NYC is not for sissies!

After our whale watching excursion, it was time to head towards Maryland on Sunday. We drove through Rhode Island (another new state-yeah!), Connecticut and then New York. Our plan was to bypass New York City. Andy was joking that we should drive through Times Square with a 40 ft. long motorhome towing a car. I told him if he was going to do that, that I would just go back to the bedroom and hide while he drove all by himself.

Well, we came close. We had our Google maps set to bypass NYC on I-287. However, when we got there, it told us to take a turn so we did. That left us on I-95. (Damn GPS!) We ended up going through the South Bronx and over the George Washington Bridge to cross the Hudson River. We had some great views going through the city. Eventually we made our way to NJ and then PA before getting to our destination in MD. I must admit to holding my breath the entire time through New York. We joked about needing a defibrillator on board.

We're here to spend some time with our kids and grandkids before we head to the Freightliner Factory in South Carolina in September. We'll be able to take in some of the kids football games, and be here for their first day of school.

Another small world story-we headed to downtown Middletown so we could get some T-shirts to show our school spirit for the boys. This shop is right across the street from Zion Lutheran Church, where Pastor Kathy Hoffman is senior pastor. (She is a friend from when I lived in Fargo, ND.) I had planned on going to church on Sunday and surprising her. When we got out of the car there she was. She and her husband Mark were walking on the street and had stopped because they noticed our MN license plates. So we had an early reunion!! We plan on getting together for lunch while we are here.

Cape Cod

We finished off our time in Massachusetts with a trip to Cape Cod. Our highlight was taking a boat out of Provincetown to go whale watching. We were not disappointed! We saw many whales, sometimes 3 or 4 together. One whale was on his back just flapping his flipper back and forth, as if he was performing for us by "waving" to us. The marine biologist on board said he had not seen that behavior before.

They study the whales and have named them (they can identify them by their tails). These whales  go to the Caribbean for the winter and come back each summer. One whale, Salt, has fourteen children and is even a great grandma! It was thrilling to watch them and have them close to our boat.

We have video, which we will post as soon as we cut it down to a "watchable" time length.

Boston

We left the FMCA Rally on Sunday and headed east to Normandy Farms Campground in Foxboro, Massachusetts. This is a large campground that is full of campers, with lots of activities for adults and kids. A lot of the campgrounds we have stayed at this summer have been less than full, and quite frankly, we wonder how they are able to stay open. So we're glad to see one that is full and doing well. 

We are only a few miles from Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. You can see the stadium from the highway as you drive along north on Highway 1.

Yesterday Andy's cousin Peter offered to go with us to downtown Boston so we could see some of the historic sites. We took the commuter train downtown and then set out walking. It was a perfect day, low humidity, a nice breeze and not too hot.

These bricks are your path to the "Freedom Trail"

Faneuil Hall

Old State House




Balcony at Quincy Market, constructed during 1824-26

Street in Italian section of Boston, notice the crowns over the street




Plaque on the site of the church where Paul Revere did his famous "One if by land, two if by sea" signal 

Thanks, Peter, for being our guide! We had a great time.

It's A Small World After All.....

Today we had an easy drive to get to the FMCA 94th Family Reunion in West Springfield, MA. fmca.com The only bad part was breaking camp in the rain. Andy had the worst part of it as he had to empty our holding tanks before we left.

Once here, we discovered wet fields in our parking area. We were told they weren't parking anyone until it dried out some. Turns out we only had to wait a little more than an hour to get parked. Once we were settled, Andy took our bikes off the rack and discovered that mine had a flat tire. We found a bike shop and left it there to get repaired.

After a few hours, they called to say it was done. We went outside to get in the car to retrieve it. Motorhomes were still coming in and one stopped in front of our coach. The driver saw our MN license plates and asked where we were from in MN. Turns out he is from Burnsville, MN (another suburb in the Twin Cities). Andy walks up, looks at him, and at the same time each one said each other's name. Andy-Peter! Peter is Andy's cousin! Now in order for this to happen, the planets had to align. 1) We were outside our coach at the time they were stopped in line in front of our coach. 2) They were in line in our row because someone had told them that was where they were parking, but it wasn't their final spot.3.) Peter struck up a conversation with me since he noticed our MN license plates. We could have gone this whole week without seeing them or seeing them and thinking that Peter looked familiar. What a pleasant surprise to see Peter and meet his wife Susan. It just goes to show you that you never know who you will run into!

Cousins Peter (l) and Andy (r)