Layover Days

In the middle of the trip, we had a couple of rest days in Boston, and then Rockport.  Here are a few highlights:

While we were in Boston, we stayed at an Airbnb apartment in a weird little 150-year-old building that is the sole remnant of its original neighborhood amidst much redevelopment over the decades.  I picked it because it was within walking distance of sights and restaurants, was on the first floor so we could get our bikes in easily, and was only half the price of all the expensive Boston hotels.

Chad (1) thought the building was probably making more money from the giant iPhone ads on the side than from the people in it (you can't tell, but it is right next to the TD Garden arena), and (2) it reminded him of the building the main character lived in in the movie "Triplets of Belleville"  (a delightfully oddball cycling movie, if you don't know it). I guess we were right next to the train station too...

Despite the fact that it was supposed to be a rest day, we walked many miles all over town,

following the Freedom Trail to subject the kiddo to historic sites.  The major destination of the day was the USS Constitution at the Charleston Naval Shipyard.

We all like the complicated rigging.

I especially like the contrast between the old ship and the modern skyline.

Chad near the communications room.  He likes all the old technology (as does the kid!)

Naptime needed?

Here you go, kid.

What a cute wee navy boat!

The visitor center was full of interesting historical tidbits, including signs that Nim really liked

lots of cool stuff about rope- and chain-making,

and the obligatory picture cutouts.  

While the kid refused to be in the Rosie the Riveter cutout, apparently the goofy ponytail to keep overly-shaggy hair out of the way in the wind wasn't too embarrassing.

We did, of course also go visit the USS Cassin Young on the other side of the dock too.  The contrast between it and the Constitution in both aesthetic and technology was notable. (And no, I have no idea what the kid was trying to express...)

Lunchtime?

Nah, too many distractions to look at.

 Sculptures are irresistible.

The drydock was impressive.

And the kid dances yet more.

More walkking, more nice waterfront.

We eventually found our way over to the Bunker Hill Monument, where, after we thoroughly explored the little museum, Nim sat on the grass and sketched while Chad and I climbed the endless spiral staircase up the tower.

View of the city from the top.

More walking.  Fish sculptures made us think of dinner,

so we headed over to the Italian part of town for yummy seafood.

The ice cream was somewhat fancier than what we had been devouring on the road.

Outside, the procession for Saint Anthony of Padua went by.  I was previously unaware that June 13 is the saint's day for this patron saint of lost things.

We had a good walk back to the apartment in the waning light.

After two nights in Boston, we took the train to Rockport to visit folks there.  It's quite a scenic town in the summer, of course.

Nim was included in some younger-generation fun, having been invited by Evelyn to hang out and see some teen bands perform one night, and out for a movie on the other one.  Meanwhile, Chad and I got to enjoy two fine dinners with the grownups.  Rest and relaxation for all!

Trains

After 5 days and nearly 200 miles of riding, we were due a break.  As a result, we decided to take the MBTA commuter train from into Boston from the Grafton station a mere 3 1/2 miles from our night's hotel.

The kid was happy for a break

and took a nap.  I am told that Chad's shoulder is superior to mine in all ways.

The conductor had us load our bikes into a different car than the one we had to sit in, which always makes me a little nervous.  There was no problem, however, and upon retrieving the bikes as we got close to our station, I noticed a note that someone had written a note on the back of a train ticket and left in the clear pocket on the top of my handlebar bag.  "Long live bike tourism!  Have a good trip!"  How jolly.

We got off the train a couple of miles from our accommodation for the night, and enjoyed a breezy, but short, ride along the Charles River bike path.  As was our habit, we stopped for afternoon ice cream.

After walking many miles sightseeing in Boston for a day and a half (more about that later), we decided to avoid the city traffic yet again by taking another arm of the commuter train out to Rockport to see folks there.

The kid made faces at me.

Happy bikes barely squeezed in, but the conductor thankfully didn't care that they stuck out into the aisle a little.  Vive le cyclotourisme!

The Airline Trail

The "Queen Stage" of the bike trip was arguably Day 5.  The plan was to ride about 55 miles, mostly on the dirt Airline Trail, which follows a section of the path of the old direct rail route from New York to Boston, the Airline Railway.  I wasn't quite sure how this part of the route was going to go, particularly for the kiddo because

1) It was longer than the other days and we would have accumulated fatigue in our legs.  40-ish miles a day really isn't much, until you start carrying luggage!

2) We would now have deviated from the East Coast Greenway, and thus be on a weird Anna-route rather than a more sanctioned normal route. (I'm sure this is my version of my mom's tendency to follow little gray dotted lines on the map...)

3) It was dirt.  Hope there is no torrential rain.

4) It wasn't clear whether the northernmost section of trail would be passable, as the trail development was still a work in progress.  I found some accounts of people riding it on bike forums, generally suggesting that one might prefer a mountain bike.  Being optimistic, I decided that we weren't wimps and that loaded touring bikes with wide tires would be fine.  (I was, however, prepared to swap bikes with Nim for this bit if her narrower tires proved to be a problem.)

After 35 or so miles of that trail, it looked like it might connect to the SNETT, or Southern New England Trunkline Trail, for which I could find even less information about riding conditions.  Like pretty much zilch beyond the fact that the trail existed, bikes were allowed, but the surface might suck on a road bike.  It went through the woods in the right direction, so I put it on the route.

Of course Chad and I were looking forward to this part of the trip -- the unknowns and relative wildness appealed to us.

 We started the day with a wee challenge finding our way onto the trail, as the connection from the road we took from the B&B to the trail was a little bit overgrown.  This leads to the teen being suspicious of our judgment.

However, it didn't take long for things to open up a bit, 

and soon we were riding on a perfectly respectable trail beelining northeast across the state.

We did encounter the occasional obstacle, but by and large this section was easy riding.

Random glamour shot of Chad's bike.  Can you tell how it was standing up?  Clearly it is a sentient cartoon bike.

The kiddo was still somewhat suspicious of riding through the endless woods, but the adults were quite happy.  We were also most impressed with her handling of the bike with skinny tires on the trail surface, which was ever-so-slowly degrading in quality the further we went.  At this point we had moved out of the improved packed crushed gravel surface section to dirt with ever-increasing numbers of rocks poking up through it

insterspersed with occasional more overgrown spots.

Eventually, we popped out in a town and followed roads for a mile or two, based on talking to another cyclist who corroborated my vague knowledge that the piece of the trail through town was so close to the river that it was a mud bog.  It was lunchtime anyway, so a stop in town was a good idea.

Bike shop in town with good window art.  No, kid, we will not provide this service for you.

We did find ourselves back on the trail in relatively short order, and rode right past the tri-state marker -- the point where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island intersect.

At this point, the trail changed from being the Airline Trail to the SNETT, necessitating a quick map check.  I did have paper maps for the trip (and generally prefer them), but also had made myself an offline route on the phone, which was often a quicker way to tell the kid with confidence how many miles it would be to the next potential ice cream stop.

Thoughts of ice cream made the kid happy, even in the face of a trail surface that now started to contain large sand pits in between the bits with rocks poking up.  Or maybe she was just laughing at me saying SNETT over and over again.  SNETT, SNETT, SNETT.  SSSSSSNNNNNNETTTTTTT!

Distraction from sand.

And I suppose there were the few sections that were just old railroad ballast.  Blargh.  Thoughts of ice cream propelled us forward.

Turtle crossing!  

One of the things that was nice about being off in the woods was that there was a bit of wildlife, shown in Nim's doodle for the day.

 Bicycle crossing.

Somewhere in here, we were attacked by caterpillars falling from the trees.  At one point I had one dangling from the visor on my helmet in front of my right eye for a couple of miles.  I sort of wondered how long he could hold one with his little hind feet, but eventually took pity on him and stopped to escort him onto a more stable surface.

At about 40 miles, we finished our dirt adventure and headed into town to find the promised ice cream, which fueled us for the remaining 15 miles of rolling micro-hills.  (Imagining what the teen thought of rolling micro-hills after 40 miles of dirt is best left as an exercise for the reader.)  Still, it was a successful day's riding, and by far the most interesting riding of the trip.  And there was ice cream.

More Rail-Trail Fun

After looking at dinosaur tracks, we continued northeast across the state.

What are we waiting for?

The Rocky Hill/Glastonbury ferry over the Connecticut River, of course.  I ran across a reference to this ferry as the site of the oldest continuously operating ferry service in the county (there's been a ferry here since 1655!), and then realized that I had already planned our route to go over it without realizing.  It's clearly the most bike-friendly crossing of the river for miles, and well worth the $2 fee.

City parks make good places to eat lunch.  We had the second halves of our giant sandwiches from yesterday, along with more cookies.

Bored kid waiting for Dad to get something from the bike shop.

More rail-trail fun for us, this time on the dirt Hop River State Park Trail.  We were still on the East Coast Greenway route at this point, and this piece of it was just a delight.   Good surface, no traffic, through lush green woods -- what's not to like?

One minor hiccup to the day was that it was Sunday, and every time I looked up a nearby ice cream place and found something promising, it turned out to be closed.  We persevered, and near the end of the day found "The Farmer's Cow Calfe and Creamery"  (No, that wasn't a typo.  Ugh.)  The ice cream was cold and yummy and most appreciated.

In case you want a better view of the cow mural:

After reinflating ourselves with ice cream, naturally we had to play with their photo board. (Every vacation has one of these somewhere in it...)

Chad made us moo

so I made him moo too.

Nim eventually got fed up with us being silly

but restored her mood by plugging into the wi-fi at the B&B we stayed at.