Traveling Through New England (Part 2)

When we last left off, I was describing the first few days of the trip my husband and I took last week while our youngest three were at summer camp. The camp is located in Western New York, so after dropping them off, we drove several hours to Portland, Maine, stopping at some beautiful places along the way. You can get all the details of the first part of our trip here.

After a couple days in Portland, we drove to Boston. We were there as a family a few years ago and did the Freedom Trail and historical sights. This time we had fun exploring a different section of the city. Highlights included a fantastic seafood dinner on a restaurant terrace and a stroll through Boston's Public Gardens.

We also enjoyed walking down Commonwealth Avenue to look at the beautiful homes.

It was a perfect evening and I bought this painting from a street vendor to remember it by. He did a much better job representing the homes on Commonwealth Avenue than any photograph I could have taken!

The next morning, it was off to Martha's Vineyard. We rode the ferry over and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of bike riding around the island. These two pictures sum it up in my mind. Adorable gingerbread cottages with hanging baskets and picturesque white clapboard houses with beautiful hydrangeas and white picket fences. They both just sing out summer living!

Friday was our last kid-free day, so we drove to Newport, Rhode Island to see the historical mansions. They are truly a sight to behold. We did the Cliff Walk behind them bordering the Atlantic Ocean, too.

Such a marvelous place. I would have liked to have had at least one more day there to do some tours, but camp pick up was bright and early the next morning and we still had a six hour drive to get back to that area Friday night.

I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed our week together. It was a real treat to have my husband off work and "home" for an extended period of time. He travels a lot, so to have uninterrupted time together was wonderful!

Of course, we were glad to pick up these three happy campers Saturday morning.

My son was so relieved to land back in Nashville that he kissed the ground! It really stretched him to go all week with no sports coverage and no electronics. The girls, on the other hand, would have happily stayed longer. I guess that bodes well for another get away for us next year!