The Elderhostel part of the trip

So, finally, the Elderhostel trip.

Monday, September 24, 2007

We met the whole group at the Sea Crest Oceanfront
Resort in North Falmouth. There were about
40 of us and a rather interesting mix of people.

Our first meal together Robert and I sat at a table and
were promptly joined by four others: One couple was from
Michigan, the other from Illinois, I think. A single
woman also joined us. Before the first course was delivered
the single lady, Dorothy, let fly with the pronouncement
that discussion of children and/or grandchildren was off
limits. She didn't have any children and she didn't care to
here about any ones children. She went on to say that she
had arrived at the Sea Crest the day before and that the
food was lousy. I asked a question of one of the other
guests and we started talking about trips we had taken. I
mentioned Kentucky and the Mumfordsville Civil War site. It
turned out that Terry (from Michigan) had written a book
about that area and time during the civil war. The
conversation was joined by Robert and the other two.
Terry's wife is a very quiet lady. She hardly spoke two
words the whole trip although I did get to like her and
know her a little. Anyway, Dorothy suddenly spoke up
and announced the food here is terrible. I responded
with, " You told us that once already and that was once
too many times." Not cool, but she kept butting in and
I was running out of patience. Anyway, she announced
that I was the rudest person she had ever met and went on
at some length at how despicable I was. The whole group
looked at her, sort of slack jawed. She had already
managed to insult Terry and the woman from Illinois.

As soon as supper was over the six of us fled from the
room. We were to have a lecture after supper, but we
didn't want to be anywhere near Dorothy. We all came
back in a few minutes and sat down at the only
empty table in the room. Dorothy was just as we had
left her. Needless to say, our departure from the
room and rejoining at another table was noticed by
EVERYBODY.

The lecture was brief, basically a chance for everyone
to introduce him/herself and get the new itinerary for
the trip.

I ran into the tour guide (Linda) in the ladies room
after the lecture and she asked me what had happened.
I gave her my version and said that I certainly wanted
as little to do with Dorothy as possible, but I also
thought she might have had too much to drink before
dinner because she occasionally slurred her words and
because she was so aggressive.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

We managed to hold a spot at our breakfast table so that
Patricia and Thomas could join us. After breakfast we had a
lecture by Jim Coogan, Cape Cod Historian. The lecture was
on Cape Cod it's history and something of it's geology. One
point he made which we enjoyed. He described how one does/
does not get a house painted on the Cape. You select a painter
and he arrives promptly and puts up his ladder. He then goes
away to work on the current house he is painting. He may have
as many as 13 ladders; this secures the job from anyone else
taking it. You need to know what number your ladder has?! It
was interesting and we heard somethings I had not been aware
of before including a description of how the tidal flats,
like at Jo's place in Wellsfleet had come about.

After the lecture we boarded the CCRR for a journey up
the cape by rail. We were served a box lunch, on board.
The first of many. The scenes were interesting, but I
had a hard time figuring out where we were. The description
over the intercom didn't jibe with what I had seen from the
car.

After our train ride we drove (in the bus) two the Cape Cod
National Sea shore. Robert and I walked down to the beach,
but Patricia and Thomas didn't want to walk that far. We
didn't have the right shoes for beach walking and each had
only the one pair of shoes. We walked a little way and then
sat on a log and just enjoyed looking at the ocean. (I did
have Tevas, back in the car left at the hotel.) The Sea
Shore was an unexpected detour. It replaced "shopping" in
Hyannis in which none of the group showed any interest.
Linda commented that on Elderhostel tours no one ever wants
to go shopping, quite different from most of the tours she
leads.

Dinner was in N. Falmouth at the Irish Village, an Irish
pub. The food was not sensational, but very ample!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

We checked out of the hotel after breakfast and boarded our
bus. The bus driver is Peter, a very congenial guy and the
bus is brand new and quite luxurious. We departed for
New Hampshire.

We boarded the Winnipesaukee Railroad in Meredith, NH. We
sat with Patricia and Thomas. Actually, most of the rest
of the trip at meals and on the trains we sat with them so
that we'd have a chance to talk and catch up with their
lives. Several times they came over to our room after
dinner. We had another box lunch on the train and had
narration by a train person while on the train. After
the ride we had a talk by Paul Giblin of the Flying
Yankee at the Hobo Railroad. The Hobo railroad is an
organization put together to restore the Flying Yankee
train. This is one of the early streamlines. It's
bright and shiny and about half restored.

Later we checked into our second hotel, Inn Seasons Resort
in New Hampshire. So far the hotels have been very nice.
We had dinner later at an easily forgotten restaurant.
Someone opined that you shouldn't go on an Elderhostel
tour for the food. None of it was really bad, but none
of it was exceptionally good, either.

After dinner we had a lecture by Ben English about the
Conway-Scenic Rail trip we would be taking. It was
very late because we had fallen behind on our schedule,
but about half of us went and we talked Patricia and
Thomas into staying up for it. Ben did a fabulous
job of describing the history of the Conway line and
of the scenes we'd be seeing from the train. He
made the era of the original railroad come alive.

After the lecture Patricia and Thomas came to our room
for more conversation.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

We departed for the Conway Scenic Notch Train after
breakfast. The ride was fun, and Ben narrated along
the way which made it even more interesting. This
was the best part of the trip for me, so far.

We departed the train at Crawford Notch and drove
to the Cog Railway station where we had time to
visit the museum and had a talk about the origins
of the Cog railway. The railway was built by
a wealthy man who thought it should be possible.
The local officials thought he was crazy, but
they told him to go for it if he wanted to. He
did and it is still running today.

Going up was not pleasant. It was so jerky that
it looked like the train was full of bobble-head
dolls. It looked funny, but after awhile it was
painful. I took my jacket and crammed it behind
my head to try and keep it from bobbing quite so
much. But, I couldn't help but laugh at all of
us and our bobble-heads.

It was not a good day to be on top of Mount
Washington. It was cold, wet, very windy and
we were in dense fog. You couldn't see 20 feet
ahead of you so we had no view from the top nor
from part of the train ride. None of us was
eager to return to the train, but fortunately
going down is much smoother than going up.

Friday, September 28, 2007

This morning we checked out of our hotel after
breakfast and headed for Essex, CT. Picnic
lunch was served at the station of the Essex
Steam Train. We had a short lecture at
the station about the train. It is basically
a tourist train and the group that runs it
also bought a boat to travel on the Connecticut
River.

We boarded the train at Essex and got off at
Norwich, CT where we boarded the boat. We
had been told it was a river boat and it was,
but we had assumed it to be a paddle wheel which
it wasn't.

We checked into our motel in Norwich, CT and
then departed for dinner at Modesto's Restaurant.
Linda went in to make sure they were ready for us
and came out giggling. She said she thought she
had the wrong day because the banquet room looked
like it was set up for a wedding, which it was.
Everything was white and gold, with flowers and
candles, but all a bit shabby. The food however
was pretty good.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

This morning was our last hurrah. We had breakfast
and checked out of our hotel and boarded the bus.
We made a stop in Mystic so one of our group could
pick up his car. Elderhostel had been pretty
vague about where the trip was to end and therefore
what to do about our car had been a question, but I
had called and cleared that up sometime after we
left Colorado. From Mystic we went to the SeaCrest
in N. Falmouth on the cape. We said good by to
Patricia there. The bus was taking them to Logan
airport so that we didn't have to do that. We picked
up our box lunch and our car and headed out.

We headed to Newport to see the "cottages." Newport
has become quite a tourist mecca. The downtown was
mobbed. Many of the "cottages" were for sale and
some had tours. I suppose there may be a few people
still living in them. In any case it was an interesting
side trip. We also found out that motels are very expensive
anywhere near Newport. As we headed further, it became
obvious we were not going to find a reasonable
place to stay and we were within a couple of hours of
Joy's and Walt's home. I called Joy. There was no
room in their house because their guest room was
occupied. But, I had already located a motel a few
miles from their house. We booked a room there
and arranged to meet Joy and Walt for brunch the
next morning.

And so the end of the Elderhostel part of our trip.