Connecticut

Greg and I were disappointed to not arrive by plane on Sunday and had to settle for taking the super fast and super overpriced "fast" ferry to Rhode Island. We arrived safely and were warmly welcomed by Matt and Hopper. I never thought I could like small dogs, but Hopper the Rat Terrier has changed my mind. Matt treated us to local homemade ice cream on the way home. I remember this ice cream from when my dad and I visited New England in 1993. Funny how something so good stays with you...

We are staying with family friends Matt and Linda Elgart who have graciously taken us in as if we were their own children. Matt has known my father since they were in Optometry school together in Boston. They are very much like my Aunt and Uncle.

 They live in Lyme and I think I forgot how absolutely beautiful it is here in New England. The rolling fields, stone walls, bluebirds, cardinals, and tall oaks and maple trees are just gorgeous. The Conn. river is right down the street. I hate that the Willamette River and the Columbia are so polluted and have to consider my health risks when I decide to swim in either one. The Conn. is clean and warm, unlike our rivers. 

Matt and Linda live in a very rural area. Their house is set back from the road and surrounded by trees and a brook that runs through the backyard. Most of the houses around are hundreds of years old with amazing properties. They are doing some renovations that are making the house even more fantastic than it already is. 

 The first day we took a short ferry ride across the river to get to their  granddaughter's first birthday party. It was great to see Manya and Michael, their children, after so many years.

Yesterday, Greg and I went for a short bike ride to Gillette castle. It is perched on a hill above the Conn. river and has fantastic views of the surrounding hills and river. We are not really sure who this castle was built for, supposedly some guy who played Sherlock Holmes in the early 1900's. Doesn't matter, because the castle is still there and we liked seeing it.

We will be posting more about our stay in Connecticut soon, as for now we are packing and tired. A few highlights to support the photos:

We saved a few turtles from certain death.

Went boating with Matt and Hopper...after filling the gas tank.

Kayaking the Connecticut River and saw beaver, osprey, mute swans (the male tried to attack Matt while he passed by because there were four swan babies)...of which we will have photos posted later.

We got a new camera, thanks dad! And we can now zoom in on way more stuff :) But, our small camera is waterproof or so we think. We will try that in Croatia...

Tomorrow we go to Hartford to pick up our rental car for a few days so I can take Greg around to Amherst and show him what college life is like in rural Mass. Then we make our way through Vermont and New Hampshire before going to Boston where we will leave from on Sunday for the European leg of this trip.

We loved Conn. and would like to come back in the fall to be leaf peepers. Thanks to Matt, Linda, Hopper, and Gabby for a wonderful time!

MV Highlights

Swimming in Icehouse Pond

Swimming in the Ocean, including where Jaws was filmed

Farm work

Over-priced Farmer's Market

FRESH Lobster Dinner @ Menemsha beach

Fireflies

Yachts

Clay bath

Tomorrow, fly off the island on a private plane.

Trains Planes and Ferries

Yesterday, Amy and I left arguably the most gracious hosts ever (Adam & Jeanine) at the BART Station, and began the next leg of the honeymoon. We BARTed into the Mission District of San Francisco to have dinner with friends before catching the redeye to Boston. Thankfully the restaurant we planned on was closed because it opened up the opportunity to go to a fabulous Senegalese restaurant called Bissou Baobab...highly recommend it. Great food, cheap beer, horrible service.

Amy passed out as soon as the plane backed away from the tarmac, and I followed closely behind but not for long. The first time I heard about Restless Leg Syndrome I thought it was a joke, then I experienced it this spring on a flight from PDX to Atlanta. Needless to say, RLS made it pretty much impossible for me to sleep. After a while Amy woke up and repositioned herself to use me as a platform for keeping her pillow in the right spot. This move, which I wanted to fully support as a loving and dedicated husband, sparked RBS - Restless Body Syndrome. I fought RBS as long as I could by making minor movements, adjustments, deep breathing, directing my mind away from reality....nothing worked. To Amy's annoyance, she was awakened to me telling her I was unable to sit still. Here comes the interesting part.

When we boarded I couldn't help but notice a woman wearing a surgical mask eagerly watching the other people in her row get situated before plopping down next to her. This woman looked "normal" except for the mask but I referred to her as The Crazy Lady for the remainder of the flight anyway. So it's god knows what time (we took off at midnight and I slept for maybe a half hour, etc) and I look over to see that the only other person awake is...you guessed it, The Crazy Lady. She was WOLFING down a $5 footlong and reading a trash novel under the only light in the plane. No mask, just a $5 footlong in one hand and a trash novel in the other...one monster bite per every two pages of trash. I think I dozed off because the next time I looked over, the sandwich was gone, the book was gone and she was contorted in a way I've never seen before, on a plane. Additionally, The Crazy Lady's window was now the only window open, bringing in the only light into the plane, shinning on - you guessed it, my face. WTF?

Baggage claim, the Peter Pan bus ride to Woods Hole, and the ferry ride to Oak Bluffs were all smooth. This is my first trip to Martha's Vineyard and I am very excited about the opportunity to meet Matha!

Alameda

Today Greg and I are trying to get everything in place for our next leg of the trip, New England.
But, right now we are canning. Greg is sterilizing jars so we can put up some pickles and dillybeans for Jeanine and Adam from the Farmers Market. Yum, Greg is really good at this stuff. Another reason why I married him.
We had a great bbq on Sunday with some old friends and sat on the deck enjoying sunshine and good food. Adam had acquired some beef from the UCDavis meat lab, I guess they learn all aspects of farming out there :) I heard it was delicious!
Midway through the bbq a neighbor shouted and waved to us...very friendly, but seemed pretty wasted. Around dusk we looked over and saw him take his shirt off and jump into the estuary with just his sweatpants. I would say he was 500 pounds and not a good swimmer. The water was moving pretty quickly and he did manage to float across to the other side pretty smoothly. Then, he got stuck. He was unable to get out and it was quite a scene with his friends trying to figure out where he was and then the drawbridge operator called the police to make things more exciting. The last we saw of him he was being swept downstream by the current...
Tonight, we leave for Massachusetts. We are going to fly into Logan (Boston) and then hop on a bus for Woods Hole, then catch the ferry to Matha's Vineyard (misspelled on purpose) to stay with Krishana on her flower and vegetable farm.

Thanks to Pavlova, McMuffin, and the other ladies for the eggs!

Amazing homemade breakfast with Adam and Jeanine.

Sunny Alameda. New York Times, Coffee, and fresh strawberries...need we say more?

Luna de Miel-Alameda

Hello all.
We have begun our honeymoon that you helped make possible with thoughtful, generous donations…
Amy tied things up with the greenhouse and garden at school and Greg graduated from his Masters program, we said tearful goodbyes to the dogs, friends, and fruit trees in Portland, and drove down to our first stop, Alameda, CA on Friday.
Jeanine and Adam are gracious hosts allowing us to stay in their beautiful plant-filled boathouse. Yesterday we woke to chickens cawing and Amy thought for a minute she was back in Bolivia. We walked out to the beautiful estuary and enjoyed some much needed sun and warmth. Jeanine was already in the hot tub and I just had to join in…Adam and Greg made an incredible breakfast with fresh poached eggs, bagels, homemade jams of strawberry (Amy) and tart cherry (Jeanine and Adam).
Jeanine took Greg and I to the Farmers Market in Hayward. We left Oregon before raspberry season had even started and were going to miss most of cherry season so we were lucky to get even more than that at the market. I love being in a place where you can get cherries, peaches, nectarines, pluots, strawberries, blueberries, and more fruit in the same season. Not possible in Oregon. And it was a really ethnic market so there were lots of interesting greens for sale and cool melons/cucumbers that we had never seen, mostly for Asian style cooking.
On our way home, we saw a sign in the window of a house that read, Hay Tamales. Jeanine stopped, kicked Greg out of the car, and he purchased some just made Nicaraguan style Tamales out of the kitchen. Very cool! Gotta love the East Bay…
Today is Father’s Day and we want to say how thankful we are for having amazing, supportive fathers in our lives. We would both not be who we are today without their love.
Today…hot tub, fresh homemade breakfast, bat ray swimming by, now we are getting ready to go boating, and that is only at 11am…