John 3:16 Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and don’t forget to smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America and Protect Our President and Military!
Preface: On Saturday, September 8, 2001, my nephew Mark married his wife, Linda, in a beautiful ceremony in Medford Lakes, New Jersey. They have now been married for almost 25 years and have a son, Miles. Then we would plan vacations that either went up the coast and down the mountains home, or vice-versa, and for many years, we had many nieces and nephews who got married, and we used their weddings as the catalyst to start. This year was no exception. After the wedding, we headed out on our vacation.
The irony then was that we got caught in traffic on the George Washington Bridge despite leaving after rush hour. We were stuck in the middle of the bridge for quite some time. I asked my wife to dig the camera out of the bag as we had a clean shot of the twin towers and the harbor looking down into the city, something we never got as the six or more lanes of traffic started to move just as she found the camera. We would later learn that all three of the main access bridges into lower Manhattan had car accidents or that traffic was diverted that morning, possibly saving many lives.
Sunday, September 9, 2001 – Mystic, CT (we toured the Clipper ships, staying at a B & B that overlooked the harbor). A surprise addition the next day and lunch in Groton, CT, on our way to Newport, RI, (Groton, CT, is the resting home of the Nautilus, the first atomic submarine; I read a book that impressed me in 3rd grade, going into 4th). Newport, Rhoad Island (Toured the Breakers in the rain, but it didn’t seem to stop us)
Monday, September 10, 2001 – Stockbridge, MA (Norman Rockwell Museum/Leni/Tanglewood. Next stop fame).
September 11, 2001 – We are sure everyone has a story and knows exactly where they were when they first heard the news. Not sure if it’s movie-worthy, but here is ours.
September 10, 2001 – We stayed the night at a B&B in Stowe, Vermont, and drove past Leni/Tanglewood, where the Boston Pops had practiced a few weeks earlier. We then took a tour of the Norman Rockwell Museum, best known for his cover illustrations for the magazine The Saturday Evening Post. Stockbridge is where he worked and lived his last 20-plus years. We purchased a framed reproduction of his painting simply titled “Christmas in Stockbridge.” Also, as a forethought, it is also a place made famous in song by none other than Arlo Guthrie, called Alice’s Restaurant. Yes! “It sits back in an alley just about a half-mile from the railroad tracks!”
September 11, 2001 – It was another beautiful, bright, sunny day with cotton-ball clouds, just perfect for the next leg of our journey to Mount Washington and a planned excursion to the top via the coal cars. For those of you not in the know, you can drive it, but I wouldn’t recommend it, not even in a new car. It is known for the highest recorded wind speeds at the top. They give you the temp readings at the bottom and top throughout the day, as it can change on a moment’s notice.
The B & B we were staying at in Stowe was a ski lodge in winter. It was on quite a few acres that ran along a creek, where they had treehouses, canoes, fire pits, and the like for guests. The owners were off early for work, but they informed us the night before that the summer help/cook (a young French Canadian who spoke very little English) would call us down for breakfast around 8:30. We’re early risers, so we headed down a little early, around 8: 40AM, to walk the grounds before breakfast. We were watching NBC’s Today Show with Matt Lauer and Katie Couric, and figured we turned the television off within 10 minutes or so of them reporting what was unfolding in New York City that would soon affect all our lives.
A few days later, on our way home, we stopped for lunch in Kennebunkport, Maine. Our final destination was Concord, Massachusetts, where we stayed at a charming bed and breakfast located about half a mile from Walden Pond. The cabin of Henry David Thoreau is situated on the far side of the lake, and the book “Walden” became famous through the movie “On Golden Pond.”
On Friday, after dinner, we took a walk through Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to pay our respects at “Author’s Ridge,” where notable figures such as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Thoreau are interred. Afterward, we attended a candlelight church service in memory of those lost on September 11, before finally returning home to Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. As an added note, it was a beautiful week, all but the day in Newport, RI. It rained, but it didn’t stop us.
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