Aerial View of Boston

I gave Ed a flying lesson for his Christmas present and he finally had a beautiful day to use it. The best, and unexpected, part of this gift was that I got to go up with him! We took off from Hanscom Field in a Piper Warrior and headed towards Cape Cod. This is a picture of the Boston skyline on our way south.

*Click to enlarge and check out the detail!

"Don't Let the Suuuun Go Down on Me"

Another day, another sunset. This shot was taking while driving back to Boston from Freeport, Maine on I95 South. I love it that the plane's flying in the center of the picture.

Day Trip: New Hampshire

Leyre and I are (very sadly) back from our vacation in NH, but we wanted to share some of the beautiful views! If you drive 2.5 hours north on I-93 you'll end up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We woke up at 5:30 on Wednesday and hiked up Mount Chocorua. We were told by a map at the rental house that we were going to be doing a rambling, 4.5 miles, 1,500 ft elevation hike. Our Fearless Leader had assured us that on a scale of one to death, this hike was way closer to a one. A few hours later, Leyre and I were pretty sure that this hike was actually closer to Death (with a capital D) than to one, and we had struggled to get 3/4 of the way to the top to enjoy the view above. Our FL was saying "this trail seems worse than the 3,200 ft hike we did yesterday!" He continued up the mountain and we relaxed and enjoyed the view. On the way home we bought a hiking map and discovered that Chocorua is actually 3,475 ft of elevation (3,490 according to Wikipedia!). Guess the map at the house was out-dated, huh?!

It had been a really foggy morning, so we didn't get to see the lakes, but we think the fog made for a pretty awesome view. Click on the photo to enlarge and really enjoy!

Manchester-by-the-Sea

On a hot summer day when you need to escape the city, hop on the commuter rail and head north to Manchester-by-the-Sea. Walk one mile, past this beautiful view out to the harbor, and you'll land at Singing Beach (so named because the sand supposedly squeezes when you walk on it). You'll have to pay $5 just to walk onto the beach, so be warned!

Click the photo for the larger view...and that's the boy standing there wondering why I'm taking MORE PICTURES!)

Whale of a Time

Yesterday we took the New England Aquarium's Whale Watching Tour out to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (25 miles east of Boston). We saw many of these extraordinary creatures, including a close view of two Humpback Whales who unintentionally held us hostage with their curiosity (we didn't want to harm them by turning the engines on since they kept going underneath the boat)!

Newport, Rhode Island

As part of our series on day trips from Boston, today's post features one of the Gilded Age mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. Marble House was built in the late 1800s for the Vanderbilt family. Inspired by the Palace of Versailles, it reportedly cost $11 million to build (approximately $72 million in today's value) of which $7 million was spent on the marble alone! The interior detail of this "summer cottage" and its neighboring ones are definitely worth visiting.

Summer time....

When the summer is hot in Massachusetts, a lot of folks (myself included) head out to Cape Cod ("the Cape"). For those not familiar, the Cape is a long stretch of beachy land extending to the east of Massachusetts. It's shaped like an arm flexing it's bicep, so people will refer to different places on the Cape as relative to the part of the arm they are nearest to. I am in Wellfleet, which is just past the elbow.

It's gorgeous here, though a bit hotter and muggier than I would personally like. We thought we'd share this with you all as an example of what can be had just a couple of hours' drive from Boston. I hope everyone else is having as relaxing and nice a weekend as I am and I encourage anyone who hasn't been here to visit the Cape sometime!