Friday, July 20, 2012

Road trip!

In case you missed it, but we spent the last week and a bit on a road trip, touring the NE part of the States, including Burlington VT, Boston, and the White Mountains. It was a great trip and a welcome opportunity to unwind, disconnect and just spend time together without having to worry about anything else, except for maybe find out where to eat. The weather was definitely in our favour, with no days under 25 degrees, no rain (although we are desperate for some rain here in Ottawa) and lots and lots of sunshine. So really, a great time!
I don't want to bore people with elaborate stories (who wants to hear that anyway?), so I'll just post some photos with some describtions. Makes my life easier as well!

The bridge heading into the US.


Talking about crazy lights! Of course they were swinging in every direction due to the wind. Hard to keep track of which one is yours...


Some cool carvings in what we thought was marble, in Burlington, VT


Boston!


General Hooker's entrance...


Of course, the Cheers restaurant!


The 'penthouse' view from our hotel room. Not too shabby!


Boston Common, a beautiful park right in the midst of Boston, and a stone throw away from our hotel.




A giant pumpkin


Some people just have tooooo much money


A maritime variant of the dog house


Looking out over the Boston Harbour


Trying to decide what to drink, eh, eat...


Scientology in Boston. Didn't get sucked into it...


This is the part of Boston we really liked. Old homes (Boston has lots of history!!), big trees, and lots of character.


Fenway Park! Home to the Boston Red Sox


Now we're in Portland, where we took a boat cruise of surrounding islands and harbour. These are some of the most expensive houses in Eastern US. I believe it...


The famous Portland Head Light  


Harper Seals!


The last two days were spent in the White Mountains, which was absolutely beautiful


A gorgeous little waterfall. Nice walk to get to, and best of all, no tourists!


Proof that Nolan was there as well


Looking back you can see Mount Washington, the highest mountain in Eastern US


Since it was somewhat hot (32 degrees...), we decided to take the gondola up, and walk down Mount Wildcat (4000 ft). Turns out that walking down a mountain is still pretty strenuous!


At the top, we had another beautiful view of Mt. Washington


And one of our now-famous self portraits.


\
Not bad, eh?


On our way home, we stopped to feed the ducklings, which were competing with the fish. At least the fish didn't eat the ducklings.


Mount Washington Resort looks beautiful from a distance, but up close it was obvious it is in need of some updating...

And after a wonderful trip, we're back home again (and even worked a full week!).

Some photos to show how that looks like:


Our tomato plant is growing out of control, but we're loving it!


Murphy's new favourite place to sleep. Not sure we're very happy with it.


And here is proof that we need rain. Badly... Our lawn is as dead as can be, and the city if now encouraging people to water their lawns to reduce fire risks. It seems weird to waste water in a drought, but I really don't want to have a grass fire on our lawn, and then have it spread to the house. So the sprinkler will be on tonight...