Turk will be blogging for Missy this evening as Missy is feeling pretty lazy after the long drive.
Today we completed the first leg of our drive to Boston MA. We are going to spend a couple of weeks with Missy's friends (and my soon-to-be new friends). The drive to Scranton was pretty uneventful -- but a little longer than we expected. But that just means we are that much closer to Boston.
Missy learned a couple of things on the trip today:
1. Scotland PA is not just the name of a cool movie, it's an actual town! We are stopping on the way back to WV to see if we can find McDuff's.
2. There are a lot of traffic signs that read "No Tailgating". The Pennsylvania definition of tailgating is "not touching the vehicle in front of you".
3. Missy forgot to pay her Sirius Radio bill for this month so we had to listen to 90's Alternative/Grunge the entire trip. Missy liked it; I'm more of a jazz man.
4. Missy needs a new bluetooth and prescription sunglasses.
5. Trying to listen to a book using Kindle's text-to-speech is more painful than listening to Steven Hawking give a long lecture.
Vacation Day #3 (I skipped Day #2, so sue me)
Happy 4th of July!!Turk is too tuckered out to help me blog tonight. Here he is cuddling with his new friends Omie and Yesenia
We had a traditional celebration in Boston today. Burgers and dogs on the grill and a very patriotic-looking torte for dessert. Some of Karen & Dave's friends came over to help us celebrate; a good time was had by all.
The drive up was a little rough on Turk; he hates the car and had to spend 2 days in one. But he has recovered and is having a lot of fun with Jake and Ellie.
Vacation Day #4
Today was a top 10 vacation day! The weather was perfect, the company was great, and there was plenty of left-over food from yesterday's cookout (most importantly beer and chocolate chip cookies). We spent the day lounging on the deck or hanging out around the pool.
Karen tried to teach the dogs to swim. It wasn't pretty, that's all I'm saying about that.
The highlight of the day was judging the diving contest between Omie and Yesenia. Actually it was more of a jumping in the pool contest, but whatever you call it we were greatly amused. The contest began with the girls picking really lame jumps like Best Cannonball so Karen and myself decided that we would pick the themes for each jump. If you click on this link you can see the girls' jumps in the Events of WWII category.
Other categories included: Biblical Characters, Michelangelo's Sistene Chapel, Games Played on the X-Box, Animals (intermission), Historical Characters, Dance Crazes, and Doomed Ships (fiction or non-fiction). Catcher in the Rye was dropped as a category as these smarty-pants girls skipped part high school to go straight to college and did not read this classic.
Vacation Day #8
On Thursday Karen and I began our "literary tour" of New England with a 2 hour drive to Lenox MA, home of the Mount. The Mount happens to be the home of Edith Wharton, author of novels such as Ethan Frome, Age of Innocence, and The Buccaneers. We also prepared for the trip ahead of time by reading Ethan Frome.The Mount is a beautiful estate and was designed by Wharton herself, based on principles she laid out in her first published book. The estate is still undergoing restoration so some of the rooms are in disrepair. However, enough of the house has been restored to give visitors a good idea of what the house was like when Wharton and her husband were in residence. I would love to see the estate once it's fully restored!
During the tour of the estate we forgot to look for Ethan Frome's tree, however we may have found the sled in a nearby shop. We ended the day at the Brew Works -- excellent fish & chips and my new favorite beer. Unfortunately you can only get Ahab's Resolve at the Brew Works in Pittsfield.
