Boston Commons, where the trail begins.  Before leaving home, be sure to download the free audio tour for each stop along the freedom trail.  It’ll provide you a lot of great background about each stop.  You can pay for an actual dressed up tour guide; however, it’s very simple to go on a self-guided tour of the trail.  All you have to do is follow the red line that is painted on the roads and sidewalks.  You’ll see sights such as Quincy Market, Old North Church, King’s Chapel, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, the old State House, and the new State House, Benjamin Franklin’s tombstone, and Paul Revere’s house and tombstone. 

 

The Old State House on the left and the new State House on the right.

Paul Revere's tombstone and house. 

 Old North Church

 

Some of these sites have great impact on not only Massachusetts history but also the history of the United States and the freedom we gained from defeating the British.  Before the trip, we came up with a list of things we wanted to see in Boston (historical and new), and even the places that weren’t technically part of the Freedom Trail tour were ALL along this trail.  The strange thing about Boston is that all these places were in the midst of a big city, and it looked totally out of place in the middle of skyscrapers.  The downside to the Freedom Trail is figuring out where to park your car if you drove in.  Sorry, I have no good answers.  We just backtracked.  It’s a trail – not a loop.  At the end of the 2.5 mile trail, you have to walk to where you left your car.

Spending the night in a hotel in Boston can be expensive (around $200 a night easily depending on the season) and because we were driving to Maine the next day, we decided to go north of Boston to look for a hotel.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Peabody.  After waking up in Connecticut, and exploring both Providence, Rhode Island and Boston all in one day, it was nice to relax in the hotel pool after a long day of traveling by car and foot.  That’s just how we roll - wake up early, see EVERYTHING, and then relax in a Jacuzzi/pool.

While on this road trip, we drove through 10 states from Maryland to Maine and back.  On the way back through Massachusetts, we drove from Vermont into the western half of the state along I-91.  We love candles so of course we HAD to stop in Deerfield and check out the Yankee Candle Company Flagship Store.  There were all kinds of scents, candles, home décor items, etc.  The store boasts on their website that you’ll find 400,000 candles in over 200 different famous Yankee scents!  We had to make room in the trunk because all four of us got a huge stash of candles and with so many different scents, they couldn’t have gone in the car with us.

 

A row of candles and Lori and I at Yankee Candle

 

Our next stop was the Dr. Seuss Memorial Park in Springfield.  It was adorable!  We stopped and posed for some pictures and checked out the gift store where they had everything related to Seuss.  From there, our next stop was my apartment in Maryland.

 

My friend Lori is in these pictures.

 

During this road trip, we realized very quickly that New Englanders are ADDICTED to Dunkin Doughnuts.  They’re everywhere!  It’s like Starbucks in Seattle.  We saw like 10 Dunkins just in downtown Boston alone.  There were drive thru ones, big ones, small ones, etc.  We even saw two across the street from each other.  During this trip, one of the girls with us, Bethany, who was from Seattle, had her first cup of Dunkin Coffee.  She wasn’t impressed.  I love Dunkin so because it was in the fall, I got their delicious pumpkin spiced coffee.  So, don’t worry about trying to find good coffee while traveling in Massachusetts or a good doughnut for that matter.  Just look for DD!

My work sent me to the middle of Massachusetts in the summer of 2011 for two weeks of training.  We drove through the area only DAYS after they had been surprised by tornados that destroyed so much.  Not many would believe before that summer that Massachusetts of all places could get tornados.  Being we were in training for long days, I didn’t get to do any of the touristy stuff, but the hotel had a shuttle guy that hooked us up with great restaurants to try every night and coupons for them!  Check with your hotel, in the local newspaper, or on the restaurant/store’s website for coupons.  Most of them in this area had coupons somewhere.  We ate out a lot over the course of two weeks, but here are some places you should definitely visit:

Dresser Hill’s Clambox Ice Cream Shop in Charlton has AMAZING ice cream.  It’s in the middle of all these farms so I’m glad the shuttle guy knew where he was taking us.  They have 45 flavors of ice cream.  I had this yummy maple flavor ice cream!

Publick House (historic inn, country lodge, bakery, tavern, and restaurant) in Sturbridge had AWESOME Yankee cuisine!  The Inn opened in 1771 and has a quaint, old look.  The restaurant’s menu has yummy items such as roasted duck, lobster pie, and Yankee pot roast.  Be sure to get some of their amazing sausage-cornbread stuffing.  After our meal, our host told us we should take a walk around the property.  We were able to see that one of the tornados had gone right behind the restaurant taking out all the trees but not touching any of the building.  WOW!

Publick House
Picture found online

Enrico’s Brick Oven Pizzeria in Sturbridge was great!  Now, they advertise as having a great brick oven pizza and the pizza is GOOD!  But, try their mussels too!  It’s a huge portion so be nice and share the appetizer or have it as an entree.  They were so good.  We went to that restaurant three times during the course of two weeks.

Rovezzi’s in Sturbridge was another restaurant we went three times during the course of two weeks.  I loved the bruschetta, the mussels, the cannelloni, and the pescatore al tomasso, which had a lot of HUGE shrimp, scallops, mussels, and calamari in some pomodoro sauce on top of linguini.  It’s so yummy!

Rovezzi's
Picture found online

While in Sturbridge, check out the Yankee Candle Seconds Shop on Rt. 20.  Yes, they have a Seconds Shop full of the last season’s candles (for example, selling winter candles in spring) for really good prices.  We heard about this place from our shuttle driver.  I tried looking online for the address, but I only saw reviews.  So, you’ll have to ask the locals.  There is a regular Yankee Candle store in Sturbridge so we price checked and we found some things were cheaper at the regular store so you should visit both stores if you have time.

In my next post, I’ll list those places that I’d like to go see on my next trip to Massachusetts.

 

**The picture with me in it was taken by a friend on the New England Road Trip of 2007, all others were taken by me if not noted.

Maryland – Places I’ve Been – Part 1

I’ve lived in Maryland for the past 10 years so it was hard to recommend just a few places in Maryland, but here are some of my favorite places to visit and some good things to know before you visit the historic state of Maryland.

If you don't already, you should know that Maryland is known for its Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs and crab cakes.  One place I’ve gotten some good crabmeat and loved the view is at Captain Billy’s Crab House in Newburg along the Potomac River. 

 

My friend, Ketina, took me there and I’ll admit it’s out in the middle of NOWHERE, but it was so peaceful, and the food was good.  Maryland is also known for its Old Bay Seasoning and they use it with EVERYTHING from steamed shrimp to crabmeat to even cookies.  I prefer to keep it on my shrimp, crabmeat, and on my french fries, but not sure about cookies.

The Annapolis Dock is the perfect place to see old-fashioned Maryland. 

 

It’s awesome because of its quaint boutiques, narrow cobblestone roads, the Naval Academy, and beautiful old taverns, such as Middleton Tavern.  Middleton Tavern, established in 1750, is right at the dock and has outdoor seating to give you a great place to people watch, boat watch, and eat a yummy Chesapeake Bay crab cake.  While in Annapolis, visit our state capitol building.  On their free tour, you can see parts of the old capitol building they’ve left untouched.

 

Right outside of Annapolis and along the Chesapeake Bay, I like to visit South Beach at Sandy Point State Park.  I go to swim, people watch, and boat watch, but they also offer fishing, crabbing, boating, and camping.  Being on the bay, you’ll see a lot of boat and ship traffic coming in and going out of Baltimore Harbor.  South Beach is also near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which takes you to the Eastern Shore area of Maryland.



Pictures taken by my friend Anna



Baltimore (or “Bawlmer” as the locals say) is another quintessential Maryland spot.  You can walk along the inner harbor area, see all the fancy boats, and check out the restaurants, shops and fudge place in the Harbor Place Mall.  My favorite restaurant in Harbor Place is a yummy and truly Irish pub called Tir Na Nog, but if seafood is what you want, we also have Phillips Seafood Restaurant.  If you want a great view and picture of the harbor, I suggest a walk up Federal Hill, but you had better have some sneakers on because there are quite a lot of steps up to the top.  However, it’s worth it.

My friend, Ketina, has recently introduced me to another cute Baltimore neighborhood along the waterfront, Fells Point.  She became a fan of Fells Point neighborhood because of her favorite tv show, Homicide, which was filmed in Fells Point. 

Fells Point Pier
Photo from friend Ketina

Fells Point has kept its historic atmosphere with cobblestone roads and many buildings on the National Register list, one of which is the oldest saloon in America, The Horse You Came In On, which was established in 1775.  While we were there, we had breakfast at the Blue Moon Café, which has been on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives TV Show for their famous Captain Crunch French Toast.  I instead had their AMAZING seasonal sweet potato pancakes with spiced apples on top.  Yummy!  The café isn’t that big so you might want to get there really early to beat the rush.

Hampden is an interesting Baltimore neighborhood that I discovered with some friends at Christmas time a few years ago.  During the month of December, Hamden’s 34th Street hosts an awesome and outrageous Christmas lights display.  You probably can see it from the sky!

 

Hampden is also famous for the Honfest.  It’s a pretty interesting and fun festival to visit.  Hon, is Bawlmerese’s (name of the local dialect) term of endearment bestowed upon by historic working women of Baltimore.  Honfest is an annual celebration in honor of these women.  The women who want to become the Best Hon are women of ALL ages with beehive hairdos, bright blue eye shadow, spandex pants and anything with leopard print! 

Picture from Honfest's Website

If you go and are feeling left out, you can even pay someone to give you the hon hairdo.  If you can’t visit during Honfest, check out the Hon Bar and Café Hon open year round.

Before leaving Baltimore, everyone should visit Fort McHenry.  The defense of this fort in the Battle of Baltimore (September 1814) inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”  It has a very well done movie in the visitor center that all should see.

 

Ellicott City is a great place to go to stroll, window shop at the boutiques, listen to bands on the street, have a fancy meal, or just to watch Baltimore Ravens football and Orioles baseball, or simply “the O’s,” on tv at one of the bars.  Ellicott City is also home to the oldest surviving railroad station in America (completed in 1830) and the original terminus of the first 13 miles of commercial track ever constructed in America.  In the 1970's, the Ellicott City Train Station was restored as a museum and a second restoration in 1999 returned the building to its 1857 appearance.

Today’s post is just half of my favorite places to visit and some good things to know before you visit Maryland.  Come back soon for part 2.

*Pictures taken by me unless noted

Maine - Wish List

In my last post, I noted the places I visited in 2007, but I’d love to go again and visit quite a lot of places on my next trip to Maine.  Here is a shortened version of that list.

While in Maine, I visited two lighthouses, however Maine has 65 lighthouses!  Every year in September, Maine hosts an Open Lighthouse Day.  It’s a fun family event intended to increase awareness of the rich history of its lighthouses and lighthouse keepers.  Along the shores of Maine on this day, companies provide excursions to show lighthouses that are only accessible by boat, lighthouses and museums are open for tours, and some lighthouses host live music.

In the town of Prospect, about 118 miles north of Portland, is the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory.  It’s the only bridge observatory tower in the US, and there are only four bridge observatories in the world.  It also has Maine’s fastest and tallest passenger elevator taking you up to the observatory.  The 360-degree view from the observatory is so beautiful.  But, the observatory is only open from May 1^st through October 31^st every year, so make sure to plan your trip accordingly.

 

While on the subject of bridges, I also love covered bridges.  We saw quite a few in New Hampshire on our New England road trip, however, we didn’t stop to see any of the nine covered bridges in Maine that are beautiful as well.

Babb's Bridge

With Maine being the US’s largest blueberry growing state, I might be able to find my chocolate blueberry latte at one of the state’s wild blueberry festivals, one of which is the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival in Machias.  They have a ball, fun runs, pie eating contests, crafters, farm tours, and even a blueberry musical.

I bet I could also find another good Maine lobster meal at the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.  They have a pancake breakfast, cooking contest, lobster crate races, fun runs, and a big parade.  Along with lobsters, they also have clam festivals such as the Yarmouth Clam Festival in Yarmouth, which hosts the Maine State Clam Shucking Contest.  WOW!  It also has a canoe/kayak race, parade, fun runs, crafters, and even a diaper derby (a fun race for crawlers and toddlers).

 

My friends from Maine told me that Maine has a desert.  I thought they were either lying or I had heard wrong and they were saying DESSERT!  But, nope, I heard right and they weren’t lying.  The Desert of Maine is Maine’s famous natural phenomenon in Freeport.  It has nature trails, sand dunes, and a barn museum.  But, they are only open from May through October every year so keep this in mind when planning your trip.  It used to be fertile grassland in the 1700s that eroded away to show the glacier desert that was always underneath the grassland.

Also in Freeport is the LL Bean Flagship Store.  Throughout the summer, they offer outdoor activities at their Discovery Park such as farmers’ markets, festivals, concerts, and games.  Throughout the year, they offer indoor events around the topics of birding, kayaking, navigating, hiking, camping, etc.

There is one place in Maine I’m not sure about visiting because I’m not that much of an outdoors person, but I sure do love to look at pictures of it.  That’s Baxter State Park in Millinocket.  They describe it as rustic, unpaved, and no electricity.  They have 215 miles of trails that offer all kinds of hikes from short easy day hikes to difficult long hikes.  It’s 209,501 acres and includes Maine’s highest peak, Mt. Katahdin, which is also the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail that starts in the Amicaloloa Falls State Park in Dawsonville, Georgia (Georgia’s Blog Post).

Mt. Katahdin

As I’ve mentioned many times, you should go tour the state capitol buildings when you’re traveling, especially in your home state.  Most of the time, there are free tours available.  Maine’s state capitol in Augusta is no different.

 

There’s one HUGE and MAGNIFICANT area of Maine I’m leaving out of this post and saving for my next post – Acadia National Park.  So, watch for that post in the next couple of days.

**All photos were found online.**

Louisiana - Wish List

In the last post, I talked about my trip to New Orleans and the cuisines and styles of music from around the world that have blended together to make up present day Louisiana.  This post is a listing of other places around Louisiana that I’d like to go and visit.

One tour I’d love to go on is the Creole Queen Paddlewheeler in New Orleans.  A Mississippi River Cruise on a paddle wheeler would be the New Orleans experience, I bet!  Floating along what they call the Delta area with the plantations along the mighty Mississippi would be fantastic.

 

A friend visited the World War II Museum in New Orleans earlier this year and the pictures looked awesome.  There are so many planes there from the WWII era.  It was definitely not a stuffy old museum.  It seemed new and very interactive.  They even have a soda shop.

 

I’d like to visit the cemeteries of New Orleans like the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 or the Metairie Cemetery.  According to the Save Our Cemeteries website, the water-logged, swampy soil that New Orleans is built on makes digging more than a couple of feet impractical.  This gruesome revelation was made soon after the city’s first cemetery was established on St. Peter Street just inside the current French Quarter.  Graves started popping to the surface with a grim “Hello” and bodies floated down the street when it flooded – which was often.  The solution was to avoid burial altogether and house the dead in above ground tombs.  St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest cemetery in the city and was established by the Spanish in 1789.  Many of the city’s first occupants and notorious personalities are entombed here.  Visitors over time have left behind various offerings or tokens at the New Orleans’ cemeteries and I think that would be interesting to see.

 

While in southern Louisiana, you have to stop by Avery Island and tour the famous Tabasco Pepper Sauce Factory.  It’s only a $1 toll to enter the island and they have factory tours of the Tabasco Sauce bottling Monday – Thursday.  While on the island, tour the 170-acre jungle gardens to see a variety of exotic plants and wildlife.

 

To get the real Louisiana experience, you’ll want to take a swamp tour and see some alligators.  It seems like a unique experience through the bayous and swamps seeing all the swamp creatures.  It reminds me of the History Channel’s show “Swamp People” that my parents love to watch.  It just seems a little crazy to me, but I love to hear their Louisiana accents.

Leaving New Orleans, I’d love to take the Great River Road along the Mississippi River.  717 miles of it is in Louisiana, and it takes you past rural towns, historic sites, Antebellum homes and plantations, the state capital, and the history of the Louisiana Purchase.  All I’ve seen online are beautiful pictures along this road trip.

One of the plantations along the Great River Road is the Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, which is nicknamed the Grand Dame of the Great River Road and perhaps is the most photographed plantation in Louisiana.  It has a restaurant on the grounds that offers a menu of traditional Cajun and Creole dishes. 

 

Another beautiful plantation that I found online is the Nottoway Plantation Resort in White Castle.  It’s the south’s largest remaining antebellum mansion.  You can also spend the night there.  Information on eight other magnificent plantations can be found at the New Orleans Plantation Country website.

Also, along the Great River Road, be sure to visit the state capital, Baton Rouge, which has the tallest capitol building in the USA at 34 floors.  They have an observation deck on the 27^th floor that overlooks the city.  From the overlook, you’re able to see the capitol’s rose gardens, Louisiana State University, and the mighty Mississippi River.  Even better is the free admission. 

 

In my research, I found a town that I’d love to go visit.  Natchitoches is the oldest town in Louisiana, established in 1714.  Located in the northwest part of the state, “Steel Magnolias,” was filmed there.  The town also has bed & breakfasts, two plantations, and Fort St. Jean Baptiste.

These are just the places I visited or would like to go and visit in Louisiana.  If you know of anywhere else in Louisiana we should check out, please leave a comment below.  Next, we’ll explore what’s just round the corner in Maine.

 

**All photos found online.**

Kansas

I visited Kansas on the Midwest road trip I spoke about in my last post about Iowa.  There’s not much in Kansas, but it does have beautiful prairies.

When planning a trip to Kansas, you’ll want to check to see if you’ll be driving on any toll roads.  One of the major interstates that we were on in Kansas was a toll road.  The bad news is that there aren’t many side roads to take to bypass the tolls, so check out other options before leaving on your trip.  The good news is that if you have an EZ Pass (mentioned in my Delaware Post), you can get through the tolls quickly.

During our visit to Kansas, we went on a tour of the state capitol building that included the inside and outside of the dome.  If you’re a little scared of heights, you might want to opt out of the dome part of the tour.  Now having been on it, I actually would have opted OUT of it.  I was so scared, but now I can say I climbed the 296 steps to the dome and lived to type this blog post!  But, I really enjoyed my visit.  They also have a very small gift shop to purchase things like postcards, t-shirts, and books.  NOTE: according to the website, tours of the dome were suspended during renovations but will reopen June 2012.

Kansas Capitol Building

Mural Inside

The steps we had to climb to the outside of the dome

The t-shirt that they sold in the gift shop

Like every other state, there are a few things I’d like to do in Kansas when I go back.

Just north of Kansas City is Amelia Earhart’s Birthplace Museum in the town of Atchison.  Amelia Earhart, born in 1897, is one of the world’s most influential female aviators.  Ninety-Nines, Inc., an international organization of women pilots, has owned her birthplace since 1984.  Amelia was their 1^st elected president in 1931 and they have made her birthplace into a museum in order to portray her life and those of other women aviators through educational and interpretive exhibits, activities, and events.

Amelia Earhart's House (picture found online)

Just south of Kansas City is the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm in Olathe.  It’s the last remaining stagecoach stop open to the public on the Santa Fe Trail and offers a unique hands-on experience for visitors.  Such activities include blacksmithing, stagecoach rides, and “plowin’, plantin’ and playin’ on the prairie.”  I’d love to go on a stagecoach ride!

The Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop (picture found online)

Heading west out of Kansas City, towards Topeka is the Dole Institute of Politics on the grounds of the University of Kansas in Lawrence.  Dedicated in 2003, the Institute is home to state-of-the art exhibits and one of the nation’s largest collections of Congressional papers, now being processed for use in future research.  Together, Senator Bob Dole and Kansas University crafted this beautiful institute to offer public opportunities for all individuals to discover how they might best serve their community, their state, and their nation.

Dole Institute of Politics (picture found online)

Outside of Topeka, in Wamego, somewhere over the rainbow, you’ll find Oz, The Oz Museum that is.  You’ve heard of the movie, the Wizard of OZ, haven’t you?  The museum houses over 2,000 artifacts relating to the magical world created by L. Frank Baum.  I wish I could just click my heels three times and magically be there!

Oz Museum (picture found online)

Heading northwest, you’ll come to the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita.  Take a self-guided tour of a living history museum and historical reenactments that show you how life was in the 1870s – try a wagon ride, hear the ring of the blacksmith anvil, visit various town people’s homes, or try an ice cold sarsaparilla in the saloon as you take in the gunfire that erupts in the streets.  How cool would it be to be there at high noon!?

Old Cowtown (picture found online)

Right outside of Wichita is the town of Hutchinson, home of the Kansas Underground Salt Museum.  It looks like if you have claustrophobia (afraid of closed in areas), then this might not be a wonderful place to go for you.  I’d be willing to try it out though.  In 90 seconds, you are transported 650 feet below the Kansas Prairies to explore how salt was formed and mined, take a guided tour on a tram, or journey into a rustic area of the mine on rails and ties used to haul salt in the 1920s.  They even have an event where boy scouts can camp down there overnight!  I’m not sure if I’m that brave.

Underground Salt Museum (picture found online)

North of Wichita is the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene.  They provide a glimpse of the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34^th President of the United States.  You are able to go through his boyhood home (a typical Midwestern home at the turn of the century) and exhibits in the museum about his family life, military career, and political career.  You can even visit the gravesites of him, his wife, and his son.

President Eisenhower (picture found online)

In the southeast part of the state, 45 miles southeast of Dodge City, you’ll find the Moore Ranch Longhorn Cattle Drive.  It’s a working ranch in the wide open prairie that has about 300 Texas Longhorn cattle and 50 horses.  There you can get the real ranch experience sleeping in cabins, awaking at sunrise, and experiencing a true day in the life of a working cowboy.  They provide two, and three-day cattle drives too!

Cattle Drive (picture found online)

In Dodge City, you should visit Boot Hill Museum and Front Street.  They are dedicated to the preservation of the history of Dodge City and the Old West.  Dodge City was founded in 1872 and quickly became the world’s largest shipping point for Longhorn cattle.  It was the wildest of the early frontier towns, but law and order was soon established with the help of men such as Wyatt Earp.  Dodge City was a town that persisted and grew, and still honors its western heritage.  The Front Street buildings represent Dodge City in 1876.  Activities include a chuck wagon dinner, gunfights, can-can dancers, and storytelling.


Boothill Museum and Front Street (picture found online)

Last but not least, near the border of Kansas and Colorado along I-70 is the town of Goodland.  You’ll just need to look up to see one of the largest paintings you’ve ever seen - the giant reproduction of Van Gogh’s “3 Sunflowers In a Vase."  The project started in 1996.  The 80 foot steel easel holds a 24 foot by 32 foot reproduction.  WOW!

3 Sunflowers in a Vase (picture found online)

These are just the places I visited or would like to go to in Kansas.  If you know of anywhere else in Kansas we should check out, please leave a comment below.  Next, we’ll explore what’s just round the corner in Kentucky.

**Picture were taken by my friends or I on the road trip if not noted.