Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

This is not a camping trip, but it was a vacation trip none the less, so while I continue to work on The Poet Creek Express I figure I may as well share the good time we had.

We went up the coast not too far to Cape Ann Massachusetts. Cape Ann is the knob of land that juts out into the Bay of Maine just north of Boston and Cape Cod. It includes Gloucester, which is well known for its fishing industry (as depicted in the film Perfect Storm); and Rockport, which is a little seaside village with a kitschy little downtown full of art galleries, candy stores, seafood restaurants, ice cream shops, etc., all crammed into tiny old beach cottages stuck on a little strip of land called Bearskin Neck.

We branched out and spent a day in Salem at The House of the Seven Gables, the Salem Wax Museum, a great Mexican food restaurant called Howling Wolf Taqueria, and the oldest candy company in America.

We spent an afternoon in Boston visiting the Greenway, the Old State House, Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, and an Irish sports bar.

A couple of days in Gloucester doing a whale watch (one of the highlights of the trip!); eating lots of seafood (including octopus at an Azorean Restaurant… very good...), had fish tacos at the Cape Ann Brewery, and surf and turf (with stuffed shrimp) at the Top Side Grill.

Our last night in Rockport we watched a nice fireworks display down on the beach.

Just a few of the pics follow… sorry for the dirty lens.

Fishing boats returning to Gloucester.


Humpback whale fluke. This is probably either North Star or Hippocampus, but could also be Tunguska (they give the whales names that describe unique markings on their flukes). We also saw a Minke whale in transit.


The whales and fishermen are both attracted to the Stellwagen Bank, a relatively shallow area in the Bay of Maine where nutrients are forced from the seabed by the ocean currents up the outside walls of the bank. These nutrients feed plankton, smaller fish and on up the food chain.

The view of Rockport Harbor near Motif #1 from 7th Wave Restaurant (curried shrimp with coconut rice and mango chutney).


The front side of Bearskin Neck.


Bearskin Neck.


The Amtrak from Rockport to Boston’s North Station.


Zakim Bridge, Charles River, Boston.


I took a few architectural shots, including this one that reminded me of the old firehouse in the Ghostbusters movie.


The gold dome of Faneuil Hall seen nestled in the Boston skyline from The Greenway.


The Old State House. This balcony is where Boston’s copy of the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston. About where I was standing when I took this picture, was the scene of the Boston Massacre.


Back in Gloucester, Man At The Wheel fisherman's memorial.


Half Moon Beach at Stage Fort Park, Gloucester.


Looking back at the waterfront in Gloucester from the ramparts of Stage Fort.


Hope you have enjoyed!

Beautiful pictures, KC. Glad you had a good time.
Thanks for sharing!

Sharon, thanks for checking it out.

Looks like a swell trip KC, we did the Boston trip about 10 years ago and really enjoyed the history of it all.
History here on the left coast is 200 or so years, where as the east coast goes back 500 or so. It was amazing to see all of the hand crafted architecture on a lot of the very old buildings, and how well preserved and kept up they are for the generations to enjoy. Thanks for sharing.

My pleasure!

Thanks for the post. Beautiful pictures. That is a part of the country I have to get back too. It has been many years since I was there.

Glad you enjoyed them, WB. BTW, do you have any new projects in the works? Nothing new on that old stream liner/bread loaf? It is always a pleasure to see your work.

My wife loves that area. We've been in the same areas several times and the pictures of your trip brings back some good memories! Thanks for sharing!

Art

Art, I'm very happy that you enjoyed the pics!

My old backyard! You hit just about everything I would recommend to a visitor.

Oh do tell. What did we miss? (I'm sure that there were many more things we could have squeezed in, but it is always good to hear from "the locals". )

Thanks for chiming in!

Salem ma witch museum, I don't thonk much of the witch related stuff there if worth much, but the museum is the original there and does the best to tell the story.
Boston public garden swan boats ( if you ever read " make way for ducklings")
USS Constitution, free but every adult must have ID and go through TSA like security
Bunker hill monument, also free.y
Quincy market, the old Boston meat market, now a quarter mile of food shops, you could starve to death making up your mind.
Prudential center observation deck 75 stories or so up.
Christian science world headquarters, among the interesting stuff there, a three story glass globe that you walk through on a glass bridge.
Old north church

Thanks Rower.

We did do Quincy Market. I forgot to mention that. Hadn't been there in years and it seemed more like a mall food court with lots of stuff under heat lamps. The place was filled with smoke from the wok at the Thai food place and everyone was coughing from the pepper oil. I had the corned beef and cabbage egg rolls at Ned Devine's.

We did the wax museum in Salem, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it (unless you are into that kind of thing), so maybe the witch museum would have been a better choice.

If we had spent more time in Boston, the other things you recommend would be high on our list! Thanks for posting them.

Great pictures. The wife wants to go up there one of these years. Her family is from that region. The last time I was there was for work. I did not have time to do much site seeing.

Thanks!