We had a great trip to Seattle, visiting family and friends and seeing some old tourist sites. The mountain even came out for Josh!
Dad Allen’s site should have even more pictures up from this visit.
Travel
18
Sep 11
Zinzinnati Oktoberfest
We celebrated Christmas with the Fiala’s a bit early this year. We had Christmas at Oktoberfest in Cincinnati. It was a great time with family and German beers and food and music. We made great memories and loved seeing Thadd‘s place in the city. We got to go to the Great American Ballpark and see the Red‘s play twice. We went on a steamboat ride too! We loved the weiner dog races, as well as the barrel and beer stein races. Jeannette also got to meet up with an old friend from MIT at the festival – it was the place to be! There was fun polka music and we would be remiss to not mention the great festival food again. We had LOTS of strudel, brats with sauerkraut, and cream puffs.
We have video of every wiener dog race heat – they were super cute and funny – but here is just one and also some of the barrel and stein races too.
03
Sep 11
Lake Compounce
We had an amazing Labor Day weekend. We took a day trip down to Connecticut with Gary and Daniel for some amusing fun at the world’s oldest continuously operating theme park, Lake Compounce! We had SO MUCH FUN! They have a water park (Jeannette’s favorite) and three roller coasters and all sorts of fun rides. Josh’s favorites were the roller coaster built on the side of a mountain that goes through the forest (Boulder Dash) and the free fall ride (Down Time). We did both of those rides multiple times thanks to getting to the park at opening time. Though, the lines were ridiculously short for most rides all day long – they were definitely nothing compared to Disney or 6 Flags. Daniel’s brother and his kids joined us and we had an amazing day. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the yummy fried oreos and the free soda. That’s right, the park has cups and self-serve soda fountains all over the park! Love it!
After our awesome day at the park, we headed over to Daniel’s folks house and had a great family dinner in their garden, before heading back to Boston. What a day!
17
Jul 11
Rest of Newburyport
This post will detail our last day in Newburyport and also include photos taken from a non-phone camera of the first two days too. Additionally, the last two “moblog” posts have been updated with relevant links (you know you wanted to know more about the plovers!)
We finished our Newburyport trip with a surprise Farmers’ Market find. When we woke up in the morning, we checked out of the hotel and left our bag at the front desk so we could do a little more exploring. We returned our bikes to the rental shop and found a Farmers’ Market had sprung up right next door! We had a great local coffees and breakfast burritos and enjoyed looking at everything. The highlight was most definitely cider mill donuts – just like fall in Michigan. After heading back to the center of town, we took care of some people watching and some gelato before heading back to the train station to get home. We had a great weekend. Thank you again so much, Thadd and Shannon, for a fabulous graduation gift!
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- Waterfront Sunset
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- Fowle’s
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- Our bikes
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- Cool
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- No Evacuation Possible
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- Welcome!
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- Exploring
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- Plum Island Beach
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- I’ve seen herons before
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- Gorgeous
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- Picnic Snacks
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- On the Nature Reserve
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- From the observation tower
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- The Marshes
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- Our Shadows
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- Action Shot!
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- Bob Lobster
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- Bob Lobster Roll
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- Bob Lobster
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- South African wine on ice
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- We loved this comfy bench
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- Comfy bench!
02
Jul 11
More Newburyport Anniversary
This morning we had breakfast at a great little diner – Angie’s Food. After a little antiquing, we rented bikes and rode out to Plum Island. At one end of the island, we laid on the beach for a little bit and walked along the water. We rode our bikes to the other end of Plum Island, stopping at the famous soap shop on the way. The other end of the island is a nature reserve (where the plovers are mating right now). We had a little picnic snack – Josh knows the way to Jeannette’s heart… French onion dip and ruffle-y chips. It was gorgeous day for a bike ride and the beach and the nature park. As we rode back towards town, we stopped at Bob Lobster’s for an early dinner of lobster rolls. The lobster rolls were amazing.
After getting cleaned up back at the Inn, we out for some shopping and had cappuccinos and a cannoli at Caffe di Siena. We had drinks and dessert at The Grog before heading back to the Inn where we had a bottle of wine from Groot Constantia on ice. We brought the bottle back with us from our trip to South Africa. One year ago today, we were celebrating our 5 year anniversary with brunch on the Groot Constantia winery estate and dinner on Cape Town’s waterfront.
The last 6 years have been awesome. Here’s to another 60!
