From Corning, we headed to Stockbridge Massachusetts, driving through more breathtaking scenery.  It was still "spring" that far north so the azaleas and rhododendrons were in spectacular bloom, peonies, hydrangeas and a million shades of green.

Stockbridge was another simply beautiful town.  I have fallen in love with the architecture of the northeast.  Every house right out of a novel.  There we went to the Norman Rockwell Museum.  The grounds there are simply beautiful and while several of the exhibits were shut down for a change of featured artist, the Rockwell history and illustrations were awesome.  Did you know he sketched out his idea, would make one in charcoal, and then with colored pencils.  Weekly!

From there we drove into Salem, Massachusetts.  Matt had booked us a "boutique" hotel room in this gorgeous old house called "The Coach House".   It was gorgeous and up a steep set of stairs.  Poor Matt had to again schlep all the suitcases.  We were gone for a month so I packed a lot and my suitcase weighed a ton!

Salem was a blast!  Again the old architecture was fabulous, there was certainly not a lack of restaurants to choose from, and lots of witchy decor, tarot cards, costume shops, witch trial museums and the people watching, I have to say, was in a league of its own.

We took a trolley tour and got lots of information about the area, we toured "The House of Seven Gables" that inspired Nathanial Hawthorne's novel by the same name.  I even climbed "the secret staircase"!  They should call it the winding staircase for very thin people.  Have you ever noticed how much smaller people were 100 years ago?  

Salem itself is full of fun shops, restaurants, taro card readings, mediums, people watching, costumes, brooms, witch hats of every type and color, Hocus Pocus stuff, witch museums, witch trial history....its all there!

Matt found a type of fudge his mom used to make called "panuchi".  yummy brown sugar fudge

A crystal ball.....

And when in Salem, to really get the full experience, I just had to have a "reading" with a medium.  I kept my mouth zipped and let her talk to my spirit guides.  Some of what she said was right on point, but also a lot of generalizations, so who knows if I really heard from Noel or my mom, but I like to think so!

From Salem, we headed to Mystic, Connecticut to meet up with one of Matt's (and now mine!) friend from high school.  She has a beautiful place right on the water.  We talked so much I forgot to take pictures!  Thanks for the hospitality Anne!

Then off to the main attraction, a week on Cape Cod!  The traveling day was miserable - rain and a "feels like" temp with the wind and water, 25 degrees!!  Cold, foggy but we were still enjoying the back roads, the foggy scenery, and cute shops and antique stores.

We spent 5 days in a simple, older motel called The Blue Dolphin.  The room was large, quiet and held the basic minimums, but it was centrally locate and an easy drive to anywhere on the Cape.  The weather got better daily and we went to lots of towns and hit gift shops and antique stores.  Heaven!

I fell in love with this shop, called The White Hare.  I want one of everything!

The owner was a delight!

 

It was too cold for a real beach day, but nearly everywhere we went, you could see the cape or the ocean and there was not a cloud in the sky.  Again, I was pleasantly surprised, I had pictured a tourist trap, Daytona type of atmosphere, but Cape Cod was very much elegant, friendly, very much aware that keeping the history alive is a key to keeping people coming back.  I especially like Provincetown (P-Town as the locals call it).

We discovered many great restaurants and ate some very fresh seafood!  Lots of flowers and crepe myrtle and iris in bloom.  Everywhere I looked was something beautiful!!

After antiquing and antiquing up and down the cape, Matt had booked a last day WHALE WATCHING cruise!!  It was the perfect day, the skies were crystal clear and the boat wasn't too crowded.  I had my cell phone in one hand, and my Canon camera in the other.  I was READY.  So we cruised, listened to the safety talk, some whale trivia, chit chatted with other passengers.  Oh - that was a blowhole way off in the distance!  Nope.  He's gone.   Chugga Chugga Chugga.  LOOK THERE!  A mama humpback with her calf!  Right up by the boat.  Click, click, click.  Here comes two

more! Click click click. A whole pod! And then the big moments - not one but TWO flukes, side by side!  Please Lord let me catch a good photo of this!  I felt like I was a National Geographic photographer!  I was so excited!

So after one final delicious fresh seafood dinner, we packed up, me waving to all the cute shops, gorgeous homes with gorgeous flowers, we were off to Enfield Connecticut to visit with Matt's daughter Barbra and her family. With 4 boys and 1 girl to look after, weekends are pretty much spent driving kids to various games, practices, tournaments, pizza parlors and of course urgent care. Ahhhhh Mom Life.  I remember it well.

We enjoyed a cookout, a little soccer practice with grandpa, stories, puppies, and putting together an ant farm!

At this point we'd been on the road for about 25 days, so we headed south, still stopping at a few gems of antiques but finally getting back on the highway the last day to head down I-95 to Vero. 

We had such a wonderful time and Matt made sure I would be comfortable, so he rolled up a memory foam twin size and would either prop me up in a chair, the car or the bed.  He can tell by face when I am getting too overstimulated or tired and made sure I could sit while he stood in lines, held on to me to make sure I saw the step up or the pothole.  We're both very worried about another fall.  Not sure this beat up body can take much more!  And the things we bought along the way are already being listed on eBay,  His vendor name is nostalgiapartner.