New England - Spring 2010
 

I just got back from a trip to New England.

I flew up to Logan, and on the way was lucky enough to have a window seat as we passed almost directly over Baltimore, Wilmington, Philly, NYC, and the entire Long Island Sound. Since this is the Cellar, here's a shot of Philly. I was behind the wing, so there's a bit of exhaust.
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I caught a commuter train out of Boston to head to my brother's house in Gloucester. Here's a view as we depart Boston.
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I took a shitload of picture on the hour long ride, and I'm only burdening you with three.
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I always was envious (and not jealous) of the people on trains as I wait in my car for them to go by. This time, the role is reversed. Suckers.
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Looks like I lied. Here's a 4th picture from the train. But it's too nice to skip. Some people see this every day on their commute.
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The next morning, my brother and I launch these kayaks near his house. He lives one block from the harbor but the launch site is three block away, so we drive with the kayaks on the roof. He's the one with a waterproof camera, so all the pictures have me in them. Aren't you all so lucky?
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Gloucester is a real fishing port, with real working fishing boats. It's a busy harbor and I was alert to not get run over, even though kayaks have the right of way. I didn't want to be getting in anybody's way.
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There are plenty of pleasure craft there too, and I got passed by a windjammer packed with tourists.
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We paddled over to the beach on the opposite side of the harbor and watched the Navy, Police, and Fire Department get ready for and then have a race in some racing dinghies.
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This was right next to the greased pole, which is a pole attached to a big platform in the middle of the harbor. During the festival they smear this thing with grease, and drunk young men try to get out to the end of it. If you reach the end, you win. I think the prize is that everyone thinks you are awesome and you get to have an easier time picking up women in the bars.
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They use a LOT of grease.
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So my brother and I held on to the base of the greased pole because the current kept pushing us towards shore. We watched the race between the Navy, Police, and Firefighters. The Navy, in yellow, started off with a huge lead. They were chanting in a nice rhythm.

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The rowers went way out into the harbor, went around some buoy that was so far away I couldn't see it, and then around ten minutes later, they were back. The first ones to land on the beach were the winners. The firefighters won. They seemed like a bunch of drunk frat boys, so it must have been their spirit that was the deciding factor. The Navy came in last, leaving the cops in second place. These are the firefighters.
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The we crossed over the channel to an uninhabited island int he middle of Gloucester harbor. I was nervous crossing the shipping lane because there were a lot of BIG boats using it, but it was just like a game of frogger and we paddled like hell, and one boat slowed down a little bit to we could make it through safely. We landed on a nice beach on the island.
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We explored a little bit, but the island was so overgrown and littered with sharp glass and rusty metal and stuff, we got back in the kayaks pretty quickly.
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This is me paddling past the tip of the island. Next to a big boulder.
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The island lighthouse.
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Windjammer has its sails up now.
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So now it's after dinner, and we have driven to the beach to watch the events from there. Another race has just started, and you can see the greased pole as it appears from the beach.
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Nobody was really watching before, but now the beach is packed with spectators. I think the official greased pole competition may have just happened. We probably missed it while we had dinner.
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There are some guys playing on the greased pole, but it's not an official event at this point. The guy making announcements asks them to get off the pole as the rowers are coming back to the beach to the finish line. I guess they don't want any swimmers falling into a boat or getting hit by one.
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I think this guy jumped more than slipped. But most slipped.
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This is the end of the race.
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With the races over, and nobody on the greased pole, we go for a ride on the ferris wheel. This is the festival. It's called something like the St. Peter Festival, because St. Peter (or whoever) is the patron saint of fishermen.
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There's a religious aspect to this festival, and a real Italian aspect to it too. I heard lots of people speaking Italian. They have services and religious music going on in a tent in the middle of all the funnel cakes and rides. The day I left, they were going to do a blessing of the fleet. I think that could have been cool to watch, but I missed it.
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The next morning, we went for a quick one hour paddle. We put in on the protected side of a breakwater, and then paddled around it an a fair distance out into the open ocean.
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Then we came back in closer and paddled along the breakwater on the exposed side. The ocean was very calm.
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Another lighthouse.
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Showing off the underwater camera. Glatt from a fish's point of view.
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And finally, landing.
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The rest of my trip wasn't particularly interesting for anyone who isn't a family member. If you want to see any full sized images, they are on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/glatt/

Did the weather hold all the way through? It looks nice!

thanks glatt!

Wow - Now I'm homesick

Excellent photo/story

sweet

great! and you look so happy but then you always look happy :)

super envious! ;)

*snort*

awesomes. I miss the ocean

Fantastic pictures, looks like such a great time. Love the lighthouses...

Excellent, thanks Glatt.
I think those "racing dinghies" are actually dories. My first ex's grandfather used to build them. Then he'd tie 8 or 10 of them end to end, and row them from Newburyport to Gloucester, to sell them.

yeah, you're right. I got my names mixed up. They are dories.

I was impressed with how fast they are.

I like Gloucester a lot. I could see myself living there and taking that commuter train in to Boston every morning. It's really congested with traffic though. Only a couple of main roads on the peninsula, so everyone has to use them to go anywhere.

It would have to be a very good job in the city. The average single family dwelling is half a million, property taxes, excise taxes on cars/boats every year, sales tax, income tax, mandatory health insurance, high motor vehicle insurance.
Oh, and a pervasive big brother. I was happy to flee the state.