Adventures in Cuisine #3

Today I had some pizza, pasta, and a salad. I liked the pizza the best. The pizza had a nice texture. The salad I liked, and I was very impressed by it.  The pasta comes last on the list. The only reason I did not like it was because of the sauce on it. Today I'll give the ratings to you easy:

pizza	A+
pasta	C
salad	A
overall score	A

Paradise "Lost"

They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate

With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;

They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary way.

                                                          -- John Milton, Paradise Lost

Nothing endures but change.

                      -- Heraclitus

And so it comes to an end, our little experiment in living in paradise.

We have now been living in Two Harbors on the lovely West End of Santa Catalina for five years, and it's time to move on. I have recently accepted a position at Pacific Northwest National Labs ("Proudly operated by Battelle since 1965"), which is located in the Tri-Cities area of Washington.  I will be working with the Microbial Ecology group up there, bringing my genomic and metagenomic expertise to their group.

We have greatly enjoyed our association with the University of Southern California. Working for USC has been a great experience - my colleagues are excellent scientists and great people, and we have enjoyed many fringe benefits of being located at the Marine Science Center, including our wonderful interactions with the generous souls who populate the Wrigley Institute Board of Trustees. Thanks, all, for everything and Fight On!

We have also enjoyed being a part of the Two Harbors community. We loved (for the most part - long story) having our kids be able to go to school in the Little Red Schoolhouse, Taco Tuesday, walks to the hammocks, Ballast Point and Wells Beach, hanging out at the beach, being able to bicycle, kayak or hike to work in the absence of traffic, pollution or noise (save the waves), the foxes, the bison, the eagles, the safe environment, the fun activities organized by THE and the yacht clubs, and getting to know where EVERYONE in town lives. It is a unique and special environment that it has been our privilege to be a part of.

We have also made many friends and connections in Avalon, mostly through Scouts. We are sorry to be leaving such good people who constantly strive to Do Their Best. Thank you for all you have done for the boys.

We are planning on leaving the island in August, which doesn't leave much time, since we managed to fill up our summer with activities both for the boys and ourselves. It will be a grand challenge to get this move done in the available time. I was just telling Sweetie that we would have to hug during all discussions and start each with "Remember, I love you."

And so we once again are starting a long list of 'lasts'. We've had our last day of school at the LRSH, which made me quite sad, although Thing 2 seemed pretty okay with it. I don't think Thing 1 will miss the 3 hours on the bus each day, but he will miss the friends he's made here. We are thinking more about things we'd like to do before we leave - camping, hiking, snorkeling, grunion runs, etc. And there are the surprising things that we never did in the LA area that will probably not be done now - for instance, we never went on a studio tour or tried to be part of a live audience for Conan or Chelsea Handler.

I actually made this decision a while ago, but haven't been able to bring myself to announce because this is a great place to live and I'm sad to go. That's not to say I'm not excited about the new position, but, for Pete's sake, we live on an island! How cool is that?

So stay tuned to FB and this channel for updates on our progress on the move. And Zack's Adventures in Cuisine.

PS

This year is Sweetie's and my 15th wedding anniversary. Around about our 10th, Sweetie said, "Hey, let's go somewhere, just us two." And then we moved to California instead. So here we are 5 years later, and Sweetie was thinking "we should do some thing to celebrate" and then we decided to move. So I need SPECTACULAR ideas for our 20th, people. SPECTACULAR.

Zack's Adventures in Cuisine #2

Today we went to a restaurant called Sirinat Thai.    (The restaurant is down Western street and 25th street in Los Angles, California.) They're food is very good.  

The beverage I had was a orange soda.  My appetizer was a shrimp wrapped in crispy noodles with sweet and sour sauce.  The main course was a few crispy scallops, and they taste like french fries only softer in  the middle.  Along with my main course I had some white rice and some of Dad's yellow curry.  

The appetizer was VERY good.  I liked the way the crunch felt in my mouth.  The scallops were pretty good.  the inside could be a little crispier on the inside, though.  The white rice was pretty sticky, but I liked it.  I didn't really like the yellow curry.  Mostly because it was spicy, and I didn't like the potatoes, but I like the lemony taste the chicken had.  

Here are the scores:

Food	Texture	Taste
Appetizer (Nests of Love)	B-	B-
Crispy Scallops, 3 flavors	C+	B
Rice (white)	B-	C+
Yellow Curry (Chicken)	C+	C+
Overall		A

Zack's Adventures in Cuisine #1

Introduction:

I am Zack, your guide in cuisine.  I am only 8, but I shall be honest about the food I tell you about.  I am doing this blog so you can enjoy the foods I have enjoyed, and the food I haven't enjoyed.  One food I've enjoyed is a grill angus burger. I had that a few weeks ago. It was at a restaurant called "The Beach City Grill."  We also had a white-chocolate tangerine CHEESECAKE!  I am also doing this blog to challenge myself to try new Foods. I an not very good at trying new things, you see.  

These are the rankings of dinner my mom made tonight:    

(P.S. I will always choose a meal of the day to write about.)

TODAYS RANKINGS:

The meat (steak) was pretty good.  It was a little tough,but it was also chewy, which I liked.  The chips I totally liked, except the texture which I ranked a B.  OK, I admit that the only reason I ranked it a B was because it was a little too crunchy for my taste.  I thought the lettuce was OK. It was a little limp and little too watery for my taste.  I had grape tomatoes, and I really didn't like the texture, but the taste was pretty good. I like the watery feel it gives my mouth.  Anyway, here are the scores I gave the food.

Food	Texture	Taste
Steak	A	B+
Chips	B	A+
Lettuce	A-	B
Grape Tomatoes	B-	B+
Overall		B

Wings!

Sweetie and I attended the 25th annual Catalina Island Museum Silent Film Benefit on Saturday. This is a showing of a silent film (duh) to benefit the Catalina Island Museum (double duh) in the beautiful art-deco movie palace that is the Avalon Theatre. This theater, an original part of the Casino, completed in 1929, has been preserved in every way - it's size (seating for 1154), it's decorative murals (Greek mythology inspired art deco), and it's original Page pipe organ. The theater still shows first-run movies on a weekly basis.

But on this afternoon, the fare was Wings, a 1927 feature-length film by William Wellman and the first movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture. This was also the movie shown at the first ever Silent Film Benefit. The film, starring Buddy Rodgers, Richard Arlen and Clara Bow, follows small-town boys Jack and David as they volunteer to be pilots in World War I. They scuffle over women, become comrades-in-arms, fight the Heinies, and experience triumph and tragedy. Unbelievable by today's standards, the film showed in New York twice a day for two years. The live-filmed scenes of aerial combat wowed audiences that had never had the experience of flight.

The print we watched was a restoration of the 35mm film done by Paramount. An original score was provided live on the pipe organ by the composer, Bob Salisbury. In addition, some patrons enhanced the experience by wearing period clothing. The effect was magical. I completely lost myself in the film, forgetting entirely that the music was live and even that the film was silent. I cheered on the heroes, rooted for the girl-next-door to win the guy, and got teary-eyed when the mother of one fallen airman received the small teddy bear he carried as a token of good luck. It's a great film, and it was a great afternoon.

If you ever get a chance to come out to Avalon, I would highly recommend a tour of the Casino so you can see for yourself the fabulous Avalon Theatre, and if you're there for the Silent Film Benefit, so much the better.

Lost Post

Here is a post I found in my Drafts folder. Oops. It's from February, I think. Enjoy:

This weekend started off with Sweetie and I doing what parents do, worrying about our kids. In particular, we were worried about our kids not having anyone to play with in our small town, and whether they were feeling lonely. As is frequently the case, parents fears out-scale actual problems, and right now we are satisfied that our kids are pretty happy.

One thing that helped us (and maybe them, too) was plenty of quality family time this weekend. I was just coming back from a week-long trip to the mainland, so I had some chores to do around the house (fixing the fence, putting out the new hose, fixing my computer), but afterwards, Calvin and I went out to play with his new glow-in-the-dark soccer ball while Sweetie and Hobbes walked down to the beach to look at the very low tide.

After kicking the ball around for a while, we played at the playground (as an adult, I still enjoy swinging on a swing), and then decided to walk down to the beach. Guess who we ran into? Right! The rest of the family. So we strolled together on the beach. It was a beautiful day - sunny, warm, light winds. A very nice outside time.

Sunday we decided go for a boat ride. We went out on the dock dingy to fetch the boat from a mooring, and before we even got to the boat, we noticed some cetaceans swimming about out by the reef, so we just tooled on out there in the dingy. It was a pod of Risso's dolphins. We watched them for a few minutes, and then went to get the boat. Our expedition took us out around Bird Rock and past Ship Rock. I'm not sure what's going on with sea lions, but there were tons of them swimming about and basking (with their flippers sticking out of the water) all around and between Bird and Ship today.
On our way from Ship Rock down towards Emerald Bay, we encountered a pod of about 12 bottlenose dolphins. They were curious and swam right by us. We could see them under and next to the boat. We circled around a few times with them playing in our wake. This was turning out to be quite a day!

We motored around Arrow Point and down towards Starlight Beach (which is one terminus of the Trans-Catalina Trail). As we were turning around to go home, we spotted ANOTHER pod of Risso's. They were moving towards Land's End, so we just watched from a distance.

I let Hobbes drive the boat some on the way home and we talked about boating: radio channels to use, boating etiquette, what a dive flag looks like, and avoiding sea life (including kelp). As we got back around Howland's Landing, we ran into either another or the same pod of bottlenoses. And they played again, both in our bow and stern wakes. We got really nice views of them swimming and leaping. Eventually they went back to fishing, and we continued towards the Isthmus.

As we got back into Isthmus Cove, we saw that the pod of Risso's that we'd first seen were still hunting around the reef. I was hoping to get a little closer to them this time, but they are much shyer than their smaller cousins and dove when we got too close.

We felt very lucky to have been out on the water today!

Disneyland Report Card

It's Spring Break for the Long Beach School District (which the schools on Catalina are in), so we decided to have a little fun. This mostly will consist of dentist appointments and camp physicals (which will occur next week), but Sweetie and I decided that first we would do something purely fun with the boys.

We chose not to tell the boys until we were practically at the park, and they were initially shocked into silence (I think), but quite giddy once we parked and got out of the car.

My first comment is that Disneyland seems much smaller acreage-wise than Disney World, which makes sense, since Disneyland is shoe-horned into Anaheim, while Disney World has the run of central Florida. Besides that, they look very much the same (duh). Everyone was happy to see us. We talked with the boys some about how Disney's close attention to customer service was a big factor in their success. (That's the kind of parents we are: suck the wonder out of everything.)

We started the day in Tomorrowland at Space Mountain. When we went to Disney World in 2010, we didn't get a chance to ride this one, so we decided to make up for that oversight. Maybe an odd choice for 10am, but there we were. When I was a kid, age 8 I think, we went to Disney World and rode Space Mountain. I was scared, so I closed my eyes the whole time. My mom commented that I didn't miss much, and who's idea was a roller coaster in the dark? This time I was determined to keep my eyes open. An my mom was right. Pretty dark, I have to say - and faster than I thought it would be.

On that same trip in 2010, Thing 2 was a little too freaked out to really enjoy the park, however this time he was game for just about anything. Over the day we did some intense rides like the updated Star Tours ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the Indiana Jones Adventure and tamer fare like the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Mark Twain Riverboat, the Jungle Cruise and the Enchanted Tiki Room. We stayed all the way through the (outstanding) fireworks display, and had a tremendous time. I would say thanks to Disney for a day of family fun, but I think I spoke with my wallet yesterday.

As before, here are attraction ratings. If you're curious about details as to the why for these ratings, leave a comment:

Attraction	Me	Sweetie	Hobbes	Calvin
Space Mountain	B	A	A+++	A
Star Tours	B+	C	A++	A+
Jungle Cruise	C	B	A	A
Enchanted Tiki Room	C	C+	B	A
Indiana Jones Adventure	A	A	C	A-
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad	A	A	A	A+++
Autopia	C	n/a	n/a	A
Mark Twain Riverboat	B	B	B	A
Big Thunder Ranch	D	n/a	n/a	A-
Pirates of the Carribean	n/a	B+	A-	n/a
The Mad Tea Party	A	n/a	n/a	A+
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage	B	B+	A-	A
Disneyland Railroad	B	C+	A	B+
King Arthur Carousel	A	n/a	B+	A+
Pinocchio's Daring Journey	n/a	B-	B-	n/a

Oh, and the fireworks show gets a big A+. Tinkerbell flying around the castle was pretty awesome.

Island Thanksgiving

Next in our series of holiday-related posts is Thanksgiving on the Island. (The blog is, after all, called Life in Two Harbors.)

I will start out by saying that the weather is frequently beautiful around Thanksgiving in southern California. You don't feel so much like cozying up in front of the fire as you do going for a quick swim in the ocean. (Quick because the water is starting to get cold.) So many people are out and about during the day. We saw people flying kites, hitting golf balls, biking, hiking, hanging out at the beach, etc. Thing 2 and I went down towards the school to kick a soccer ball around, and had trouble finding a space with all these people out and about.

Last year, as you read here, we went to visit relatives in Arizona (although. This year, the school system did not expand the Thanksgiving break, so we decided not to travel. Since we were also not hosting anyone (no one traveled to see us, either - sniff), we didn't need to clean the house before Thanksgiving. So we cleaned the house ON Thanksgiving. Yes, we dusted and scrubbed, mopped and vacuumed, picked up and put away until the house looked like it deserved company.

Then we all showered and got dressed up in nice clothes - Thing 2 even wore long pants AND combed his hair - and prepared for one of our rare formal dinners. Extra leaves were put in the table to hold all the food; the wedding china was broken out (bad choice of words); champagne and sparkling cider were chilled; the good silver was placed in all the proper locations (prompting questions from the Things about the little fork above the plate); napkins were laid out.

Who is this kid?

Well of course no shoes. It's still the island...

Sweetie began bringing out the feast: traditional turkey with stuffing, cranberry dressing, a nice squash dish, peas with little onions (one of my favorites). We toasted the good things in our life - family, security, freedom, sparkling cider - and dug in. We talked about the Pilgrims and reminisced about visiting Plymouth this summer. When the carnage was over, it was all I could do to stuff down a delicious piece of pecan pie.

Around town, some families were celebrating just with immediate family, like us, others had invited over friends; some were dining at the restaurant where you can order a plate of food or an entire Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, trimmings, etc - and take home the leftovers; some yachties had gathered their extended families at the Isthmus Yacht Club for a home-away-from-home Thanksgiving; and up the hill the Banning house was also hosting family get-togethers. 

It's a time of year that Two Harbors doesn't feel like a tourist destination. It feels like, I don't know, a big backyard, and that's nice. If you ever get the chance, I'd highly recommend it.

Island Halloween

When you have a town the size of Two Harbors, Halloween doesn't just happen, there has to be some planning. That may seem surprising given the small population here.

First of all, there aren't many kids here - less than 10 - who go trick-or-treating. Instead, town is dominated by young adults who like a good party. So the annual Halloween bash is the Haunted House held up at the Banning House. People in town spend a good month or more preparing the various rooms to spook-out their friends - it's quite elaborate, and put together by some very devious minds. (I wish I could tell you more about it, but I've never been.) On the night before Halloween, they have a 'kids night' at the Haunted House, where they test out the rooms and adjust the scariness to whatever the kids request.

Since it's such a big deal, trick-or-treating is planned around the Haunted House. A time that the children will go out is decided (this duty falls to the PTA), and publicized around town. We try to make it early so everyone can get ready to go to the party.

Secondly, it is an annual tradition to pair the school's Halloween party with a costume parade around town (read: the various offices in town - front office, visitor services, waterfront, dive shop, snack bar, boat shop, general store, accounting...that may be the whole list). This is really a sort of early trick-or-treat, since the people in the offices have candy for the kids. This, too, needs to be arranged beforehand so everyone knows which day and when the kids will be by.

On the whole, it's a good time. Can you imagine going trick-or-treating and know virtually everyone who answers the door? It's really quite friendly. Sometimes the parents get a (liquid) treat, too. Although town is small, and it doesn't take long to get around to EVERY house, as I said, there are only a few kids, so people are quite generous in doling out the candy, so the kid's hauls are pretty sweet (ha ha).

Boston Vacation days 8 and 9 - Family Time!

The next two days of our vacation were spent in New Hampshire at Aunt S and Uncle K's house. We had a bit of a family reunion since many family members live close by, and none of them had seen the Things (or Sweetie) for many years.

Highlights of the day included visiting with family, of course, including seeing all the children that have been born in the last few years, the unbelievable spread of delicious food and, of course, chopping wood. We all had a very nice time, and my family is no longer mad at me for never bringing my family east.

The Mario Bros ascending Mt. Monadnock

The next day, we spent the morning hiking Mt Monadnock. Rather surprisingly, it is one of the most hiked mountains in the world, with ~125k visitors a year. This is mostly surprising because it is not the easiest hike. Being novices, (and having two Things with us) we decided to take the White Dot Trail up. While the rise isn't that much, only about 1800 feet from the parking lot, it happens over a very short distance (1.66 miles), so the grade averages over 20%. It was a humid day, and Sweetie and I are old, so we hauled ourselves up the hill while Calvin and Hobbes ran up and down trail, scrambling up and down the rock faces like lizards. There was some complaining, but that was mostly on the flat bits (that weren't as much fun). Eventually we got to the top of the climb only to realize that we were mistaken - we still had a long way to hike. Uphill.

Oh #%@$. That's the summit up there.

Not atop Mt. Monadnock

Atop Mt. Monadnock

Gamely we pressed on and achieved the summit just in time for lunch (since we had planned to eat lunch at the top). After nourishing our worn-out bodies, we rested and looked at the scenery. There were quite a few people up there with us, naturally, but we didn't feel crowded. We hopped around on the boulders a bit to look in different directions, and then started back down. For the descent, we chose the White Cross Trail, which follows a very similar route to the White Dot Trail, except I think it's even steeper in places. I was glad we weren't hiking up it. Having successfully negotiated the mountain, we got some ice cream and headed back to the house.

Although they were tired, the Things enthusiastically agreed to help Aunt S make the evening's dessert: gluten-free strawberry shortcake. There was much measuring and pouring and mixing, all under the incredibly patient watchful eye of Aunt S, and the result was a thing of beauty. (And tasted good, too!) A delicious end to the day.

Next time: A Minuteman to win it, man.

Boston Vacation Day 7 - Not Martha's Vineyard

So this was the day that we had planned to take the ferry from Wood's Hole over to Martha's Vineyard to do some bicycling. But we had some second thoughts. First was some rumors we heard that there were sections of Vineyard Haven that were a bit dicey to bicycle through (with traffic and all), and with the boys we were a bit hesitant. Secondly, we weren't sure how much time we'd actually get on the island as to whether it would be worth the trip. Thirdly, it looked like it might rain, which would make the bicycling idea a bust anyway. So we punted and decided (Sweetie and I, that is) that we would just drive up to Cape Cod National Seashore and see what was there.

After a wonderful breakfast, care of our hosts (another dozen thank-yous to them) we hopped in the car and announced our new plan to the things. Oops. Calvin had a conniption.

"What? We're not going bicycling? That's the only thing I really wanted to do on this vacation and now we're not doing it!"

So being the good, patient, flexible, (guilt-ridden, quiet-coveting) parents that we are, we said we'd look for a place to a) rent bikes and b) ride them in the Nat'l Seashore. Fortuitously, it turned out that this was a) easy and b) a really fun time. We first stopped at the Salt Pond Visitor Center near Eastham and picked up a park newspaper that listed local bike rental places. Then we spoke with a Ranger about the best place to go with our crew. They suggested a paved three mile trail up at the tip of the Cape. A quick phone call reserved some bikes in Provincetown.

We had lunch of lobster salad at a nearby restaurant and then drove up to P-town. The bike shop was easy to find and even had one of those kid's trailer-bike attachments that we got for Calvin (to increase the chance that he would have fun by decreasing the amount of work he'd have to do). In no time we were off and the trail was fantastic! Not too flat, not too hilly. Good views of the ocean, but also nice wooded areas and ponds to see. The trail is a circle, and half way around, at the top of the dune hill, is the Province Lands Visitor Center, which we stopped at. It has an upper balcony with nice views of Race Point Beach. Out in the water, we could see a whale watching boat that was, that's right, watching whales. There were several playing around in the water that you could clearly see, and with binoculars, it was a pretty good show.

Whale watching.

We had a great time. It's so nice to have an unexpected (unplanned) thing turn into a highlight.

A satisfactory end to the day.

It was time to leave the Cape. From P-town, we drove all the way to New Hampshire to stay with an Aunt and Uncle - tomorrow was family reunion day.

Boston Vacation Day 6 - A stove boy

On this vacation day, we were in New Bedford, MA to go to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park (bet you didn't know we had one of those) and the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Alas, this was also the day that vacation fatigue set in on young Calvin. I guess five days of historical/educational vacation was about all he was going to absorb. And so he was a pickle for our entire tour of New Bedford.


We started out driving over to the Park office. A nice lady on the street told us that if we parked in this one parking structure, since it was a furlough day, we wouldn't have to pay for parking. So a bonus there. At the park office,  we picked up Jr. Ranger books and set off trying to find the various information required. We also watched a video on the role New Bedford played in the whaling trade and the economic impact whaling had on the region and the country. They soft-peddled the actual whaling part, probably due to the current endangered status of most whale species. I bought a copy of Moby-Dick, which, if you're really interested in the grisly side of whaling, is happy to describe it in gross detail.

Struggling through the latest Jr Ranger booklet

One of the Jr. Ranger activities was a scavenger hunt, which caused us to stroll around the historic district of New Bedford, looking at all the cool old buildings. We found the Seamen's Bethel, where the whalers looked for redemption between voyages, and down at the old fish market we learned about how a fish market works - a wild side of the economy that most probably don't think about until it shows up as "Market Price" on the menu at their local seafood restaurant.

The most excited he's even been to see a church.

We also stopped by the Whaling Museum. Calvin was having none of it at this point, so I worked on cajoling him through the museum while Sweetie and Hobbes learned a bit about whaling and whales. They had great displays at the museum - whale skeletons, a 1/2 scale replica of a whaling ship, the whaling boats that were lowered from the ship to actually chase the whales, rooms full of items made from baleen and whale bone. They also had cases depicting the advancement of harpoon and lance technology. What's the difference between a harpoon and a lance, you say? Well, the harpoon was used like a fishhook - you set it in the whale to attach it to your boat so it couldn't get away. Then, when the whale became tired or ran out of air and had to surface, you rowed up to it and stuck it with lances until it was dead. Sounds barbaric, but really it's kind of the way we kill everything, no?

The day was finally saved for Calvin by us allowing him to purchase Humpy. See the bright smile on his face?

Calvin, having found peace through consumption.

From here we drove down to Cape Cod. We stopped by Woods Hole, so Sweetie could visit the offices of SEA (the Sea Education Association) for whom she has done some teaching, and so I could visit a colleague at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). That evening we stayed with my cousin's in-laws at their 'weekend house' in , who had very graciously offered to host us. The Things were really excited because they had a hot tub and cable TV. After a dip in the tub we had a lovely dinner, and then our hosts and I went back to WHOI for the Friday Evening lecture. The speaker was part of a celebration of 20 years of the Microbial Ecology summer course taught at WHOI, so they had a special speaker Roberto Kolter. He gave a charming lecture about microbes and how they can affect the atmosphere.

Next Time: A little Sturm, a little Drang, some lobster, bicycles and whales.

Boston Vacation - Day 5 - Pilgrim, you caused a lot of trouble...

"C'mon Sherman. Let's step into the WABAC machine."

Let's now take one giant leap backwards in American history. Way, way back to the very beginning of American history. Sort of. Depending on how you define "beginning". And "American". And maybe even "history". Look, I'm not here to argue cultural biases or every little right and wrong that occurred during the occupation and colonization of North America; this is a vacation travelogue. What I'm trying to say here is we went to Plymouth on this particular day to see Plymouth Rock and Plimoth Plantation.

We first stopped off at the Rock. Oops, sorry, the Rock. For those of you who have never been there, I have provided a picture of said rock above. Now no one is really sure if this rock is the first place that the Pilgrims set foot on land or not. The first person to claim it was did so 120 years after the fact, although he was 94 years old at the time, and it certainly is located within the relatively safe confines of Plymouth Bay and not far from where the settlement was established. You may note that it looks like the rock has been cemented together. That's because in 1774, the townspeople decided to move the rock to the top of the hill to display is as part of Massachusetts' cultural heritage, but I guess it was too heavy or something (over 10 tons), so they split it in half, leaving part of it at the water and moving the rest. In 1880, it was decided that the two halves should be reunited, thus the cement job. As you may imagine, many people wanted a piece of the rock over the years, and it is estimated that the top half is only 1/3 as large as it originally was. Well, as fascinating as looking at a big rock is (even when ensconced within a Roman portico), we didn't hang out too long before wandering over to the Mayflower II.

The Mayflower II was a project  (done in the '50's) to rebuild the Mayflower so modern people could really appreciate how entirely insane an idea it was to sail across the ocean to colonize the 'New World'. About 100ft long and 25ft wide, it carried 102 people and 25-30 crew on that voyage. A quick look at the accommodations will quickly persuade you that this is not Royal Carribean. To make matters worse, they hit bad weather which a) blew them off-course (they were aiming for Virginia), b) delayed their arrival until the  onset of winter, and c) probably made everyone throw up. The ship over-wintered in Plymouth Bay, and everyone continued to live on board. A disease outbreak killed half the settlers and half the crew. Don't you yearn for simpler times? I know these people were God-fearing Christians (most of them), but I bet they had some choice words for the Mayflower when they finally got off it.

Makes our house look big. 

Our next stop was Plimoth Plantation, a recreation of the first settlement that the Pilgrims established. I remember having a good time visiting this place on a grey day around Thanksgiving when I was kid in the 1970's, but I didn't remember much of the details. The way it's laid out now, there are two sections: a Wampanoag family homestead, in which they have actual Wampanoag people who dress traditionally and perform traditional tasks (like cooking, farming, and making log canoes), but they do not take on a historical role, they represent their nation as it is today, but are also able to answer questions about their history, as well. (I must point out here that it's always a little awkward when conversing with people your ancestors treated badly.) Then you have the English settlement, wherein all the people are reenactors portraying historical figures.  We immediately came upon the apprentice blacksmith who, while we watched, went from flint and steel to a fire hot enough to melt iron in about 10 minutes - it was impressive. He was repairing hinges that day. Hobbes had lots of questions. We also ran into a trader who was about to make a pile of money by buying out some of the investors in the colony - boy could that guy talk. It was a bit of a rainy day, but we enjoyed our stroll through history, seeing how the colonists lived.

Do NOT get this guy started...

From here we drove on to New Bedford. Here's a little preview of tomorrow:

School milestones

So today we embarked on a new island adventure. Thing 1 (aka Hobbes) started Middle School (6th grade). This is a big deal because the one-room schoolhouse that serves the West End only goes K-5, so from now on, he will have to ride the bus to Avalon every morning. Since the bus ride takes about 90 minutes, and the bus has another route it needs to run in Avalon before school starts, it leaves Two Harbors at about 6:15am. In the afternoon, it leaves AValon at about 3:30 and arrives back in Two Harbors around 5pm. You can see why they established the Little Red Schoolhouse. Can you imagine an 11-hour day for a first grader?

I guess in general this is the time of life when kids start getting more responsibilities and learning how to be more independent. The kids will have to keep track of class schedules, change (and shower) for PE, and Hobbes in particular will have to be better about remembering things like homework, permission slips, dates of events, etc. I think it will be good for him, but it will also be a steep learning curve these first few months.

Thing 2 (aka Calvin) also had a bit of a milestone first day at school. He has moved into the upper grades, and is now the oldest boy at school. In fact, he is the only boy at school. Five students: four girls and Calvin. To balance this out somewhat, we have, for the first time in the 20+ year history of the LRSH, a male teacher. It will be quite a different experience for all the kids (and maybe the parents and community) to have a male teacher, but he seems to be a very nice guy and we all have high hopes for the school year.

It was, all around, a pretty good first day. Both Things (and Sweetie) were up at 5:15am. Hobbes got through breakfast, chores and preparations just fine, and I stirred myself at 5:45 to go downstairs and see him off. (Then I went back to bed.) Calvin stayed up and had second breakfast (our little hobbit). Sweetie took the opportunity to go for a walk. At 7 I got up to find Calvin had already eaten, done his chores, and packed his backpack. He asked every 10 minutes if it was time to go to school yet. Finally, the time came and we walked down to the school for the traditional first day pictures. Mr. Frizzle seemed raring to go. The kids were very excited and seemed happy to see each other. We dropped our charge off, and headed off to work.

Sweetie has recently become employed (part-time, for now) by the Wrigley, so we were headed in the same direction, except she was on a bike and I was on foot. (At this point she was second-guessing her decision to go for a walk this morning.) The kids were released early today, so at noon, Sweetie rode back home (now REALLY second-guessing the morning walk) to greet Calvin and wait for Hobbes' bus. It was hot today, so at the end of the day, I suggested a swim at the lab. Sweetie brought the Things out, and we swam off the dock with their friends (the Bobsey twins). Both Things were completely exhausted by the end of this day. We had a quiet evening and then it was off to bed.

Tomorrow, we do it all over again. Although maybe with less enthusiasm.

Boston Vacation - Day 4: The Adams Family (They're creepy and they're spooky)

No, no, no. The OTHER Adams family. You know, the one that's not spelled Addams. The one with the guy who wrote the...and was...and his son, too...never mind. We'll get to that.

Today was a bit of a rainy day. Despite that, we again took the T to our destination. (I know the T is underground, but you have to walk on the surface to get to and from it.) Today's destination was Quincy, which, you'll remember from Freedom Trail Pt. 1, is pronounced 'quinzy'. No, not the market, the town, which was birthplace of the two Presidents Adams (John and John Quincy). The historic sites that are associated with Adams National Historical Park are spread out all over town, so they have a central Visitor Center from which visitors take a bus to the Adams birthplaces, and Peacefield. Despite the rain, it was rather busy that day, so we had a little wait before our bus time. We took the opportunity to get the Things started on Jr. Ranger badges. They watched a video and looked at the exhibits at the center: a timeline of Adams history, and models of various buildings that were important to the Adamses.


When our tour started, the first stop was John Adams' birthplace. It's pretty much your standard old wooden building. No Adams artifacts were in them, however the guide was quite personable, and, naturally, knew a great deal about the history of the Adams family. John was the son of a farmer, and always wanted to be a farmer himself, but land was expensive, so he became a lawyer so he could earn enough money to buy some land and farm. Along the way he fell in love with Abigail, and needed to impress her in order for her to marry him, so he built a house - 75 feet away from his birthplace. It worked, and soon Abigail gave birth to John Quincy. And so two Presidential birth sites are 75 feet apart. Rather amazing. This second house is also where John had his law office, and where he (along with some others) drafted the Massachusetts Constitution, the oldest state constitution and a model for the federal version. Hobbes, I think, was impressed by this. Calvin, I think, was wondering what exactly a constitution was. This seems almost bizarre to me, but this house was being used as a residence until the 1960's. That's when they finally purchased it for the National Historic Register.

During the Revolution, after spending much time gallivanting about between Boston and Philadelphia pressing the cause of independence, John was called on to be a diplomat, and so he left for Europe with JQ (who was only 11), spending time in France, Britain and Amsterdam. He came home for about six months, in which time he wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, then it was back to Europe. John Quincy again went with him, but this trip he was apprenticed off to Russia (at age 14 !). Abigail quite forgot what both of them looked like. So at one point, John brought her over to Europe as well, not returning to the US until it was the US. By 1788, the war was over and the Constitution was signed. After spending barely any time at his new estate, Peacefield, he was off to Philadelphia to be Vice President. After holding that position for two terms, he was elected President (the first one-term President). After being defeated by Jefferson, he was done. Finally, he could go home and farm.

John Quincy, meanwhile, was having serious troubles getting out of Europe. After his apprenticeship, which took him to Russia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, he went to Harvard and became a lawyer. But a few years later, he was appointed Minister to the Netherlands (1794), then Portugal (1796), then Prussia (1797). Returning home, he had nothing better to do, so he became a Senator in 1803. Until he was appointed Minister to Russia in 1809. Then, after being called back to Washington to negotiate the end of the War of 1812, he was appointed Minister to Great Britain from 1815-1817. At that point, the only job he was not incredibly over-qualified for was Secretary of State. So he took the job under President Monroe (writing the Monroe Doctrine). Seriously low now on job possibilities, he was elected President in 1824. Unable to retire after being defeated in the election of 1828, he became a Representative, and served until his death. This was a tremendously amazing guy. If you can read all that and not feel like an under-achiever, you are probably Richard Branson.

But back to our travelogue. Our tour of the birthplaces was over, we hopped back on the bus and zipped over to Peacefield. This was a considerably larger and fancier place, although apparently when they moved in, it didn't look so good. They expanded it quite a bit, adding the Stone Library which now houses both John and John Quincy's libraries. They also have the desk on which he wrote the Massachusetts Constitution.

That was about it for the NHP, so we returned to the Visitors Center (by bus) and got the Jr. Ranger badges. Then, after a quick lunch, we went over to the church where John, Abigail, John Quincy, and his wife Louisa are buried. This is amazing. You can go into the church, down to the basement, and into the chamber that holds the stone tombs. It's a tiny chamber, so you are right there next to them. What an incredible experience to learn how extraordinary these people were and then be in the presence of their mortal remains. I was touched.

So that was our Adams experience. Visiting the houses was so-so, learning the history was eye-opening, and seeing the graves was jaw-dropping.






More soon...

Boston Vacation - Day 3 The Boston Science Museum

Day three of our vacation was Hobbes' birthday. Since we had finished the Freedom Trail, we gave him a few options for activities for the day. He chose to go to the Museum of Science, which turned out to be a great choice.

We took the T down to Mass Gen (Massachusetts General Hospital) and then walked down by the river over to the museum. We got there pretty much when it opened. A few buses full of school groups (I think, or maybe they were camps) were beginning to unload. The front of the museum is a bit baffling. I found it difficult to figure out which door we were supposed to go in through. The boys had a great time looking at the space exhibits, the medical technology exhibits, the models of boats from different time periods, the dinosaurs, and a room about, well, playground physics.

We went to the electricity show. That was really cool. The docent? emcee? resident scientist had a huge Van de Graaff generator and made several types of impressive (and LOUD) displays. For one, they modulated the frequency of the sparks so that it played the William Tell Overature - very cool.

There was also a room about the human body. In it they had a "Circular Tree of Life" showing the phylogenetic relationship of organisms. Being a microbiologist, I was mightily offended by this slice:

The Archaea and Bacteria are much larger divisions (and way more diverse) than the Eukaryotes. Just sayin'. And the weird thing was that I seemed to be the only person who noticed this.

At this point, Grandpa was done with his genealogy business, and came to the museum to meet us. We had tickets to go see a show in the newly refurbished, fully digital, stereo 3-D surround sound, Smell-o-tron 4000, Charles Hayden Plane'arium (that's a little 'in' joke for you South Park followers). The show started with a little intro that just showed the capabilities of the new projection system, and it was awesome. Then came the main feature - Undiscovered Worlds, which was all about the search for exoplanets. I'm pretty sure Sweetie and Grandpa fell asleep. You know how it is with the dark and the comfortable reclining chair and it's after lunch and that plane'arium mellow space music is going in the background - you just kind of drift off. But Calvin and Hobbes loved it.

We were pretty much done with the museum at that point, so we went back to Aunt M and Uncle B's house. It was hot and a little humid. We're not used to the humid part.

For Hobbes' birthday, we had a lobster boil. We got steamed lobsters from a place down the street and taught the boys to shuck ears of corn (and clean up afterwards). It was a good meal, although Calvin didn't like the lobster (even with butter!). Afterwards it was time for ice cream cake and presents. One second cousin almost blew out the candles before Hobbes had a chance to, but his dad saved it at the last second. It was funny. Hobbes got some good stuff, including a cell phone. Such a grown up boy.

Then Grandpa was tuckered out again.

Boston Vacation - The Freedom Trail pt 2

On day two of our visit to downtown Boston, we did the other half of the Freedom Trail. Well, really it's more than half of both the distance and the sites. This section of Boston, Massachusetts, the United States, is steeped in history, being established so early in the European settlement. It boggles the mind to think about the events that occurred here and the many important and famous American heroes who lived and worked here. If you haven't visited Boston, hopefully I can give you a flavor of the experience.

Once again, we took the T down to the start of the Freedom Trail in Boston Commons. This time, however, we located the beginning of the trail and traveled that path back through history...or at least across the Commons towards the State House. We opted to go with a self-guided tour, rather than crowd in with the, well, crowds who were waiting for the period-dressed tour guides provided by the NPS. Sweetie had purchased an informative booklet, which I read from in an authentic (in my own mind) colonial Boston accent.

Our first stop actually had nothing to do with the Revolutionary War or the founding of our country. It was a monument to Col. Robert Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. You may remember them from the movie Glory. They were a regiment in the Civil War that was composed of African-American volunteers. While I don't think it could be argued that they were the most successful unit for the North, they certainly proved both their bravery, their ability and their devotion to country and duty during the assault on Fort Wagner - a major step forward for former slaves (many of them) looking to be accepted and valued as people in our divided nation.

From there we wandered over to the first of two graveyards we would visit, the Granary Burying Ground. They were just starting construction there to make the place more accessible to the thousands of visitors, which, of course, made the place less accessible to us. We eventually found our way inside the gate, and gaped as we saw the graves of many who we learned about in school. The victims of the Boston Massacre (note the linked image was published by...Paul Revere), including Crispus Attucks, are buried there, apparently in a funeral procession witnessed by almost the entire population of Boston at the time. Right next to them is the burial site of Samuel Adams, a key agitator against British rule in the colonies. Also buried there is John Hancock, notable signer of the Declaration of Independence and Paul Revere (more on him later). Your sense of these names learned in school being real people who performed dramatic acts of courage (be it political or physical) is enhanced when standing where they lived and viewing the resting place of their mortal remains.

Our second graveyard visit was King's Chapel Burying Ground. This yard has some of the oldest graves in the country (not counting, of course, those of the indigenous people). Pilgrims and Puritans are buried here in sites marked with beautifully carved headstones. The chapel itself was originally established in 1688 and has been in near-continuous use since. And guess who made it's current bell. That's right, Paul Revere.

From here we walked past the site of the first public school (Boston Latin School - established 1635) and the site of the Old Corner Bookstore to the Old South Meeting House. The Old Corner Bookstore has a really interesting history. Back in the day (the 1630's), it was the residence of Anne Hutchinson, who you can read about in Wordy Shipmates. She was a bit of a character, for a Puritan, and ended up being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for thinking a woman could preach and the government had no business saying she couldn't. So, of course, she settled in Rhode Island, that hotbed of dissidents. Later the site was a bookstore where literary giants like Longfellow, Emerson, and Holmes would hang out.

We next arrived at the Old South Meeting House. Here there was Jr Ranger stuff to do. Calvin (or Thing 2, I can't remember what I'm calling him now) was getting hungry, so it was a bit of a struggle to get him started, but once he decided to do it, he really got into the sequence of events of the British levying taxes and the colonists getting mad, culminating in the Boston Tea Party. Many of the meetings about these exact issues went on in the Old South. We finished our learning tasks and headed out for a 'picnic' lunch on a bench outside the NPS office.

At this point, I'd just like to acknowledge that this is way more than you were expecting from a vacation wrap-up, especially one nearly devoid of photos.

So on to the afternoon. The Old State House is right across from the NPS Visitor's Center. Amongst other historical events, the Declaration of Independence was read to the Boston populace from a balcony on July 18, 1776. Despite the fact that it meant a war would start right there, the people cheered and burned symbols of royal authority. Right across the street - okay, well really it's pretty much in the middle of the street outside the OSH - is a once-brick-but-now-asphalt circle that marks the site of the Boston Massacre. (Not sure what happened there. It's described in all the guidebooks as a brick circle, but it was blacktop this summer. Unless there is another circular feature beneath the lion and unicorn that we managed to miss...)

Faneuil (rhymes with Daniel) Hall was next on the agenda, but some Congressmen were holding a meeting about fishing rights (or something) in there, so we couldn't go in to visit. The boys were entertained by a group of guys who were threatening to break out into a hip-hop street performance, but they never quite got there. It was odd and pretty lame.

We walked down a street (Marshall Street, I believe) that had very old businesses like the Green Dragon Tavern and the Union Oyster House. The road is still cobbled. Walking up to the North End, our destination was Paul Revere's House. Seeing the house was pretty cool. It's not very extensive, and there don't seem to be too many Revere artifacts, but still, this is the structure wherein Paul Revere lived.

Speaking of Paul Revere, our next stop was the Old North Church. This is in a really nice area of town. The gardens and statues and memorials surrounding it are really nice. The church itself is very proud of its history (as it should be) and a nice young woman gave a good retelling of the events of April 18, 1775.

Afterwards, we got a dozen cannolis at Mike's and walked back to the NPS Visitor Center to pick up some Jr. Ranger badges for the Things.

Believe it or not, we've reached the end of this great, history-filled day. Dang I feel patriotic now. I really feel the need to buy a gun, join an unusual religion and write something nasty about the government, all while paying my taxes and voting. Zoroaster Bless America!