Day 11 was a sad day, as we started turning West to work our way back to Canada and home. But first, four states in one day (photos 1-2), the longest haul of the trip!

We packed up the car in Boston, said goodbye to Scott, Dana and Henry, and headed out (photo 3). We stopped by their new house (under construction, photos 4-5) and then headed south to Providence, Rhode Island (photos 6-8). It struck us as larger than we expected, including the State capitol building itself (photos 9-14).

But with all of our trip to this point, we really hadn’t seen the “full ocean” yet. By that, I mean that almost all of what we had seen most of the way were inlets, or with islands not too far off shore. We hadn’t been to any shores or beaches that were completely open ocean. We wanted a nice beach, and we definitely found it at Narragansett (near Newport). It was a municipal beach, and the parking attendant let us park in the “locals” lot for free as we were only going to be there 10 minutes or so (it ended up being an hour). You had to pay to go on the beach too, a little steep, but they let Jacob in for free as if he was 11. He is clearly NOT under 12, but who are we to quibble? The beach had beautiful white sand, great water, and a really long coastal area. It was busy but not super crowded, with many people wading or boogie boarding. Andrea and Jacob waded up to their knees, and we hung out taking pictures for an hour or so. If we weren’t already booked to get closer to Niagara Falls by nightfall, we would have gladly booked someplace local and stayed the rest of the week there. It was a beautiful day too. We grabbed some ice cream at their snack shack and had to call it a day (photos 15-42).

We jumped back on the highway and headed for Connecticut (photos 43-44). We passed through Hartford (photos 45-47), including the old State House followed by a really sketchy area, but kept going, getting back on the highway until we came to a big mall. We just grabbed some food in the food court, used the washrooms, and headed back onto the highway. We planned to make it Utica for the night so that we could go on to Niagara Falls the next morning (photos 43-70). Some great views of lakes, rivers, and mountains again as we entered into New York. For the first time since we started the trip, I also saw police out in force on the highways (with 4 people pulled over). We used the interstate toll roads, and while I was locked in for cruise control, locals were still flying by me, including some pretty big trucks. Jacob slept for a good portion of the afternoon.

We didn’t see much of Utica itself; we just arrived, checked in at the Burrstone Inn and then opted for dinner at the restaurant’s Beer Garden. The room was comprised of a king bed and sofabed, a welcome sight after a very long day.

While we took 159 photos and videos, curated down to 70, the big news for the day was the driving: 610 km in total, almost twice as much as any other day.

2023-07b August – Day 11 Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York

70 photos

Day 10 was a Monday, and we weren’t entirely sure what we were going to do for the day (photos 1-2). We were thinking maybe Old Boston plus the shipyards, some other “walking” outings, but my body wasn’t up to it.

I drove Andrea and Jacob to the Charlestown Navy Yard, and I sat in a quiet courtyard while they went off to view the shipyards (photos 3-29). A nice local came rushing up to me while paying for parking to explain in some detail what the “thing was” in terms of how you handled parking i.e., pay at the machine initially for your two hours and then download the app on your phone so you could EXTEND it later without having to come all the way back. And to make sure I did because the local bylaw people were, umm, “extremely aggressive” in watching for parking scofflaws. 🙂

Andrea and Jacob saw the USS Cassin Young, a WWII destroyer. Unfortunately, our luck was still bad for schedules…just as we missed some stuff at the Planetarium for schedule (the shows we wanted weren’t on), and at the Aquarium (the penguin presentation was only M-F, not weekends), the destroyer had one day a week when they didn’t let people on to wander around…yep, Mondays. They still saw the large, steel ship with guns, anti-aircraft, depth charges, and torpedoes. The ship fought in the Pacific theatre back in the day.

They also saw the USS Constitution, built in the 1790s and used in the War of 1812. It was undergoing maintenance so they couldn’t get too close, but it was a long sailing ship with masts and cannons. The shipyards themselves have been in operation since independence, and was very active in WWII with 50,000 full-time workers employed. They also saw dry dock and how it works.

We then walked over to the pier for lunch (Pier 6 restaurant). The restaurant was situated right on the water with good seafood and a nice view of the skyline (photos 30-33).

We then headed back to Needham along the water, taking pics of the skyline as we went (photos 34-36), and then spent time with the cousins at their house. They had plans for dinner with friends, so I helped them with their telescope setup before they left (which reminds me I owe Scott an email), while we went to a restaurant that Dana recommended for seafood (notice a theme here?). We went to Captain Marden’s, not too far away and had a really good meal (as promised).

It was a relatively light day overall, with 63 km driven and 78 photos and videos curated down to 36.

2023-07b July – Day 10 Charlestown Navy Yard

36 photos