Sunday, September 24, 2006

Getting back to my blog

If you've wondered where I've been, because I have not posted in here, well... we ARE back from our vacation! We had a wonderful time in the northeast. I didn't have internet connection for that time, and I just wanted to take some time away from the computer, anyway.

We visited Aunt Dots, going on two boat rides during our stay! We went on the Thimble Islands tour the day we arrived. What an interesting and fun thing that was! We got to see mansions and tiny houses alike built on these wee volcanic islands sprinkled out in the Long Island Sound off Stony Creek, CT.
This is where my camera battery went dead, and the spare... was dead too. Duh.

We went to Block Island on another day. This is a tourist spot off Rhode Island, and we got there via ferry ride from New London. The day was lovely, and just suited for such and adventure!

We lunched at Ballard's, enjoying wonderful sea fare. Then we walked around the island a bit, seeking out fudge, which we found in delicious abundance.

After waving arrivederci to Aunt Dots, we headed over and up to Bellingham, Massachussets, which was to be our basecamp for the next 5 nights. During this time, we got to visit and explore with our friend Dave. And we did fun things! One day we went to Cape Cod, winding down lovely seaside roads, taking photos along the rocky shoreline, and eventually making our way to the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory. The "tour" was windows through which we watched the workers, but it was still very cool to see my favorite food coming down the assembly line, fresh from the hot oil, salted, crunchy... mmmm ;)

Another day, Dave took us on a tour of obscure but cool places near Milford. We saw the world's largest globe at Brabson college, the Peace Abbey where they have an actual grave of a cow, and to a creamery where we had ice cream!

On another day, we went to Southwick Animal Park, a beautiful and well-maintained zoo, where we walked and enjoyed the happy animals in realistic habitat environments. We loved this! And this day was topped off with a visit to the Imperial Buffet with Dave's Dad coming along, too. The food was delicious and plentiful.

On one of these days, we began at Stella Dieci, a massage salon owned and operated by Dave's daughter Kristen. And I got a massage -- best ever -- by an expert and strong masseur. This I followed with a shower in their very special sensory experience shower, warm soft towels.. all good!

While we were in Bellingham, on a couple of the days, we drove down to Providence, RI, spending the days with Joanne and Pat! What fun we had with them, too. Our visits were centered around delicious food, some of the best of which was prepared by Pat at her house. Yummy! It's a wonder that Rhode Island people are not all huge, as good as the food was!

It was great to meet and talk with Joanne, with whom I've worked since 2002, and to enjoy the sights of Wickford and Providence.. all was just perfect!

Our drive back home was fun, with stops in Hershey, PA, and someplace in Ohio, before we got back to Richmond, IN for our oil change and service on the RV.

More in my next posting.