Greetings from Billerica!

Happy Saturday! This evening we arrived in a northwest suburb of Boston called Billerica. It's a couple miles outside of Concord, MA which is one of our major goals over the next couple days. We were thrilled to discover that we have an ELS church only 12 minutes away from our hotel.

We spent a very comfortable night in Northampton, MA last evening. The beds were just wonderful -- gets tiring changing hotels/motels almost every night.

Headed down to Mark Twain Museum in Hartford, CT this morning. On the way we passed the National Basketball Hall of Fame. Cool building - no time to stop.



Mom started out by getting chided by one of the museum employees for getting too close to this 100-year-old gentleman!

What an amazing house Twain lived in! It reveals lots about his life and his writing.



When it was built it was located in the exclusive Nook Farm section of the city. It was so exclusive that only the rich and famous were invited to live there -- and you had to be invited and approved! Twain was neighbors with Harriet Beecher Stowe and her husband. She was in the later years of her life, while he was just about to launch into his great writing career. He wrote his greatest novels -- Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Prince and the Pauper, and Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court at this home in his third story billiard room and study.

The Stowe family was actually instrumental in getting the Clemens family accepted into the Nook Farm community. Twain had traveled along with Harriet's famous preacher brother when he organized a trip to the Holy Land for his rich New York parishioners. Twain went along to document this journey of the rich and famous -- it was later turned into his early best seller: Innocents Abroad.

Twain married late and married into money. His wife was fabulously wealthy as an heiress to the Standard Oil Langdons. While she was raised in wealth and needed to teach Clemens the ways of the rich, she never really succeeded - but did her best. She was also extremely religious, while he was less so -- to say the least. The mansion boasted all the latest gadgets - two telephones, seven flush toilets, central heating, wall stencils designed by Tiffany, wall-to-wall carpeting, and so much more. They had 7-9 servants on the estate at all times. It was located on a river on about 7 acres. However, the river was routed underground years ago so that more building could occur - so while the river is still there, you can't see it! Their butler George was a freed slave from Maryland. One day he knocked on the door and asked to wash the windows -- they hired him to be the butler and he stayed with them for 17 years.

The Clemens spent money like water. They held opulent dinner parties 3-5 times a week. They spent $150 a week on food. The house was filled with the finest furniture from around the world. The "angel" bed that Twain and his wife slept in cost $200 -- which was the average annual salary of a worker in those days. In todays world, that bed would cost $20,000!



We also walked over to the Harriet Beecher Stowe home -- it was actually her retirement home. She had written her classic Uncle Tom's Cabin before moving to this neighborhood.

From there we drove up to the Ballard Puppet Museum in Storrs, CT. It is part of the program of the University of Connecticut. I was particularly looking forward to this because this is one of the few accredited puppet programs in the U.S.



While driving up to the museum, Joyce saw a coyote loping across the lawn! The museum itself is about the size of a small ranch house with 3-4 rooms for exhibits and a gift shop. The exhibits that were featured were masks and Victorian toy theatres.

Check out these cool photos on my Picasa web album!

More exciting than the puppet museum, though, was meeting one of the performers we have seen many times at I-fest -- Judy Buch. She is an amazing puppeteer and ventriloquist. She had been at an elementary school as artist in residence and the teacher she worked with brought her to the museum. We noticed there were 2 other guests at the museum when we entered. When they turned around, Joyce's draw almost dropped and she approached them and asked, "You're Judy Buch?!" She was so nice and gracious to us. We talked puppetry for 15-20 minutes before she had to get on her way.


Cass - this photo is for you!

Tomorrow church and maybe Concord!

STRANGE HAPPENINGS OF THE DAY!

Tried to eat breakfast at a McDonalds that didn't exist -- we pulled over after seeing the Golden Arches, but the restaurant was demolished for rebuilding with a sign that said "See you in September!" Maybe not. We went about 10 miles down the road to another McD's, but it took them like an hour to serve us! Joyce did get a free McLatte out of it in the end.

Amherst here is pronounced without the "h" sound. Also Holyoke is pronounced kind of without the "y."

Would you believe school is still in session out here... makes it nice for our tours, but glad we're not still in school in Wisconsin!

Frost, Kipling, Dickinson, & Salvation Army!

Today we ventured into Bennington, Vermont to visit Robert Frost's Stone House. It is the place he penned one of his most famous poems -- "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."



Frost owned many farms during his lifetime in the New England area. He was a farmer and a poet -- a real down-to-earth guy. It was easy to see signs of his famous poems around the farm: a stone wall like in "Mending Wall," birch trees, apple trees from "Apple Picking."

Joyce and I loved reading his letters and quotes - he liked to tell it like he saw it and didn't sugar coat his message. He didn't have much use for fancy literary types & critics who tried to read too much into his poems. A lesson there for us lit teachers I think. He kind of reminded us of Joyce's Grandpa Kohnert - a stern, tough guy with a soft side. Joyce says she wants to read more of his poetry now that she has learned about him.

Did you know he was also homeschooled? Did you know he owned a garden owl sculpture just like the one we have in our backyard?



From there we traveled across Vermont through the Green Mountains. They are really mountains! We started out in Bennington with a slight drizzle and couldn't really see the tops of the mountains, but slowly the sun burned through the clouds. Tough way to travel about 30 miles. Beautiful brooks crashing down the mountains because of yesterday's rain -- right next to the road. Stopped at Hogsback Mountain for a scenic overlook that claimed you could see for 100 miles.



On the other side of the mountains was the city of Brattleboro, VT where we had a chance to drive through one of the Vermont covered bridges that still exist.

Rudyard Kipling lived just north of this city while writing Jungle Book and beginning work on Kim, the Just-So stories, and more. He married a woman from Brattleboro. His house is now owned by the British government and can be rented from them for stays. The only remembrance of him in town is the restaurant pictured below...

From there we drove back down into Massachusetts to visit the home of Emily Dickinson in Amherst. It is Amherst's 250th birthday as a city this year! (Hadley - a little town down the road is celebrating 350 years!) That seems so different than Wisconsin.

Joyce and I enjoyed a great tour of Emily's home. Their home is still much the same as it was in her time and many of the actual furnishings are still there. Pretty cool to walk up the same stairs she walked on and visit her bedroom where she wrote nearly 1800 poems! Dickinson still remains a literary mystery in many ways. Since none of her poems were printed during her lifetime, the story is even stranger because of the intrigues following her death in getting her poetry published. That story is lots like a modern soap opera.

Her father was very influential in Amherst and beyond. Her mother was a practical sort who didn't see much use for writing. Emily was highly educated although later in life sequestered herself from public life. Their house overlooked the action of the city and its college. It was part of a 13-acre working farm that backed up to the city cemetery. The white dress that she purportedly wore most the time was really not a dress but a dressing gown. These were typically worn so that ladies did not have to get dressed up in the all corsets and fineries of fashion in those days. Emily loved her Newfoundland dog and gardening as well as writing. She wrote music as well as thousands of letters.

By the time we were finished with our guided tour of the Dickinson estate, the weather had turned hot and steamy. At the Frost farm, it was a cool, drizzly 66 degrees; in Amherst it had risen to a humid 85! Having skipped lunch, Joyce and I were pretty famished. We headed to Pizza Hut, but there were no customers there and the place was in disrepair so we decided to head elsewhere. We ended up at Kentucky Fried Chicken for comfort food. Both Joyce and I are feeling a little bit homesick after not seeing the familiar faces and places of home for the last week. Something so impersonal about hotels. Not many folks from the Midwest that we've seen. Passed a truck from Amherst, WI on the interstate the other day and Joyce got him to honk his horn! Even seeing license plates from Michigan and Illinois seems like they are friends in a strange land.

Also fit two thrift shops in today -- Goodwill in Bennington and Salvation Army in Hadley. Felt good to wander the aisles and look for bargains. First two thrift shops we actually have had time to visit. Tomorrow we hope to be on to Hartford to the Mark Twain Mansion and to Storrs, CT to the Ballard Puppet Museum.

Blessings to all!

Dave

Laundry Day, Herman Melville & more

Rainy all day today in the Berkshires. But that didn't stop us!



Here I am reading my copy of Moby Dick on Herman Melville's piazza (we would call it a porch)!

Melville's home is called Arrowhead. I received a great personal tour and was able to stand in the room where Melville wrote Moby Dick. I recounted all I learned in my tour of his house on my Literary Tour blog.

CLICK HERE FOR LITERARY TOUR BLOG

Melville added the porch to this old house himself. The building was originally a tavern. Nathaniel Hawthorne visited here -- it is said that Melville and Hawthorne would head to the barn to smoke and get away from the women and children. Melville's writing room faced the tallest spot in the Berkshires - Mount Greylock. The house is located on Holmes Road - named after Oliver Wendell Holmes whose summer residence was down the road. Hawthorne's Tanglewood cottage is also down the road. Sadly no photos allowed inside the museum.

Joyce visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, the village he lived in. We also cruised the main street which was often depicted in his art.

We ate at Friendly's today -- kind of a local Culvers. I had a Fishamajig sandwich -- one of their specialties.

Last item of the day was catching up on laundry. We stopped at the Price Chopper store to buy laundry detergent and then struggled to find a laundromat. The one we were told about didn't even have a sign! The one we finally found wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.

Then back to the motel to plan for tomorrow -- we hope to head to Bennington, Vermont to see Robert Frost's house and then on to Amherst to see the Emily Dickinson museum.

Blessings to all!

Love, Dad

We're in the Berkshires!

Today when we got into the car we found a surprise -- Orv had convinced one of the Sesame Street toys to join on our ship! The new guy calls himself Captain K.

Lots of driving today and lots of ups and downs. We drove between the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains in New York and then into the Green Mountains here in Massachussetts. Beautiful scenery and another beautiful day for driving.

Unfortunately the weather forecast for tomorrow is not so nice. Rain is predicted for a good chunk of the next week. We'll have to see how that effects our plans because there are some plans that really won't work well in soggy weather. This will be a good test for our flexibility.

Here is a photo Joyce made me stop to get. I don't know why. I think Orv was especially insulted. He didn't talk for the rest of the trip!

On our way to our featured stop of the day, we were able to get a close-up view of the Erie Canal. All along the top of New York state you drive in a National Historic Site of this famous waterway. I guess I was never to impressed about this until we drove this distance to see how long this canal really was. Impressive! Took only about seven years to complete and it traverses the whole state of New York. WOW! Especially impressive when you consider the terrain and lack of power tools in those days.

Then it was on to our featured stop: Cooperstown, New York. Yes, it is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but we actually went because of the Fenimore Art Museum.

This fancy, fancy museum is built on the property of where James Fenimore Cooper wrote his early Leatherstocking tales featuring his amazing hero -- Natty Bumppo.

We arrived in the small village of Cooperstown about lunch time. Hmmm, where to eat. We drove downtown and it was crazy - couldn't even find a place to park. We discovered, though, that the museum had its own cafe. As we walked in, we smelled the special of the day -- BLT sandwiches. Couldn't pass that up. Homemade sandwiches with a chef on premises - delicious. Seating was on a lovely and peaceful veranda. Joyce remembers this as the best part of the day.

If you look carefully on the photo, you will notice that we chose water for our beverage. Kind of funny. We asked for water - the cashier asked "bottled water?" Joyce (not wanting to pay for water but also not wanting to sound cheap) asked her "Do you have any other kind of water?" That confused the cashier and she looked at Joyce with a blank stare (clearly implying "what other kind of water is there?") She then said, "Well, we do have TAP water..." So, the water you see in the photo is indeed New York tap water .

The museum itself was pretty cool. Got to see an authentic Mohawk bark house and check out the scenery that is so much a part of Cooper's novels.



After seeing it for myself, I understand now more why he had to include in his writing. This area is gorgeous! The amazing Otsego Lake is like 8 miles long and a sparkling natural diamond. He called it Glimmerglass. This town was founded by his father who owned "tens of thousands of acres" across upstate New York.



Also at the museum were authentic manuscripts he had written - he had great handwriting -- still easily readable today. Also letters to his family from George Washington and Lafayette -- pretty cool! Couldn't take photos of those because no photography was allowed in the museum itself. :(

Here is a photo of me reading my Cooper novel at the site where Cooper himself lived.

Across the street from the Art Museum is an equally amazing Farm Museum. We didn't have time to do that or the Hall of Fame. All were gifts to city -- in addition to the hospital -- by the Clark family of Cooperstown.

On the way out of Cooperstown we "enjoyed" a meal at McDonalds - again.

Then it was off for another 2 plus hours of driving to Massachussetts! We thought it was ironically appropos that the last toll both stop in New York state was Canaan! Were we entering the promised land?

We are staying in Lee, MA tonight at a Rodeway Inn with the Berkshire mountains in our back yard.

Hey, if any of you folks out there are reading this blog - let us know if you are enjoying this or not.

Blessings to all!

Dave & Joyce

A Small Change of Plans...

Anniversary Greetings from Canandaigua, NY!

Today we marked our 30th wedding anniversary! The Lord has been good to us! Praise him for his blessings.



Bet you haven't heard of this scenic little NY town before! Neither had we. But they had a Ponderosa Steakhouse ... or so we thought.

Is that cryptic enough for you? If it is, maybe you will be interested enough to read on.

We toyed with the idea of staying on in Niagara Falls another day, but the Days Inn hotel room we had was so dark and dreary -- new decorating -- that is seemed oppressive to me. Plus the weather was inviting, so we decided to venture on.

We got a late start this morning -- I had a particularly sleepless night. Walls in hotel were especially thin. You really want to be careful at Niagara Falls about the hotel you reserve. If you are trying to save money, there are some really ugly ones. Ours was not -- we were really glad it was as nice as it was.

The original plan was to drive to Cooperstown, NY to visit the James Fenimoore Cooper homestead and museum. (Yes, Cooperstown is also the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.) However, with getting a late start we realized we would not get there in time to see the museum and find a reasonably priced hotel.

Couple that with running low on gas, being hungry, and a desire not to drive so far today ...we detoured into Rochester to see the Strong National Museum of Play.

What an incredible place! Definitely something everyone who is a kid at heart should make time to see. It is actually the second largest children's museum in the US. (Largest is in Indianapolis).
I can't imagine any being any cooler than this one was.

The big attraction for me was the Sesame Street exhibit which was created in partnership with the producers of Sesame Street...

Can you tell us how to get to Sesame Street? Now we can... Here is Orv and me on the life-size Sesame Street scene steps!



Here is Joyce with a couple puppet friends!



I went photo crazy.

CLICK HERE FOR MY PICASA PHOTO ALBUM!

The museum is huge -- with a library of children's book & a preschool built right into it. We spent three-plus hours there and couldn't get through it. It also has a butterfly house attached. Other features include a full-size diner, a vintage carousel, kid's train, theatre, gift shop. That doesn't even count the displays! Almost every type of toy you can imagine -- vintage or modern. If you like dolls and doll houses, you could spend a whole day looking at them. The lady who began this museum must have been one crazy collector.

We were the last people out of the parking lot -- which is how we ended up in Canandeiga for the night. We thought we would head out of town (since the museum is in the heart of downtown Rochester). Mom punched Ponderosa Steakhouse into the GPS and it said the closest one was here. So we ventured off the beaten path to find it since it seemed -- for us -- to be a fun dining choice. It was probably about 15 miles out of Rochester -- amazingly picturesque town on the edge of the Finger Lake counties of New York.

We drove all the way through the city and finally found the Ponderosa. Looked all closed up, not a car there. (Many businesses in this area are boarded up, too.) Decided to try Charlies Restaurant -- famous for the Charlieburger! Walked in and decided not to try Charlies. Drove down the road to Denny's. Great meal - great price. Then on to Super 8.

Time to game plan for tomorrow.



Miscellaneous Thoughts

Susan B. Anthony & Frederick Douglas are buried in Rochester!

Strange town names in New York state -- some clearly Indian, others French, and must be many other languages as well. Tronolone, Leroy (home of the Jello Museum), Skaneatelis, and many more...

Did you know that Jello was invented in the 1870's by a carpenter trying to concoct a nice tasting cough syrup and laxative. (Somehow that seems like a dangerous combination!) Original flavors - orange, lemon, strawberry, & raspberry. Lime didn' come till much later. Mormons in Salt Lake City eat the most lime Jello of any people group...

Love to all... Dad

Niagara Falls Fun!

Greetings from Niagara Falls!



Made the run from Ohio to New York today. Beautiful day for traveling again - thank you, Lord!

The part of New York we have seen looks very much like Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota. Lots of farms, but the principal crop seemed to have been grapes. Fields and fields of grapes.

If you don't like big bridges, you wouldn't like the approach to Niagara Falls. Two big bridges to cross to get here. Mom & I checked into our motel about 2:00 o'clock. Thought we were going to take an easy day and see the falls tomorrow. But the weather was so nice that I encouraged her to drive down with me to "check out" where everything was for tomorrow.

Well, we got into the wrong line and ended up paying $10 for parking at Niagara Falls State Park. At that point, we decided to see the Falls!

What an amazing sight -- no words can really describe it. We took lots of photos. Took one of me with an umbrella for the Camp Phillip Photo Scavenger Hunt.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR PICASA PHOTO ALBUM!

We'll see how that works! Mom and I are both bushed. Lots of walking -- missed the trolley to be taken around the park. Mom did great! Hope her feet are feeling better tomorrow.

Still haven't decided on tomorrow's agenda -- may move on to Cooperstown, NY. We'll see.



Love, Dad

The Michigan-Ohio Run

Lots of driving today!

Went to church in Cadillac - Jim was preaching in Traverse City today. :(

Didn't sleep well last nite - think it was tick withdrawal! Every little itch -- was that a tick???
Guess what? We didn't find any more . . . until morning when we found one crawling on my Camp Phillip t-shirt.

Went to church with Adam, Daniel, and Kate Hoogervorst. Been a while since we've sat through church with such little ones. Brought back memories. After church, Joyce gave both of the boys gold coins -- she called it treasure from Orv!

Did I tell you? I HATE TICKS!

Mom did come up with a unique way of disposing of the one we found in the car. She wrapped it in a kleenex and tossed it out the window! It looked like a tick with a parachute!

We drove all the way through Michigan and most of Ohio. Put the GPS that Lepkes borrowed to us to good use --AAA atlas map got us lost - GPS helped us find our way out of Michigan's back country. Never a good sign when the road turns to gravel. GPS hint: Never try to find all the Taco Bells in Ohio!

We are staying in a nice room in a Days Inn in Correaut, OH -- just past Painesville and Ashtabula! Gas in OH was way cheaper than in Michigan. I think we paid 2.93 in MI -- saw gas for 2.55 in Ohio.

Waited too long to find a cheap motel and that made me grumpy. Sorry, Mom!

Weird streetnames of the day: Fangboner, Bratenahl -- could come in handy for puppets sometime.

Fun city name: Willowick

Tomorrow it's on to Niagara Falls - weather is supposed to be nice.

Blessings to all!

No photos to share today.