We went from Cape Cod up to Plymouth. It was a quick stop but we really enjoyed this historic town. We come down the line of Bradford's all the way from William Bradford, first governor in America. So, it was fun to pose our little Bradford by this sign.
The Mayflower replica ship was pretty cool. The kids liked this spot because they'd learned a lot about Plymouth Rock at school and the girls had read some cute books about the pilgrims coming . After Plymouth we continued North to Maine. Maine has always been on my bucket list. We stayed in this cute little cabin. It was a little humble, but we aren't too fancy. The kids all piled into this pull out bed. They thought it was pretty cool. In the morning we explored the cute town, took a bus/shuttle to the beach and were blown away w/ the briskness of the water compared to Cape Cod. It was sure pretty though. The little ones enjoyed running around the beach in their diapers. They were quite the little buddies/love birds at Mother's Beach!
Next we headed into Portland, Maine. Everytime you are arriving in a new area--there is a learning curve. After a stressful time parking, we enjoyed walking around town. We just missed a Lobster festival, but this kind man insisted we all needed one of his watermellons! While waiting to board the ferry to take us for a ride to the neighboring island, I decided that a plastic knife could do the job and started cutting up the watermellon. This will be one of Bryan's all time favorite, "my wife is crazy" stories!
We enjoyed an hour or so on the other island. There was a beauiful sunset and wedding taking place. The kids loved the ferry. It was very scenic.
The next morning we managed to find one of the only LDS churches in this city. Not a very big mormon population up in Maine! It was nice... then we headed to a cute Lighthouse. We spent a few hours here at Portland Head Lamp and let the kids run and play. We ate more watermellon! After lunch, ice cream and hanging w/ the Roses... we said goodbye to Portland area and enjoyed our scenic ride South stopping at the famous Marginal Way.
After a fun couple of days exploring Cape Cod and Maine, we sent the Roses driving back towards Connecticut and we headed a towards New Hampshire to finish up our big trip East! We had a great time w/ the Roses and it was fun to explore a new place w/ them. They were good sports to put up w/our sub par accomodations and cheap way of doing things... but we sure had some good lobster rolls and clam chowder and some absolutely fantastic scenery mixed in w/ some pretty epic tantrums too! "Flexibility is the key when traveling w/ children!"
Sharon Vermont came after a very restful night and much needed down time at our pretty nice hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire. The kids swam in the morning and then we headed out for a two hour drive or so through some beautiful more hilly/wooded roads of New Hampshire into Vermont. Sharon is very small and quaint. It is the birthplace of Joseph Smith and the Church has a very peaceful and impressive visitor center and monument there. Bradford as usual was a hazard at this site... trying to attack Joseph Smith here! We learned quick that these tours were not an easy task for us to take the kids through and although very sweet, the senior missionaries really wanted us to hear it all... and it was sometimes a little stressful! Note for when I'm a senior missionary... Abbreviate, Abbreviate... abbreviate!
The story of this monument is really incredible. It was brought here over 100 years ago and carved out the rocks nearby. It's one of the biggest pillars in the us for that time period.
This was a good way to end our trip. It was such a cute place and old old town with nothing but a shake shack (where we ate lunch, a country store and a gas station.) Sharon Vermont is definately worth a stop! So pretty... we even took the mini van 4 wheeling through the site's backroads to see where their homes used to be.
This trip was epic and a huge effort of planning and organizing. The kids did amazing considering how much we saw and did that was historical and tours. We have young kids and are learning to pace ourselves, but we learned a lot, saw some amazing scenery, had a ton of fun and built some crazy good memories. Everyone that hosted us was so gracious and we hope to do it again in a long long time!
