expedition56

Washington DC – Sunday, April 7

Although I was still a little worried about the drive downtown, at least I had a better idea of what to expect, and it went okay. I simply took the first parking space I could get that was reasonably close to the mall area, and it was a little behind the Capitol building. The cherry trees are just beginning to blossom so there’s a lot of pink around. Tula and I started walking down the mall again, and this time when we got to the Washington Monument, we turned and started making our way across some roads and bridges to head over to the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin. There are 2000 cherry trees all around the Tidal Basin area, and the 2-mile path around it was so crowded with people it took quite a while to walk all the way around it. It was so pretty it was worth it. Then we visited the FDR Memorial (which also has the only statue made of Eleanor Roosevelt), and the Martin Luther King Jr memorial which were in the same general vicinity. I hadn’t seen these before and I think they’re some of the newer memorials. On the way back toward the Washington Monument, I saw a ranger station and stepped in to see about passport stamps. The ranger told me the cherry blossoms should be at their peak within about 48 hours since the weather conditions are just right to make them all “pop”. I decided I’d continue walking all the way down to the White House. The boulevard in front of it is closed to traffic and makes a really nice place to walk. It was pretty to see with all the flowering trees. Then we started making our way back, passing some of the biggest concrete buildings I’ve ever seen – the Treasury Department Building, the IRS building, EPA etc etc. The street crossings were really crowded, and there’s people on bikes to add to the mix. I’m actually seeing a lot of red Washington DC bikes and I read the info on one of the stands – it sounds like there’s about 150 bike stations in the city, and you can just rent them for however long you want, and return it to any of the stations.

By now Tula and I had done a lot of walking and I knew we’d have more than 8 miles when we got back to the car. And since I had made 2 donations yesterday I was in good shape with that. So we made our way back, and then I thought I’d drive around just a little to see what the parking availability would be like for weekdays – both today and yesterday I had parked in places that wouldn’t be available the rest of the week. So I discovered there are lots of potential (and free!) spaces along both sides of the mall, and the signs all say there’s no parking from 1-10am, and after 10am people can park up to 3 hours. And there was meter parking along the side streets. As I drove around one more time just to check out any other parking possibilities, a space opened up just a block or so away from the Museum of Natural History. So, I took advantage of the opportunity, and went to the museum. For some reason (it’s been a long time since I’ve been to Washington DC) I thought the Smithsonian was one giant museum, but it’s actually a collection of 19 museums and galleries, plus the zoo, and they’re free. I always like natural history museums, and I liked this too. They had the usual exhibit of animals, but upstairs they also had the “Bone” exhibit, which was a whole exhibit of animal skeletons – a very different way to look at them, and that was one of my favorite exhibits. And I took a look at the Hope Diamond in the gem exhibit, and a mummy in the Egyptian exhibit. From there, even though my feet were tired, I walked another few blocks down the street to the American History Museum. Nearly one whole side is undergoing renovations, but I enjoyed the rest of it. They had George Washington’s mess kit (I had seen his tents in Yorktown), and a piece of the Berlin Wall, and a crumpled beam from the World Trade Tower. The display that had the biggest impact on me was the flag display – after just recently being in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay area and reading and seeing monuments about the War of 1812, and the British burning down towns and Francis Scott Key writing the Star Spangled Banner, to see the actual flag that had been flying over Fort McHenry in 1814 that inspired the Star Spangled Banner was a very unexpected treat. The flag was in a low-light exhibit, and is an enormous flag – currently measuring about 30×34 feet. It used to be about 45 feet long, but in the 1800s the owners of the flag snipped off pieces of the flag – and one of the 15 stars – to give as mementos to their houseguests. And you can see where they just snipped off pieces. So I was looking at the actual flag that was seen flying over the fort at dawn, signifying the Americans had hung on and defeated the British in that battle – no one on the ships out in the bay knew the outcome of the battle until they saw whether an American or British flag was flying over the fort. Considering the British had already been in DC and burned down the Capitol, I imagine there were more than a few sighs of relief to see the American flag. So that was a special display for me – the real star spangled banner – and when I left the exhibit, there was a donation box asking for help to preserve America’s treasures, and I knew I had to go out to the car and write a note and make a donation – I couldn’t resist making a contribution toward protecting America’s treasures, and I had wanted to make a few national type donations this week in the national capital anyway. So I took care of that, and was done for the day – tired, but ahead of the game in miles and donations!

Washington DC – Saturday, April 6

The drive down from Massachusetts was a long one, and I got in late – not that I mind! I’ll be staying in Maryland for the week – about 15 miles from the heart of DC. That’s a necessity for a variety of reasons that include affordability, parking and pet policies. So, I’ll have to “commute” in every day and I’ve heard bad things about traffic and parking, but I’ll just have to make the best of it.

I got kind of a late start today due to my late arrival last night, but I did a little research into donation possibilities, and discovered the DC Central Kitchen is open on both Saturday and Sunday. This is a big organization which offers several programs, and I decided to shop for Healthy Returns, their children’s nutrition program. Their programs have so many participants that when people make a food donation, they ask for a minimum of 100 servings of whatever the donation will be. I was able to get 10 boxes (100 packages) of fruit snacks that were made with real fruit, and 13 boxes (104 bars) of nutri-grain bars. That took care of my Saturday donation. Then I wanted to get something to help with one of the adult programs for my Sunday donation. The website for DC Kitchen has several wish lists, and one of the items on their “on-going” wish list was $5 gift cards to Target or Giant – a local grocery chain. The gift cards help establish trust when the volunteers are reaching out to people who need assistance. Since I happened to be shopping at a Giant, I got 11 $5 gift cards for that part of their program, and I decided to make both donations at the same time, so I’m not repeating traffic and parking issues to make 2 separate donations.

I’m not familiar with Washington DC at all as far as driving, so I studied a map for a while. The map on my iPad is really good, and I plugged in the address of DC Central Kitchen, and inexplicably, the iPad started talking to me like a GPS. I don’t know how that happened, but it sure came at a good time! Since it was a Saturday afternoon, I imagine the traffic was lighter than normal, but it was still kind of a crowded, stressful drive in, and driving doesn’t usually bother me like that. There wasn’t always sufficient merging space when entering a highway, and one entrance ramp simply had a sign saying “no merge lane” and there’s a u-turn across several lanes that needs to be done, and there’s an awful lot of construction so some streets are closed. I was relieved to get downtown where the traffic was crawling instead of speeding! The dome of the Capitol Building is visible from quite a distance, as is the Washington Monument, so they’re good landmarks, and I was happy to see them. Once downtown, I made a few wrong turns, and discovered there’s a lot of one-way streets to cope with, but I found the DC Central Kitchen, which isn’t far from the Washington Mall. Because it was a Saturday, there were more parking spaces available that are off-limits during the workweek. So I didn’t have trouble parking near there, but it’s not a place most people drive to! I began to think it was a good thing I made my first drive downtown during the weekend. One of the DC Kitchen volunteers helped me carry in the shopping bags, and the gift cards were stowed away. There were quite a few young men hanging around the building, which is quite large. This organization feeds up to 5000 people a day including their partner organizations. Their website had an interesting clip called A Day in the Life of a Meal. There were 7 steps: 1) Trucks go out to pick up unused food from food service organizations and farms 2) volunteers quickly unload it 3) more volunteers sort and store it – some things like bread and rolls can be included in the current meal that’s being prepared 4) food prep – during the course of a year, up to 12,000 different people help with fixing 5000 meals a day 5) meal packing 6) meals are stored in insulated carriers with the menu attached 7) distribution to all their partner locations. None of this was going on at the time I was there, but once again, I was amazed at the numbers of people they help. I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the building because I try to be careful to not include any of the people on assistance in pictures, and I didn’t want to ask them to move just so I could get a photo!

I didn’t want to leave the van parked there, so I found my way back to the Capitol area, and despite congested traffic, I was lucky enough to get a good parking spot without too much searching. Then Tula and I set out for a long walk, and I immediately forgot about the traffic woes. The central part of Washington DC is an awesome walking city, with a lot of green space, and all those monuments and memorials. It was wonderful. The Washington Monument must be undergoing some renovations, because scaffolding covers the bottom half of it, and there’s ugly construction fencing around it, so a few of the sidewalks are closed. Because it’s so tall, the Washington Monument is a little deceptive as far as distances – it looks closer than it is! It is a really long walk from the Capitol building, down along the Washington Mall, then the reflecting pond, past some of the memorials,and then down to the Lincoln Memorial which anchors the end opposite the Capitol. We passed a memorial for the signers of the Declaration of Independence – 56 of them!! There were a lot of bottlenecks of people at the pedestrian street crossings, and sometimes only 15 seconds for the crowds to cross the street. The famed cherry trees are blooming, and a national park ranger said they should be at their peak on Tuesday. Good timing on my part! Although the Cherry Blossom Festival also accounts for some of the crowds. I crossed a couple more streets and made my way over to West Potomac Park and walked along that for a while. I started walking over the bridge to the Jefferson Memorial, then decided to save that for tomorrow. We had a long walk back as it was. Wandering all around the monument and Capitol area helped me get my bearings and figure out what’s where, and that made me feel more comfortable about the city. Plus the National Park service had a really good map. There were lots of tour buses around, and lots of food vendors and souvenir vendors working out of trailers along major streets. We eventually made our way back to the van, completing the first 8 miles of DC walking in one fell swoop.

Since there was quite a bit of construction on the outbound roads, I decided to simply take the first highway that I came to while leaving the downtown area, figuring any of them would eventually come to the Beltway around Washington DC, and I could find my way back to the motel from there. My plan worked pretty well, and the ride back to Maryland wasn’t as bad as the drive in. I went back to the grocery store I’d been in earlier, and got some groceries for the week since I have a microwave and mini-fridge. Then I got back and got settled in a bit more.

Massachusetts – Friday, April 5

It was a rainy morning, so I took my time leaving. I drove a short ways to Hyannis, which looked like a fun town to walk through, and there was only a light rain, so Tula and I set out for a short walk. There are lots of Kennedy signs, murals and memorials here of course, and a Kennedy Legacy Trail – the Kennedy Compound is only about 3 miles away from town. We wandered up and down all of Main Street – past all the little boutiques and shops and eateries. Quite a few were still closed. Lots of places put signs in their windows thanking their customers for a great season last year and announcing the opening date for this year. We went down by the water front, and saw all the signs and parking lots for ferries to Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard – there were not many people down there on a rainy Friday morning in early April! I dried Tula off and put her back in the car and then walked another mile, so I covered almost 3 miles in Hyannis. With some of the extra walking I’ve done, I only needed about 5 1/2 miles today to finish my walking in Massachusetts, so I was going to wrap it up in Plymouth, which seemed like a good place to end my Massachusetts week!

It was a pretty short drive up to Plymouth, and by the time I got there, the rain had stopped and the sky was blue. Plymouth was a great town for walking, and I ended up walking more than I needed to. Harold had warned me about Plymouth Rock being more like Plymouth Stone, and he was right! Whenever I heard of Plymouth Rock, I had always envisioned some massive rock about the size of my van, but the rock is actually quite small and could easily fit inside the van! They’ve built a portico over it, and it sits quite far down in the ground, so no one can touch it or anything – it’s viewed from a distance. And there’s a replica of the Mayflower by one of the docks, but they’ve put a high fence around that whole area, so the only way to go see that is to buy a ticket, which I wasn’t inclined to do. It’s kind of sad that they do that – I don’t see any reason why the replica can’t be there for people to look at – and then you could buy a ticket if you wanted to get on board for a little tour. The fence isn’t for protection from the weather because the top isn’t enclosed and the top of the mast was visible. Based on the size of the fencing and a few little peeks I took between fence boards, it wasn’t a very big boat for such a historic occasion! We also walked through some parks and other historic areas, and by an old grist mill, and into an old cemetery.

It was a fun way to finish up Massachusetts – all in all, I did more than 56 miles of walking, and made all 7 donations – the USO in Boston, Easter Seals, the North Shore Moving Market (Harvest of Hope) in Salem, The Open Door food pantry in Gloucester, Harvard Square Homeless Shelter in Cambridge, Family Promise in Natick, and SKIP in Provincetown. I couldn’t seem to pull myself off the coastal side of the state, but at least I had driven through the western side back when I went from Vermont to Connecticut last September, so at least I had a chance to enjoy some of the mountains on the west side! And once in a while on this side of Massachusetts, I passed what looked like cranberry bogs – the square fields had sort of a cranberry tint, and were low so they could be flooded, so I think that’s what I was seeing. At this point, New England was completely finished – I had expected to be done in this part of the country last November, but plans change, and this was still a nice time to be here. Now I had a long drive to Washington DC, which is the destination for the next week.

Massachusetts – Thursday, April 4

It was a pretty, sunny day out, and Tula and I started off with a long walk through Provincetown. The first thing I stopped to look at was a towering memorial to the pilgrims on the Mayflower, which actually landed here first and the pilgrims stayed for about 5 weeks before making their way across the bay to Plymouth. Then we walked through town, and even though quite a few shops were still closed (many won’t open until mid-May), there were a lot of people wandering through town. It’s an artistic community, and it seems like there’s a gallery or 2 on every block. We walked down by the waterfront, and out on the big pier, and saw a lot of shrimp boats tied up to the dock. There seems to be a big Portuguese community here too. It was interesting to be able to look down into the boats to see all the nets, pulleys, cables, boots, rust – evidence of a lot of hard work!

After about 3 1/2 miles we made our way back to the van, and I was dismayed to see a bright orange ticket on my windshield. I didn’t know what I had done. It turns out it was a ticket for parking in a “no parking” zone. There was a sign a car length behind me that said “No parking this side” and that was all. I understood that to mean no parking on this side of sign, since the road narrows from 2 lanes to 1 at that point, so it was logical that no one could park along the street. I had parked behind 2 other vehicles, and actually stepped out to look at the sign again, and even left room for another vehicle behind me! I was not very happy and went right to the parking department at the police station. The lady there told me the sign meant “no parking on this side of street” although it doesn’t actually say that. She gave me an appeal form, and I filled it out right there, with my explanation. She said it could be a while before I hear back, so I kept my fingers crossed, but I just heard today my appeal was denied because the van was in that spot for over an hour. So be it. BUT, something good came out of the parking ticket! There wasn’t any room to park right at the police station – there seemed to be a lot of vehicles around, so I parked in the lot by the church right next to the police station. As I was walking from the van to the parking department, I passed a big sign on the front door of the church that said S.K.I.P. – for Soup Kitchen of Provincetown. And they were open – they serve lunch every Monday-Friday from November through April. I stopped in and talked with the director after the police station, and she told me that last season they served over 15,000 meals. I saw a lot of people coming out of the church since the lunch meal was just about over, and a lot of volunteers inside washing diahes and cleaning up. Like so many places I’ve been to, the need is on the rise. This soup kitchen doesn’t get any federal funding, so they were happy for a donation. I was actually going to do a different donation back on the mainland of Massachusetts, but when I literally came face-to-face with hungry people and a soup kitchen, I knew SKIP had to get the donation for today. So I will look at that as the silver lining of getting a parking ticket! I would not have run across them if I hadn’t gone to the police station. So perhaps there’s a reason that happened!

I decided to start the drive back down (up?!?) the cape, and didn’t get very far at all before I saw a paved trail through part of Cape Cod National Seashore. So I got out and walked nearly 4 more miles – Tula couldn’t come on that walk so she napped in the van. Then I enjoyed a pretty drive down to Chatham at the “elbow” of the cape. I almost hit a fox that darted out in front of me – I didn’t expect to see one all the way out by the end of the cape. When I saw a fox in Maryland, it was also at the far end of a peninsula jutting out into the Chesapeake Bay. Then I saw a bunch of wild turkeys. I’ve seen a few yellow road signs in this area that say ‘thickly settled’ and I don’t know what that means. I drove around Chatham a little and went down by the water where I ran across a coast guard station and a lighthouse. Tula and I got out to walk there, and mostly we went through charming old neighborhoods where the homes had cedar shingles and it just seemed like such a typical New England seacoast town. After a couple miles, I was feeling the cold and the sun was going down so I headed back. I passed a small seamen’s cemetery with some memorials – the sea has claimed its share of Chatham residents. There were some plaques in the little parking lot about some of the daring rescues the coast guard crews have made over the years, including one in the 1950s when a tanker broke completely in 2 during a violent storm and the coast guard crew went out in 60 foot seas (and their rescue boat isn’t all that big) and rescued 32 people, and made it back to shore without their compass which had been washed overboard. Pretty amazing. I was absorbing all of that when I turned around to get back in the van, and I just happened to catch 2 coast guards beginning to lower the flags for the day. I thought there were 2 of them because there were a couple flags to take down, but one guy lowered the flags by himself while the other guy simply stood at attention and saluted the whole time. When the flags were folded, they both saluted and went back into the station. I found that very touching – they weren’t doing this as a show, or for an audience – I doubt they even saw me watching from across the street because I was on the other side of the van. They were just showing respect. A nice way to end the day. I drove a little farther and stopped for the night in West Yarmouth – I thought I’d be back on the mainland tonight, but I poked around a little too much!

Massachusetts – Wednesday, April 3

This morning I packed up the van and said good-bye to my wonderful hosts. Then I set off for Cape Cod. I had always wanted to drive out to the very tip of the cape, and I’m glad it’s not peak tourist season, when I understand it’s so crowded it can be hard to drive anywhere!

Since I had made 2 donations on each of the last 2 days, I wasn’t going to be looking for a donation place today, and was just going to put some miles on instead. I made my way east to the beginning of the cape, and stopped in the town of Buzzard’s Bay. Cape Cod is shaped like a big flexed arm sticking out into the ocean from the rest of the mainland, and Buzzard’s Bay was near the shoulder. Back in the early 1900s a canal was built through this part of the land, which shortened sea voyages by 130 miles between New York and Boston. The idea for a canal was discussed as early as the 1600s, but several attempts didn’t quite work out, although everyone was eager to shorten the trade route. The canal is still heavily used today, although I only saw one tugboat pulling some sort of big barge through. I did notice the current was very swift, and the ducks seemed to be enjoying a nice free ride. The current changes directions every time the tide changes, so that complicates the route a bit. There was a wonderful canal-side walkway on both sides, so Tula and I set off and spent several hours walking a little over 7 miles. There was a train bridge near the beginning of my walk, but it was unlike any train bridge I’ve seen yet. Before the canal was built, there was a railroad line that was used a couple times a day. Digging a canal meant they had to deal with the train tracks, and if they just built a normal bridge the ships wouldn’t be able to fit under it, so they built a “reverse drawbridge” which has the tracks that cross the river raised up high on a bridge, and that is lowered when a train comes through, which isn’t nearly as often as the ships passing through. I would like to have seen the train tracks come down! It makes me wonder who has the right-of-way if a train needs to cross at the same time a big ship is passing through. Then we drove the scenic route along the north side of the cape, passing through a bunch of cute little towns with names like Sandwich, East Sandwich, West Barnstable, Yarmouth Port and on up to the “forearm” part of the cape. This area is very sandy and full of shifting dunes and over half of it is protected by the Cape Cod National Seashore. It was a beautiful drive up through the whole area, and I thought I’d be able to see the sunset, but there are so many cottages and homes on the west side that it was hard to see the water in many places! I suppose people wanted to take advantage of building where they could, and that resulted in many cottages and homes piled up right next to each other. I think it’s a good thing that a lot of the cape is protected by a national park!

We eventually made it all the way up to Provincetown in the “hand” part of the cape and got out to stretch and walk the last mile for the day by one of the beaches. Provincetown was just beginning to wake up from its long winter sleep, and many shops and motels were still closed for the season. I began to worry about finding a place to stay – it was only in the upper 30s and too cold to camp, and when I started calling around, motels were either closed or not pet-friendly. But one lady gave me a suggestion, and I found a pet-friendly place that had just opened up last weekend. So I happily took a room there and didn’t mind some of the construction stuff in the way as they spruce things up for a very busy summer season. I thought some of the construction was for hurricane damage repair, but they told me they came through the hurricane with minimal damage there, despite 90 mph winds. They just have a lot to do to get ready for the season.

Massachusetts – Tuesday, April 2

Today I was heading in to Cambridge, then Natick, both towns that I was going to make donations in. My first stop was in Cambridge, to make a donation to the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, which is set up in the basement of the University Lutheran Church. Kathleen, the lady who had dinner with us on Easter Sunday, is the pastor of this church, and she had talked with someone who helps out with the homeless shelter, and they said new white crew socks would be a good donation. So I brought them 60 pair of new white socks, and Kathleen showed me around both the church and the shelter area downstairs. This shelter is entirely organized and run by Harvard students. Harvard is literally only 2 blocks away from this church, and there are 88 different organizations that Harvard students can choose from to do some volunteer work, and this shelter is one of them. It has 23 beds and they are full every night. The guests also get some food, and can leave some belongings there (for a limited period of time) while they are out trying to find a job, or working, or meeting with counselors etc. They can be in the shelter from 7pm-7am and volunteers are always with them.

Parking is an issue in Cambridge like it is in Boston, and Kathleen let me use her spot for a couple hours while she was out at other appointments. So Tula and I set off for a 3 1/2 mile walk along the Charles River, which was also only a few blocks away. It was a cold morning, and there was a pretty stiff breeze, so after a little over an hour I was ready to get back into town and out of some of the wind. I think Tula was happy to get back in the van! There were stacks of boats at various boathouses for different crew teams, but I only saw one guy out rowing on the river – that had to be cold! I let Tula stay in the van while I walked through Harvard Yard and admired all the old buildings. I overheard an orientation guide telling prospective students that it is called Harvard Yard because back when it was a new college, the professors could bring cows and horses into the yard to graze. He said that clause is still in the fine print of their contracts and about 6 years ago, one of the professors brought in a horse simply to make a point that he could! At least that’s what the tour guide was saying! He also pointed out the president’s house and said there were about 15 students who stay in dorm rooms on the upper floor, and rumor had it that he picked the quietest, most studious students! I wanted to follow them around and listen to some of his other stories, but a 56-year-old lady with a camera does not blend in well with 18-year-olds with folders and backpacks! From there I walked through part of town and out along a road with some beautiful old homes. And I passed the house that was George Washington’s headquarters in 1775-1776; then Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived there from 1837-1882. So I got another couple miles in where it wasn’t quite so windy. I drove past MIT on my way out of town, and then headed to the town of Natick, to make a donation to Family Promise, which is a program Edie has been very involved with for a long time. It’s an interfaith program to provide homeless families with children safe transitional shelter, meals and case management as they move forward. After I was done with that, Tula and I set off for another 3 1/2 mile walk around the town square and out into a couple neighborhoods and walked a total of 9 miles today. Then I headed back to Harold and Edie’s and had another good meal, and a little more time to visit.

Massachusetts – Monday, April 1

Today I was going to head up to a couple of the coastal towns in the northern part of Massachusetts. The first one I stopped in was Salem, site of the witch trials in the 1620s. I made a donation there to the Harvest of Hope and their North Shore Moving Market – they have colorful vans to deliver healthy food to low-income and disabled people in Salem. I stopped by to ask them if a food or financial donation would be best, and they said a financial one would be great because there was a challenge going on where all donations would be matched dollar-for-dollar by some wealthy person. Plus, they can shop at a food bank and stretch their dollars farther than I can. So I gave them the donation, and when they heard what I was doing, one of the ladies told me ’11’ was a very powerful number to be traveling under. At first I didn’t know what she meant, but it’s 5+6 added together, so I guess I’m happy she said it’s a powerful number that will bring luck!

I went to the National Park Visitor Center, and then Tula and I headed out for a walk, and covered a little over 5 miles walking all over town and some neighborhoods and down by the harbor, where the National Park Service keeps a full-size, fully functioning ship like the ones that used to sail off to the East Indies. This ship is an exact replica of one that made 15 journeys to the South Seas – trading dried cod and timber for pepper, spices, sugar, coffee, tea and silk. We also walked past witch museums and witch tours, and magic shops and places that offer palm readings and all. Even the police insignia has a witch on it! October is the month when things are craziest in town! I sort of debated about visiting one of the witch museums, but then I knew I wouldn’t be able to go up to Gloucester, which I really wanted to do. Once again, there simply aren’t enough hours in a day!

It started to rain while I was driving to Gloucester, which is America’s oldest seaport, and I stopped to shop for items on the wish list for the Open Door Food Pantry in Gloucester. I wanted to make a donation in that town too – sort of to honor one of my favorite photos on my mantel with my whole family all gathered near the fisherman’s memorial after one of my brother’s graduation from MIT. It was a fun weekend then, and I was glad to be back now. According to their website and answering machine, The Open Door food pantry was open most of the day on Monday, then closed for an hour, then open again between 6 and 7 in the evening. I wanted to get some more walking in, so I figured I’d drop off my donation after 6:00. It started to rain again shortly after we started our walk in Gloucester, so I put Tula back in the car so she didn’t get soaked, and got my umbrella, and proceeded to battle the wind to keep it from blowing away, and finally gave up and just used my hood. I went down by the harbor, and walked all along the walkway there – admiring the Fisherman’s Memorial dedicated to “they that go down to the sea in ships” – the whole verse is “They that go down to the sea in ships, and that do business in great water; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.” Over 5300 men made their final voyage from this port and never returned and many of their names are inscribed on part of the memorial – starting in 1716 and going through 2011. And there’s another memorial – a statue of a woman holding 2 children, and it honors the wives and families of fishermen and mariners everywhere for their faith, diligence and fortitude. The rain let up while I was walking, and I finished more than 3 miles, then headed back to the van to go drop off my food donation. But when I got to the Open Door, there wasn’t a soul around! The signs on the doors all said they’d be open between 6 and 7, but they weren’t. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the food I had brought because I wouldn’t be coming back. I drove around to see who their neighbors were, in case I could leave it with someone, but it was mostly apartments. There was a dance studio, so I went in there, but the only adult was an instructor who was teaching, and I didn’t want to bother her. So I went to the back side of the Open Door again (where donations are dropped off) and figured I would put the bags of food in one of the shopping carts that I could wedge into the railing between the building and one of their food trucks. Even though it didn’t look like it’d be raining anymore, I found a rubbermaid lid that fit over the cart almost perfectly. I wrote a note of explanation and left it for them to find in the morning – hopefully!

Then I headed back to Harold and Edie’s condo again, and even though it was late when I got back, they had some dinner waiting for me!

Massachusetts – Sunday, March 31

I thought an appropriate donation for Easter Sunday would be Easter Seals! So that is the office I was trying to find yesterday afternoon in Boston so I could get a picture of it. All I could get was the outdoor picture of the group of non-profit offices it’s located with, but, in another coincidence, I now have an even better Easter Seals picture to post. Last night when we were going through the many old family scrapbooks, I learned more about Harold’s (my mom’s cousin) immediate family, including his kids, who I’ve never met. One of his sons was born with cerebral palsy, and back in 1964 he was the poster child for Easter Seals, and we ran across that poster on the very day I was trying to take an Easter Seals photo in Boston. I thought that was a pretty happy coincidence! So that is my Easter Sunday donation – with a family connection since he was a second cousin. It’ll get mailed in tomorrow.

Harold and Edie spent the morning at church while Tula and I set out to do most of our walking so that I didn’t have to vanish in the middle of the afternoon to walk when there would be other people around. We stayed relatively nearby, and first walked a little over 2 1/2 miles around the town of Marlborough. I was surprised to see so many stores and businesses with Spanish signs and information. Later I found out that this area has a large Brazilian population, and the signs were Portuguese. And I also ran across the house that is the most-decorated for Easter that I’ve seen – inflatables and all!

Then I drove down a pretty 2-lane highway to Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, which is the oldest continuously operating inn in the country. It’s located along the Boston Post Road, and travelers have been stopping there since 1716. It’s too bad all these old buildings can’t enjoy all the history they’ve seen! I wandered around the grounds a bit, and also went to see the old mill down the road, but those grounds were closed. Henry Ford actually built that mill, as a fully-working replica, and a white church across the street (named after his mother Mary). And he was the last private owner of the Wayside Inn back in 1923 – his hopes were to develop the area into a historic village, and things didn’t work out as he planned, so he later built Greenfield Village in Michigan. Had he been successful here in Massachusetts first, there would be no Greenfield Village!

And from there I went on to Sudbury for another few miles of walking. One path led through the woods and there’s still snow on the ground. So I finished 6 miles before heading back to the condo in time for lunch. Harold and I spent some more time going through some more scrapbooks during the afternoon while Edie fixed an Easter dinner – I offered to help but she turned me down – I feel very spoiled 🙂 The Easter bunny even brought me a basket this morning! Their former pastor, a lady about my age who has just moved back to Cambridge, came by for dinner too, and it was delicious. I don’t often get to enjoy lamb because my kids don’t care for it, so it was a nice treat to enjoy a special Easter dinner.

Massachusetts – Saturday, March 30

I’m looking forward to my week in Massachusetts – I was only a couple days away from it last October when my plans abruptly changed because of the hurricane. But now I’m back! And I already have donation ideas. I had made a phone call yesterday to see what I needed to do to make a donation to the USO of New England, which is located on the Coast Guard Base in Boston. The USO is open on Saturdays, and they took my name and told me to go through the checkpoint for the base. I had looked at the map and had a pretty good idea where I was going, but it was still a little confusing with all the tunnels and one-way streets. But I found the Coast Guard Base and the guard let me in after he made a phone call and checked my license and registration. Then I found Building 8, Deck 2 – they say Deck 2 instead of 2nd floor! I met the volunteer who told me that this USO location isn’t as busy as the one at the Logan Airport, so they’re working on getting the word out that the USO is there. But it’s available whenever the troops want to enjoy some of the amenities, and I enjoyed seeing another USO, and talking with her. She gave me a USO calendar which has some fun information in it, including the fact that USO centers are visited more than 8 million times a year by troops and their families – I’m glad I figured out they still exist! She told me it would be okay to just leave my car parked at the Coast Guard Base while I did my walking, since I had a parking pass, and she gave me a city map. So I went and got Tula, and we set off for all of our walking.

The base was located in a really nice place for me to get to some of the places I wanted to see. I started off with a little harbor walk and admired the huge Coast Guard boat, and there were a few sailboats out. It was a beautiful sunny day – still a bit chilly, but the sun felt good, and there were a lot of people out and about. I headed down Hanover Street which was so crowded it was almost hard to walk. Tula was really good in the crowd. I walked past the Old North Church, and wandered through some really old cemeteries, and saw Paul Revere’s and John Hancock’s graves. I eventually ended up down by Faneuil Hall, which was also crowded. I walked through that, and then headed for the Boston Commons, which was established in 1634. It’s a huge park area right in the heart of the city, and it was kind of fun to be walking through a park that people have been enjoying for almost 400 years. Another park, the Public Garden, is connected to the Boston Commons, and we walked through that too. Even though it wasn’t all that warm there were people out sitting on blankets and enjoying picnics. At the far end of both parks, I saw a long avenue with lots of 3-story brick townhouses and lots of trees. I walked a long ways down that avenue, and then headed back. When I looked at the map later, I realized I hadn’t been all that far from Fenway Park! I crossed over to Beacon Street, and walked past the Cheers bar that inspired the TV show, which was one of my favorites back when it was on. Then I re-traced my steps back through Faneuil Hall and down Hanover Street to the Coast Guard base, and Tula and I were both ready for a rest! Once again, Tula got a lot of attention – people seem to like her color. I even heard one guy telling his rambunctious dog that he should behave on a leash like Tula does. And I’m not quite sure how that happened – in her young years, Tula was a terrible leash dog – always pulling and tugging and nearly choking herself. And now she never pulls even though she usually walks in front of me, and she seems to know exactly how long that leash is. And in a crowd she stays right by my leg, so I’m very lucky how that all worked out, even though I don’t quite know how it all happened!

I knew what my donation for tomorrow was going to be, and I wanted to go see if they were open today. That became a little frustrating – again the one way streets messed me up, and the maps all said the road I wanted merged into another one, which it didn’t, and I found myself unwillingly going into tunnels again. But I sorted it all out, and then was kind of glad to get out of the city!

I was going to be spending Easter weekend with my mom’s cousin Harold, and his wife Edie. I had met them only once – a year and a half ago, and when they heard about my journey then, they offered to let me stay with them a few days whenever I got to Massachusetts. Harold knows a lot of family history on my mom’s side, and he was going to pull out scrapbooks of when my grandma was young – his mom was my grandma’s sister. We had my visit worked out for last October and when Hurricane Sandy changed my plans, I had to postpone the visit, which was a disappointment to both of us. But, 5 months later, I was headed to to their place in Berlin – about 40 minutes from Boston. It was a treat to enjoy a homemade chicken dinner, and while Edie went to church for the Easter vigil, Harold and I spent hours looking at old scrapbooks, and I really enjoyed hearing some family stories, and seeing photos of my grandma that I never would have recognized. A special evening indeed 🙂

Rhode Island – Friday, March 29

This morning I made my way north from Newport to Bristol, where I was going to make my final Rhode Island donation at the Rhode Island Veteran’s Home. I had called first thing in the morning, and they told me that the donation could go to the activities program. I found them outside of town – they’re located in a pretty place on 110 acres, with a couple monuments. I went inside and they called the activities director, who came up to meet me. I gave her the donation and she had some questions about what I was doing, and then she invited me to have some homemade chicken noodle soup in their cafeteria for lunch and she told me a bit more about the place. Unlike many veteran’s homes, where residents must be 50 or 55 years old, the Rhode Island place has some younger vets here – some just in their 30s. And they deal with a whole scope of conditions – from physical injuries to PTSD. The majority of their residents are male, and they have a pretty good turnout of family members who visit. They were getting ready for a big Easter celebration. They currently have 187 residents, and back when the home first opened a long time ago, the place was a farm, and the residents did everything from tending a garden to caring for animals.

From there I headed over to Colt State Park, right on the bay. It was a beautiful place to walk – a long stretch of the walking path was right along the water. I only needed to do 6 1/2 miles today to finish up the Rhode Island walking, so we did about 3 1/2 miles at the park, and then I went into town where we picked up part of a bike trail at Independence Park and finished off the other 3 miles. When Taryn had joined me in Rhode Island last October, we had made a donation to a soup kitchen in Bristol, and walked just a little bit, and I was happy to get back to walk some more. Bristol prides itself on being the home of America’s largest Fourth of July celebration, and instead of having a yellow centerline down the middle of the roads, they have red, white and blue lines. The lady at the veterans home said that when it’s tourist season, it can take her 3 times longer to get to work because of the extra traffic. Rhode Island is a small state and kind of congested and bottle-necked at the many bridges, and it attracts so many people that I’m relieved to have visited when I did!

Then, after a 5 month delay because of Hurricane Sandy, I finally finished what I wanted to do in Rhode Island! I had walked all 56 miles, and made all 7 donations – the food pantry at North Kingstown United Methodist Church, Roger Williams National Monument, Lucy’s Hearth (a shelter for women and children), Bristol Good Neighbors Soup Kitchen, Robert Potter League for Animals, Jonnycake Center Food Pantry and the Rhode Island Veteran’s Home.

Then it was time to drive east across yet another bridge in Rhode Island (in very congested traffic!) and across one more small part of Rhode Island that’s connected to Massachusetts, which will be State #27. I said good bye to Rhode Island while looking at a rainbow.