New England vacation (including a trip to Fenway)

I recently spent a week in New England with my wife's family.

We rented the same big house in Rye, NH we all stayed at last time we were up visiting my wife's aunt & fam back in 2018. It's a great house and just a quick walk to the beach.

I had the house to myself for a while on one day and snapped a few wallet card photos around the premises.

Cool wooden ship on display.

I was impressed by this massive jade plant out front. When I moved to Portland from Southern California, I brought a tiny piece of one of these plants and have been able to grow them into a few small plants, but nothing close to as robust as this fella.

We took a harbour cruise on our first full day in Portsmouth. I forgot a jacket, but I was able to borrow one from the family. That was the only day I needed it, otherwise it was pretty toasty out during our stay.

The next day we went kayaking in the bay. We even landed on one of the tiny islands and hiked around it for a few minutes. Pretty exhausted by the end of the paddle. The folks rewarded us kids with sandwiches and ice cream at a nearby shoppe afterwards.

Some nature shots from the island. Kayaking was fun (it was our 2nd time, after Hawaii, February '20), but I think I got my fill for a few years. Kayaking? I'm good!

Then there was a family welcoming party at a local watering hole featuring a disco ball and loud music.

Aunt Steph was kind enough to lend me an acoustic guitar to play for a couple days, though our plans for a reunion jam session fell through.

My 90D Gwynn wallet card had already dipped a toe into the Pacific Ocean earlier this year. A full-on dunk in the Atlantic was needed here to celebrate traversing the entire continental US, just my second wallet card to accomplish the feat.

 

We were in town because Beth's cousin was getting married. The wedding was lovely. Got a little hot and sticky into the afternoon, but still a very fun reception. Good people. Don't think I've spent much time in Maine before that.

Sunday was a recovery day, spending some time kicking around downtown Portsmouth before the trip home Monday. Hey, here's a baseball card related thing I noticed on the bus ride into Boston...

Seems to be an electrical box painted as a 1966 Topps Tony Conigliaro. Pretty cool tribute to the Massachusetts folk hero. (Found an article on it.)

Our flight home Monday from the Boston airport wasn't until late in the day, so my wife and I spent some time in beantown and took a tour of Fenway Park.

Super cool experience for me as a big baseball fan. The guide took us up atop the Green Monster, through the press area, and over to a big museum room with lots of cool baseball stuff. Lots of interesting information from the tour guide. Now I just need to catch a Sox game there someday.

The collection of World Series autographed balls was pretty incredible.

Didn't catch much baseball card action in Fenway, but here's a Bobby Doerr card on display.

The Fenway tour wasn't originally on the itinerary, so props to my sister-in-law for suggesting it the day before. Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

After a layover in Seattle, we finally got home around midnight. It was a fun trip and great to see the family, but I hate traveling and hope I don't have to fly anywhere again anytime soon, LOL.

Ruby was pretty happy to see me after my wife picked her up in the morning. Here she is doing a headstand at my feet to celebrate the homecoming.