May 13th last year was a bad day – The blue side
of Manchester were celebrating a last second goal which gave them their 1st
Premier league title of which United came second. This year it is a jolly day
with United Championship winning team, celebrating their way through the city
on an open top bus, whilst Roberto Mancini is unceremoniously kicked in his
tiny Italian balls and thrown from the parapet of The City of Manchester
Stadium. He has been sacked for giving city their 3rd best season in
30 years. What a stupid football club they are!
Anyway for me it was also a jolly day as I finally left
Winnipeg again on my quest to visit all 50 states of the USA. I really should
have organised things better when I started the quest as the 8 remaining states
aren’t exactly next to each other and one of them is actually ABOVE Canada!
Yep, I still have to visit Alaska.
Anyway today was spent mainly in planes – travelling first
to Toronto and then Onwards to Boston – close to two of my virgin states –
Rhode Island and Connecticut. I loved flying before today but now I’m not so
sure..... I’ll explain why.
Whilst changing planes in Toronto, I saw two little kids
pulling faces and racing against each other in the airport. One was running
along pulling his bag behind him and he kept turning around to see his best
friend trying to pass people on the moving walkway – causing himself to fall
over, make quick apologies and then push past other people. Both of them were
thoroughly enjoying themselves and had huge childish grins on their little
faces...... However, they weren’t little kids they were grown men and as grown
men, I could tell what job they did: - They were wearing the uniform of airline
pilots!! Ha-ha!! I can imagine flying in their plane – no doubt with whoopee
cushions hidden in the flight deck and happy meals instead of airplane food.. I
can just see one of them now, moving the plane forward 5 feet every time his
mate tries to get on board!! In fact, I
think I do want to fly on their plane – I like the fact that they didn’t give a
shit who saw them having fun and messing about like children – why should they
be serious all the time – It would be a lot more fun flying with them than with
some planes I have been on – and as they like racing so much, they may arrive
on time!!
After a day’s travelling I settled down in a cheap hotel
about an hour drive south of Boston and slept well before a day out today. I
was travelling over to Martha’s Vineyard.
Now, if you haven’t heard of Martha’s Vineyard I will
explain it to you. It is a small island just off the coast of Massachusetts. It’s
about 45 minutes by ferry from the small port of Woods Hole. The Island has
hundreds of small coloured cottages in the town of Oak Bluffs, which grew around
what was originally a campground. Nearly all of them was empty as the inhabitants hadnt yet returned for their summer. They al lhad rocking chairs outside though and I was tempted to sit and rock for a while, but it felt a bit like a mini ghost town, so I moved on. It’s a quaint little place with nice bays and
beaches and is often visited by rich and famous as well as the odd president!
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| Weird boat houses |
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| Also the name of the Ferry |
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| A good windy day for Kite Surfing |
I arrived right at the start of the summer season, along
with two types of people on the ferry – Day visitors like myself and people who
‘lived’ there during the summer season and were returning ‘home’ after winter.
This is the major problem with Martha’s Vineyard – nobody seems to be there!!
Nearly everyone I saw in a 7 mile, 4 hour stroll around the island had come on
the same ferry with me! Most of the restaurants, shops and cafes were shut till
the summer season and even the tourist attractions are only open on weekend
afternoons till then. At least there were a couple of kite surfers to watch!
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| Anyone for a bit of Cottaging? |
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| Rock off!! Ghost town. |
Like I say, it’s a lovely place but it made me think of
Skegness!! Both here and Skegness have a population of fewer than 20,000 which
grows well over 100,000 in summer. Both have quaint little weird cottages (my
mum and dad’s house for a start!!) Skegness even has a mini village which probably has more people living in it than Marthas, even though the houses are only a foot tall!! It’s hard to get to both places – by ferry
to the Vineyard and the A52 to Skegness!! Ha-ha. Finally, both places have long
stretches of windswept beaches – I even saw a jolly fisherman, catching a fish
on one beach here today (Skegness has a jolly fisherman as a mascot, for those
that didn’t know). I actually think that there is more going on in Skegness out
of season, as today I found a couple of shops open and not much more. It’s
obviously warmer here in The Vineyard, but it would be a hard choice between
here and Skegness as to which I prefer!
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| Skegness or Marthas Vineyard? |
One weird thing I did notice as I walked back to the ferry
was that there are literally hundreds of liquor bottles thrown into the road
side bushes. I was stumbling across them every few feet and most of them were
of the tiny type that you find in Hotel fridges. Either someone has a real
drink drive problem here or it’s some kind of tradition to throw them out of
your car as you head home! I decided after this discovery to rename Martha’s
Vineyard. From now on, in my head anyway, it shall be called Martha’s Vodka
Hovel!!
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| I had to look through the window to see The Flying Horses Carousel - Americas oldest |
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| Vodka bottle! |
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| More Booze bottles |
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| There were many many more!! |
So its day three and
a day trip to Connecticut before a coastal drive and stopover in Rhode Island.
I couldn’t decide where to visit in Connecticut until I saw that there was a
place called ‘Mystic’, so that was decided and I spent a pleasant couple of
hours there wandering around the town and taking a quick look around the Mystic
Seaport, which has loads of different boats and even a paddle steamer, which
unfortunately for me wasn’t doing the trips up and down the river today.
Anyway, it’s a nice little town and I enjoyed my stay there before I headed
back eastwards along the coast to my overnight stop in Newport, Rhode Island. I
chose Newport, as it has the same name as the town I lived in when I was 3!! I
just arrived here this afternoon and got wet getting into the hotel as I
arrived in the rain. It’s been going on for ages now and so I will veg out for
the evening and venture out tomorrow for a look around – It’s promised to be
sunny tomorrow!!
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| Entering Connecticut - 43 done!! |
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| Boat |
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| The steamboat wasnt running! |
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| State 44 - Into Rhode Island |
One final note -
When I got by bag out of the back of the hire car - I noticed a little yellow tag. It glows in the dark and is a safety device to help out if someone accidentally gets locked in the boot!! Haahaa, you would have to be a bloody midget or a gremlin to accidentally fall into the boot of this car!! Bloody americans eh!! What next - are they going to have life belts by the car drinks holder in case you accidentally fall into your soda? Actually thinking about that, it is entirely possible with the size of drinks over here. Hmm, maybe thats actually a good idea!!
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| See that tag? |
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| Help - Im stuck in the trunk (Boot) |
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