I’m glad we’re not quite doing this Jack Kerouac style.

Cape Cod, MAINE was a brief visit – a one night stay that let us go out to the coast and see the cape, drive along the ocean view road, have a sit down meal at a little specialty cafe and donut place called The Hole in One and discover that during the winter season quite a lot of places shut down for the season 😉

But still here it is:
THE CAPE

And here is:
THE CAPE PLUS BEANIED SIMONE

Cape Cod was pretty damn chilly but also just pretty and probably full of very good lobster. (We could neither confirm nor deny this due to the fact that at least 4 places we tried were shut for the season) And when we sat down for a meal (The New England Clam Chowder was particularly delicious) in the below restaurant/cafe/donut shop:

We spent a delightful half hour trying to decide if the man that walked in, sat down at the counter and ordered pancakes and eggs was actually Stephen King or Stephen King’s brother. We decided in the end that it wasn’t Stephen King but just a relative. But it was fun trying to get a comparison to the images we’d pulled up on our phones.

We were then back on the road, our trusty Ford Escape taking us off to Narragansett, Rhode Island. Which is only partially an Island.The state’s full name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. We stayed there at a friend’s place, another friend found through a shared love of my show again – see Supernatural actually has provided some pretty special opportunities despite the general “but it’s just a TV show” response from most I try to enlighten about it. Anyway Krista is indeed made of general awesomeness and generously gave up her room for a couple nights (she slept in her guest room) so that we could stay, hang out, share a meal with her friends and have a very enjoyable time in Rhode Island.

We spent a very pleasant Sunday evening sharing a meal consisting of clams casino and fresh steamed whole lobster. I cracked and pulled lobster meat like a pro if I do say so myself. I really enjoyed that tasty experience.

We met Aaron, Nate and Alisson and all was good. There may have been White Russians. Okay there were White Russians. A suitable fresh steamed lobster complement I felt.
And they were enjoyed. Unlike the Hard Iced Tea I bought just for the hell of it. I like Iced Tea so I figured it had potential. But sadly no. Just no.

Nate gave me suitable instructions. I picked up the technique very quickly I might add 😉

The following Monday we slept in (we’re on holidays it seems obligatory) and then around lunchtime heading back to Massachusetts to get into the nation’s largest battleship museum containing a submarine, a destroyer, PT boats and a battleship. This was a pretty cool attraction as I have never been on a submarine.

It was a very fascinating couple of hours to spend. The displays and the information kept us occupied for some time. We drove back and after Krista and Aaron got in from work we headed off to get dinner from their local, favourite watering hole The Mews.

Good food, nice ambience and a very comfortable place to hang out. We had a great meal there and bid Nate and Alisson goodbye, with the promise of a bed to crash on should they ever make it out to Perth, Western Australia. The next day, after saying goodbye to Krista the night before, since we’re apparently early rising phobic right now and 6am is not in our vocabulary right now, we started the drive off to Ohio via The Falling Water House in Pennsylvania. Smithsonian lists this house as one of the 28 must see places before you die. After being so impressed by the Smithsonian buildings in DC how could we not take up that opportunity.

Here’s the List (cos I know you were wondering)

– Mesa Verde (Tick! DONE IT)
– Pompeii (Tick done it!)
– Tikal
– Petra
– Pyramids of Giza
– Taj Mahal
– Easter Island
– The Great Wall
– Aurora Borealis
– Serengeti
– Iguazu Falls
– Machu Picchu
– The Louvre (TICK! Done it!)
– Zen Garden of Kyoto
– Uffizi Gallery
– Fallingwater (TICK! Done it!)
– Yangtze River
– Antarctica
– Mount Kilimanjaro
– Grand Canyon (TICK! Well it’ll be done by the 29th of Dec)
– Pagan
– Parthenon (TICK! Done it!)
– Angkor Wat
– Ephesus
– Venice (TICK! Done it!)
– Amazon Rain Forest
– Great Barrier Reef (oops! It’s the only one in Australia and I haven’t done it!)
– Galápagos Islands

So I’ve done 7 out of 28. Hmmm if it takes me 38 years to do 7 by that count I’ll need at least another 84 years to do the rest 😉

So we left on Tuesday and drove through to Easton to stay one night there, just a stop over really before heading into Somerset on Wednesday. Somerset is a quaint little town with tiny streets and a very cosy downtown. The Falling Water House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is about a half hour out of the little town.

 

It was a beautifully sunny day despite being very chilly but we were grateful for the good weather because the next day it was POURING down with rain. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and it was nice to stroll around the grounds, inhale the fresh woodsy air and clearly try and come up with way too many cliched phrases to describe the experience. But really the house was quite interesting with a surprising amount of open living space in what appears to be a house cut out of a side of a mountain. A bit of wikipedia info about the design:

Fallingwater stands as one of Wright’s greatest masterpieces both for its dynamism and for its integration with the striking natural surroundings. Wright’s passion for Japanese architecture was strongly reflected in the design of Fallingwater, particularly in the importance of interpenetrating exterior and interior spaces and the strong emphasis placed on harmony between man and nature.

I took notes because one should always be prepared if ever the opportunity arises when you can build your dream home over a waterfall.

We were heading onto Ohio next, Reynoldsburg to be specific, because finally after having read and watched and absorbed everything I possibly could regarding Linda Mecklenburg and her Awesome Paws approach to agility handling for the last 10 years I was finally presented with the opportunity to attend a weekend seminar being given by her on International Handling. I was looking forward to soaking up as much as I could and getting my puppy fix in as well.