Spring in Salem

Winter Island Park, Salem, MA before the season opens. We had the place pretty much to ourselves except for one other site. Drawback, they lock at the gate a dusk till dawn. Friday we walked into town and stumbled back much later.

Next Door to one of the potion and herb shops is a wonderful shop that custom blends all natural oils for perfume, bath oils and body soaps. Sandi found a wonder scent and I am sure we will be visiting again this year.

The beach at Winter Island is probably one of our most favorite hidden jewels. Since we are always in town before or after the beach season we have the spot to ourselves. This is the best sea glass beach we have ever found. We always collect several pounds each visit.

Oh yes, the name of the beach!

The seaport was quite busy this weekend also.

Spring in Salem

One of our must stops is REDS for Sunday breakfast. There is always a line but well worth the wait. We were happy to have Kevin with us for most of the weekend. We had just a few rules for the weekend, be happy, well fed and good drink.

REDS is located in one of the many old and historic building in Salem. So many visitors focus on Witches (not that I can blame them) but there is so much great history in this town.


The Old Salem Prison has sat empty for so long, it now has a new owner and is undergoing a major restoration. When we looked at the property is was down to $600K. Very tempting but there were a lot of stipulations. The complex will be a combination of apartments, museum and restaurant with a small park.

This is the inside of one of three units we would consider if they were to sell them. Tall ceilings, a great room with attached kitchen, two full baths and two bedrooms. It would be a major life style change for us but what a great location.

The view from the master bedroom of one of the units we liked.

Herkimer 2010

We finally decided to visit Howe Caverns. We have been to many caverns along the Eastern corridor and it is definitely the most commercial cavern. It has been in operation to the public since 1928.
Here we see the very first guides who took the public down into the caverns during that time.

Here is a photo of the main entry room which is undated but very much the same as it is today.

The caverns are very large and open, something we are not used to. Here you can see Sandi along with our group.

A photo showing the ceiling of one of the sections, Winding Way.

The formations in the caverns are familar but always amazing.

Marconi Beach

One of our most favorite beaches along the Cape Code National Seashore is Marconi. It was hit really hard by the two storms of recent weeks and the long stairs leading to the beach were gone causing the beach to be closed till further notice. As you can see, the erosion was quite severe.

The waves are one of the many notable natural features of the beach, that and the fact that Marconi has his wire antenna array at the top of the cliff.


Where there were once dunes all is now flat, and you can see the extreme damage done. This is where the long stairs leading down to the beach used to be.


The end of the trail! This is the last section or walkway left before the 40 foot drop from the top of the dunes to the beach.

Saturday

We certainly didn't need to be out in a boat to see the whales this weekend.

Spent some time in town visiting the shops that were open and tried to help the economy a bit, but not too much.

Out at Herring Cove we did a bit more relaxing, reading and kite flying.

And of course, we had our hearty breakfast as on every trip out.

Friday in Provincetown

Sort of like a set from a James Bond Movie. Sunken Skulls in the wastelands of the bog.

When they said there was flooding along the inland water, they weren't kidding. Behind me are the tent sites at Coastal Acres.

We spent a part of the afternoon out at Race Point, flying kites, reading, enjoying the ocean and...

Did some whale watching right from the beach. Sandi and I took turns with the camera and Sandi captured the first whale.

Easter Weekend Thursday

Flooding in lower New Englnd has been a big problem in the last several days and Rhode Island was hit the hardest. I-95 in Warwick, RI was completely shut down and we had to detour on our way to Cape Cod.

Boys and their toys; We were very surprised when we came upon the closed I-95 section and our GPS actually showed a road closed symbol.

What a surprise! Yes, sections of the campground we are staying at are underwater, including the entrance.


Home Sweet Home for the next four days. Wonderful campground, especially since no one else is really here.

Easter 2010

A new Easter Tradition: Find as many silk ties as you can, take them apart and cut them into squares. Must be 100% Silk for this to work.

You carefully wrap an uncooked egg with the silk finished side towards the egg, tie it off with a wire tie, then wrap it again with a piece of white cotton cloth and tie that one tight.

Place your wrapped eggs in a non-ferrous pan, cover eggs with water then add 1 cup of white vinegar. Bring to a boil and continue to cook at a slow boil for 20 minutes.

Cool your hard-boiled eggs and unwrap! Some patterns will work and as you can see some won't. But you get a very different type of Easter Egg. You can polish them with a bit of vegetable oil when completely cooled. Can you eat them? As long as the shell didn't crack enjoy your Easter eggs as usual. You can sew the small left over tie pieces together to make some really different designs.

Spring 2010

It's easy to tell when it is Spring around our house.

We start getting the Airstream ready for the camping season.

All systems are flushed and cleaned and gotten ready for anothe

fun season of camping. We will be hitting the road for our first

trip our April 1st!

An annual event is always polishing the tanks.

It is amazing how dull they get over the winter.

And of course you can't forget Sandi's gardens.
The Primrose are blooming promising yet another great year

of blossoms.

2010 Hurircane

Well we have all heard it before, more hurricanes this season than normal. Over the years Sandi and I have encountered only two hurricanes and we had been fortunate enough to be able to almost get out of their ways. But if the track record is any indication of hurricane predictions, we won't be worrying too much about rough weather this coming camping season.

Banana Mousse

One of the many things I really enjoy with Sara is cooking together. We have made some really wonderful dishes together, most of them being of our own design. This week we actually made a banana mousse. I found the recipe of all places from the Kenya Safari Club cookbook.

The main attraction was the mousse for dessert but we also made a wonderful pork loin seasoned with herbs and garlic, smashed potatoes and creamed corn. Now if only we could make edible antlers!

Mr. Bill

Well it had to happen sooner or later. Mr. Bill and his evil twin brother, Mr. Bill were at it again. They found my super special shirt from Rich and Sue and started a game of Tug-of-war. Yup, they ripped the shirt. Even during the winter these guys get into trouble. I was going to leave them in the Airstream for the winter but Sandi said they would get too cold.

It's going to be a long winter for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving

Greetings from Jonestown, PA.
This year our travels have taken us a bit South of the normal Plymouth, MA.

Sandi found this campground simply because it was open. There were a few rigs in and one gentleman, Bill who lives in his rig full time.

We have full hook-up but no cable which is a real bummer for Thanksgiving. We were hoping to catch the "Punkin Chunkin" on the Science Chanel.

We pretty much had the place to ourselves except for the five or more kittens. As seen, they would follow us around.

They were all cute.
Thanksgiving morning just the two of us. Nice and warm in our Airstream.
Starting my traditional pork stuffing. Thanksgiving would never be right without it. Passed down from my Grandmother. I hope someday Sara continues the tradition.
The one thing we have yet to do is to get some fancy table ware for Thanksgiving.