After the red-eye from L.A., we arrived at 8 a.m. to hot and steamy Boston. So off to the beach we went with Dave's long-time friends Charlie and Lois, and their two boys Dom and Chris.
The journey from
Carlisle to Gloucester was a treat. It's so green here, and all the small towns are mariner-charming.
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| Chez Lombardi in Carlisle |
And there's nothing like swimming in cool salt water to wash off travel skin-scum. (JetBlue's nice touch of wet, hot hand towels went only so far.)
Floating in the benevolent sea, I realized I'd been in the Pacific one day and the Atlantic the next.
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| Long Beach, Gloucester |
This led me to robust appreciation for things that make extended travel like buttah:
* relatively inexpensive jet travel
* cell phones and laptops
*
Airbnb,
TripAdvisor and other online travel resources
* online banking
* Google docs (which is how
my clients and I share writing and feedback)
* PayPal (which is how those who are inclined
pay me)
* Nice people everywhere you go (thought I'd just slip that one in when you weren't looking).
After the beach, we stopped at the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial, which overlooks a boat-filled harbor. You can feel the poignant beauty of this special place down to your bones.
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| Charlie with the goods. |
Next stop:
J.T. Farnhams in Essex, where the fried clam was created. One bite and I knew this to be an invention even greater than Velcro.
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| Yay! |
We ended the day back at the Lombardi house, singing happy 11th birthday to Chris and chowing down on cake and ice cream. Only one day and we're feeling
home.
