Christmas Presents

Just a quick update to add some pictures to show you where your Christmas presents came from. 

Alec and Tim in New York city there was the largest M&M store you could imagine, it was three stories high with a hugh billboard on the outside.  There was M&Ms in all colours and flavours imagineable you would have loved this store everyone does.

Adrienne and Evie your presents came from a little shop called 'Suncatchers' from a little place called Bar Harbour.  They are sun catchers and all hand made - no two are the same.  Try to hang them somewhere they will catch the sun and make pretty lights in your rooms.

Ros your present came from one of my favourite places called Marblehead.  I found this gorgeous little shop that sold very beachie and nauticle things.  I saw the coasters and immediately thought of you - I hope you like them. 

I hope you love and enjoy your presents - sorry I could not be there this year.

PS I have also added a photo of a blue berry plant - you can just see the blueberry.  A photo of Wall Street for Martin, the Art Shop for Neridah and the Florist Shop for Roslyn and sorry the photos are on their side.

 

Newport Rhode Island

Hello everyone,

Spent last couple of days in Newport. Newport is another famous summer holiday destination. Best known to us probably as the place where the New York Yacht Club defended the Americas Cup until Australia II upset them.

For the non sporty's it is also the famous home of the great mansions of the Golden Age of the 30's, the Great Gadsby film used one of the mansions in the film.

It really is a beautiful spot on the Atlantic Ocean. It had a great cliff walk around the front of the mansions and a few of them are open to the public. Allison was in her element and visited three of them. I am sure she will regail those of you interested in all detail on her return. I visited one and it was truly opulent and actually quite interesting. Built by the Vandervilt's (railway owners). These 'cottages' were only used for 6 weeks in the summer but quite unbelievable.

Newport is also the home if the International Tennis Hall of Fame, we spent sometime there but could have spent a heap more it was excellent and would be paradise for true tennis lovers.

Headed to the Hamptons now before we spend our final night in NYC. Wednesday night US time (Thursday morning Qld time). We are flying out Thursday night and will arrive back in Australia about lunch Saturday.

Cape Cod

Allison 100th shot of a seagull

tennis hal of fame

The Breakers

view from cliff walk

Marble House

The Elms

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Cape Cod & Martha's Vineyard

Hi everyone,

Left Marblehead and have ventured to Cape Cod. A couple hours south of Boston, on the drive we found a golf wholesale outlet where we popped in and did some damage to the credit cards. Allison may not play good golf when she's back bit she will certainly look the part :).

Prices for clothes, balls, shoes were very good and we purchased a bit. Hope we will be able to fit it all in our bags for Qantas for our return.

I was then keen to check out TPC Boston. This is the Golf Course that the PGA Tour play during the FedEx Cup playoffs and I had seen it on the TV a lot and though would be worthwhile popping to have a look. Very exclusive and we were able to get as far as the pro shop. We had a quick peak at the 18th green and the practice facilities and it was very impressive. Allison bought me a shirt from there for my birthday.

One of the members was kind enough to help us plan our next stage of our trip. He had over heard our accents to the staff and volunteered to give us guidance on Cape Cod and where to stay and eat, as heading up there himself for the weekend. In having chat with him he informed us that he pends summers on the Cape, resides in Beacon Hill Boston and spends winter in Naples, Italy.  After I took notes, the staff member informed us that he was one of the founding members of the club. It did occur to us that he may not stay in places that would be in budget a so we made a call to inquire on the suggestion and found it was only $700 a night B & B which is about $550 more that we have been paying, hence we found the local 'Best Western'.(Tom !!!)

Allison as we wandered around the club thought this would be a good course to be a member, she enquired whether associates were allowed and whether they got more than 12 spots on a  Saturday. We discovered that the nomination fee (fee to join the club) was just over $100,000 and we suspect that the annual fee was around $50,000. That quickly stopped Allison application.

Arrived at Cape Cod, found nice B & B in our price range.

Spent today exploring Martha's Vineyard, an island off Cape Cod, summer home of Boston's elite, Kennedy's etc. Also was the place JFK Jr was flying too when his plane disappeared. Had to take a ferry to the Island. Although this time of year it was starting to wind down you could tell it was a summer playground for the rich. Heaps of sailing, lovely golf courses and very exclusive restaurants.

Heading tomorrow to Newport Rhode Island.

TPC Boston Practice Range

Ginger Bread houses on Martha' Vinyard (Allison will explain)

Beach and one of the many Harbor's

Boston

Spent last couple of days in Boston, really enjoyd the city. We have been catching the bus in from Marblehead which takes about an hour and then using the subway to get around.

The first day was a bit miserable with lots of rain and wind. After getting our bearngs we did the Boston Aquariam and saw an IMAX film in 3D. Both were very good with Allison not wanting to leave. We then caught the subway to Fenway Park the home of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway is the oldest baseball park in the US, turning 100 next year. We did the tour and enjoyed it.

Woke up the next morning, still a little overcast but the weatherman said it would fine up and it did. Spent the morning in the Cambridge disrict and visited Harvard University campus. Like all of Boston, the area is full of history to do with the war of indepnedance. Cambridge was the area that George Washington organised his army to take on the British.

Then spend the afternoon walking the Freedom Trail. Boston was the start of the revolution and there is a trail that takes you through all the hotspots that lead to the revolution, Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's Midnight Run as examples. We both found it very interesting.

Boston is a very interesting city and you could spend longer but we will move on tomorrow as we now have only a week left.

red sox shop

fenway

harvard

old state house, this is where the founding fathers voted for independance.

paul revere's statue

tour guide

home of the bruins and knicks

beacon hill

boston common

this is Allison 100th squirrel picture, I promised one would get in.

Bar Harbor Maine to Marblehead Massachusetts

Left Machais Maine to head for Bar Harbor in Maine about a 3 hour drive. Arrived in Bar Harbor and experienced our first Maine fog, middle of the day and could not see 100 yeards in front of us. Bar Harbor is a coastal town, bit touristy, quite quaint art and craft town and is the entry point for Acadia National Park, New England's only National Park.

Spent day walking through the town hoping that the next day would be fine and we could enter park. Had a nice dinner and Allison finally got her first New England crab cakes - they were very good!

Woke up to a sunny day but blowing a gale. The Inn we were staying at supplied a great gourmet breakfast and we were off.

Started the day at the Park’s visitor centre and saw a great film on the history and the aspects of interest in the Park. We picked up an audio CD that would guide us around the Park which was a good idea. The Acadia National Park is on Mt Desert Island and the Park contained great outlooks of what I imagined as the typical Maine coastline, very rocky with the Atlantic Ocean crashing into the rocks, forests and mountains. Went on some lovely walks along flowing streams, lakes, rocky coastlines and Mount Cadillac. The Rockefeller family had a particular interest in the Park and had engineered and built a Carriage Road all through the Park which included a number of great stone bridges that added to the look and feel.

The windy conditions added to the spectacular crashing waves and was so strong on the top of the
Mountain that it made it difficult to stand on top of.

Spent the whole day in the Park, it was a great day.

Next day started our drive to Massachusetts, it would be about a 5 hour drive, another perfect opportunity for Allison to sleep all day. She awoke when we arrived at the Factory Outlet stores of Maine. Each state has a centre of all brands outlet stores . This was an area of about 100 stores and we picked up some cheap cloths from places like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike etc.

After shopping we decided to head further south to Boston. Arriving after dark, we were unsure where to stay. We thought we might stay just a little North of Boston in Salem. The famous town where the Witch hunts were conducted in the late 1600’s. To our surprise the whole town’s accommodation had been sold out due to Halloween. Apparently in the month of October they hold a festival which attracts all the ‘nutters’ of the US who believe in ghosts, ghouls, haunted houses etc. No accommodation to be found.

Remembered someone mentioned a town near Salem called Marblehead so we ventured there and arrived after dark and found an Inn with one room left.

Marblehead is a Boston suburb on the coast where all the rich Bostonian live or have their summer cottages. In the morning we woke up and went for a walk and found a beautiful old historic town on the coast. While we were out walking a local walking her dog befriended us and filled us in on the area and what to do, very lucky.

The town (like a lot of areas around New England) has an incredible history of revolutionary war importance. Incredible architecture that Allison has loved.

Spent last couple of days in Marblehead and Salem, walking through historic houses, driving amongst modern mansions.

Marblehead is filled with houses orginally built in the 1600's and then renovated in the 1800's and they all carry a sign at the front door indicating their age and origin of ownership.

We spent the afternoon in Salem a town that has a genuine history of witch trials and hangings which we saw a great film on in the visitor centre which was very informative and then the festival of all the locals dressed as witches and warlocks, palm readers etc. all celebrating halloween - Evie you would love all the costumes and the house decorations.

Harbour Light Inn where we stayed in Marblehead for 4 nights

Marblehead Harbour

Looking at Marblehead Lighthouse

Adrienne you'd love this florist shop

Evie they are very dog friendly here in Marblehead

Tom & Micheal your Dad thought you'd like this piece of artwork

Houses are decorated for Halloween everywhere you go!

 

Historic House in Salem

Historic House is Salem