Thursday, August 1
BOSTON – It was a whirlwind morning of seeing the sights of Boston. I was up extremely early after a great rest last night though Leroy is not a morning person and was up much later than myself.
We had breakfast at the expensive hotel restaurant again and were soon off to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I had passed it on a walk yesterday and was told by an Uber driver that is a must see.
Being the fifth largest museum in the United States, it was impressive and is well worth the visit. From early art of Asia, to the painting of George Washington in the Passage of the Delaware it was two floors filled with all types of artwork.
There were even mummies and a picture of Judith from the Old Testament when she beheaded General Holofernes, who was under king Nebuchadnezzar. This scripture is not found in most regular Christian Bibles.
It brought the historical story to life which I had read about several times before in texts not included in scripture but stories about the deliverance of the Jewish people, but never grasped what was going on.
Here is a link discussing this text: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/judith-a-remarkable-heroine/
We spent three hours there walking through most of the rooms studying some painting and glancing at others. I could never spend an entire day at a museum but prefer a two to three-hour tour.
Afterward, we went to lunch at Cafeteria Boston which was a great place to have lunch while sitting outside. I had the grilled cheese with tomato soup and Leroy had a Greek salad, which to our surprise had no lettuce. It was a true Greek salad.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Old South Church, which is where Betsy Banks met her deceased husband Roger Banks while playing the organ when he was working on it.
It was amazing to see the place where those two met. I have heard many stories about the time they met. It was a beautiful and well-kept church, plus the current organ is very impressive.
After seeing Old South, we got our rental car and puttered down the road to Bangor, Maine. Along the way we stopped in Kennebunkport, Maine which is a summer home of the Bush family.
I am reading the book, The Matriarch, which is about Barbara Bush and it mentions the summer home that they had in Maine. It was a beautiful home on the coast that was heavily secured.
If you plan on driving through Maine I will warn you that they fund their state troopers and during our drive saw well over ten of them along the roadside stopping people.
After several hours of driving we arrived in Bangor to a town that rolls up the sidewalks at 5 p.m., but luckily had a great restaurant open called Novio’s. They were nice and welcomed our later arrival for dinner at 8:30.
I had a ribeye which was comparable to anything in Oklahoma, but the sweet potato scalloped potatoes were excellent. Leroy had a lobster tempura which he really liked.
It was just after 10 p.m. before we made it back to our hotel to immediately hit the sack.
Friday, August 2
BANGOR, MAINE – To my excitement the breakfast was included in our Hampton Inn hotel stay, so the days of $70 breakfasts are over.
We headed off early to see the former home of Stephen King and then to see a stuffed duck at the Bangor Police Station which my mother had been asking we see.
Apparently, this stuffed duck is the mascot of the police department and found by the now police chief in a dumpster in town. My mother, Rebekah Tapia, or the Bangor Police Department’s Facebook can tell you much more about this duck.
It was a different site to see, but worth the side trip, plus we learned all about the history of the department there. There first female officer came onto the force in 1940s
Afterward, we drove to Mount Washington in New Hampshire which was about three hours away. I decided that taking the back roads would be more enjoyable but ended up taking a lot longer. There are no straight roads here.
We drove up the mountain instead of taking the cog railway, which would have added two hours to our trip. It was a frightful drive up on the one and half lane road which barely fit two cars.
The views were outstanding as I was able to see for miles in all directions. It was worth the drive just awe inspiring to see the other mountains and everything in all directions
Sometimes just staring off into the landscape is refreshing.
We slowly drove down the mountain to go find some ice cream before heading off to our hotel about an hour away.
In Gorham there was a little ice cream shack which had some really good ice cream. I had a sundae while Leroy had his normal butter pecan ice cream. However, the menu had jimmies, which is something I had never heard of.
After getting our ice cream and sitting down at a picnic bench I asked Leroy what jimmies were and he had no clue. But luckily some northeasters had.
With a chuckle they told me it was their word for a sprinkle. I was excited to learn this new word and have to give thanks to Sharon and Michelle Gordan along with the little ones for educating me on this new term.
I hope to start using the term in Oklahoma one day.
We got back on the road and arrived in the small town of St. Johnsbury where we are staying. It is a nice town with about two or three restaurants.
For dinner we ate at Kingdom Taproom & Table, which was probably the best place and only good place to eat here. Despite the place being slammed and slow, the food and service was great.
Now it is time to get some rest before a busy day tomorrow seeing the great state of Vermont.
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Eriech Tapia 