The owner of the motel we stayed at in Rockport recommended we stop by Eastern Point Lighthouse on our way through Gloucester, so we did. By car, the lighthouse is only accessible by a single, narrow, private-looking (but not actually private) road. Sadly, the lighthouse was closed, but there was a nice breakwater that we were able to walk out onto to get a nice view of Cape Ann.

Next, we drove to Crane Beach, which was surprisingly crowded. There were a lot of families on the windy, cold beach (although we didn’t see anyone in the water). Our parking pass also covered the nearby Crane Estate (managed by the oddly named Trustee of Reservations). Sadly, the jewel of the estate, Castle Hill mansion was closed, but we were able to walk around the grounds for a while.

As we were driving to our next stop, we saw a restaurant on the side of the road with a line out the door, The Clam Box in Ipswitch. We decided to stop for lunch. The food was a bit pricey for a clam shack, but delicious.

Our next stop was Plum Island (Massachusetts) where we visited the national wildlife refuge (which was mostly closed for plover mating) and Sandy Point State Reservation. Valerie was hoping to do some tidepooling, but alas the tidepools didn’t have much in them beside broken sea shells.

Finally, we drove to Portsmouth, NH for dinner and spent the night in Wells, ME.

We started the day with a filling breakfast at our hotel, the Sonesta ES in Burlington. Our first stop of the day was Salem, site of the famous witch trials. To orient ourselves with the town, we stopped by the National Park Visitor Center. Afterward, we walked across the street to the Peabody Essex Museum, an art and historical museum. The museum was full of stuff, but nothing particularly impressive (at least to me). However, the steep admission price included a guided walkthrough of three old homes in the area. The tour wasn’t particularly informative, but the guide was very exuberant. After the museum, we walked to the nearby cemetery and witch trial victim memorial.

After we left Salem, we took a quick drive through Marblehead, which the guide book says is where rich people live. As expected, there were a lot of mansions. Finally, we drove to our hotel in Rockport. We ate dinner in town at one of the few open restaurants.

Since we were already in Plymouth, we decided to visit the famous Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims legendarily landed in the New World. I was a little disappointed to find that it’s just a small boulder with a year carved into it. And it may not even be the actual rock. In fact, according to the sign, there may not be an actual rock. But at least there was no admission fee to visit the rock.

The other major attraction in Plymouth that we visited is the Plimouth Plantation (spelled with an “i”), which has recreations of the early settlements of the Pilgrims and a nearby Native American tribe. It was interesting to see the difficult living conditions of the early settlers, but probably not interesting enough to warrant the high admission cost.

Next, we went to the town of Quincy (pronounced Quinzy) to visit Adams National Historic Park. For only $5 per person, we took a bus and walking tour of the various homes of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams and their descendants. The rangers did a spectacular job describing the homes and the life and times of the Adams family.

Since we needed to drive through Boston anyway (I hate driving through big cities), we decided to stop by MIT and Harvard in the neighboring city of Cambridge. The old brick buildings of Harvard are what I’d expect from an Ivy League school. The MIT campus was a mix of old and new buildings, each bustling with students and faculty. I’m really glad I didn’t attend either of these schools; it’s just too cold.

While we waited for rush hour traffic to subside, we picked up some slices of pizza from Ottos near Harvard Square for dinner. It was tasty, but I wish they had more indoor seating so we didn’t have to eat outside.

We started our day by by heading to the National Park Service’s Salt Pond Visitor Center. The ranger was able to give us some good advice about which sights and hikes would fit our itinerary.

We made our way to the town of Provincetown, on the tip of the cape. Their library (which is apparently one of the best in the country) has an actual full-size ship located within the children’s section of the building. (Sadly, the interior of the ship is not accessible to the public.) The library also offered the “best view in town” from its upper levels.

We drove back down the cape to do a short hike to an area swamp. As we started our trek, a sign warned that this was a tick infested area. The ranger said that the ticks are not out in force yet, so we shouldn’t worry too much about them. Nevertheless, we doused ourselves in tick/mosquito repellant before our walk. The swamp was accessible via a raised boardwalk and was quite swamplike.

We started our second day in Cape Cod by driving to an area of Yarmouth that supposedly has a lot of old mansions. We failed to find the mansions we were looking for, but somehow stumbled upon the Edward Gorey House. Neither of us knew who Edward Gorey was, but we decided to tour the house anyway. It was small and probably very interesting for people who enjoy the works of Edward Gorey.

Next, we drove to some tidal flats near Brewster. Valerie was hoping to find some tidepools, which we failed to do. However, we did see a lot of flat beach.

Valerie wanted to go for a bike ride, so she browsed the Internet for the best easy bike ride on the cape. We eventually made our way to Falmouth and rented a couple bikes for a quick 45 minute ride (each way) to Woods Hole. After a quick snack at a local cafe, we made our way back to Falmouth and then headed off the cape to Plymouth, where we are staying the night.

In the morning, we drove to the old mansion area of Newport and visited The Breakers, a large mansion previously owned by several generations of the Vanderbilt family. The entry tickets included an self-guided audio tour that was somewhat entertaining and fairly informative. The Breakers reminded me a lot of Hearst Castle, except not quite as grandiose.

After the tour, we hiked along the Cliff Walk along the sea shore by the mansions. From the Cliff Walk, we were able to get a slightly obstructed view of many of the old and new mansions of Newport, which were quite impressive. But it was cold, so we quickly walked back to the car.

Next, we drove to the town of Sandwich on Cape Cod and visited Boardwalk Beach, which is basically a boardwalk over a inlet with a beach on one side. The boardwalk was actually pretty nice and a lot of families were walking across it when we got there. The beach was less nice and there was no one using it.

Finally, we drove to Hyannis and checked into our hotel, the Seacoast Inn, which was quite nice and affordable. I guess the tourist season for Cape Cod hasn’t started yet. Many of the restaurants weren’t open yet.

As we drove northbound yesterday, I noticed that the trees slowly changed from slightly leafy trees to mostly bare trees. I guess the weather is colder up here.

Our first touristic stop in Connecticut was the Submarine Force Museum in Groton. Located right next to a naval base, the museum lets visitors walk through a (probably decommissioned) nuclear submarine. I was surprised to learn that (even today) enlisted submariners need to sleep right next to the torpedoes. Valerie noted that this submarine is a lot more spacious and comfortable than the old German U-boat that we walked through in Chicago. After the museum, we ate some great food at Chester’s BBQ. (If you’re hungry in Groton, it’s the place to eat.)

Next, we drove to Mystic to visit the historic Mystic Seaport. The seaport has been turned into a sort of open air historical museum staffed by a ton of volunteers explaining the many facets of life in colonial Mystic. They also had a couple of restored ships that we were able to quickly walk through before they closed.

Finally, we drove to our hotel, the Howard Johnson near Newport, RI.

In the morning, we departed the Westin and headed to the Thrifty auto rental near Dulles. We rented an almost new 2015 Kia Soul for our long drive through New England. Thrifty was charging a bunch of money for a toll tag, so we decided to pick up our own on the drive. Thus, our first stop was Reston, VA, where we ate lunch at Chipotle and picked up an E-Z Pass and some snacks from Giant supermarket.

Over the next 7 or so hours, we drove northbound to the small town of Guilford, CT outside of New Haven. The traffic was worse than we expected for a Sunday, especially through Maryland and around the George Washington Bridge between New York and New Jersey. Overall, I think we paid more than $40 in tolls.

Last time we came to Washington, we did a whirlwind tour of the free museums. This time, we decided to take a look at a paid museum, the Newseum. As its name suggests, the Newseum is a museum of news, primarily historical American news. We spent several hours in this expansive museum and it is definitely worth a look for tourists who have run out Smithsonians and memorials to visit.

After the Newseum, we walked to the National Art Gallery across the street and did a whirlwind tour in the 20 minutes until they closed. Afterward, we ate a great late lunch at the vegan Native Foods Cafe. (It’s really delicious and pleasantly casual.)

Now that all the museums were closed, we headed back to the Hilton to pick up our bags and we noticed a large police presence. We also noticed a lot of very well-dressed people while walking up the hill to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place that evening in the hotel. (Maybe that’s why the Hilton was so cheap this weekend.) After navigating through crowds of journalists, celebrities, and security, we picked up our bags and headed to the Westin near Dulles Airport.

The Amtrak Capitol Limited takes about 17 hours to travel from Chicago to Washington. The train itself was a lot like the California Zephyr. The key difference was the scenery. Views of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains were replaced by the hills of Appalachia.

We arrived in Washington in the early afternoon and then navigated the Metro system to the Washington Hilton near Dupont Circle. Luckily for us, hotel rates were very cheap this weekend. We dropped off our bags and then took the Metro to Alexandria to meet our friend Ellen.

Alexandria seems like a pleasant suburb of Washington. Ellen, Valerie, and I took the free trolley to the waterfront and then walked down the main street in old town and then ate a nice dinner at the Majestic Cafe. Afterward, Valerie and I headed back to our hotel to prepare for another day in the nation’s capital.

Valerie and I have been to Chicago before, so we chose to skip some of the touristic hotspots (e.g. Millennium Park, Willis Tower). On our first day, we started the day by eating a delicious lunch at The Purple Pig. After finishing our meal, we did some quick shopping at Walgreens in the Wrigley Building to pick up some supplies that we had failed to pack.

This time in Chicago, we decided to see the musical The Book of Mormon. There were still a few hours until our show, so we walked along State Street for a while and eventually ended up at the Money Museum at the Chicago Fed. The museum was small, but free. They gave out small bags of shredded money as free souvenirs. Eventually, we made our way to the Bank of America theatre for the show. I really enjoyed The Book of Mormon. The songs were memorable, the plot was well-paced, and there were several good laughs. After the play, we quickly walked to Lou Malnatti’s for some deep dish pizza before retiring to our hotel for the night.

On our second day, we decided to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. After packing up our stuff and leaving our bags with the bell staff, we took a ~45 minute bus ride along the lake shore to the museum. The museum is enormous and worthwhile. Valerie was particularly impressed by their exhibit featuring a walkthrough of an actual captured German U-boat.
Eventually, we needed to head back to catch our train out of town. After getting back to the hotel, we picked up a pizza from Gino’s East next door, grabbed our bags, and took a bus to Union Station to board our train to Washington, DC.