Eating with Longfellow at the Wayside Inn!

Greetings from the Boston suburb of Dedham! Tonight we are staying at a Holiday Inn Express.

Drove down from Maine this morning in pouring rain. We drove out to the ocean to get a foggy sight of the Maine coastline. Smelled the sea breezes. Planned to try to drive the coast through Kennebunk & Kennebunkport, but road construction frustrated the driver -- me!



Here is our take on Maine: "The rain in Maine falls maine-ly on the Paynes!"

We had a quick drive through New Hampshire -- will we ever stop paying tolls??? Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio...grrr!

Once back in Boston we drove down to Harvard area in Cambridge hoping to visit Museum of Natural History and the Longfellow House. We made it down there but traffic and parking were a nightmare. Only metered parking for an hour on the street! Thanks to the GPS for help, but the one way streets have changed and that makes things even more exciting. Frustrated driver Dave said, "Let's get out of here" and co-pilot Joyce navigated us back to Interstate 95.

Instead we drove out to Sudbury to Longfellow's Wayside Inn. What a treat! It is one of the oldest operating inns in America - if not the oldest! We ate a wonderful lunch for an affordable price in an amazing setting.



Here is Joyce with the menu...

Here am I enjoying a cool drink of water...



The Inn is stocked with all kinds of period pieces and is free to the public. Great place to visit.

Click here for my Picasa Web Album of the Wayside Inn!

When Joyce took a photo of me reading my Longfellow poetry collection, I magically opened the book to the page: Tales of a Wayside Inn! Longfellow didn't live here, but visited after the tragic death of his wife. He hoped that a visit here would break his despair and break the writer's block he was experiencing. It did. He wrote this long poem which I believe is patterned after Chaucer's Canterbury Tales where a variety of characters tell stories from their differing viewpoints. In the web album, you can see the different characters. The Innkeeper is the one who tells the story of Paul Revere's Ride -- one of Longfellow's most famous poems. It makes sense that the innkeeper would tell this tale because Revere actually frequented this area since it is located on the Boston Post Road.



We also toured the gardens. Joyce found another gentleman friend...



Henry Ford saved this historic site for the people of today. Also on site are some other neat buildings including an operating grist mill -- used to grind the corn and wheat used in the kitchen. Also located there is the little school house credited with inspiring the childhood ditty: "Mary had a little lamb..."



Then it was back to rush hour traffic to find our way to the hotel. Crazy driving out here in Boston. People drive on the shoulder of the highway as if it is an extra lane. You never know where or when you are going to get passed. I was gripping the wheel so hard that my hands went numb. Glad to be safely in the hotel room resting.

Tomorrow we are actually supposed to see the sun for the first time in a week or so in Massachusetts. We are planning to visit Plymouth Rock, the Plimouth Plantation, and the Mayflower. I am really excited about this stop. Actors and interpreters dress in period costumes and depict daily life in Puritan New England from the 1600s. Hope to get lots of photos.

Blessings to all!

Dave