Our New Home

We visited Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday and liked the area so much that we decided to buy our first house there. As you can see from the pictures it is a fixer upper and definitely a starter home but we think we'll like it. It is in a bit of rough neighborhood so we may have to invest in a fighting poodle and a trained squadron of attack sea gulls. Our friends and family are welcome to visit anytime as we should have plenty of guest rooms available. Our bulters, maids, chefs, etc. should be able to take care of whatever you have need of. And even though there isn't much of a yard as the house sits on a tiny lot, we should be able to find something to do around there
(yard darts, hula hoops, shooting empty beer cans with a bb gun, etc.). We think this is a good move and have decided not to continue school or get jobs because we'll be spending all our time getting this dump fixed up so it's presentable. It'll be a hard job but worth it in the long run. Hopefully, our new neighbors will see the improvement and be inspired to do the same. There's more information in the next post about the neighborhood where our new house is located.

Newport, Rhode Island

On Saturday we went to Rhode Island. First we went to Newport. It was about 1 hr and 45 mins from Waltham so not too far. We did the Cliff Walk in Newport. We did a 3 mile walk along the coast that goes past mansions. Most of the mansions were built in the 1880s to the early 1900s. It was a nice walk with great views although it was really foggy so we couldn't see too far. Along the walk we saw quite a few bridal parties getting pictures on the rocks and they were having a wedding at one of the mansions. I wonder how much that costs? But it would be pretty cool.

Jamestown, Rhode Island

Our second stop was Jamestown, Rhode Island which is an island off of Newport. We went to Beavertail State Park which is on the end of the island. There was suppossed to be great views from there but it was so foggy we couldn't see much. We did get to see Beavertail lighthouse and play on the rocks though.

Rockport, MA

Before we left Rockport we had to go check out the paper house. The walls and all of the furniture in the house are made out of just newspaper. 100,ooo newspapers were used in the house. There was a grandfather clock in the house made out of a newspaper from the capital cities of 48 states. It was a rather interesting sight. I'm amazed at the different hobbies that people come up with. I figured that the guy who made this house could be friends with the man who created the garden of eden in Lucas, KS. If you don't know what that is, google it, it is rather interesting too.

Rockport, MA

On Saturday we went to Halibut State Park in Rockport Massachusetts, which is right on the coast. The state park is around an old Quarry. They began quarring granite in 1840 and closed down in 1929. In the bottom picture you can see the old quarry which is now filled with water and behind it is a World War II fire-control tower. It was a very pretty area and from the coast we could see Maine in the distance, which we will hopefully go visit next weekend.

Boston MA

Oh, by the way you are going to have to start at the first blog about Boston at the bottom of the page and then read the blogs upward for it to make sense. I had to split up this one big post into little ones so it puts my first one at the bottom of the page.

Oooh, I finally figured out how to turn my pictures around. This last picture is of Commodore John Barry. You are a famous man dad! The father of the american navy. We'll have to ask grandma if she named you after him. And here ends our tour of Boston for the weekend.

The middle picture is The Old South Meeting House where the Boston Tea Party began. The bottom picture is the Old State House where the declaration of independence was read from the balcony to the citizens in 1776. The top picture is the current Massachusetts state house.

The bottom two pictures are of Old North Church. It was built in 1723 and is the oldest church building in Boston. It is the church where Paul Revere signaled Robert Newman to hold up the two lanterns in the steeple signaling that the British were coming by sea. The next place we went was Paul Revere's house where we got to tour the inside, it is the top picture.

Boston, MA

Andrew liked the big guns on the WWII destroyer. The next place we went was called Copps Hill Burying Ground which was founded in 1659 and then onto Old North Church.

Boston, MA

We went into Boston on Saturday. We decided to take public transportation rather than drive because of the traffic. It was an interesting experience. First we got the on bus, but it was running late so we missed our next bus so the lady sitting next to us told us to take the subway because it was faster. So, we went to the subway station but got on the subway going the wrong way, so luckily a nice man helped us get turned around on our next stop to head towards Boston. Once we got to downtown Boston we had to switch subways and then get on another bus to get us to Bunker Hill. It ended up taking us about 2 hrs, but it was a learning experience and the way home was a lot easier and quicker. So we were definitely happy to get there. We walked the freedom trail and our first stop was Bunker Hill. It was 294 steps to the top of the monument where there was a great view of Boston. It was the sight of the first major battle of the american revolution. Next we walked to the USS Constitution and the Navy Yard. The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. We got to tour the WWII warship USS Cassin Young.

Waltham MA

Here is where we are staying in Waltham Massachusetts. Waltham is a small town in the suburbs of Boston. We are about 25 minutes from Hanscom airforce base where Andrew is doing his internship and 25 minutes to Boston. It is a really nice town. All of the houses are older but have been kept very nice. I ran by a sign that said that the town was founded in 1636. We are hoping to go to Boston this weekend and explore a little. I am trying to figure out the subway, railway, and bus system to get there. I will post more pics after this weekend if we make it into Boston.

Leaving Virginia and heading towards Boston

Here are some pics of us leaving Virginia. It was really foggy up in the mountains, I was glad I wasn't driving because if it weren't for the reflectors we wouldn't have been able to see the road. We were planning on driving around Washington DC but accidently took a wrong exit and ended up driving through it- it was a little tense but we were thankful for the GPS. I had never been to DC before so i was trying to sight see while I was suppossed to be directing Andrew out of there. He was happy to get back on I-95. We then drove through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and then at last Massachusetts. We were very happy to get there. We got stuck in traffic in Connecticut and New York for about 2 hrs and had to pay $30 in tolls so we are not planning on taking that route home. I wouldn't recommend that route to anyone. I did get to see New York City in the distance though.

Drive to Virginia

After we left Huntsville we drove through the appalachian mountains. We drove through Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. We stayed over night at Andrew's aunt and uncle's house who live just outside of Washington DC.

Huntsville AL

I'm still trying to figure out how to make this blog page, so sorry some of the pictures are sideways. Here are pics from Huntsville at the Space and Rocket center. We didn't have time to go inside it but I am sure that is one of the first things we will do once we move down there. As we drove into Huntsville the Rockets were the first thing we saw which definitely caught Andrew's attention. And for those of you who don't know, we have decided to move to Huntsville. We really liked the area. The city is about the size of Lincoln, so not too big and not too small, but it will take me a while to get used to the roads, but thank goodness for the GPS. I don't know what we would've done without it on this trip. We found a great apartment while we were there too. So we are hoping we get it. The apartment is outside the city just a little bit and surrounds a lake. There seems to be lots of fun things to do in Huntsville, lots of museums, caves, mountain trails, etc. So it will be a great place for people to come and visit. We got to tour the research propulsion lab on campus, which Andrew liked because it was hands on and the students work with and build most of the projects. They seem to have a lot of resources and connections there since the city has lots of aerospace engineering companies and the NASA Marshal Center is just across the street from campus. It would be a great place for him to get a job too once he is done with his doctorate. The professors told us that most students stay in Huntsville once they graduate because of all the job opportunities.