Back in Boston and I have finally been shamed into
writing and update - about time, I know. We got
our girls back on Wednesday night after arriving in
Boston the day before in drizzling rain. It
was amazing to us both how desperately we missed them.
As they walked confidently up the jetway, they seemed to
have grown taller and more mature during their two weeks
in Seattle. Thanks a million to Camp Gran and
Gramps and Camp Heidenreich. We went right back to
Zia and had a tacos for their welcome home dinner.
We
had a whole day for sightseeing so we walked over to
Bunker Hill. That famous battleground where a
ragtag bunch of revolutionary farmers slapped around the
baddest army in the world. "Don't fire until you
see the whites of their eyes". We followed the
girls up the 294 steps to the top of the monument which
looks just like a smaller version of the Washington
monument. As I write this, my legs are sore.We
took the dinghy up the Charles River to Cambridge for
lunch and ice cream. Afterwards, we found a great
playground near the river where our dinghy was tied off.
The girls were whooping it up and having a good
time when a guy on a park bench started yelling "YOU
CAN'T CONTROL YOUR CHILDREN" at the top of his lungs.
The guy was waving his arms around and was obviously
mentally challenged. As we walked away I tried to
tell him to be quiet but it came out as "SHUT YOUR PIE
HOLE". Then Christy yelled at me for yelling at a
homeless guy and the girls were having the time of their
lives watching the adults behaving like kids.
Friday morning we were getting ready to leave for
Provincetown, about 50 miles southeast of Boston but we
got blocked in by the Constitution. She only goes
out about twice a year when they load her up with suits
from the city council and other VIPs. The security
was heavy with a bunch of police and Coast Guard boats
surrounding her. The Constitution has no engine so
they had a couple of tugs take her out of the slip.
What a magnificent ship.
The sail to Provincetown started out in light conditions
but that was fine for us. As we were sailing along
we saw a waterspout a few hundred yards off the
starboard bow. WHALE!! we all ran up and
watched as the whale spouted 3 or 4 times. We were
not close enough to tell but I have been told that the
spume smells like fish. The wind finally filled in
and we really started moving. We blew right past a
few boats that had motored by us hours earlier when we
were sailing in the light air. Christy
nonchalantly decided to start school in the middle of
the passage as we were sailing along at 9 knots.
The girls were eager to go and they devoured their first
math lesson with very little input from us. In the
middle of school, a whale surfaced crossing right
in front of us. I yelled down and we all watched,
cringing as the whale went right underneath us, it was
huge. We didn't hit it thank goodness and we got a
full view of its huge tale out of the water as it came
out the other side. Absolutely humbling.
They are such graceful creatures.
Happy Labor Day to everyone!
Joe and ChristyNext entry
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Many thanks to our
friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up
the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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