It seems like forever ago, but it was Saturday, September 13, when we headed out on the road to Boston. We went straight across Michigan through Canada and then on to Beantown. Took us about 14 hours. The first two thirds of the trip we had some pretty heavy rain courtesy of hurricane Ike.

The reason for the Boston part of the trip was to visit with my aunt and uncle who live just outside of the town. My aunt had a nasty infection on her shin with a huge swelling in her ankle so we mostly sat around. They have seven TIVOs and that means a lot of recorded movies and tv shows. That's mostly what we did while we were there.

The last full day, though, we went to their property that was about a half hour's drive away. They have some different things planted and quite a bit that's still wild.

Here's a sample.




Check this one out on Flickr in the Large size




Then, on the way back we stopped at a cool restaurant called Salem Cross. They had a big bed of dahlias in the front that they used on all of the tables. The place had a basement and two floors. There was also a barn/attic area. I was allowed to take pictures wherever I wanted.























The full set of pictures from this part of the trip are here.

They sent us on our with a big bagful of cherry and grape tomatoes that Ichabod helped pick from their property. As soon as I get the rest of the pictures ready I'll post about the rest of the trip.

Labels: Boston, trip, vacation

I'm back, but I've just been too busy (read lame) to finish my pictures and get a post up. We had a lot of fun and I promise I'll share the events and pictures with you.

Labels: Boston, trip, vacation, Washington DC

Just wanted to post a little birthday greeting here for my wonderful little sister, Bucky. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

I have been procrastinating in putting up this post. Now that I can finally go out and work in my yard, the computer doesn't hold the same appeal.

But, enough of my excuses. A couple of weeks ago we decided to head to over to Boston. I haven't seen my aunt and uncle since my mother's funeral in October. We didn't exactly get much time to visit then, as you can imagine.

So, we headed out on Saturday morning, going straight across from the lakeshore in West Michigan to Canada. We usually take this way across as it saves a lot of miles. It used to save time, too.

The skies were cloudy, but pretty on the way over.


Going into Canada wasn't too time consuming. The guard asked us where we were going. When we told her we were going through Canada to get into New York she asked "How come?" This line cracked me up. Sounded like something a little kid would say. I didn't laugh about it until we were past, though. Not a prudent thing to do when crossing a post-9/11 border.

We made good time through Canada, stopping for lunch in Hamilton. We had hoped to have lunch with Effie, but her schedule didn't permit it.

Getting back into the States wasn't quite as quick, though. There were plenty of lanes open, but it still seemed forever. The two cars ahead of us had New York plates and were waved through. They made us turn off the car and hand over our keys. Passports aren't required yet, but he said having them helped. We had to pop the trunk, he hardly had time to look, but he came back gave us our keys and we were free to go. Thank goodness.

It was after 11:00 when we finally got to our hotel in Framingham. The next day my aunt and uncle came over to pick us up. We went to a lovely place in Framingham called Garden in the Woods.


It was so beautiful there with all of the spring flowers blooming.

I loved the different trillium.





Virginia Bluebells.


Dogwood and Redbud trees in bloom.


Skunk Cabbage and ferns, I think Fiddlehead Ferns.


Some kind of pitcher plants.


These round things were just free floating. The silver spot on here is a turtle. I thought it was a statue until I saw it move.


I'm not sure exactly what these are, but they must be in the lily family.


On Monday we spent a lot of time driving around. Driving through Boston is quite a trip. I'm not used to the weird way the city is laid out. And the drivers are crazy, I swear. They'll cut right in with just barely enough room for their cars. Insurance must be sky-high there.

On Tuesday went to the Arnold Arboretum.

I loved these little Dog-toothed Violets.


Here's my second picture of a redbud tree. Can you tell I like them?


Here's another redbud in front of a beech.


A little Wisteria for the Desperate Housewives fans. Or, as Bucky named this picture, Desperate Houseplants.


I just liked this.


Another Dogwood tree.


Some pretty pink Azalea.


There wasn't a picture of me that I really liked, but I disliked this one the least.


My aunt and uncle.


We went to movie that night. We like to check out independent films. The one we decided to see was The TV Set. It had an very open ending, but I still liked it.

On Wednesday morning we left for home. We had decided to stop in Centralia, PA, termed a ghost town on the way. It's a ghost town because of underground coal fires. It was an old town, built around coal mining. A fire, caused from burning garbage, started in the early 60's. The fire burned out the coal seam and started to cause sinkholes. Most of the people there took buyouts and moved. There is still a little downtown, but I guess not too many people still live there.

Here is a shot of smoke coming out from part of the fire.


This was right next door to the cemetery. I would've loved to see the smoke coming up there. Must've been pretty eerie.


There were a couple of Greek churches in town. I liked the look of this one. Unfortunately, it was too overcast for the silvery tops to really look like silver in my photo.


I have an mpeg of the smoke. When I get that ready I'll post it.

Labels: Boston, coal fires, flowers, trees, vacation