2017 New England States Adventure – Massachusetts

In this second post to share my photos from this year’s Most Excellent Adventure…..the New England States……I’ll cover all the cool stuff we did in Massachusetts. While we camped in Niantic, CT, we rented a car and one day we drove up to Salem, MA and then to Plymouth, MA. We also made an amazing side trip to Gillette Stadium – home of the NE Patriots NFL team after we left Niantic on our way to Gloucester, MA.

Wait…..Rhode Island? I thought this was going to be about Massachusetts!!!??? Well, duh – we had to drive through Rhode Island to get to MA from Niantic! We didn’t stop anywhere in RI, but we got to enjoy the scenery and count it as a visited state!

There we go…… Hello, MA!

A bridge we saw along the interstate…..looked like a huge four-poster bed!!! hahaha

And, we drove by the Basketball Hall of Fame

SALEM, MA

We visited Salem, first. I was really looking forward to Salem, but found it to be disappointing. Don’t get me wrong…..it is a lovely little town and I’m glad we went there, but it didn’t live up to the historic hype….in my never-to-be-humble opinion. First – it is very touristy – lots of witchcraft shops and museums, which were fun, but a bit cheesy and over done. Second, we couldn’t find any historic witch related stuff…..there was one “Witch House” that we didn’t go in, but it looked like another museum and every time we asked someone where to find the location of the witch trials and stuff was, we got a different answer – all of which boiled down to “it used to be on {whatever} street, but it isn’t there anymore”……like, for instance – we stopped to listen to a guy hosting a guided tour and heard him say that everyone has a different opinion on where the gallows were located, but the real location is “down that street, there, but there is a Walgreens on that property, now”! So……nice little town, but not a whole lot of historically significant things to see…..unless they are well hidden! I’m told the town comes alive on Halloween…..but, I’m thinking that is all just capitalizing on the hype, too! Anyway — glad we went — here are some photos — but really wish we’d spent less time there so we could have spent more time in Plymouth!

Bewitched Statue was really cool!

The Witch House……didn’t go inside!

Different versions of these were all over town on the light poles

Commemorating the man who gave our flag the nickname “Old Glory”

PLYMOUTH, MA

Like I alluded to in the Salem paragraph, I LOVED Plymouth! I really wish we had more time there and would love to go back, someday! Our plan was to get there for dinner on the coast and to see Plymouth Rock and that was it…..cause we heard that was all that was there and if we needed to skip something, that is a good one to skip. Well…….glad we didn’t decide to skip it……and hate it was rather late in the day by the time we got there! We found Plymouth Rock and found it to be really cool……got a tad emotional thinking about what happened there all those years ago! Then, we found a nice little outdoor restaurant to have some supper and wandered around town a little. It is a WONDERFUL little coastal town with quaint shops and memorial statues and the coolest lobster sculptures painted by local artists. Sadly, the Mayflower replica was not in port at the time we were there…..maybe I’ll get to see it next time I go! I could have spent a couple days there and still wanted more! Here are a few photos.

The structure built to protect Plymouth Rock

Even though you can’t get down near it, I managed to get a selfie with it! 🙂

It is a lot smaller than you’d think – mostly due to erosion over the years

The beach the Mayflower landed at – the rock is just this side of the lower left corner of this photo

Looking through the pillars surrounding Plymouth Rock

This amazing statue was up on a hill facing the bay

Commemorating the Pilgrims

This squirrel eating a french fry was soooo cute, I had to get his photo!

These great lobsters painted by local artists were all over town……I got photos of any I got close enough to do justice to them

I think this rock-star one was my favorite!

Cute stuff like this were all over…….

Dinner……lobster roll and onion rings! YUM!!!

GILLETTE STADIUM

My nephew, Kevin’s oldest, is a HUGE Patriots fan, so we had to find him some Patriots stuff and where better to find some than their home stadium!!! So, after we pulled out of Niantic, CT to head north to Maine, we took a detour to Gillette Stadium. Now, mind you, I am NOT a football fan and could care less about the Patriots, but I have to say it was a quite a thrill to see an NFL stadium! I really got into it and thoroughly enjoyed our stop there!

The stadium is HUGE and it is attached to a massive shopping mall! It was pretty impressive driving up to it.

Their “gift shop” was amazing…….I wouldn’t be surprised if you could fit a Target inside it! There was section after section of everything you could possibly imagine with Patriots logos on it! I kept getting lost trying to find things I saw and wanted to go back to look again as I was deciding what to get Bryan and his family……and I couldn’t find Kevin to get his opinion! hahaha

Steps going up to the mall and restaurants

Entrance to the field

Kevin is a Bills fan, but he was pretty excited to be there, too!

We weren’t allowed to go out on the field, but could take photos through a gate at the entrance!

GLOUCESTER, MA

It was a long driving day from Niantic, CT to our next overnight stop in Saco, ME (near Portland) with the detour to Gillette Stadium, but we still took time to stop for dinner in Gloucester. Sooooooo glad we did! Another location that I LOVED!!! Gloucester is a quaint little fishing village where we didn’t spend much time – had to eat and get back on the road – but what we saw was wonderful! If I ever get back to the area, I’d love to spend some more time there.

We ate at this lovely outside cafe and had an incredible meal with views of the harbor across the street

Yeah, I know…..I posted pics of all my lobster meals in another post, but – HEY – it’s LOBSTER – and it is the main thing I wanted to do in New England!!! hahaha

MISCELLANEOUS

This was a view from a big double bridge we crossed on the interstate – so beautiful!

END OF DAY – NEXT STOP

That night we got in to our next overnight stop after dark…..it was a really nice KOA in Saco, ME (near Portland).