Home Again

Friday, our last day in New England was spent returning to Boston.   We took the opportunity of visiting Adams National Historic Park, where we saw the home where John Adams was born, and the home where he later lived after he was president, and where three more generations of Adamses lived.

 

Last October, while visiting with the Mosbackers, we visited Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and decided at that time to buy an annual pass from the National Park Service.  It really paid off with this trip.  In additional to the two park in Utah last year, we visited on this trip Acadia National Park, Saratoga Battlefield, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vanderbilt Mansion and Adams National Historic Parks, all for the price of visiting three parks.  We're looking forward to when we turn 65 and can get the Golden Pass, which gives us lifetime entrance to any of the park run by the National Park Service.

Now that we are home again, we are anxious to see all of you again and enjoy the fall festivities.  But we will always have fond memories of our three weeks in New England, where he had fantastic weather, enjoyed beautiful scenery, saw a lot of our nation's history, ate plenty of muffins and donuts from Dunkin Donuts (a near daily ritual), and had a wonderful time just being together.  It was a great celebration of 40 wonderful years of marriage!

Newport and the Gilded Age

On Wednesday and Thursday, we were in Newport, Rhode Island.   It is a beautiful seaside community that has been famous for yachts, tennis, and a playground for the rich and famous.  We have had beautiful weather, with sunny clear skies and temperatures in the 60's, making it perfect for seaside walks.

Several views of Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay

From about 1880 to about 1918, many of the elite rich,such as the Vanderbilts,  built summer "cottages" here in Newport, spending about 6 weeks of every summer in their homes.  The word "cottage" is a HUGE understatement.  These were mansions, even palaces, rivaling any of the palaces or manor homes that we have seen in Europe.  These people wanted to impress the other members of their social circles, and it seems that they had unlimited resources to do so.  They built these palatial homes and held lavish parties during their stays here.  In many of their homes, they would use a decorating technique using very thin pieces of gold foil, and applied it over decorative molding and other structures in their homes.  This process is referred to as "guilding", basically  covering something ordinary and making it look expensive and beautiful.  Mark Twain coined the phrase "the Guilded Age", and it referred to that class of our society during that time who were multi-millionaires, who lived a life very different from the rest of society, most of whom slaved away trying to put bread on their tables and clothes on their backs.  This era ended after World War I, when personal income tax and estate taxes took a lot of their wealth away.  We had fun touring these mansions and seeing how this top tier of society lived during that time.

Several  exterior views of the Breakers, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II

The Grand Staircase in The Breakers

This is Rosecliff built by Theresa Oelrichs, whose father struck it rich in the Comstock Lode in Nevada, and who married into a prominent Eastern Society family

This is the heart-shaped Grand Staircase in Rosecliff

This is the ballroom, which reminds me of the ballroom of the Von Trapp Mansion in "The Sound of Music"

Marble House, aptly names because the interior is almost entirely marble.  It was built by Alva Vanderbilt, Cornelius' sister-in-law

The Grand Staircase is made completely of marble

The dining room with walls of marble and paintings of French royalty.  The dining room chairs were so heavy that it required the help of the footman to seat the guests at the table.

The Elms, built by Pennsylvania coal magnate Edward Berwind, was fashioned after an 18th centry french chateau

The exterior grounds of The Elms reminded me more than any of the other mansions of the palaces in Europe.

 One popular thing to do in Newport is to take the Cliff Walk.  It is about 3 miles of trail that goes along the ocean along a cliff and takes you along the property of these vast estates.  It is free of charge to the public, and it allows those who don't want to pay to tour the mansions an opportunity to gawk at these palaces, and enjoy the beautiful ocean views.

Different parts of the Cliff Walk.  These last two shots were taken early in the morning.  I had to get used to watching the sunrise over the ocean instead of the sunset over the ocean like we do here on the west coast

Fall is Here!

 On Tuesday  we left New York and drove through eastern Massachusetts and the Berkshire hills to witness the beginning of the fall foliage.  We knew that we would miss most of the fall colors when we started out trip in mid-September, which we did intentionally to avoid the masses of "leaf peepers".  We have been seeing glimpses of some colors here and there, but we were treated to some beautiful displays of fall colors in the Berkshires.

We also have been surprised by the amount of hilly terrain in New England.  We though most of it was flat except for Vermont and New Hampshire, but we drove through beautiful hilly and almost mountainous terrain on our way through eastern Massachusetts into Connecticut.

  We also had the blessing and privilege of going to the open house of the Hartford, Connecticut Temple.  We just happened to hear about it when we were attending church in Vermont, so we planned our route to Rhode Island so that we would pass by the temple.  It is a beautiful temple (as they all are), and even though the session rooms can only hold the same number of patrons as the Spokane temple, the temple as a whole is larger and grander.  We both felt the Spirit and enjoyed the peace and tranquility in the temple.

Hyde Park

We spent the day in Hyde Park, New York, about 80 miles north of New York City.  It lies in the Hudson River Valley, which is dotted with stately homes and estates for the wealthy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Hyde Park is probably most famous for being the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt.  We visited his family's estate and the house that he was born in, grew up in, and lived in, and where he is buried.  He stated in his will that the home was to be donated to the National Park Service, so we were able to take a tour of the home.

FDR's home

We were also able to take a tour of a nearby mansion owned by one of the many Vanderbilts.  It was used only 6 weeks during the year, and the rest of the time the family lived in several other homes in the northeast.  It reminded us of many of the large manor homes that we saw in England.

The beautiful Hudson River valley with the Catskill mountains in the background

Tigonderoga and Saratoga

We've been in eastern New York visiting some historic sites pertaining to the Revolutionary War.  Fort Ticonderoga sits at the southern end of Lake Champlain at a strategic point for vessels traveling south to the Hudson River.  In mid 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led a group of men and captured the fort from the British.  With the capture of the fort came a number of much-needed cannons.  These were hauled to Boston and given to General Washington, who placed them on a promontory overlooking the city.  When the British, who had seized control of Boston Harbor, saw the cannon aimed at them, they made a hasty retreat and left Boston and headed to New York.  In 1777, the British sent an army from Montreal down Lake Champlain and were headed for the Husdson River.  Their goal:  to completely cut off rebellious New England from the rest of the colonies.  THe Americans had been defeated in a number of battles along the way, but they built a line of fortification at Saratoga, NY.  When the British arrived, there were several battles that occured in Sept and Oct of 1777, and the British were finally defeated and surrendered.  Again, Benedict Arnold played an important role in the victory, and proved to be quite an asset to the American army in the early part of the war before he turned traitor towards the end of the war.  With the victory at Saratoga, the French finally took the Americans seriously and declared war on Great Britain, and joined the fight with the Americans.

Fort Ticonderoga

The outer corner of the fort.  They positioned the cannon so that they could fire in all directions without any blind spots.

The inside of the fort with the officer's and enlisted men's quarters

At Saratoga Battlefield

More Views of Saratoga Battlefield

The beautiful woods around here

It was interesting to watch this demonstration of loading and firing a cannon

 There is a monument commemorating the victory at Saratoga, which was the turning point in the war for the Americans.  You can climb to the top of the monument via a stair case inside, but it was closed when we got there.

We have been staying in this beautiful home near Albany while here in New York.  I would guess that it is at least 100 years old.  We have the entire right half of the house, and the owners live on the left half.  We feel like we are living in a palace!

Back in the USA

As we head back into the good ol' USA, I though I would share some random photos of interest.

I like his positive attitude

"Choose you this day"

This can't be comfortable

The French phrase meaning "For Rent", but I always think of that old 60's song, "Louie, Louie"

I remember on my mission that this is what the French mothers would  always be saying to their children

I love how Mainers express themselves

I guess this guy really means it!