Saturday, April 15, 2017

Edward Kennedy Institute

Hi All,

We spent our last day in Massachusetts with Roberta & Elliot visiting the Edward M Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

Ted Kennedy served in the senate for 47 years yet, with the exception of a small section with a replica of his office, it is not about him. It is about the institution he loved, the US Senate.

The institute has only been open for two years so it benefits from the latest technology. Every visitor gets a tablet that allows interaction with, and supplementary info for, each exhibit. Overhead projectors display exhibit info.


One of the most fascinating exhibit showed the evolution of the Senate where the display changed for every two years showing each senator, senate leadership, party percentages, the number of women and the US population. We watched for about 15 minutes but you could spend an hour absorbing all the info presented here.

This is the replica of Ted Kennedy's Senate office.

Even here the tablets provided extra information about the contents of the office.

This part was astonishing. In the center of the Institute is a full size replica of the US Senate chamber. All of the visitors came in and experienced, and participated if they wished, in a debate about an actual piece of pending legislation. What a civics lesson!

It was a wonderful visit and we hope every middle and high school student in eastern Massachusetts gets to experience it.

Tomorrow we are headed west towards Grand Teton with many interesting stops along the way. Stay tuned.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Visiting Friends & Family

Hi All,

From Scranton, PA it was an easy , and yes, uneventful drive to Massachusetts. First stop after getting set up at the campground was a visit with Roberta & Elliot in their beautiful new home.

We spent Friday helping them hang pictures and Saturday we joined the Schultz family for a Passover Seder.

Every morning in the campground we were awakened at about 7:00 by a tapping noise. When Carl finally got up to investigate, he found this robin fluttering around pecking at the window. We speculated that he saw his reflection and was trying to chase the other robin out of his nesting territory.


It may be spring on the calendar but the trees have yet to get the message.

Next we drove up to NH to visit Don and Sandy.

We enjoyed another Seder with them and friends Clair & Paul.
The next day we drove the car back to Massachusetts to visit with aunt Lily and to enjoy yet another Seder with Alan & Barbara and their family. 

Next came several days of medical tests and doctor visits before we were free to return briefly to Massachusetts. First stop was the supermarket for some lobsta!

Lobster is expensive this time of year but not nearly as expensive (and much much better) than in Jackson, WY!

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Thursday, April 6, 2017

Steamtown

Steamtown


Steamtown NHS was developed around the old Lackawanna Railroad maintenance facility in Scranton, PA. The turntable and sections of the roundhouse were restored/replaced to Serbs as visitor center, museum, locomotive exhibits and, of course, locomotive and rolling stock maintenance.

In the museum we learned that every conductor's ticket punch was a unique shape. Who knew?

We learned a lot on the guided tour, especially from this cutaway locomotive. Yellow is hot, white is steam and blue is water.

Coal is shoveled into the firebox on the left. The hot gas does through the tubes on the boiler and on to the smoke box then out the stack. Steam from the heated water rises into the steam dome where it is routed to the cylinders that power the drive wheels.


Engine 26 has been restored to operating condition. It is in the shop for pressure testing prior to going into service on April 15th pulling an excursion train.

Part of the magic of steam locomotives is that all the moving parts are on the outside.

In the cab, Carl could show Sandy where the throttle lever was but had no clue about the rest of the valves.

Even the small locomotives are big


and the big ones are HUGE. This monster is one of 25 built for Union Pacific to haul coal trains across the Wasach Mountains in Wyoming. It is 132 feet long and weighs almost 1,200,000 pounds!

In the museum section were exhibits about the people who operated and rode on the early trains, including immigrants. This quotation caught our eye.


Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Uneventful Trip-NOT!

Hi All,

Today's trip was "eventful" on several counts.

We camped last night just south of Washington, DC. We got to meet up with one of Sandy's high school classmates( they reconnected at the 50th reunion in 2015). We had a delightful evening with Michele and her husband Mike.

The trip from D.C. to Massachusetts is over 600 miles so we planned two driving days with a stop in Scranton, PA to visit the Steamtown National Historic Site (Carl wants a T shirt like our friend Walt).

There are few campgrounds in the Scranton area and none are open in early April so we found a local Walmart nearby and programmed our GPS to take us there.

Event #1- while driving through the narrow streets in Scranton we came to a sharp right turn with a high curb. We almost made it but the coach rear wheel hit the curb, rocking the coach side to side. A nested set of glass bowls came crashing out of the overhead cabinet and landed, thankfully, on the couch rather than the tile floor. That was good but we later discovered that the high stone curb put a dent in one of our basement compartment doors ;-(.

Event #2- We felt a sigh of relief when the GPS said we were only 0.4  miles from the Walmart. Then we saw the railroad bridge ahead with 11'6" clearance. We are 12'8"!!!! We stopped to assess the situation when a man drove up offering advise on how to get around the low bridge and where to get turned around. He even pulled his car across the traffic lane so we could make the tight turn. We never got his name but THANK YOU!

On every long trip there is one eventful day. Today was it. Still, we have a great life and the memory of today is much less stressful after dinner and a couple of drinks.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Sunday, April 2, 2017

Dave & Caryl Portney

Hi All,

Some of you may remember that on our last trip to Delray Beach, we reconnected with a couple we had known in Massachusetts 30 years ago. Well, it turns out that Dave & Caryl live only 25 miles from Sharon & Jerry Spivak!

Today we had a wonderful visit with Caryl & Dave, enjoyed a tour of their beautiful home and community of St James Plantation in Southport, NC. 

As our conversations wound through our lives, interests and travels we discovered that Dave and Carl were classmates, Northeastern University class of 1968 and Caryl grew up in Bethpage, NY where Carl worked at Grumman.

They also took us on a driving tour through the village of Southport at the junction of the Cape Fear River, the Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. It's a quaint, pretty spot away from the hub-bub of Wilmington and yet another reason to leave this area on our short list.

It was such a delightful, engaging visit that Carl neglected to take any pictures until we were headed out the door.
Here are Dave & Caryl


and here's their beautiful home.
Tomorrow we drive to northern Virginia where we hope to visit with a woman Sandy went to high school with (they reconnected at their recent 50th reunion).

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Saturday, April 1, 2017

Wilmington Riverfront

Hi All,

After the Bellamy Mansion tour the four of us walked towards the river. Two blocks from the mansion we came to Temple Israel, the oldest synagogue in North Carolina built in 1876. The Moorish Design marks this as a Sephardic community.


The bank of the Cape Fear River is lined with shops and restaurants. This one with the balcony tables reminded us of New Orleans.

This horse drawn cart takes tourists along the historic downtown streets.

When the horses rest between trips they have petting rules!

With a cloudless sky the sunset lacked pinks and purples but was beautiful nonetheless .

At the right hand edge of the above photo you can see the silhouette of the WWII battleship, North Carolina.

Even after the sun had set we could watch the river tour boats cruising the water.
It was wonderful visiting with Sharon and Jerry and we learned a lot about Wilmington which is still on our short list of places to, one day, hang up the keys.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Bellamy Mansion

Hi All,

We paused our northbound trip to visit friends in the Wilmington NC area. First stop was Sharon & Jerry Spivak, dear friends from NH who moved here in November.

We joined them on a Wilmington tour starting at the Bellamy Mansion.



Built from 1859-1861 for Dr John Bellamy, a wealthy physician and plantation owner .

The house had a difficult life. Abandoned during a yellow fever epidemic and again during the Civil War, occupied by Union soldiers before the family returned after the war. 

It was last lived in by the daughter Ellen who died in 1946. Abandoned then damaged by fire it was finally restored and opened as a museum in 1992. They are slowly getting original furnishings back from the grandchildren.

The chandeliers are original and very ornate.

The third floor of this 10,000 square foot house had bedrooms for the ten Bellamy children.

Behind the house was the slave/servants quarters

that included a five hole privy.
A fascinating tour conducted by a wonderful volunteer guide.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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