America’s Best Idea
Did you know that this year marks the 100th birthday of what is considered America’s best idea? The National Park Service will turn 100 years young on August 26 and is celebrating this year with programs, special events, and lots of cake. While many people believe that there are only the 59 “National Parks,” in reality there are many many more UNITS of the system. There are 409 units of the National Park Service from Acadia National Park in Maine,…
Water, water everywhere…
The other day at work, a person asked me if the water coming out of the water fountain was filtered. I was taken aback for a moment before I remembered that so many places in the world do not have good tasting water even with filtration. Boston, however, is incredibly lucky that our favorite beverage (no it isn’t beer! haha) comes from a special place called the Quabbin. In recent taste and quality tests, Boston’s water has scored either in…
Traveling Companions: Larry the Pirate
Like many other people, we usually have an extra little Traveling Companion when we go out, especially hiking. Meet Larry the Pirate! We found Larry on The Cape in 2004. Since then, Larry has become a vital part of our hiking routine, accompanying us up several of the Presidentials, Mt. Flume, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Lafayette, Little Haystack, and several other mountains in the northeast. Traveling companions like Larry should have a few particular characteristics. First, they should be cute in…
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! Living in New England, we have the chance to be spooky almost all year round with our historic burial grounds scattered throughout the area (as long as the snow isn’t too high!). Here are some of my favorite photographs that I’ve taken at cemeteries this past month: The Death’s Head is one of my most favorite images in the world. Watching it evolve from the simplistic circle with two dead eyes and a long nose over to…
Local Travels: Cape Cod
This week marked the final week of summer before school starts and Eric has to get back to work. We took our annual trip to Cape Cod late in August, and we planned to follow our normal routine of reading novels, swimming at the beach, and grilling dinner. This time, we made two additional trips to historical sites in the mid-Cape region. Col. Benjamin Godfrey Windmill The Col. Benjamin Godfrey Windmill in Chatham is a working grist mill located just…
Photos of Travels Past
One of my favorite photos from our travels comes from our trip to Munich, Germany. In the city square is an amazing glockenspiel and a statue of angels slaughtering different plagues and evils. This one seemed to be talking about bird flu, which was raging pretty nearby in England at the time we were in Germany. I have yet to see a statue as awesome as this one that included a chicken. 🙂
Kayaking the Boston Area
We meant to start kayaking several years ago, but something always seemed to get in the way. First, we ran into trouble getting supplies, then we couldn’t transport the kayaks because buying roof racks proved more difficult than we originally thought. These obstacles stalled our plans and took up all remaining space in our basement as we slowly collected everything we needed to kayak. Luckily, we ironed out these issues and managed to get kayaking this summer! Over the last…
Local Travels: No Longer Forgotten
One of our favorite cities to visit for lunch is Portsmouth, NH. Only an hour north of Boston, it has a number of really cute stores and restaurants and, more importantly, cheap parking! Recently, Portsmouth put up a new memorial on Chestnut Street after excavation revealed a hidden secret. The Backstory During construction in October of 2003, something unexpected showed up as the dirt was being removed: the remains of wooden coffins. Located near the spot that old maps…
“All The World’s A Stage:” Shakespeare’s Globe Theater
While in London, we were determined to see a production at The Globe Theater. The Globe is the theater where William Shakespeare staged his plays during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Though the current structure is not the original building where The King’s Men portrayed Shakespeare’s characters (it’s actually the third incarnation of The Globe: the first one burned and the second one was closed by the Puritans) it stands a few blocks away from the original theater’s Bankside location….
