Heading up to parts unknown

After our day in Boston we were off to Bar Harbor ,Maine. Our good luck with the weather continued. We left Boston as the sun was setting...it was a lovely evening.

Our third night on board we had a really great steak dinner. The food was delicious, there was plenty of wine and or champagne, and our waiters took great care of us. It was probably my favorite dinner on the cruise....and not just because  my steak was really, really good....hahahaha Also by the third night the DJ knew we would be in the Club dancing and he knew what we liked to dance to...so we felt right at home.
Our day in Maine was also nice. I think it was my favorite port . Everyone was friendly in town,and it was picture perfect.

It was a bit cooler and the skies were a little gray when we arrived....but the rain had mostly moved out...so we we hoping for a decent day to explore. Martha and Tony weren't interested in any organized tours....and John and I just decided to kind of decide as we went along,

We took the tender to the harbor and then walked up the hill to the park.

 We finally saw a colorful tree!  hahaha on our "Fall Foliage cruise" I figured I better get a picture.

Martha and Tony stayed in town while John and I hopped on a bus that took us  into the Acadia National Park.

It was nice being on the bus because we could both enjoy the views along the way and we didn't have to worry about where we were trying to go . Someone had suggested that we stop at The Jordan Pond House for lunch...and the bus took us right to it.

                                                              Nice view from our table

After lunch we walked down the hill to the pond. I liked the combination of green trees and rocks If there had been some more color....it might've been perfect.
After lunch and a walk around we hopped back on the bus and headed back to town.
  There were lots of fun shops with artwork and interesting gifts and things. Plenty of restaurants, coffee shops and treats too.  John stayed for a little while...then headed back to the ship. I decided to wander around for a bit longer on my own.

                                                                              AHHHHH

 If we had had more time....we might've rented bikes, as suggested by a friend, and explored a bit on the bikes. It seemed like we'd have plenty of time...but actually it was nice to just kind of wander around the town at a leisurely pace. It cleared up a bit as the day went on and that view of the cove from the park...was really great. I would definitely go back to that town sometime if the opportunity presents itself.

Day 2- A walk in the park

The second port on our cruise was Boston. I hadn't been to Boston in over 25 years, so I looked forward to seeing the sights again. One good thing about the port in Boston...you can walk right off the ship; no tenders required. It's nice because you have a little more flexibility, and you can change your plans without having to time it just right.We had made plans to take a tour of Fenway Park...because...why not.

(I tried to plan things that John might like, mixed in with the history stuff that I preferred.) We took a cab/Uber down to the Quincy Market area.

Last time I was in Boston...I was with my mother. We were going to her cousin's, daughter's wedding. (that's a tongue twister). It was held at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. When I was there with my mother back in the 80's,  we did a lot of walking around, seeing the sights. The wedding was a nice, big Catholic wedding. My Mom enjoyed the time with all of her cousins...and I enjoyed watching the whole group! hahaha I remember my mom's cousin Tom asking me what I wanted to drink. I asked for a Fuzzy Navel...he looked at me a few seconds and said"What the hell is that?" hahahaha I also remember a group of the bride's friends dancing to "Love Shack" by the B 52's....one of them danced with a beer bottle balanced on her head...hahahah
  Naturally there's a little more going on there  these days...over 25 years later. More people, more activity....but it felt more  like a  Tacky Touristy area, compared to what I remember. Maybe I just didn't notice it the last time....but it felt different somehow. We left for our tour of Fenway. Martha joined us but Tony opted to just check out the neighborhood while we took our tour.

We got there a little early...so we checked out the souvenir shop while we waited. A short while later our tour guide ...local...big fan, kind of fun. We walked around as a group.(..smaller than average since it was a Monday at 1pm). Our guide loved relating all the different stories and facts.

view from up near the press box

up where the original green metal and oak seats still stand...not sure how comfortable it would be to sit there for a whole came...but still pretty cool!

they still have the original hand operated scoreboard...as well as the new one of course.

After our tour we walked around a bit, stopped in for a snack and a drink at a neighborhood place...then headed back to town.

We had plans to meet up with some friends of Martha and Tony's. Tony's company has an office in Boston, we were meeting up with one of the guys from the office and his wife.

We were having a drink with a view of the Harbor and site of the Boston Tea Party. In the background...where the big Milk Bottle is...is the Boston Children's Museum. We didn't go there...but my Mom and I did, back when we were in town. I remember it  as being a fun afternoon...if we had  had more time on this trip...I might've gone back.

Boston-Lobstah

 

Planning ahead it seemed like we were going to have plenty of time to see all the sights...but the day went by quicker than we thought. I'll have to go back again to see what I missed, I guess. That night we pulled out of the harbor right around sun set. Our room near the back of the ship was a fine place to watch the sky.

                                             We were off to Bar Harbor Maine.

A day or two=a week or two

Well as usual .... I intended to get back to the blog a day or two after my last post and almost three weeks later I'm trying.......
I am happy to report that we were EXTREMELY lucky that the hurricane jogged a bit west and missed us...for the most part. Watching the radar throughout the night it looked like most of the heavy rain bands seemed to be north of us. For whatever reason the storm bands seemed to break up a bit near us. We still had strong winds and some rain bands....but nothing terrible. We were boarded up tightly and it was actually kind of quiet inside our house. Also we never list power....which was even luckier. I was able to watch the storm's progress all night ( when I wasn't sleeping) and keep track of what was going on. We were so thankful that we did not have any major problems afterwards...some tree branches down,etc but all in all we we extremely fortunate. I ended up with a few extra days off due to power outages and closures....so it was a wacky but okay week for me.🙂
Two days later it was like a big reunion at the local spot n town.

 It was like a party atmosphere at LongDoggers....everyone was there enjoying the fact that the storm was past and we were all okay. Some were there because they did not have power.....and just wanted a hot/fresh meal. you can only eat so many granola bars<|strike> it was nice to see everyone and enjoy the craziness,/strike>
As I mentioned, we had just returned from being away for a week. We were on a cruise that sailed from NYC to Newport, RI, then Boston, then Bar Harbor, then St.John and then Halifax...before sailing back to NYC.
John and I and my sister Martha and her husband Tony went. We arrived in NYC on Thursday so we would have a couple of days to explore before sailing on Saturday afternoon.
Our first port was Newport, Rhode Island. It was a beautiful,  actually kind of warm day. Brenna and Josh had flown up for the weekend...so we had a plan to meet up with them on Sunday.

We met up with them in town and then went to walk along the cliff. It was 3 1/2 miles each way. The path goes along the beach in back of some lovely old beach "cottages"...aka mansions. We kind of did a power walk...hahaha and I got one heck of a blister by the end of it.

We passed Salve Regina University...kind of a nice spot on the oceanfront  for this small  Catholic school. (Turns out one of our friends' mother went to school there.)

There were some good waves breaking that day and we watched a group of surfers down on the beach as we were walking along. One of the mansions belonged to Doris Duke...according to the history she used to host Surf Contests down on the beach behind her house.. Duke Kahanamoku (sp?)was a guest there.It looked like a decent surf break.

This was part of the way through the walk. While we were walking on these rocks...Martha actually saw someone she knew from the hospital in Hawaii. Turns out the woman and her husband and a group of friends from Hawaii were all on the same cruise as us! They came down to dance with us a few different times.

After lunch we all stopped at a local bar and grill for a bite to eat. I had a delicious cheese, fruit and nut board.

Before long it was time for us to head back to the dock to catch a tender back to the boat. We said good-bye to Josh and Brenna and hopped on the boat.

That night on the ship we had a really great steak dinner, a few drinks and this special dessert.

our waiter brought Tony ice cream, peanut butter, peanuts and chocolate brownies

Then it was time yo go dancing! Our first night on board we made our way to CLUB 6 after dinner. The DJ was playing some pretty good music...enough to get us going anyway. We danced and encouraged other people to get up and dance. We had fun and everyone who danced with us did too.
We met three ladies from NC. They had all worked together as Medical Technicians...although two were now retired. Tony was chatting away with them and eventually they all came out and danced. The funny thing is we ran into those ladies at every port...hahaha Over 3000 people on board but somehow we always managed to cross paths.We had a fun time and stayed out until almost 1 am before we called it a night. Our plan was to give the DJ a list of requests and a good tip the next night and see what happened. Our plan worked! hahaha He played every song on the list and others that were similar. The three ladies came back to dance again...and we rounded up a few other dancers each night. I think we were getting a bit of a reputation...hahaha people would spot us the next day and give us a smile or a thumbs up. hahahaha One young girl came to the club on Thursday night and told us her Mom had been dancing with us the night before and  had told that she ought to come down and join the fun.we were tlike "motivational dancers" every night. We were having so much fun any one who wandered in to the club eventually had to get up and dance! Naturally there was wine (or champagne) involved (except John)...and that may have loosened every one up a bit. hahah There was one guy on the ship who showed up every night as well. He acted like he was a "Ladies Man" ...he always seemed to be lurking around the single woman. He'd ask them to dance and then get up close and run his hands up and down them or start booty dancing with them. He steered clear of Martha and I...which is a good thing because Tony was about ready to jump him!!! It was funny...but we were afraid Tony might get really pissed and throw a punch at the guy. He came slinking up to one of our friends "Katrina" from NC and Tony went right over to him and told him to get lost. Her two friends were cracking up while they watched the whole thing from the side...hahaha Tony told him he couldn't come across the halfway point on the dance floor...and "Don't come near my wife or her sister!!!" It was like an ongoing soap opera at times....every time "Michael" appeared I'd say..."AhOh Here comes Tony's nemesis...kryptonite or whatever. It kept things interesting...that's for sure."
But the DJ liked us...because we gave him tips every night...and we liked him because he was playing all our music...and the other guests liked us...because we livened up the place! We  would be saying "Maybe we won't go out tonight...we're kind of tired"...but by 11:00pm when the music started in the club...we always got a second wind. We usually stayed out until it closed! We also had a great waiter Dominic (?) who took care of us every night. He especially liked Tony( the tipper) hahaha. He really did take care of us...and he and Tony had a few dance move exchanges....hahahaha

                                                            John and Martha dancing to the music.
Next up...on to other ports.....