Travels with Edna and Papi: Girl Time in The Cape, the long awaited arrival of....Brandon!, New England Family and.....fly little bird!

Massachusetts June 13-July 1 2017

Terri, The Sparrow and Cape Cod!

The long awaited trip to Massachusetts was finally here! We arrived on a Tuesday and got nestled into our spot overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The RV site was part of an Air Force Recreation (Fourth Cliff) area near Scituate, Ma. located on a spit with a view of Scituate on one side and the Atlantic ocean on the other.

Just arriving, Perry was outside talking to a neighbor both agreeing a big black cloud would soon dump rain on us. I only saw blue skies from the fifth-wheel and within minutes a good ol' New England Thunderstorm barreled in and out within thirty minutes.

Within 30 minutes- a view from the same spot

This is our spot before the clouds moved in

Terri and Trevor (my sister and brother-in-law) live an hour from this place but the next day Terri made the drive out treating me to an overnight stay at Cape Cod as a belated birthday gift. On our drive out of Fourth Cliff there was an "open house" along the ocean road and we couldn't resist stopping to peak inside the beach house. We looked around for the owner or real estate agent only to find it empty. The door to the unfurnished beach house was unlocked and we let ourselves into the updated, newly decorated house. It had a great view of the ocean but we were both distracted by a very upset sparrow trapped in an upstairs bedroom. Terri and I did our best to shoo the poor, tired thing out of the room but it panicked each time we got near it. It seemed like an eternity (in reality maybe fifteen minutes) before we were able to grab the tired bird and set it free. Terri joked that it was probably so tired, it collapsed into the ocean! It gave us a good laugh but were ready for the next leg of our adventure.

I always heard about the wonderful Cape Cod and it didn't disappoint. Terri and I shopped, drank wine and checked into a cute hotel right on the water, later enjoying dinner. We also enjoyed the JFK museum in the cute town of Hyannis. We had so much to catch up on not having seen one another in quite some time……well less than a year but that's too long for us! The next two and a half weeks we would be seeing each other as much as possible-sister time!

A celebratory toast!

Cape Cod Room with a view!

In front of the JFK Museum

Cousins, Concord, Ma.

Perry and I changed our location to another RV park in Littleton, Ma. Our cousin John and his wife Patty drove in with their fifth-wheel from New Jersey and we all met at a very nice RV Park nestled among trees with fire rings. Who says s'mores are just for kids? But, what I longed for the most is the arrival of our youngest, Brandon who would arrive a couple days later. Before Brandon arrived, a mini family reunion barbecue took place at the two neighboring fifth-wheels joined by Terri, Trevor and Megan. The next day, the four of us (Perry, myself, John and Patty) toured the historical town of Concord and hiked Walden Pond. Author, Henry David Thoreau lived at the pond as a minimalist for ten years and wrote the well read book, "Walden Pond". It's a popular site, not only for it's history but the lake has a large beach area enjoyed by many. Our day adventure also took us to the graveyard of Sleepy Hollow where several poets and authors are buried including "Little Women's", Louisa May Alcott.

Cousin John and his wife, Patty

Our neighboring spot

The site of Henry David Thoreau's house in the 1800's

Walden Pond where Thoreau lived

A replica of Henry David Thoreau's house

L-R Patty, Trevor, Terri, Megan and John (pups-Dita and Winston)

Brandon, Boston and Gloucester!

One good thing about New England is the proximity to neighboring states. Brandon was arriving at Manchester airport in New Hampshire, so we allowed ourselves several hours prior to his flight (okay, we were excited). Once again with dogs in tow, we found a park, fish hatchery and yes, another brewery.

It's been six months since seeing Brandon and we were so excited to see him! Could my child change in just six months? Would his hair be darker or longer, beard or no-beard, would he look heavier or thinner? I paced the luggage area in anticipation and there he was, just as handsome looking the same as he did six months earlier. The next nine days would fly by with so much to do! As promised, we took Brandon to many of the places we had been to a year ago with Kaylyn. This included the quaint cute towns of Clinton and Hudson. Perry, Trevor and Brandon went to a Red Sox baseball game with an experience on the "T" (Boston's' transit system) that Brandon won't forget anytime soon. While they enjoyed their "guy" time in Boston, Terri and I ventured off to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Massachusetts is a beautiful state and diverse in so many ways with cute beach towns, delicious seafood, and thick, tall beautiful trees .

So excited to have him with us!

On a cruise to see Boston's Tall Ships

We planned on bringing Brandon to Gloucester, a fishing town where my mom grew up. He was introduced to relatives he hasn't met and enjoyed time with Gerry (mom's 87 year old cousin). Our cousin, Franny is such a delight to be around showing us Gloucester a year ago with Kaylyn and now (a year later) happy to show Brandon the historic fishing town, enriching him with local history. Later we all gathered at Gerry's house for homemade spaghetti and meatballs where another mini family reunion took place. I cannot get enough of this euphoric feeling of being in Massachusetts with family!

Cousin Franny giving us a tour of Gloucester

My Mom's childhood home

Cousin Gerry and her family

The historic Tall Ships from around the world were in Boston harbor which we enjoyed on a harbor cruise. Returning again to Boston a few days later, we went to the North End enjoying a cannoli at Mike's Pastries, Paul Revere's North Church and a hop-on hop-off tour of Boston. We ended the day celebrating Perry's birthday on a rooftop overlooking the harbor and the many old buildings with their rich history, Boston is near the top of my large city list. The one down side as in any large city is traffic, and we would sadly fight through it to take Brandon to Logan airport. His visit was exactly what I needed to continue our journey across the U.S. into November when our entire family will be together.