It all began before the beginning...I had checked the weather a week before we left. It was to be high of low 80s so I packed accordingly with a fleece for each of us just for the nighttime chills. The day before we left, I checked again. The temperature now was to be in the low 70s after the first day of cooler weather. I pondered what to do. It was that awkward temperature where you are not sure what to wear; when moving about, shorts might be fine, but sitting still, jeans are just great. After talking to my mom, she recommended I throw in a pair of leggings for myself since I was planning to wear a short dress for the memorial service (more later). That made me think that maybe I should add a few long sleeve shirts (one of which was the long underwear shirt to go with the long underwear leggings). And for the girls, I revised sleepwear to long pjs instead of the initial tank tops I had planned to bring. Even David's bag was edited. I added a sweater to his bag (despite initially planning for nothing but short sleeves since he is always my "hot body.") All this will be relevant in the second part of this trip...
Back to our start. We left on Tuesday morning to fly to Boston. What a challenge we had... We had a three hour plane flight with the kids. But worse, we then also had to prepare for a 5 hour drive once we arrived. This meant bringing three car seats, a double stroller for touring Boston the last day, a backpack with snacks and activities each, and to make matters more complicated--we opted to save money on checking bags and were pulling three roller bags.
3 roller bags+2 boosters+1 rolling car seat+1 double stroller+1camera bag+1 purse+5 backpacks+3 kids in (our car+an airport shuttle bus+airplane+rental car shuttle bus+rental car)*2 = a big challenge!!! We barely survived.
The plane ride went pretty well and since I had staggered us front-back instead of down a whole row, we did not even have too many problems with A kicking the seat in front of her (it was just Daddy). A even took a nap during the flight. Too bad we had to wake her up for landing...she did not take kindly to that. (although, she did not take kindly to a lot during the trip...her almost terrible three tantrums began the day before the trip!).
We arrived in Boston at dusk. After getting our rental car, we attempted to follow M's cell phone GPS to the hotel. Unfortunately, the city was not typed in so the street that we ended up on was in downtown Boston instead of in Peabody, a suburb of Boston. It was an interesting tour of a side of the city that we would not get the chance to see later. We even drove by Fenway Park which was lit up for a game that evening. Michael particularly "liked" the huge billboard right outside of that; it confirmed his opinion of liberal New England.
the prudential building
Emmanuel Church (Newbury St.)
Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge
Eventually, despite the long detour and a stop to pick up a few snack foods and dinner, we made it to our hotel destination, the Homewood Suites in Peabody, MA. It is so hard to gauge distance on a map...and coming from a place where the closest next city over is several hours, I was not expecting the close proximity. Sure, in traffic, it would probably be a bear to drive, but it was truly not more than 20-30 minutes outside of downtown. We picked this hotel because it was the closest hotel available for the time frame for under $300/night. The location was nice, the lobby was very pleasant, and we were to discover the next morning that the food and service were exceptional. The rooms left a bit to be desired (a bit old with paint chipping and outdated), but the setup was perfect! It was a true suite with a pull-out couch, apartment size kitchen and double doors to be closed to the bedroom. For a family, couldn't be better...except for forgetting the swimsuits...as the pretty indoor pool enticed us on entrance to the hotel. We all fell asleep promptly.
As mentioned, breakfast the next morning was full of yogurt, belgian waffles, cereal, fruit, pancakes, eggs, sausage, muffins, etc...We filled up and then headed on the road again to begin our trip for real.
The first stop was Gloucester, Ma.
This stop was requested by my husband, the mariner. I had not done any research until that morning and then looked online to see what was good to do there. It was just to be a quick stop before making our way up to Maine. We stopped in the routine site, the harbor, where we walked around. Brrr...a bit chilly but if we kept moving it was not too bad.
Hammond Museum across the harbor (see later)
We went across the drawbridge.
We stopped to make wishes and to learn how to blow dandelions.
After our walk around the harbor, we got back in the car to check out Hammond Museum, another option that I had read about just that morning. It is not on the usual-to-do items, but seeing how it was a pseudo medieval castle, and the grounds were free to roam around, I figured it was worth checking out with the kids. We figured we would make a decision about whether to pay to go in after checking it out.
Upon arriving, we parked next to a family that was just leaving the castle. When David asked whether it was worth it, the ab. 10 year old daughter said, "Yes! There were 5 secret passages in the house. It was cool." That was it! David was sold and begged to go in. We enjoyed the grounds first. They were magnificent! The landscaping was peaceful and quite beautiful... and view of the water (Gloucester harbor and beyond, the Atlantic) was stupendous! There is even a moat area and drawbridge...
the attempt at a family self-portrait was sadly a failure...
He had famous guests all the time...
view from the house
he built the stairs to purposely slope in the center, as a prank to guests
David in front of the secret tunnel that led out of the castle (blocked up now, unfortunately)
a chair telling the tale of Odysseus and the sirens
the Great Hall was massive!!! Apparently, his wife did not like it because she felt it was excessive and her entire childhood home could have fit in the hall--quite likely ours could too. Housed in here were relics (among them, his favorite possession- a skull purportedly from one of Christopher Columbus' crew members)
he developed the pedal system for the piano and his piano in the castle was played by people like George Gershwin
the organ he designed
Spanish armor
the aforementioned skull
David in front of a secret fireplace passage
a view of the rose window
demonstrating another invention--magnetic tableware. Sure could use some of that with the kids!
his rotunda study with a "whisper" ceiling--acoustics enable hearing a whisper across the room
Sweet, funny, but definitely a bit scary...I was admiring the dining room (tile floors from Italy, wood for walls from France, and ceiling from Spain) when I hear Abigail say, "Mwah, Baby Jesus!" I turn around to see a statue figurine of Mary and baby Jesus toppling back and forth! I was horrified and quick as I could ran to set it steady. How ever could I explain that we had destroyed a priceless piece of art by giving baby Jesus a kiss???!!!
view of one of the hidden doors in his wife's bedroom
another room with sleeping couch and a bust of Cardinal Cushing, to whom he willed his entire estate upon death
the gorgeous atrium/courtyard, complete with 8 1/2 foot deep reflecting pool (which Hammond used to jump into from second story balcony, to horror of guests who thought he would break his neck in the "shallow" waters)
This two story arch was cut from lava rock at Mt. Vesuvius for $250 in 1920s. Was just appraised this year for $125,000.
Hammond was a direct descendant from King Charlemagne. Too bad his family line died out in his generation, with none of the family having children.
When asked this week what his favorite part of the week-long trip was, Michael quickly responded the Hammond Castle. We had a lovely time! And like in this house, there continued to be many more secrets for us on the rest of the trip...
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