Our Wedding Destination

 

 

The whole reason I went out East was to attend a wedding. My oldest friend's daughter (and God daughter) was getting married, and the wedding was to be in Newport, RI. It is actually the first wedding I have been to where I also went to the parents wedding. Anyway, I decided to combine the wedding with a quick Stuey visit. 

So I flew to Portland, Maine and picked up a rental car. I drove to Bates and had a quick visit with Stuey, but he had a big test the next day. So I drove on to my mom's house and went for a walk. Polly and her family came for dinner. The next day I hung out until afternoon and then drove to pick up Stuey after his test. We left Bates around 2:45 in the afternoon and drove all the way to Newport, RI. That is a LONG drive and the last part was on crowded freeways at night.

We made it to Newport in time for the rehearsal dinner. And then we checked into our fancy hotel. The next day there was time to explore Newport (see previous post) and then the wedding. The reception was up on the hill above the harbor where all the fancy mansions are located. I was very impressed with the wedding and Anna had written every single person a handwritten card.

Stuey and I had a great time at the wedding. The food was excellent. In particular we liked the fried oyster appetizer with a special sauce on top. We also knew a surprising number of people. A lot of them were the same people we go to a picnic with every year during the summer on North Haven in Maine (click here for a picnic blogpost).  We also met a lot of new people.

Then in the morning it was time to drive back to Maine. We left early so that we could drive the whole way in the sunshine. We met my sister at Jefferson to look at a big white pine (story to follow). And then it was on to Polly's house for another family dinner. 

Finally on the last day, I had to leave in the dark to drop off Stuey at Bates before classes started, and then make my way on to the airport in Portland. Quick, East coast whirlwind trip complete!

Patrick

Stuart and namesake Stewart

My handwritten note from the bride

Newport RI by bike

 

Stuey and I did not spend a lot of time in Newport, and most of the time was spent at the wedding and wedding reception. But we did have one morning to do some exploring. Our hotel had free bikes to loan and so off we went.

Initially, we biked combat style amongst the pedestrians on the sidewalks and in the parks until we got stopped by a friendly cop. He pointed out the bike friendly streets. And so we explored the waterfront. 

We found the commercial fishing dock. I was actually a bit surprised that there is a commercial fishing dock. I had thought that Newport was home to just fancy yachts. But no we found a particularly smelly area where there were a bunch of open barrels full of rotting skates. HUGE seagulls were stealing the skates right off of the top of the barrels. Stuey used his birding ap and identified them as 'Great black-backed gulls'. But all gulls look pretty much the same to me - although these seagulls were really big - like small dog sized big.

We ended up at a memorial to the French and the beginning of the Yorktown campaign in the Revolutionary war. And then we biked back through the quaint streets to our hotel. I wish I took some of the neighborhood and street photos. A very pretty town.

Patrick

A statue of a French General

A HUGE seagull - a great black-backed gull?

View from breakfast at the hotel

Barrels full of skates for fishing bait

Some fancy boats

Maine Colors

 

I'm out East for a wedding. The first part of the trip was in Maine. I visited Stuey at Bates and then my mom and sister in Rockport. My mom and I hiked Beauchamp Point and I was amazed by the Fall colors. She told me that the colors were past their peak and that 'I should have seen them a week ago'. Well they certainly seemed pretty good to me. 

I was particularly impressed by the colors of the trees right outside Stuey's dorm room at Bates. He showed me the pictures he has been taking of a particular tree showing the progression of the cooler change. A sort of Fall colour time lapse.

The Maine Fall colors are completely different from that of Alaska!

Patrick 

dinner at Granny Coco's

Foxglove

 

Pretty in pink - foxglove

At the bottom of the seismic trail there is a foxglove that has been blooming since August - at least. Here it is almost November and it is still blooming. These days everything else has stopped blooming and all the plants have mostly dried up and turned brown. But not the foxglove - it's still there and bright pink while all around it the world is brown.

These days the pond is completely full of water and the dogs had a good swim. I also noticed that there are still lots of lingonberries and the doggies and I ate our fill.

Patrick

October Sunshine

 

It has remained warm, but at least it has also been sunny. I took the dogs up Pyramid a couple of times and did not even need to wear a jacket. Just above the south bowl I found a perch out of the wind, and just sat for a while on the moss enjoying the view. I think it was around 50 degrees and the sunshine felt great. There are still lots of blue and crow berries and the doggies sniffed around and snuffled them up. Red, in particular, likes to snuffle up the berries.

Patrick

One day we ran into a team of SEALs

Bode takes in the view from our perch