Falling in love with New England… TRIP REPORT COMPLETED - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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How great you are able to go to your friend's wedding! Your plans sound good so far. I love Boston, so many great things to see and do! Do visit the North End, and go to Mike's Pastry -yum! Be warned though, there will be a line. One of my very favorite museums in Boston is the JFK Museum. It's quite good - one of my favorite museums anywhere. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
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How great you are able to go to your friend's wedding! Your plans sound good so far. I love Boston, so many great things to see and do! Do visit the North End, and go to Mike's Pastry -yum! Be warned though, there will be a line. One of my very favorite museums in Boston is the JFK Museum. It's quite good - one of my favorite museums anywhere. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
That's interesting, as I had that on my list of possible places to visit - good to know.
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My head was spinning a bit following along as you worked out the flights, but your work paid off. Your accommodations look beautiful.
I was looking again at the Harbor Light Inn last night, our home on Wednesday night, and wow, every time I look at it, I just love the look of it even more!
Pre-trip report – part three: reunions with friends we’ve seen recently… and not so recently…
Once we’re done in Salem, we’ll make our way over to Portsmouth. Once there, our priorities are to visit the USS Albacore, and Strawberry Banke Museum. Hopefully we’ll be able to fit both in. Once again, like Salem, there are some other places I’d like to see, so we’ll probably either drive through or walk around to see those.
Now here I have to say a huge thank you to Sheila (Big Baloo) on the boards, who has been such a huge help with this part of our trip. She helped me to find our place to stay for the night, which is going to be the Fairfield Inn Marriott Portsmouth Seacoast. I was constantly going to and fro with her about good and not-so-good parts of the town/city (please correct me if I get any of these town/city references wrong! ). It’s got free parking, free Internet, and free breakfast, so it ticks all the boxes I need.
We’re then meeting up with her and her DH for dinner at Jumpin' Jay's Fish Café, which I really liked the look of out of the shortlist we came up with. Sheila tells me if we get a window table, it’s good for people watching, although honestly, put a couple of PassPorters together and I doubt there’ll be much time for people watching, as we’ll probably be too busy chatting away!
At some point after we’ve seen them I want to hit the Kittery Premium Outlets, which is just over the state line in Maine, so at least I can say I’ve visited another state, even if it is a bit of a cheat! I say after as Sheila’s keeping an eye out for Reebok vouchers, although to date (it’s mid August as I write this, because heck I need to try and get this pre-trip report done before we head out to Alaska and California, as we’ll only have about 11 days when we get back from that to flying out again… ) she hasn’t found any for the dates we’re there. She seems quite optimistic. We need to go there to stock up on trainers (tennis shoes to you guys), as quite frankly we did not do well in Florida earlier in the year. Hopefully we’ll have better luck on this trip, as after this one, it doesn’t look like we’ll be back in the States until fall 2016, so we need to get our stocks of everything together.
On the subject of shopping, I do have various Bath and Body Works stores listed along our route, although I’m hoping we’ll already have been and gone and done all the damage we need to in there in Vancouver. I know the Canadian dollar isn’t doing so well, so I figured it should be relatively cheap there, but if that doesn’t work out, then I have a few options left to squeeze a little bit more shopping in…
The next day we’re heading off to the Canterbury Shaker Village, as that had a really good write-up in my faithful Dorling Kindersley guidebook. I didn’t want to programme too much else into this day, knowing that we had a wedding reception to get back to Boston for in the evening, so on the way back there, we’ll go to Concord and see the state capitol building, as I do love seeing those. Perhaps I should aim to see every single one? We’ll also stop off at America’s Stonehenge. As soon as I saw the name of the place, I couldn’t resist stopping there. Somehow, I’m guessing it won’t exactly wow us, having already seen the real one just a few times but it will be interesting to see what it’s like.
Then we’ll head for our home for the next three days, Whitman House, before going for cocktails and food (sounds good to me! ) at the wedding reception. I can’t wait to see David and Robert again but it’s also going to be a bit of a weird reunion for me. I discovered very recently that Nick, who was my other bridesman at my wedding would also be going.
Myself, Nick and Dave were exceptionally close the whole way through the latter part of our teenage years, but sadly we haven’t seen Nick in many years now. Neither Mark nor I could tell you when we last saw him, and the saddest thing is there’s no real reason for it. We only live about 30 miles away from each other and he has been in touch with me over the last couple of years to say we must meet up. I’ve always been really enthusiastic about it and given him some dates, but then I’ve heard no more. He was supposed to be coming down to Brighton to meet up with us and David and Robert when we saw them down there, but he never made it, as he’d had some personal issues. I’m really looking forward to seeing him again, although as he said when he messaged me, it’s ironic that we have to fly thousands of miles to meet up, and I couldn’t agree more.
It will also be very surreal to see David’s family again. Given we all lived in the same village, we all knew each other families, and David’s family were the first to move away from the village. When we were all at university, a massive group of us headed down there for David’s 21st birthday. Imagine about 20 people sleeping wherever they could! It was a great night, and I have to say kudos to David’s parents for being so laid back about the whole thing. Anyway, his parents will be there, along with his sister, who’s younger than David, but apparently she’s got two kids of her own now. I don’t know if I’ll even recognise any of them…
The next morning, as the wedding isn’t until the late afternoon, we’ve got a PassPorter meet at the Chart House, which Laurie (lauriep) has kindly organised for us, and I can’t thank her enough for doing that. She gave me a few options to pick from, and that was the one that I liked the most that I also thought other people would enjoy. Ironic then that Tara (Tara O’Hara) went for dinner there not long after I’d made the decision, and wrote about it in her pre-trip report. From her description, it sounds like it’s a good choice.
We’re all meeting at 11:00am. I was desperately trying to pick a time that would work for everyone. I didn’t want to leave it too much later, given the wedding is at 4:30pm, and I wanted to allow a good couple of hours for a meal and a chance to catch up with everyone, but equally I didn’t want it to be too early, as I know sometimes people can travel quite long distances to get to these meets, for which I am always thankful as it’s so lovely to see so many people.
So who have we got attending? Well, at the time of writing, as well as ourselves and Laurie, my understanding is that the others who are coming are Marie (CRCrazy), Janine (FanOfMickey), Heather (peanut_mommy), Elaine (nanajoyx2) and her DH, Lisa (lfredsbo) and her DH, Shawna (Shawnam1868), Dawn (DawnK) and her DD, Peggy (POOH). If I’ve missed anyone out, then my apologies. Equally, if you’re reading this, and would like to join us, then we’d love to see you. The details can be found in the Backyard forum.
Out of those attendees, to the best of my knowledge, and my memory is fading a bit we’ve only met Laurie, Marie, Janine and Peggy before, so it will lovely to re-connect with all of them and to put some new faces to some new names.
I think my only problem is going to be what the heck to eat, and not because there isn’t a good choice, but because there’s too much choice! I like the sound of the crab cake benedict, the macadamia nut crusted French toast, the shrimp, crab, avocado and mango stack, the lobster bisque, the clam chowder or even the sampling of both of those and the gazpacho, the New England lobster roll, and the avocado crab salad. How the heck am I going to choose between all those wonderful sounding choices?
Those are our plans for the day right now, as it stands, but should we up early enough, we may well end up doing something or going somewhere before the meal… we’ll see.
The next day, the Sunday is even more open, mainly because all we know is that there’s an open house at David and Robert’s home from 9:00am to 9:00pm. I have to say I have absolutely no idea how this will work, as I’ve never come across anything like this in connection to a wedding before. Obviously we will be popping round at some point, but as for when, well, we’ll see what happens on the day. Can you tell as an uber-planner that I don’t like having an open day like this?
At least the next day has a bit more structure to it. We’re leaving Boston, and heading out to Hartford to meet up with Marnie (Colexi’s Mom) and Sara (Belle*), two great friends, for lunch. I can’t wait to see them both again, as it’s been a long time. I know the last time we saw Marnie was 2009 when we were staying with Sue and Steve (six years ago – where does the time go? ) and I want to say it was about the same time we last saw Sara. I know I saw her for the Decade of Dreams tour back in 2009, and maybe we saw her in December 2009, but since then, I know our trips just haven’t tied up at all sadly.
We’re meeting up at a mall that has all the essential elements… for me anyway! It’s got a Bath and Body Works, Build A Bear, Disney Store, LEGO and Swarovski, all of which are a lot of fun for me… well, Ok, the LEGO store is actually for Mark, if I’m being honest.
Then we’ll make our way over to Gillette Castle, before heading for Mystic, where we’re staying the night at the Hyatt Place. Again, I got a bit of local knowledge here from Lisa (lfredsbo), and this does everything I want – free Wi-Fi, breakfast and parking, and even an outdoor pool, although whether it will be warm enough to actually swim in it is another matter…
Anyway, we’ll then be going out for dinner with Lisa and her family at Johnny’s Peking Tokyo, which was very well rated on TripAdvisor. I seem to remember suggesting it to Lisa, and she immediately said It will be so nice to spend some more time with her, as I’m conscious when you have a big gathering, it’s not always easy to talk to everyone.
Next: where’s the dress I’m wearing to the wedding?
Ohhhhh, now I'm seriously craving some Ben and Jerry's! I don't think their ice cream quite as good as it was before the real B&J sold out their interest, but it's still plenty tasty.
Another fun place for your Vermont list whenever you finally make it there is The Vermont Country Store. It mimics an old-fashioned country general store delightfully and sells top quality products. Such fun simply wandering about looking at the quaint things they sell. I spent nearly a full hour there and bought things I hadn't ever thought I'd need but which proved tremendously useful. Their foodstuffs are marvelous, and I'm simply easy when it comes to that tourist delight, maple sugar candies. YUMMY YUM!
I went to the one in Rockingham which is quite near I-91 but wished the flagship store in Weston hadn't been too far off my route. Nevertheless, it was purely FUN old-timey shopping.
There are so many fantastic things to see and do in New England. I keep telling DH His Drewness that we really must get back there sometime. You will have a marvelous time there, I'm sure.
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You're going to have a busy and fun week! I've updated the list of attendees for the Chart House brunch in the Backyard forum. A great group of people!
Try again. I hope this time it posts. Some suggestions. Instead of Kittery outlets go to Merrimack Outlet Malls. They are better organized (Kittery is a pain you drive in and out of parking lots and need to cross the street constantly), they have more stores and also a Disney outlet. They can be on the way to Boston. If you want to hit Maine, go to Kiettery and get a Clam roll at Bob's Clam Shack. Great New England quick seafood and worth a trip (especially from Portsmouth).
Also I strongly recommend you skip America's Stonehenge-to me not worth the time and money and I think you will be very disappointed. I love this are and think there are hundreds of great thongs to see and do but that is not one of them. Spend more time in POrtsmouth, go to Ordiorne Point or even Hammond if you are missing England
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I agree about America's Stonehenge! Not terribly interesting and you'd be paying admission for the other attractions, like the petting zoo. A silly place!
Ohhhhh, now I'm seriously craving some Ben and Jerry's! I don't think their ice cream quite as good as it was before the real B&J sold out their interest, but it's still plenty tasty.
Another fun place for your Vermont list whenever you finally make it there is The Vermont Country Store. It mimics an old-fashioned country general store delightfully and sells top quality products. Such fun simply wandering about looking at the quaint things they sell. I spent nearly a full hour there and bought things I hadn't ever thought I'd need but which proved tremendously useful. Their foodstuffs are marvelous, and I'm simply easy when it comes to that tourist delight, maple sugar candies. YUMMY YUM!
I went to the one in Rockingham which is quite near I-91 but wished the flagship store in Weston hadn't been too far off my route. Nevertheless, it was purely FUN old-timey shopping.
Sounds great!
Quote:
There are so many fantastic things to see and do in New England. I keep telling DH His Drewness that we really must get back there sometime. You will have a marvelous time there, I'm sure.
I'm sure we will - and we'll probably have to go back to finish seeing all the different parts of New England after this trip.
You're going to have a busy and fun week! I've updated the list of attendees for the Chart House brunch in the Backyard forum. A great group of people!
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Your accommodations look beautiful. 
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She helped me to find our place to stay for the night, which is going to be the Fairfield Inn Marriott Portsmouth Seacoast. I was constantly going to and fro with her about good and not-so-good parts of the town/city (please correct me if I get any of these town/city references wrong! 
) she hasn’t found any for the dates we’re there. She seems quite optimistic. We need to go there to stock up on trainers (tennis shoes to you guys), as quite frankly we did not do well in Florida earlier in the year. 
Hopefully we’ll have better luck on this trip, as after this one, it doesn’t look like we’ll be back in the States until fall 2016, so we need to get our stocks of everything together. 
We’ll also stop off at America’s Stonehenge. As soon as I saw the name of the place, I couldn’t resist stopping there. Somehow, I’m guessing it won’t exactly wow us, having already seen the real one just a few times 
) at the wedding reception. I can’t wait to see David and Robert again 
but it’s also going to be a bit of a weird reunion for me. I discovered very recently that Nick, who was my other bridesman at my wedding would also be going. 
Neither Mark nor I could tell you when we last saw him, and the saddest thing is there’s no real reason for it. We only live about 30 miles away from each other and he has been in touch with me over the last couple of years to say we must meet up. I’ve always been really enthusiastic about it and given him some dates, but then I’ve heard no more. He was supposed to be coming down to Brighton to meet up with us and David and Robert when we saw them down there, but he never made it, as he’d had some personal issues. I’m really looking forward to seeing him again, although as he said when he messaged me, it’s ironic that we have to fly thousands of miles to meet up, and I couldn’t agree more. 
I don’t know if I’ll even recognise any of them… 
Equally, if you’re reading this, and would like to join us, then we’d love to see you. The details can be found in 
we’ve only met Laurie, Marie, Janine and Peggy before, so it will lovely to re-connect with all of them and to put some new faces to some new names. 
We’re leaving Boston, and heading out to Hartford to meet up with Marnie (Colexi’s Mom) and Sara (Belle*), two great friends, for lunch. I can’t wait to see them both again, as it’s been a long time. I know the last time we saw Marnie was 2009 when we were staying with Sue and Steve (six years ago – where does the time go? 
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