Having returned briefly to Connecticut, and finding the welcome, well, not warm, we gathered some more clothes and zoomed off on a new adventure. We headed to the Marriott in Woburn, which is convenient, clean, cheap and gives me extra points for a free night somewhere, sometime soon. Feeling the need to take a break from the fine dining scene, we ordered pizza from a famous Boston area chain – Regina Pizzeria and settled in to watch TV and admire the sunset over route 93.
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My Trails app view |
A beautiful, chilly morning welcomed us and we decided to explore the picturesque fishing ports along the North Shore. It would be a walking, rather than cycling day, since the temperatures, the hills and the traffic made urban hiking a better choice. In Marblehead I tried my “My Trails” app to track our walking tour, and it was pretty cool, although I really need to do a better job of charging my iPhone. It totally died before we were done.
The jumble of early American architecture, rock walls, and seascapes glittered in the brilliant morning sun. Particularly impressive was the hilltop Old Burial Ground. After our walk we had very nice lobster salads and a glass each of Murphy Goode Sauvignon Blanc at the Landing.
Then it was on to Salem, where we had our obligatory afternoon coffee followed by a visit to the Peabody Essex Museum. We had been there years ago, but it has been greatly expanded and aside from the impressive collection reflecting Salem’s seafaring past, its Asian connections and its amazing Native American display, we learned a lot about surrealists Lee Miller and Man Ray. Our afternoon ended with a sunset stop in Rockport, where there were too many shops and too many tourists, but the view was nonetheless worth the trip.