New England - Spring 2010

[glatt]

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.


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.


I took a shitload of picture on the hour long ride, and I'm only burdening you with three.


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.


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.


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?


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.


There are plenty of pleasure craft there too, and I got passed by a windjammer packed with tourists.


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.


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.


They use a LOT of grease.


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.



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.


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.


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.


This is me paddling past the tip of the island. Next to a big boulder.


The island lighthouse.


Windjammer has its sails up now.