Rockport, Massachusetts

It was spitting snow when we woke up!!  The view from the Airbnb as I had my coffee.  

Radar image.  No accumulation though. 

We made plans to meet Richard and Casey in Gloucester for some rainy day activities.  Windmills in the fog near town. 

First stop was the Cape Ann Museum. I’d read about it briefly, looked like a normal local art museum. But their main campus was closed for renovations. We went to the satellite location where the website said the art had been moved. Come to find out their satellite. Location is a tiny place and all it had was an exhibit for locally made pipe organs. We all found it hilarious for some reason that we had gone to the trouble to view one room with models of pipe organs. I didn’t even take a photo….

So we got in our vehicles and went to the next place, which was the Maritime Museum. It was much more interesting.

They had a neat hands-on aquarium area for the school kids. We enjoyed it as well. They had this cool blue lobster in a tank. The employees in the room told us that they catch all of the items locally and keep them in the aquariums for a month or so before releasing them back into the wild, rotating the stock. (This lobster was in a tank with other animals, so had to have bands on to keep it from devouring them!)

Outside on the wharf, windy, and cold!

Me being silly inside a huge mock up of a lobster trap. 

Next rainy day activity, visit the Hammond Castle. It was built by a wealthy man who had hundreds of patterns, things like very early remote control. It was built as a museum, not really as a home in the early 1900s.

It was actually pretty bizarre. Kind of a hodgepodge of all weird artifacts.  A pipe organ….must be a local thing…

Complicated architecture. 

Interesting mildly, but I don’t think really worth the entry price!

But it was a pretty backdrop for a couple of photos!

And you know me, I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this along the road. I thought it might have been politically motivated, but I think it was just a way to advertise for help wanted!

That’s about it for the day, we came back into Rockport and had a nice mid afternoon lunch at the Fish Shack.  

Rockport, Massachusetts

A dreary day....still quite chilly.  Off in the car to see some sights. 
 

Looking back towards Rockport.

Pretty dense population here.  I guess I was expecting it to be more rural for some reason!

First stop was the Halibut Point state park. It's an old abandoned quarry from late 1800's to  the early 1900's with nice walking trails.

Amazing that they harvested so incredibly much granite using manual tools and ox/mule powered vehicles.

Trails lead to pretty views.

Not sure why this sign is necessary...

A pile of "leftovers" from about 100 yes ago.

Still quite chilly but we were prepared. 

After registering a couple of miles on my watch, we got back in the car, stopped at a little sandwich shop along the way for lunch.

Then a short drive to a trail Richard and Casey had told us about.  Amazing how many trails there are interspersed in all the housing.  This is the city water supply. 

Just a pleasant walking trail.

The highlight is this huge Boulder Vista point.  

Lovely all around views. 

If you're into rock climbing,  here is a place to get some practice.  There are some stainless eyes embedded in the stone from previous climbers. 

We were at 4 miles on the watch meter....so deserved a break. Driving back thru Gloucester. 

Looks like they are un-wrapping some of the boats in the downtown marina. I think  everyone that's not a commercial fisherman has their boat shrink wrapped for the winter. 

I have enjoyed just driving thru the hilly neighborhoods. 

Back to the Airbnb...we both had a nice nap!  

Then we met Richard &Casey for a fun relaxing dinner in Gloucester. 

Rockport, Massachusetts

Buckle up, buttercup...gonna be a long post today!

We woke to a beautiful but chilly morning.  After breakfast at the Airbnb we went for a leisurely 4 Mike walk around the quaint/artsy/fishing town. 
 

I'll just let you scroll thru along our walk. 

Richard says the mooring balls will be full with sailing club and local residents sailboats in a month or so. Currently all the boats are hauled out and shrink wrapped for the winter.

Hard to tell but this seagull is twice the size of our NC seagulls!

Lots of homes with million dollar views!

We got lightweight "puffy" jackets for our UK trip coming up this May.  Glad we got them as they are really comfy and did the trick of keeping us warm. 

Looks almost like a Bahamas beach if you ignore the 40 degree temperatures.

After a little rest at the Airbnb,  we took a scenic drive thru Gloucester to the Eastern Point lighthouse.   Not much to see as the grounds are off limits and the marsh trail was difficult to access so we passed on that one. 

Looking south from the quay you can see the Boston skyline! 

We found a little diner called Charlie's in Gloucester for a good lunch, then back to the Airbnb for another rest.  See a pattern here,haha? 

Richard was out fishing at 5:30am....(we didn't see him off at that hour, haha,  even though the boat is just a minute from where we are staying. 

But in the late afternoon he texted me to let me know when they'd be arriving back to the harbor for offload. 

So we were able to be on the dock to see them come in. 

Richard is in the bright blue/orange bibbs.

A few minutes before, a truck had pulled up on the dock, ready to offload their catch. The driver pulled off a large scale and set it on the dock.   You can see them lifting the Grey crates full of lobsters up to be weighed. Then they rigged and hauled down an equal number of empty crates. They did this several times until empty. Richard said they had a normal day, about 800 lbs. 

It was all very efficient and looked like they were all very professional of course. 

Looking good!  Pushed off the dock and on to their mooring for the night.

We had to walk a few blocks to get to the other side of the harbor.   In the meantime Richard had stripped off the bibbs to reveal his normal  "work clothes "!   We met the Captain and chatted with him a while on the dock. Seems like a real nice guy. Said he aims to spend winters on a boat I the Bahamas some day so maybe we'll cross paths with him again.  

In the bucket is a very nice lobster and a bunch of stone crabs that Richard saved for me!

Richard walked with us over to the Airbnb and we had a real relaxing chat to catch up again.  

I harvested the crab claws, then we took the still alive crabs back over a block to the harbor.  Tossed them in the water and they crawled away.   Their claws will regrow!  I put them in a baggie in the fridge for tomorrow....I have a lobster to prepare for dinner tonight! 

Nice one!  

Beautiful!   

Yummy!  Melted butter really hit the spot. 

Fun day!