Cliff Walk Part II

Sunny day today, so we decided to do the rest of the Cliff Walk, the rugged southern portion. Once again we have had our definition of "path" challenged as we found ourselves scrambling over a rocky shoreline. We had been warned that this section included rocky parts, so I brought my hiking stick. Ken decided to use his monopod, since he wanted to use it to take telephoto shots.

We parked at the visitors' parking lot by the Breakers and entered the Cliff Walk at Ruggles Ave. Once again the views were spectacular, both of the Rhode Island Sound and of the opulent mansions lining the coast. We headed south and soon came to a part of the "walk" that runs over some large, flat rocks--fairly easy going. Later segments were more challenging. We ran into one couple who had turned back because the way ahead looked so rough, but of course we continued--all the way to the end at Bailey's Beach.

Mansions seen from the Cliff Walk

The Cliff Walk Adventure: "If you are unsure of your capabilities, turn back now."

Along the way we saw some striking sights, like the Vanderbilt Tea House, two tunnels, and Rough Point.

Tunnel

Mrs. Vanderbilt's Chinese Tea House

Rough Point, once Doris Duke's home

When we reached the end at Bailey's Beach and Bellevue Ave., we left the Cliff Walk and returned to the truck along Bellevue.

We tried out the bike cover this morning and think it will work well, once the finishing touches are done. It needs Velcro closures and a slit for the lock cable.

We also tried again to isolate the leak in the bed slide. Apparently it is actually under the slide. We'll have to do some more testing to verify the problem.
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Bike Cover

Our big project today was a new bike cover for our bikes. We've been using a motorcycle cover, which works well, but does not reach around the bottom of the bikes, so road dust and dirt gets inside and the bikes are not as shiny and clean as we'd like. We bought some waterproof fabric when we were in Oregon (at The Rain Shed in Corvallis), and we've just been waiting to get Terri's help (and use her great Bernini sewing machine).

Ken and I spent a couple of hours pinning the fabric around the bikes, trying to figure out the best pattern. The cover is still a work in progress--we'll try it on the bikes tomorrow and mark any adjustments that need to be made as well as the length so it can be hemmed.

Terri made Italian Meatball Soup for dinner. She's been experimenting with her cookbooks, and we are the lucky beneficiaries. It was very good.

Tomorrow we're planning on doing the rest of the Cliff Walk and maybe checking out a nature preserve.
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Plimouth Plantation and Mayflower II

Terri,Blake, and Molly picked us up this morning to drive to Plymouth, MA, to visit Plimoth Plantation and Mayflower II. These are recreations of the experience of the colonists who arrived in Plymouth in 1620.

One aspect of the Plimoth Plantation that surprised me a bit was the emphasis on the experience of the native Americans, the Wampanoag Indians. The first thing we visited was a recreation of the homesite of Hobbamock, an important Wampanoag who dealt with the colonists. Signs caution visitors not to be culturally insensitive (war whooping and referring to the people as braves and squaws are inappropriate). In one interesting exhibit, a young Native American was making a canoe by burning out a log. Visitors are encouraged to talk with the Native Americans in period costume who staff the homesite to learn about their way of life, both historically and in contemporary America.

Young Native American demonstrates using fire to hollow out a dugout canoe

Turkey soup with vegetables was bubbling in this pot

An exhibit in the Visitor Center on the "First Thanksgiving" also deals with the National Day of Mourning celebrated by Native Americans as a counterpoint to Thanksgiving celebrations. Later we walked up on Cole Hill to the statue of Massasoit where the annual Day of Mourning celebrations take place.

National Day of Mourning a Counterpoint to Thanksgiving

In the Colonial Village characters dressed in period costume play the roles of colonists, speaking from a 17th century point of view. In addition to several houses and garden plots, we saw a large central building, which was apparently a meeting hall, church, and fort (with cannons upstairs).

Colonial Village

Rooms furnished with reproductions, many created in the Plimoth Plantation craft shop

Terri checks out the cannons on the upper floor of the meeting house/church

Hawk surveys the territory

We also visited Mayflower II, a full scale reproduction of the original Mayflower, to get a sense of the experience of the people who traveled from Europe to America in the hold of a cargo ship (there were no passenger ships at the time). Just down the way a bit is Plymouth Rock (or what remains of it), ensconced in a Greek Revival pavilion.

Mayflower II sailed from England on April 20, 1957, recreating the original voyage of the colonists

Molly photographed everything in sight

Greek Revival Monument protects the rock

Historic Plymouth Rock

Ken and Molly both took lots of pictures, but at last count Molly was way ahead.

Thanks again to Terri for driving us.

After dinner we watched an episode of Masterpiece Mystery (Inspector Lewis)--a rather interesting one that kept us guessing.
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New Bedford Whaling Museum and Prontos

We spent the night with our bedroom slide pulled in, because it was continuing to rain. One result is that no light comes in through the window next to me at the head of the bed, so I slept until the alarm went off at 8:30 a.m. Sweetie got soaked and bedraggled when I took her out--I got a bit damp too. We had French Toast with fresh strawberries and whipped cream for brunch.

Terri picked us up around 11:30 to go to New Bedford to visit the Whaling Museum. On the way we passed through Fall River, so of course we had to stop at the Savers thrift store there. Ken stayed in the car and read and listened to his MP3 player while Terri and I shopped. She found a jacket and a blouse, and I found a neat olive green zipper jacket. It wasn't until we got in the car that I remembered to check the care tag: "Dry Clean Only." Oh, well, if it can't survive washing, it will be out soon.

The museum was a mixed experience for us. In the grand entry hall three giant whale skeletons hang overhead. Informative plaques explain that one is a female right whale with a 7-month unborn calf, killed by a ship propeller that severed her tail fluke. The scale of the skeletons is awesome. The juvenile male blue whale is 66' long and massive. After considering the majesty of these whales, the efforts to bring many whale species back from the brink of extinction, and the almost mystical connection between humans and whales in various cultures, it was rather saddening to view the many exhibits devoted to chronicling the commercial wholesale slaughter of whales.

Check out those massive jaws

Whaling ships stuck in ice (only one of the many hazards whalers faced.

One memorable exhibit is a half-size copy of a whaling ship, complete with authentic rigging and fixtures. It must have been daunting to scale the rigging of a full-size whaling ship, and clearly whalers were an intrepid breed, pitting themselves against these giants of the deep.

Lagoda--half-size model--has its own hall

Terri drove, which left us free to enjoy the scenery. As we headed north, we saw more fall color, so we're hoping that before we leave next week we'll be able to take a fall color drive, perhaps to the north.

Happy diners enjoy casual elegance and fine food--and great company....

This evening we all went to Prontos and enjoyed a great meal. We had a table on the second floor, which I would recommend to anyone who likes a quiet atmosphere, as the first floor was rather busy and noisy. Everything was tasty, and the service was attentive. Thanks, Chris! (for the birthday gift certificate)--excellent choice.


We got a newsy message from the Roaming Rowes detailing their adventures between Deadwood, SD, and Missoula, MT. We were especially interested to hear about their experiences on this segment of their trip, since we'll be in the same area next summer.
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Computer Frustration

We went over to Terri's today to try to use their high speed computer connection to upload some backup files to Mozy Home online backup. We decided first to try the 2GB free program. Each of us picked out some files to backup. Ken backed up 1.8 GB in 5 hrs. and 38 mins.

Three of the five computers (besides the laptop on the table, Terri and Blake have a desktop, and Molly has a MacBook)

My backup bailed after 3 hours and 1.4 GB with a filesystemerror1 (evidently it couldn't handle encrypted or password protected files). At the same time my Comodo firewall reported a bug, and things got worse after that. Hours and two system restores later I was finally able to get back on the internet. We decided to stick with the 2 GB free program since our connections are usually so slow.

Terri and I went to the commissary so I could stock up on groceries. I gave Sweetie a bath too, so we did accomplish something today.

When Molly came home from school, she was dressed in her new Army ROTC uniform and looked very sharp and shiny.



Terri and Molly made roasted vegetable roll-ups from the New England cookbook, with tofu garlic spread. They were quite delicious. Molly also enjoyed cutting up fruit for fruit salad (Terri says she has a thing for knives). Blake went to Providence for a bachelor party, so he missed the roll-ups but no doubt had other things to enjoy. Read more!

Boston to Meet Chris

This afternoon Terri and I drove to Boston to meet Chris, who was in town for a grant meeting. After some confusion in Boston traffic, we picked Chris up and went to his hotel, then walked to Dok Bua Thai Kitchen for dinner. The food was really excellent. We shared some vegetarian entrees (Pad Thai Puk and Vegetarian Fried Rice)and a pot of hot Dok Bua tea (a light chai flavor).

Afterwards we walked to Sunset Tap & Grill where we played some games and chatted. Chris and I tried some of the 112 brews on tap (so many beers, so little time...). I tasted a couple of his which were way too hoppy for me, but I enjoyed some lighter ones. We played Boggle Master and Rummikub and talked a lot. We were sorry to leave, but Chris had to get up early to catch his plane back to Portland. Terri drove home, and of course I fell asleep.

Ken was waiting patiently for me at home with Sweetie.

Annie is in Outdoor School this week. Chris will pick her up tomorrow night.
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Catching Up

Today we stayed home and caught up on some of our to-do's. We spent some time trip planning, and I caught up on some blogging and researched places to go and things to do in Boston tomorrow when Terri and I go to meet Chris there.

The major project was getting the HughesNet dish up and working with the new Cradlepoint router. After figuring out how to set the router up for incoming ethernet, it's now working fine, so both our Internet sources now work with one small router. That's a real benefit with a small living space. Now we can get rid of the Linksys.

Terri played Mahjong this morning with her group of military wives.
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Cliff Walk

This afternoon we parked at Easton Beach on Memorial Drive so we could walk part of the Cliff Walk, a 3 1/2 mile National Recreation Trail in a National Historic District (as the signs proclaim). It runs along the waterfront in Newport, through the back yards of many of the mansions. We walked to just past the Breakers today and look forward to doing the rest soon.

The Chanler at Cliff Walk

Cliff Walk is a National Recreation Trail in a National Historic District--Double Dipping!

The path goes by Salve Regina University, located in some of the old mansions.

Both the ocean views and the views of the mansions are impressive, in their different ways.

Surfers on the beach

Catching a wave

Sea walls

Rugged coast

The second half of the walk is rougher and steeper, but some hikers assured us it is also the best part.
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Walking Around Newport

Terri took us for a walking tour of parts of Newport this afternoon. First we went to the public library to check out free passes to a whaling museum and a discount pass to Plimouth Plantation (where we plan to go next Sunday). That's right--the library checks out passes for local attractions. Nice, huh? On the way out we couldn't resist stopping at the used bookstore, where we picked up five books for $8.

As we walked around the historic district and the waterfront, we were impressed by the plaques on every other building proclaiming the year they were built, etc. We saw the church where JFK and Jackie were married.

St. Mary's Church saw JFK wedding

We walked by St. Anne Square, which was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth and which stretches in front of Trinity Church. Unfortunately the church was closed, so we'll have to go back another day. We walked down to the waterfront and viewed all the sailboats.

St. Anne Square in front of Trinity Episcopal

Funky Wave!

Resort town

For dinner I fixed eggplant spaghetti sauce, using the long thin eggplant from the Boston farmers market, which I thought was Italian, but it may have been a Chinese variety called Ping-Tung Long. The sauce turned out delicious. Terri and Blake went to a nearby bakery for bread. They were closing, and the owner's son gave them five small loaves of delicious bread.
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Rainy Day Visit

It rained pretty much all day today, so we didn't do any sightseeing, but Terri and Blake and Molly came over and got the 2-minute tour of Venture. They were in Italy until this spring, so this is the first time they've seen the rig. They're living in half of a historic home with 3000 square feet on their side, so our compact little home felt like a postage stamp to them.

Venture at Melville Ponds

Terri made a delicious plum galette for dessert. We've never had plums cooked this way, but they were excellent. It seems like a cool, easy way to make a kind of pie, since it only requires a single crust and it's okay if it's not perfect (mostly my crusts aren't perfect). The only problem Terri had is that it stuck to the pan despite her spraying it liberally.

We kept the bed slide in most of the night last night and most of the day today to avoid getting water in our leak. Fortunately we didn't have any of the predicted possible thunderstorms, just mainly drizzle.

We were able to get the TIVO to recognize the new router and do a program update, but again got the dreaded S03 error after it had loaded only part of the data, so I did a kickstart. That fixed it, but I'm worried about the integrity of the hard drive.
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Trip to Providence

Terri took us to Providence today to visit the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and for Molly to buy some cosmetics at Nordstrom. Blake stayed home working on a paper.

The museum is attached to the school of art and design, which offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The collection is, to say the least, eclectic, ranging from ancient to contemporary and from furniture and textile design to painting and sculpture. We were lucky to be among the first to see a special exhibition entitled Inner City, which opened yesterday.

Inner City is a ceramics installation by Arnie Zimmerman, commenting on the human condition

Often whimsical looking people find themselves crushed by or enmeshed in their work

As usual, there was more to see than we had time for, so we saved some for another visit and moved on to Providence Center, a large downtown mall. Molly picked out her Mac cosmetics at Nordstroms, while Ken and I walked over to the Sony Style store to drool over Sony readers and netbooks.

Awe-inspring giant Buddha

Lee relaxing on cast glass and patinated copper bench (art object, but with an invitation to sit down)

We set up our Cradlepoint CTR350 router today. It's small but elegant, and (after dealing with some glitches in the installation) we love it. Now our broadband is always on, and we can both use it. Plus as a bonus, it actually seems faster... and since it's a travel router, it's easily small enough to take with us on a trip if needed.

Router with Sharpie, cell phone and quarters to show relative size--tiny!

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Wompamatuck to Melville Ponds

Today we left the Boston area. After eight days there, we had barely scratched the surface, so we agreed we’ll go back again another time to see more. We set up camp in our new campground, a city campground that has a rural feel, with large spaces and trees. Our campsite is open, so Ken put out the Qube for DirecTV. Then we headed over to Newport to see Terri and Blake and Molly. It was a bit tricky getting our ginormous truck in their driveway, but we did it.

It was a treat to see everyone again and catch up on hugs. Terri was especially excited to see Sweetie again. Then we opened all our mail and packages we had sent to their address (thanks, T.). One thing we got was a Motor Carrier’s Atlas to replace the one we got in August of 2007, which was falling to pieces. Another was a new broadband router so Ken and I can share the Verizon broadband connection. Ken was pleased to get a package from his granddaughter, Cathy, which included a self-portrait she had drawn in art class. She is a black belt in Red Dragon Karate and will test to advance to level two in November.

Black belt!

Cathy Marks self portrait

We took a tour of the house, which has many interesting architectural features. It was built in 1865 and is in a historic district, so the homes are preserved. Terri and Blake say that means no window upgrades (unless the window is broken…..).

Terri and family live on the right side--owners occupy the left

Restful porch makes a great place to read and relax

Molly is very interested in photography and wants a new SLR camera. She and Ken discussed the features of his Canon SX110, which has more features than most people would ever use. Ken is very happy with it.

Terri had made Mt. Ranier White Chili for us, so we had a delicious dinner.
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USS Constitution

This morning during breakfast we had the treat of watching a lone doe feeding outside our window. She stayed in sight for a long time, and Ken managed to get some good shots even through the window.


We learned something new about paying for transit this morning: we could add a specific amount to our Charlie Card (not just multiples of $5), so we added $2.20, enough for both of us to get downtown and back. We ended up spending $27.20 for four trips in town (plus parking at the station). We could have bought week passes for $15 each and then been able to hop on and off of buses too. What a bargain, and the Charlie Cards are free and easy to use.

View of new bridge cables

The Big Dig plaza

We got off the green line at North Station and then walked .9 miles across the bridge to the Charlestown Navy Yard to visit Old Ironsides. We had only a brief wait before our group was given a quick safety orientation and led onto the ship, which is owned and operated by the Navy. Sailors get duty postings to be tour guides aboard the ship, wearing uniforms similar to those worn in 1812. They were enthusiastic and informative about the construction of the ship and life aboard ship for officers and men. (Much better to be an officer.)

Old Ironsides

Sailor in period uniform points to grog barrel

The upper (spar) deck is undergoing renovations, but we got to visit the gun deck and the berth deck. The ship is not actually made of iron, but its white pine and live oak sides repelled British cannonballs, leading a sailor to exclaim, "Huzzah, its sides are made of iron!"

Heavy cannons

Officer's quarters

We also walked through the Constitution Museum and viewed the exhibits in the Visitor Center, both of which were interesting. We learned about the Barbary corsairs (pirates) and the origin of the phrase "to the shores of Tripoli" which I had heard my Marine dad sing when I was a kid.

This is the closest we got to Bunker Hill

We spent our last night at the campground quietly, enjoying the peace and the chirping crickets and katydids.
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