In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.
Bertrand Russell
I usually wait until the end of the post to decide what fun title to apply. Usually some humorous / ironic / sarcastic phrase pops into my head and I run with it. I’m listening to some classic rock while I think this post through, and if you Google the phrase “stand up and be counted”, it comes up with “to make one’s opinions or beliefs publicly known especially when such action may cause trouble.” I think that pretty much nails it. So…
For those about to rock… WE SALUTE YOU.
So where do I begin? I guess the beginning, right?
Since the last post, this little guy came and said hello to everyone.
Jenny stayed for another week to help the new parents, and drove back to the camper along with her sister. Although the campground was technically in New Hampshire, it extended over the state line and our camper was actually located in Massachusetts. So f**k you MA, you canceled all my sites and I STILL got in.
Nessa hung out for a couple of days before heading back, and we were able to get a hike of Maudslay State Park.
We decided to head back to Fox’s Lobster House up in York, ME… a place I tried to go to on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and had to abort when it was way too busy. Not surprisingly, on a colder, foggy Tuesday afternoon it was far more reasonable.
Verdict: very good, but Two Lights was better. And no imitation crab to be found.
After that, we stuck to exploring Massachusetts. Since we were headed back north next, getting in as much of the shoreline as we could seemed the reasonable plan.
First stop was Salem and some downtown street art…
…a walking tour with some historic and interesting sites…
…some sites from Hocus Pocus…
…and Forest River Park.
We also drove down to Wellesley to see Jenny’s high school buddy Chris (no pictures taken because we are dumb and forgot), and out to Gloucester to meet her other high school buddy Sean for a hike.
Next, we went downtown Boston and I finally showed her my old stomping grounds around Back Bay, through the Common, downtown, North End… I mean, pretty much everywhere.
But we ended up not taking really any pictures. Not because we forgot, as per the usual, but because it just didn’t feel like a space to do the typical sightseeing BS.
I lived in Boston for a year and half. I know how that city feels when I step out into it. It’s always a bittersweet joy, a city I genuinely loved that just completely kicked my ass. Going back is like hooking up with an ex-love from a long time ago. Exciting, yes, but because you’re choosing to remember only the good for the moment. You know it’s temporary, but you don’t care. You want to relive that emotion.
I can usually close my eyes and remember the sights and sounds of a city through the excited perspective of a naive 18 year old starting his life. But I couldn’t this time. Between COVID and the protests, it just felt broken. The streets we empty except for police officers readying for the crowds arriving that evening. A few nights prior we had watched the local news as windows were smashed, a cop car was set on fire… we literally watched a group of people get hit by a car on live television. Stores were mostly closed and boarded up. Faneuil Hall was a ghost town.
I’m happy we got there, but like I said… we didn’t really feel like taking pictures. We did see an unreasonable number of adorable puppies around town, so that helped.
The last part of our trip was out to Provincetown, a place I never got a chance to visit when I lived in Boston.
And that brings us up to the present. We moved to northern NH yesterday, and an overcast rainy day has led to laundry, food shopping, and finally updating the blog.
Over the next few weeks we’ll heading out back west, and honestly, I’m very excited to get moving again. I’ve been in New Hampshire since May 5th, so I’m more than ready. As ridiculous as it is to say you’re going stir crazy while driving around the country in an RV, it’s all relative I guess. The posts should come more frequently as well, so stay tuned…