Centerville, Massachusetts (Cape Cod)

Monday -- Centerville, MA (Cape Cod)

9:15a Thankfully woke up warm for a change, and could hear trees rustling outside, sun streaming in; got ready before STS got up from newspaper; had coffee and pumpkin cake

10:20a Said goodbye to Dee (on way to NY to see daughter and Broadway shows agent); gave her a needlefelted ornament I made, three concentric circles, embr/beaded, because Dee is an entertainer and the outer circles are her captive audience; sweet woman – will leave for us a CD of her/Mark’s singing; total entertainer in her body language; hugged/kissed us goodbye

11a Fast-ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket; “fast ferry” pedestrians only takes one hour, car/pedestrian ferry takes 2.5 hours, saw construction trucks w/ trailers getting in line; sat outside, windy but not too bad, sunny and beautiful, when ferry was out of bay, went faster and sea spray hit us, went inside, spray had high salt content; will I get seasick?

11:30a Was reading Snow Flower book and began feeling queasy/green; put book away and tried to still my stomach

12p Arr Nantucket Island, WINDY like anything, reminds us of Provence where windy most of time; sunny and cloudless sky

Whaling Museum to investigate, but not so interested

Visitor’s Center; while waiting, found advertisement of woman’s shop with handpainted furniture, etc, only open Tues-Sat, darn; asked for map, directions to beaches, scenic walks, and sheltered park to eat picnic lunch

Walked to tiny park, very cute, new construction, sitting on bench, taking food out; then saw across street, the handpainted furniture store is OPEN!  Ate leftover chicken pesto sandwich, tuna sandwich, potato salad, water

1p Visited shop of Jeanne van Etten and adored her doodled artwork; fun to chat with; things in common: blog, art and Etsy; had tiny furniture that I wanted but not for sale yet; told me about two places to visit, Bon Ton (in town) where the tiny furniture came from and, Wolf Myrow in Providence, RI where we fly home from; Bon Ton was closed, but peering inside, lots of knickknacks to see, boohoo

Stopped somewhere for soup and tea; so windy outside; crazy weather; not many tourists in off-season, yay

In tourist book saw photo of jade butterfly ring with mother of pearl body, beautiful; searched for/found Water Jewels store; STS liked the jade ring on me, giant size, modern sort of cocktail ring $800; amethyst version slightly smaller and fit me perfectly $1000 and with better carved mother of pearl body; great stuff in her store; necklace Tahitian pearl strung with diamond beads; earrings rough uncut ruby beads with pearls; brooch pearls with crystal beads cluster; necklace pearls, white opals, peruvian opals; ah-hah -- googled to find she has Chinese master cutter doing her carvings

2:15p walked to Jetties Beach, windy, but determined to find ONE piece of beach glass while here, esp after hearing Sarah at Handworks talk about how she get pieces for her jewelry; thought abt turning back; convinced to go on after coming all this way; got to parking lot; getting sandblasted, LITERALLY, by coarse sand coming from beach! STS in shorts and my pants expose my calves, OUCH!  Only other knuckleheads out here are kite surfers and people in cars w/ windows rolled up; STS said to walk among grass, less sandblasting; LOTS of shells on beach, but nearly same as yesterday; found one 5” conch shell (not as nice as this); small yellow mother of pearl flat pieces that STS said were toenails, euw; STS found tail of Atlantic horseshoe crab (good find!), about 7” long!

3p Return ferry from Nantucket to Hyannis; found seats in center of ferry (in theory less rocking); over loudspeaker, “Please stay seated, rough ride ahead of us.”  NO KIDDING.  Passengers thought they could walk around, falling instead, I read for 15 mins, then put book away, feeling even queasier than before; fast-ferry went normal speed, but had to slow down; ferry went UP, momentary vertigo, ferry CRASHES hard!  VERY sickening; ferry speed slowed; instead of 1 hour, took 90 mins to get back; felt awful; surely someone vomited:  saw man bring plastic bag of liquid to garbage can, yuck; man on seat next to us, I asked if he takes ferry often (didn’t look like tourist), said it’s only this bad abt once a year, he takes ferry couple times a week, grew up and lives on Nantucket, works on Cape Cod; rough seas from Hurricane Igor

4:30p Drove through downtown Hyannis; didn’t get out of car; drove past fish and chips (truffle fries) place

5p Home to rest, read, check email

6p Dinner at Old Yarmouth Inn, national historic register:  delicious Fr bread; STS had salad w/ vinaigrette, stuffed lobster (GIGANTIC!) with corn cob, potatoes; LCS raw Dennis (local) oysters mignonette and Chef’s Broiled Grill stuffed prawns, fish, clams, scallops, WAY too rich for me; shared six layer carrot cake

8:45 Home, cold again

LOVE to travel alone with STS; no need for a watch or to wait for anyone or meet at certain time; no restrictions; love his parents, but always prefer to travel with STS only; grateful he likes to make me laugh; having a great time; almost ready to go home; miss the kitties; in good care w/Anita and Jason; windy like anything here; CHILLY

10:50p Time to wash up now; tomorrow Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory, heehe

Centerville, Massachusetts (Cape Cod)

Sunday -- Centerville, MA (Cape Cod)

While sleeping, heard STS plug in heater next to my side bed so I’d be warm, how sweet is that?!

9:15 STS asked if (if??) I was getting up; ate slice of pumpkin crème cheese loaf cake and had coffee (Dominatto Coffee, Caffe du Brasil, Extra Strong – so glad we got this from Indian liquor/convenience store; turned out to be good as Starbuck’s French Roast); got ready to go

10:45a Leave for Highfield Hall; an even better day than yesterday, sunny, warm; thots on New England:  Dunkin’ Donuts everywhere, lush green trees, tiny wood houses and no big box retail, YAY! Was immediately comfortable outside with short sleeved shirt, not cold at all, car window all the way down; took lots of photos of charming houses on route

11:30a Arr Highfield Hall, beautiful four story building among woods; friendly welcome from host; fee-free (STS left donation); signed guest book, “Lauren/Tien Sng, San Diego, CA” and viewed 51 artworks by textile artist Sally Mavor; stitchwork is perfection! Some chain stitch embroidery appears machine, every stitch identical, hand-dyed felt, three-dimensional, blanket stitches exactly even, wonderful color sense, felt clothing on dolls had embroidered patterning, incorporates driftwood, seashells, buttons, beads, bark, acorn caps, hand dyed embr flosses; work is so tiny, she MUST use a magnifying glass; husband makes the cherry frames for each piece; $2500 to $6000 each; WELL worth the trip to visit the exhibit; Highfield Hall first stop for nationwide exhibit showing all 51 pieces; other exhibits not complete 51 pieces; another woman visiting exhibit, I asked if she was stitcher (no), bought other Mavor’s childrens’ books for grandchild and sewing kit for daughter, told me about shop Handworks in Woods Hole, gallery/co-op

11:50a History of Highfield Hall exhibit, tour house, large rooms, high ceilings, Beebe was extremely rich family, but not like Vanderbilts’ The Breakers; as we left, host asked if I had indeed come all the way from SD, his daughter lives in SD on 54^th St in restored house

12:30p Lunch at Seafood Sam’s (where locals eat); STS cod and rice (“so Chinese” he said) and slaw; LCS fried oysters, fries, slaw – HEAVENLY and SATISFYING! Was served a large pile of small fried oysters; didn’t have to savor each one like when eating Japanese kaki-fry; got to eat like a pig; really indulgent; ate these oysters until I was satisfied, rather than eat until all gone (all gone anyway, haha)

1:30p Arr Woods Hole; parked next to draw bridge; Handworks gallery right across street; all handmade items, pottery, weaving, jewelry, watercolors, great stuff; Sarah Morse (at cashier) makes jewelry from sea glass; heard her tell a man buying for his wife:  old glass better, new glass doesn’t become matte like old glass; friends comb beaches for her; old church blew down in hurricane and colored glass still washing up on shore; best to comb after storms; nothing after tourist season; chatted with Sarah, son lives in SD, she’s doing show in La Jolla in October; fun to meet yet another artist

So nice, Tien sees artwork he likes, examines for ease and tells me to copy

In another Woods Hole store, “jelly fish” made from circles of clear plastic with colorful beads hanging down; tiny art show in a two car garage: landscape painter, weaver, bead weaver, jewelers; at least I got to see! Solar powered trash compactor – need more of these in SD

2p Arr Falmouth, visit Eight Cousins bookstore (children’s books) and bought Sally Mavor’s new book and three older books; Mavor lives nearby; shopkeeper/store owner on way to Mavor’s house!  Saw a funny new game, candlepin bowling – skinny pins and small ball, but looks like any other bowling alley

3:30p Graigsville Beach; collect shells; so many of one kind right where we laid our towel; lots of bright green seaweed like skinny fingers; beachcomb while STS read book; shells only one type is all there is

5p Stop to buy food for home eating:   fish cake (like croquette), mild crab cake, spicy crab cake, shrimp/crab cake, lobster/crab chowder, bottle of wine; decadent!  Back to cottage…

Sat outside w/wine and book/computer; chatted with host Dee about her going back to Broadway to work (acting/singing)

~6p Heat dinner and eat; read book, journal; YAY not cold tonight!

Centerville, Massachusetts (Cape Cod)

Saturday

Centerville, MA (Cape Cod)

8:30a woke up; checked cell phone charging, either phone dead or charger doesn’t work right, regular charger at home, STS checked for me too; changed and washed up; put on makeup; coffee and banana; ready to go; tried to decide about ferry to Martha’s Vineyard, but round-trip was $135, plus bad memories of STS taking ex there when dating me in 1997, forgiven but not keen to relive); decided Provincetown at very end of Cape Cod; chatted with hosts Dee and Mark, both last-born children, music performers, fun and chatty Dee, met their grey/white kitty Mr. Bunny, very soft, feels like rabbit, licked my finger!  They loaned us space heater for evening (right now my feet cold)

10:45a On the road to Provincetown, about one hour drive; so many trees, so much green everywhere, SO different from San Diego, lush and green, woodsy, I like!  Beautiful day, chilly but getting warmer; hardly any clouds, nice to see sunlight come thru trees to illuminate forests

11:30a Stopped at Pilgrim Spring, first landing site where Pilgrims found fresh water spring; took .3 mile walk to historical marker; saw representative spring (how could historians know for sure?!); path thru forest, markers indicate type of plants, including poison ivy/oak, yikes!; patches of different moss like ones I recently bought from etsy seller for terrariums, and in natural setting; wild mushrooms, Portobello-sized

12:15p Parked in Provincetown $5; SO TOURISTY, YIKES; hungry, found small lobster roll shop; STS ordered cold lobster roll; mine hot seafood salad of crab, avo, tortilla (popular food here); sat outside, chatted with owner; on our way out, woman on bike shouted to him, “You have the BEST lobster rolls in town!” and owner said, “Nice try; they already ate ‘em,” HAHAHA!!!  STS saw interesting statue on side street, walked up, was garden filled with art work, beautiful; came back to main street, lobster roll shop owner still there, said art garden/house owner runs business with crazy paint job (jewelry store down/head shop up); went into Tao Water Gallery, all Chinese artists, LOVED work of printmaker Li Wang; STS liked Wang Tao’s decoupage work and wants me to copy, uses pages from history books, period 1919 to 1949; visited ton of galleries, nothing I liked better than these (it figures).  Provincetown has large gay community; that’s what host Mark meant when he said “colorful” – why can’t people just say??  No issue with gay men, but gay art is awkward; lobster roll shop owner outside still watching people, he saw us, I shouted, "You have the best lobster rolls in town!" which made him laugh, haha!  Example of “conspicuous consumption” driving thru town:  a black Lamborghini, top open, engine revving at crawling traffic and pedestrians, driver overly concerned w/physical appearances, blonde passenger’s hair pulled back, big expensive black sunglasses, license plate “venom,” so stupid; saw car parked on way out, driver near his car, passenger gone; another man and walked up to driver, “Excuse me sir, can I take a picture of my wife next to your car?”  Oh brothers; we left.

2:40p Drove to a monument to the pilgrim’s landing, extremely tall tower, looks Italian, what the heck is the connection?! No need to visit; can see from parking lot; drove to Race Point beach instead; $15 to visit six beaches; Race Point is classic Cape Cod beach, grasses, dunes, wooden fences, blue-blue-blue Atlantic Ocean, beautiful; STS read book; I beachcombed:  tiny starfish, shrimp, crab shells, sea sponges, mussels, and lucky me, a dried “mermaid’s purse” shark egg casing!  Only found one, didn’t see any others; ultra clean beach, tiniest pieces of sea glass; not much to collect, or is it federal property??

4:00p Highland Links Golf Course and light house; blue lightweight plane kept buzzing the cliffs; pilot waved to me; went to meet STS at viewing platform; I offered to take photo of another couple also watching plane; plane coming into view above them; I asked, Want plane in photo?  Guy said yes, and CLICK, hahahaha, GOT IT!! SO FUNNY!  He high fived me.  Then he took our photo; pilot came back around; guy took our photo also with plane in background, HAHAHA!!!  Lotsa fun!  I waved to the pilot again; pilot was having fun buzzing golfers too, haha

5:00p Three Sisters light houses, moved to present location due to shore erosion; visited working lighthouse; beautiful and large keeper’s residence; walked to beach down wooden stairs; surfers taking advantage of waves from storms far away; I noticed lots of jelly-like clear things on beach, tiny, soft; at visitor’s restrooms, three surfers chatting, I asked them to confirm, yes jellyfish; I asked what they saw in ocean, seals, sharks, etc., told them I found a shark egg casing, they were amazed; two chatty, one silent, youngest looking one learned to surf in SD when in school

6p Drove back to Centerville; stopped at supermarket for food bars, minestrone, zucchini, bar soap, shower cap, pumpkin cake, juice;

7p “Home” to eat minestrone and leftover pizza for dinner; STS watching movie; I’m journaling; cold again; got a heater tonight!

Newport, Rhode Island

Friday

Newport, RI 

8:45a woke up; missed free breakfast downstairs; packed and ready to leave by ~9:45a 

10a drive back to borough of Stonington where we had dinner last night; shops were beginning to open; we were going go back to Noah’s, but found a bakery, had coffee, shared plain coffee cake, NICE; shopped a little, didn’t buy; looked at real estate ads; most houses clapboard siding and shutters, so cute, exposed electric wires in street like SF; crowded with houses and narrow streets, a bit claustrophobic for us; went to designer boutique Barraza and chatted with woman running the store (not Barraza tho) about clothes/fabric; STS came in and it was politics/current events; nice to talk w/her 

11a Stonington Lighthouse; walked outside; beautiful day; good weather; took pics; went inside, $8 to visit inside and upstairs, plus entry to Palmer House (which I wanted to visit, but didn’t open til 1p), didn’t go; drove around town slowly 

12p Lunch in Jamestown (island) at Tricia’s Tropi-Grille; began to rain so we moved inside; STS had crab quiche; I had pesto chicken sandwich but asked no mozzarella; brought w/mozz so took back to kitchen; my cole slaw was so good, w/bell peppers; some shops, bead shop for matte finish yellow beads $3.50 

~1p Stopped at Newport visitor’s center; got map of town and suggested route to see houses; town busy with boat show visitors

Tix to visit 1 house $19; no time for more; The Breakers, a Vanderbilt home, excellent recorded tour on headphones; 138,000+ sq ft, opulent French-ish décor; ground floor w/ grand staircase (splitting) and fountain underneath, for entertaining; built in two years; many entire rooms preassembled in France, then rebuilt in place, carving, painting, gold leaf, furniture, built-in furniture too; gold leaf like crazy on walls; ornate ceilings; one room with platinum leaf, doesn’t tarnish like silver would; fav was music room; second floor, all bedrooms, had softer colors, different interior designer from downstairs, understated, still had high ceilings, all rooms connected; third floor had some guest rooms, but not available for viewing; top floor bedrooms for household servants

Walked to water’s edge; rocks only; walked 4.5 miles along rocky shore; some difficulty; had to be careful; two short tunnels (one had 2 turns, so no light); at least 3 kinds of wild roses along path; magenta flowers; mostly already went to rose hips; few other kinds of wild flowers; comfortable air temps and some humidity, PLUS my stupid hot flashes, PLUS having to keep up with STS who walks fast and I stop to take photos all the time (more fun by myself, but not on this part, haha); long hair in my face drove me nuts; smart homeowners here have two levels of fence to keep lookie-loos like me from peering into property, public walkway along rocky shore set below homeowner’s second fence, so clever; walked and walked and walked, until we got to Doris Duke’s Rough Point mansion which I really really wanted to see but no time; saw a woman exercising her dogs on her back lawn; small dog humping the big dog, euw; unbelievable properties; Atlantic ocean right at their back doors; most had wide expanse of lawn; no foliage obstructing views of ocean; on street side, many properties had small forests for privacy; large old trees, beautiful; SUCH a long walk back but at least it was on pavement, rather than scrambling rocks; legs hurt 

After 5:00p Begin drive towards Cape Cod; weird to have sun setting NOT over the ocean 

7:30p Arrive at Centerville, Cape Cod, MA vacation rental; tiny one bedroom cottage in back of wooded property near Long Pond; rickety, can hear crickets through closed doors/windows; I’m cold 

8p Drive to Hyannis for dinner at pub; LCS chicken Toscana soup YUM and thin crust Meatza Pizza; STS white clam chowder and fish/”chips” truffle fries, haha, SO good! 

9:30 Wishing I was home, shower is about 1/8 size of our shower -- boy am I spoiled; I’m cold; wished I had my Polartec vest and another jacket; heater doesn’t work or don’t know how to turn on; maybe hot water would be nice; towels are air dried, so not soft; no hair dryer; gotta get bar soap; only watered down liquid soap in miniscule shower; don’t want to complain to STS or he’ll feel bad or be annoyed, yikes; little too much junky stuff in cottage; cottage is cute cuz tiny, but I’m cold, bathroom tiny; hope bed is not soggy like Holiday Inn Express 

Want to read Snow Flower book; hot water is helping a lot 

Mystic, Connecticutt

Mystic, CT

7:30a, STS left for work

9:15, I woke up and decided not to waste entire day; really took time to get ready; panoramic shot of view from 3^rd floor hotel room while weather good

10:30, went downstairs for wifi to check email, IM w/ Serene for a bit; read Anita’s cake dec blog, laughing out loud, SO FUNNY her antics, she cracks me up

11, walk across street to Olde Mystic Village shops, specialty shops, individually owned, no chain stores (thank goodness!), fun to browse, but nothing I couldn’t live without; bit expensive; bought molasses cookie bc watched Martha podcast making molasses cookies, yum; bought art print “Princess” by illustrator of children’s books, Delphine Thomas, closing her store/studio after just 3 months, gave me 10% discount; business not good; no customers like me she said who understand her work, too niche; sells prints, refinishes furniture; much fun talking to her, good energy; French woman; has lived everywhere; asked her to sign my print; she told me about Lazertran product to put images onto textiles, rocks

12:20, STS met me at movie theaters; went to Five Guys hamburgers; costs twice as much as In/Out, but DELICIOUS; “little cheeseburger” $4.89, anything I want free on burger: bbq sauce, mustard, catsup, tomato; small Cajun fries; no wonder Phil Mickelson likes to eat

Starbucks, strangest building ever, two story peaked roof white building; can imagine a mortuary here; GREAT regular coffee tho EVER from a Starbucks!!  Lasted me for hours; good even when cold

Tien went back to work; dropped me at Mystic Seaport

1-5p,  Mystic Seaport, wow, what a cool place; was worth the $24 entrance fee; had thought about not going, haha; hardly any visitors; place to myself, almost

Tried to figure best way to tackle MS; followed map easily (w/o Tien's help for change); took pics so Tien could see what I saw

Love the old way of life (idealize); took longer to do things; laborious; non-machined; hand labor; patina of old buildings; character; original buildings moved to current site; much preservation; wood is weather worn; good light for photos w/ cloudy sky

Blockade ship building: woman caring for person w/ down’s syndrome dropped her camera in blockade ship house; found by time I left

Lighthouse, tiny, replica, discovered I love lighthouse architecture, two films shown inside on five vertical monitors, capacity 10 people; narrated by Sigourney Weaver

Stately homes along shores of Mystic River, favorite had mansard roof, three stories, covered porch

Rope making building: really long; only 25% of original building was here

Saw group of people pulling sail ropes on nearby tall ship; leader singing; pullers pulling and singing in turn

Tall ship “Joseph Conrad”: always docked; used for kids’ camp; sleeping, climbing ropes, etc; 3 level bunks below

Toured Seafaring Village:  old buildings moved into place to create village, FUN!!!

Ropemaking building:  listened to film as I explored

Blacksmith shop:  man there making nails for ship rebuilding in dockyard BY HAND; heat metal by coal; gave me two pieces of what’s left after coal burns away; everything in shop sepia-toned, lovely rough textures

Watch/sextant shop:  couldn't understand how sextants work; appreciate the boxes they keep them in; docent talked about sewing machines accuracy; urged me to see the old sewing machines in sailmaking building

Sailmaking:  two stories, upstairs has several old sewing machines; original early one that Singer company would like to have back; BIG wonderful work tables; want one!; LOVE the workrooms here

Printing shop:  now I understand what “letter press” means, using set type instead of printers; paper has embossed texture; must leave printed paper out for ink to dry

Burrows House:  home of storekeeper and wife; wife was milliner!!! Sewing room!!!  Small house; two stories; couldn’t go upstairs tho

Cooperage:  watched barrel making; smell of fresh cut wood, curls in pile on floor, felt wax lining of witch hazel barrel to keep it from reacting to wood; hand tools

Bank:  black vault, floor cov’d w/ thrown coins for luck, dark furniture, sparse, cold

Chapel:  benches with spindle backs, warm wood everything:  floors, walls, ceiling, furniture, and pulpit

School house: one room

Drug store:  old glass bottles, ornate black iron wood stove, large glass bottles meant for store windows to indicate it was chemist’s shop; next door same building was doctor’s office; gorgeous old desk w/secret compartments; two doors open to reveal cubbies in desk and in doors, like my old armoire

Sailors’ Reading Room:  for “rehabilitating” bad ways! Yellow building with white trim, one story, very cute building

Buckingham-Hall House:  two stories, TWO staircases!!, woman inside knitting a quill wiper in embossed hex stitch pattern, blue and red yarns, decorative piece, ribbon across middle to hold old cloth for wiping quill; wore period clothing; low ceilings; weaving room upstairs; small canopied beds

Greenmanville Church:  ships figurehead at front of church; small stage; blinds 2/3 closed

Thomas Greenman house:  visit first floor only; upstairs MS admin offices; period furniture; arched doorways; large rooms; comparatively high ceilings; can tell they had money

Charles W. Morgan tall ship restoration: climb 2 stories of stairs; FABULOUS view at top! Can see nice houses along Water Street; docent gave me sticker, “I walked the plank of the Charles W. Morgan”; was a whaling ship; docent talked of bad smell of dead whales; “head” on ship had door, pee/poo ran out of ship thru hole, saw woman sitting below waiting for husband, haha; below deck at bottom of stairs captain’s quarters in forward compartment, had Victorian-style sofa and cubbies built-in; first mate’s quarters, bunk, desk; 2^nd/3^rd mates, 4^th/5 ^th mates, cook/?? shared 2 bunk compartments; whale blubber room large; rest of crew shared one large space at rear of ship, all 6’ long bunks

Chatted w/ woman whom I could see from ship’s “head”, haha, told her I could see her feet from above, she was VERY chatty; RV is her home, they drive all over the U.S.

4:45p, EXACTLY enough time to see everything, Tien phoned (heart); what a GREAT time; figured out I really like sightseeing alone; don't have to worry whether Tien is bored; love it

5p, Tien picked me up outside, didn’t have to walk, YAY!

Hotel, ck email, decide where to eat, ck weather, thunderstorms/rain coming tonight; clear tomorrow!!

Dinner in Stonington at Noah’s; dusk driving still cld see pretty houses; some remind me of old houses in sacto

LCS:  Classic iceberg wedge w/ blue cheese dressing, bacon, tomatoes; steamers with garlic broth and butter dip; sandy clams, figured out how to eat:  peel off black membrane from neck/foot and lip where sand adheres

STS:  Shrimp louis salad w/ avo, tomatoes, endive; cod in broth, clams

Dessert:  bienenstich german bee sting cake

Began raining as we left restaurant

Drive back; no street lights here; very dark; thunder lighting up sky and rain!

9:30p Tien already asleep

LCS journaling on Tien’s cptr

Mystic, Connecticut

Wednesday, in Mystic, Connecticut

7:30 Eastern time:  woke up; tossed/turned all night; soggy pillowtop mattress, ugh

8:00 at breakfast w/STS downstairs; microwaved scrambled eggs, two bacon, cinnamon roll, coffee; STS off to work; I went back to room to wash up and set plan for the day

10a Leave room; windy outside; went back to get ear-headband; no wind at bottom of hill, haha

Walked past old cemetery; went in to take photo

For sale w/55 acres, rickety two story house with attic and side structure, so charming

By the time I stopped at a new/used/consignment clothing store (that had new Birks for $30 -- DO I WANT A PAIR?!) was hot from walking so fast and had removed my headband, scarf and jacket

Went over a small bridge with stone wall; pair of long necked white egrets; beautiful three story homes; grassy areas; passed along harbor; wooden covered porches, peaked roofs, clapboard white gingerbread; many homes had names of houses (built for?) and date built; ~1900s and ~1860s

Mystic River Yarns store; 2 skeins, 2 patterns, STS phoned me [love!]

Health food store, water, 2 bars; sit outside at park-like area near intersection to eat/drink

You've Got To Be Beading store:  everything half off; $18 for beads, cord; thought abt walking to lighthouse at Stonington, but girls said it was 15 mins by car; oh well.

Walk to drawbridge, sit/eat/drink; beautiful weather!  Sunny and just right temps; watched man fishing with legs hanging over edge of walkway; wife bringing him bait/food/drink, then walk back to bench, w/ daughter and son or daughter's boyfriend

Cross bridge into Downtown Mystic; shops galore!  Tried Cydwoq shoes; very happy they don't feel good on my feet after wanting them for 2+ years; weird heel, u-shaped, rocking side-to-side, don't like, yay

Watched draw bridge in up-position; long line of cars, horn blew, bridge down; walk walk walk; shops; clean public bathroom -- relief; walk more; walked towards town of Noank but when Water St became dull, I turned around at High St, going thru residential neighborhood and took pics of beautiful homes, back down New London St to Water St

Made my way back towards hotel on Holmes St, stopping here and there in shops

Took Bay St along water to look at beautiful homes w/ views of Mystic River; one for sale (photo); then back onto Holmes St; was getting tired from walking since 10a; stopped to rest a few times; looked at view of Mystic River

Walked back to hotel on Greenmanville Ave, past three fine homes of Greenman brothers

Stopped at Sea View Snack bar; ordered whole clam dinner; clams, fries, slaw; $20+ water; daughters had pale blue icy eyes w/ piercing irises, beautiful color

Tien called [love!]

Was eating my food when Tien came in; plenty to share

Showed Tien my photos, then he went to (steak) dinner w/ colleagues at Capn Daniel Packer Inn

I showered, brushed, listened to music, kept falling asleep with pen on paper, big blue dot of ink, haha!

Finished journaling, read from my book, Snow Flower and Secret Fan, then couldn’t stay up any longer; sleep

9:45p STS home, but I was wiped out and sleeping; later Tien said he thought I was mad at him for coming back 45 mins late cuz i barely spoke to him, then he realized I was sound asleep!

11:00 When he came to bed, neither could sleep; tossed/turned all night, jet lag

San Diego to Mystic, CT

Tuesday

10:15 Mum/Dad arrived; said our goodbye to kitties; Jac helped me get my iPod/iTunes problems settled last night, yay!

11:00 McDonalds at airport; going thru airport security, Tien's Leatherman Micra got snagged; he had to send it home outside of security area: $4 for envelope, $1 postage, mailbox just outside -- as painless as possible

1:15 Took off ten mins late (but arrived early); flight almost half full; lots of elbow room; received water but no peanuts

One hour layover at DC/Dulles; bought $7 soggy panini sandwich

Flight took off on time

Arr Providence ~11p; got our reserved Thrifty rental car, Nissan Versa

Drive towards Mystic, CT; stopped at Wendy's for food; Tien, chicken nuggets; me, spicy chicken caesar salad

~midnight, arr Holiday Inn Express; shower; check email

Sleep ~1:40a