Hello friends!

Surprise!  No, not an artBLISS post although I AM in a post-artBLISS blissful state!  I’ll share pictures of the weekend’s big event in a few days.  But for now, I thought I’d share pictures from a few weeks ago. We went on a New England Road Trip, Round 2….no agenda, just drove up the coast and stopped in seaport towns.  The kind of trip I dream of really (except the constant, “are we there yet?” pleas from the back seat!).  You may remember my New England post from last year.  I hope this will continue to be a summer tradition for us.

We enjoyed Connecticut and found two places that were totally new to us. If you have kids, you may like these destinations as well.  First we stopped at the Pez Visitor’s Center/Museum in Orange, CT.   I’m sure you all know and love Pez.  You know those candies that come in all sorts of collectible and seasonal containers?  They’ve been around since 1927 and believe it or not, my guys have been casually collecting them for years.

Our next stop, The Dinosaur Place, was  perfect for my 3-year-old who is obsessed with dinosaurs and fossils.  He’s been telling strangers that he wants to be an archeologist when he grows up!  In fact, the other day he surprised me by asking ME what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I haven’t been asked this question in a long time!  I told him I wanted to be his Mommy.  He was pleased and said, “good, then you can be my archaeology assistant”.

Mystic, Connecticut was our next stop.  We’ve been here many times and its beauty draws me in without fail.

Newport, Rhode Island….we lived around the corner from this incredibly charming harbor town many years ago.  My Dad went through Officer Indoctrination School (OIS) here in the 60’s…. so did my brother before beginning his career as a Navy doctor.  Randy and I moved here after our tour in Monterey, CA back when he was still in the Navy.  So this is the special town where we decided to spend one of my son’s 8th birthday.

The birthday boy is the one wearing a button.  I wonder how long my guys are going to let me pin on a birthday button!

Back when I was in graduate school in Richmond studying social work, my husband proposed to me in Newport….right on the Cliff Walk.  Here’s a picture of a few of the many beautiful mansions that line the walk.

We continued our trek to Maine, our final destination.  We decided to veer off the beaten path and visit a town we spotted on the highway.  All it took was seeing the word historic in  “Historic Newburyport”.

There were countless opportunities to take pictures; as you can imagine I just went crazy.  The waterfront, buoys, ships and lighthouses….I had my camera out at all times!

We discovered Perfecto’s, a great bagel and muffin place in Kennebunkport, ME.  Years ago we fell in love with New York-style bagels when we had a big fresh bagel in Darien, CT.    We look for them now whever we’re in New England.  Of course, one cannot pass up a muffin like this:

If seeing such picturesque coastal towns wasn’t enough, Maine also has really great opportunities to go antiquing.  And of course you can bet I was quick to seek them out….  Rt.1 is a trail that you’ll want to travel if you get the chance to visit Maine and love antiques.  Just look at this line-up!  We found great destinations from southern Maine on up north of Portland.

We spent an afternoon in the harbor town of Camden, Maine.  The kids enjoyed looking for sea glass at Laite Memorial Beach Park.

 

We visited one of the most famous lighthouses in all of New England, and the oldest in Maine:   the Portland Head Light.  The views were breath-taking.  We took a family shot that just might have to be our Christmas card picture this year. 🙂

The rocky ledge runs far out into the seaAnd on its outer point, some miles away,The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.                                                      – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Lighthouse”

In our quest to see a few lighthouses, we came across Fort Popham,  a semi-circular fort made from granite for use in the Civil War.  Talk about a boy’s dream – they could run around, hide, and play in a real fort!

The grand finale on the trip home was a stop in NYC to catch a Broadway show.  We saw the Tony award-winning show, Peter and the Star Catchers.  This tale of Peter Pan was incredibly funny and entertaining – each one of my boys seemed to watch from the edge of their seats!

I think I would be quite content to live in New England part of the year… summers there and winters here.  Now that seems like the perfect arrangement to me.  Until then, I’ll be dreaming about next summer ….