Friday, September 29, 2006 Montreal, QC to Toronto, OT

Raining in Montreal this morning, so we decided to skip a stroll through the botanical garden and hit the road bound for Toronto (about 500km - 6hrs). It's definitely fall here, the colors along the freeway are spectacular in some places. Stopped for a quick lunch at a place called Ogies Cafe & Deli in Brockville, Ontario. It's the kind of place where the women behind the counter ask you if you want butter and mayonnaise on you sandwich. "Neither, thank you." This really throws them for a loop and they look at you as if you're from another planet. Good thing we have one more night in Toronto before we fully join the ranks of the mid-west, surrounded by mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and potato chips. Not that there's anything wrong with that??? Landed in Toronto, it's 5pm, and we're headed out to visit the Museum of the History of Hockey . . . just kidding!

We did visit the CN Tower, which is one of the tallest towers in the world (don't they all say that?) Of course, it comes with a rotating restaurant on the top and several observation decks. It was tall. One fascinating thing was a section of one of the observation decks that had a glass bottom. One could step onto the glass, looking far down below to the ground. Since I'm afraid of heights and Brett is familiar with the properties of glass, both of us were nervous to walk on it. My palms were sweating and my heart beating. We watched people for a while around the glass. Most of the adults were very nervous about stepping out onto it, but the children were fear-free. They ran on the glass, they jumped on the glass, and they had to be dragged off of the glass. I'm conflicted about whether or not the adults were smart or just sadly overly cautious.

Thursday, September 28, 2006 Montreal, QC

We left Quebec City and drove to Montreal. Our Quebec City inn keeper told us that Montreal is to Quebec City what New York is to Boston. We appreciated the warning. We spent the day walking from one end of Montreal to the other, visited multiple catherdrals, which is appropriate since this city was originally established as a religious center. It's definitely a city. We had considered staying two nights, but decided to keep it to one and move on to the next destination, Toronto. We had a great sushi dinner at Kaizen http://www.kaizensushibar.com/Kaizen.html and are staying at the Hotel Meridian http://www.versailleshotels.com/, which is a little out of the fray, but it works.

Afternoon, Wednesday, September 27, 2006 Quebec City, QC

While in Quebec City, we stayed at a great little B&B, the Hotel Maison du Fort http://www.hotelmaisondufort.com/ . Marielle Roy, the inn keeper, was very friendly, our room was comfortable and clean, and even though the inn is conveniently located in the upper part of the old city, it sits on a very quiet street, which is much appreciated. Marielle’s two cats keep an eye on the comings and goings of patrons.

The weather was spectacular on Wednesday and we spent the day enjoying the city and the sun. In the morning we went up to the Citadel and took a tour of the barracks and several small military museums. It’s still a working military site, so access is only available through tours. The view from the Citadel was worth suffering through 60 minutes of talk of battles, bayonets, and barbarism. In case you haven’t heard, they built this citadel to protect themselves from us . . . that’s right, those restless and uncooperative Americans! At least that was the story from our entertaining, francophile tour guide, Remi, who had a decidedly unmilitary air, in dreadlocks, beads, and feathers.

The Fodor’s book cites the justification for building the citadel was to protect the newly arrived British from “French retaliations.” I see some issues here, yet another example of the existential crisis of the Québécois. Even reading the local paper, there was a full page article on the lack of agreement surrounding the definition of what it means to be Canadian. Time to move on folks!!! We had afternoon tea at Chateau Frontenac, owned now by Fairmont Hotels. “Quebec’s most celebrated landmark, this imposing green-turreted castle with a copper roof stands on the site of what was the administrative and military headquarters of New France.” It was built in 1893 by New York architect Bruce Price, which sounds like such a contemporary name to me. I didn’t know they had guys named “Bruce” in the late 1800’s. We made a mistake here and signed up for a tour of the hotel, hoping to see some secret rooms or architectural features. What we got was a young girl dressed in 1800’s garb, who was overly enthusiastic about all of us pretending we were part of an 1800’s cleaning crew. The tour took us through various floors of the hotel, into a HOTEL ROOM (lucky us!), and through the ballroom, which was set up for a business meeting, ugly blue hotel chairs and projection screens. I certainly haven’t seen enough of that in the last four years! The day was saved though by a walk on the terrace overlooking the St. Lawrence River as the sun began to set. And now for the food . . . . Dinner was fabulous! We dined at Le Sait-Amour, a French restaurant co-owned by chef Jean-Luc Boulay. We were very tempted by the tasting menu, but decided on more conservative choices, especially in light of all the fine dining we’ve been doing! Brett ordered the table d’hote (prix fix) menu which included four courses. He started with a pureed vegetable soup that was great! Layered with procuitto on the bottom of the bowl, pureed root vegetables, and a trail of basalmic vinegar topping it off, it provided a warm and comfort food oriented start to the evening. His next course was a duck trio – salted, smoked, and roasted. The salted duck was incredible and is definitely something I will look for to add to antipasto plates in the future. His main dish included both medallion of veal and a filet mignon, both of which he describes as “perfect.” Desert was included with his meal and was a mousse, with a layer of apple puree. I thought it was an odd combination, but Brett enjoyed it. I ordered a la carte and was very pleased with my choices. I started with an appetizer of tiny asparagus, a touch of country cheese, and a quail egg. The presentation was artful and although, it could have been a little warmer when it reached the table, it was still tasty. My main course was a peppered rack of lamb with a caper brown sauce. It was fabulous and the pepper rub did a good job of balancing the lamb, which I sometimes find a bit strong. We washed it all down with a 2000 St. Emillion grand crus from Chateau Haut-Segottes. This was a perfect end to a visit in this beautiful city. We would love to return here and spend more time exploring the area outside the city walls.

Morning, Wednesday, September 27, 2006 Quebec City

We're spending the day in Quebec City, but wanted to give you an illustration of where we've been so far. We've driven almost 2,000 miles and apprently have done little backtracking . . . oops! We've been on the road for 12 days, but could have driven from Boston to Quebec City directly in about 6 hours and 45 minutes, but we would have missed so much!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006, Notre Dame du Lac, NB to Quebec City, QC

We awoke this morning to a beautiful view of the lake and a little rain. We found the "good"restaurant in town for breakfast, tried valiantlyly to put our french to practice, and convinced the proprietor of Dolce Vita to fix us breakfast even though we weren't staying at her inn. This was a difficult way to start the morning, considering we hadn't yet had any coffee and we HAD TO SPEAK FRENCH. Someone forgot to remind us that they speak French here and it's a DIFFERENT COUNTRY! The ignorant American raises its ugly head. I had no idea that Canada was "such"a different country.

After driving into Quebec City this morning, we spent a good portion of the afternoon at the Musee de la Civilisation, learning about the history of Canada and the existential crisis under which the Quebecoise suffer. Those darn francophones and if they aren't bad enough, what about those damn loyalists? How could we have lived so close to one another for so many years and still be so different? Why haven't they assimilated? Drank of the dark elixer, Coca Cola? I love these people!

We visited a great jewelry place this afternoon and came away with some new finds made by a local artist, Sonia Ferland, - yeah!!! Dinner, by suggestion of the very friendly salesperson, was at Les Freres de la Cote, "A delightful atmosphere where customers are undaunted by elbow to elbow contact in a festive ambiance." Take that as you will. We're staying at a great little inn, Hotel Maison du Fort, http://www.quebecweb.com/maisondufort/introang.html. Marielle is the hostess at the inn and she has been so friendly and helpful, as have her two very friendly cats. Photos to come soon. Quebec is a beautiful and it really feels as if we are in a European city.

Monday, September 25, 2006, PEI to Notre Dame du Lac, NB

Today we finally left the east (right) coast. We drove off PEI and paid the exorbitant confederation bridge toll of $40.50 CD. I guess theyÂ’re still paying for that baby! WeÂ’re taking the Transcanadian Highway #2, which follows the US Canadian boarder over the top of Maine, along the St. John River, and through Fredericton (the seat of New Brunswick) to Grand Falls. Fredericton was established by the French as St. AnneÂ’s point in 1642, taken over by the British in the mid-1700Â’s, and letter settled by the Loyalists as they fled the American Revolution. The St. John River is similar to the size of the Columbia, but with gentle sloping banks instead of a gorge.

We drove for most of the day, stopping briefly in Grand Falls after reading about magnificentcint falls, but finding them somewhat less tmagnificentcant. We continued driving and spent the night at a little roadside motel (40Â’s style efficiency units). There are many of these little road side motels along the route. This one came without XXX Dancers. We considered camping, but once again the forecast of rain convinced us otherwise.

The motel, Auberge Marie Blanc (sounds much more exotic than it was), was suggested to me on a tripadvisor forum and turned out to have an interesting story. Apparently the main house, called the Gray Lodge, was built in 1905 by a New York lawyer as a hunting lodge and to hide his mistress, Marie Melford Blanc Charlier. Marie Blanc was a "well educated and mysterious lady ahead of her time, born in Martinique to European parents." When her affair with the lawyer ended, she sued him for possession of the estate and somehow won, living out the rest of her life in the lodge. At some point they current owners built the efficiency suites which have a beautiful view of the lake and they continue to run it as an inn.

We at dinner at a twilight zone diner called Visions, not the good kind. We ordered the prix fix meal, which was all around scary. My Caesar salad was sloppy with dressing and heaps of mystery cheese. Brett had bbq chicken that looked edible. They provided home made bread for which we received instructions to "take a slice out of the bag and heat it on the antique stove" There were tongs provided for turning the bread and a sign that instructed us to put the butter on the bread after it was heated. It seemed like a fire or burning hazard to me, there were no signs warning patrons to toast the bread at their own risk. The salad bar, which I carefully avoided, contained mushy cornishon, pearl onions, iceberg lettuce, mystery grated cheese, and "French" salad dressing, yum! This was the only restaurant in the town, Notre Dame du Lac, that was open though. The motel proprietor told us that the "good" restaurant was closed on Monday nights. This motel was definitely multiple steps down from our previous stops, but it was quiet and clean, and we slept well.

Sunday, September 24, 2006 Stanhope, PEI

Spent the day touring the northern shore of PEI. Took a hike on Cavendish Beach (Homestead Trail), enjoying the dunes, the bird sightings (several herons), and just avoided the oncoming rains.

The north shore is dotted with little lighthouses, of which Brett took many photos. It is also apparently littered with wrecked ships. I’m assuming the lighthouses were added after the wrecks. We also decided to rough it for one more night while we checked out the Stanhope Beach Resort, a remodeled version of an 1800’s beach resort.

There are wonderful photos and antique furniture throughout the inn. It’s very windy and stormy out at the moment, so we’re happily enjoying a hot cup of tea and feeding our internet addiction.

We’ve suddenly realized that we’re still a long way from Colorado Springs, so tomorrow is going to be a dedicated driving day. We’re hoping to drive to Grand Falls, New Brunswick which is about 7.5 hours away.

Saturday, September 23, 2006 Alma to PEI

Drove from Alma to Prince Edward Island (PEI) today and finally saw our first moose!!! As we drove to the Cape Enrage lighthouse just outside of Alma, Brett noticed a very large moose (compared to the small moose?) bounding through a field off to the side of the road. Finally, after countless warnings from the Mainers I've worked with over the last four years, I finally got to see a moose. Very exciting!












To reach PEI, we drove across the 9 mile Confederation Bridge. Until recently, one had to take a ferry to reach the island, but the bridge has changed that and fullfilled a promise to the islanders to improve access from the mainland. We're staying at the Great George Inns in Charlottetown, PEI. It's right next door to the PEI Probation Office, so I should feel right at home! This is the largest city on the island and the seat of the province. Now for dinner of PEI mussels and Malpeque oysters as fresh as they can be!

Friday, September 22, 2006 Fundy National Park & Alma, NB

We awoke on Friday morning, expecting a view of the ocean right outside our room, only to discover that Alma apparently has the notariety of having the highest tides in the world - 56ft. When the tide is out, it's 2/3 mile from the shore, leaving the view from the hotel a muddy expanse of nothing. The scallop boats sit in the sand at the dock until the water returns (supposedly twice a day), but we never saw the water actually reach the shore.

In an attempt to make up for too much time spent in the car during the last few days, we spent the entire day on several hikes in Fundy National Park. Visited a covered bridge and several falls. We were thrilled to see that by the end of the day we had hiked about 9 km, but saddened to discover, upon conversion, that that was only about 5.5 miles. Especially, as our legs felt as though we had gone much further . . . damn it, there were some hills involved!













No moose sighting yet.

Dinner at the Parkland Village Inn where the Casey's are the innkeepers and their son is the restaurant chef. I had local scallops and Brett had atlantic Salmon (not farmed??). The fish was fresh and nicely done, but even Brett remarked that all the food was the same washed out color, institutionalized, like eating at a church social or a hospital. The homemade breadpudding was great, even though it too was beige.

Yeah, we finally finished the end of Season 5 of the Sopranos (brought along our Netflix for the road). I can't believe they killed Adriana.

Thursday, September 21, 2006 Crossing to Canada

We left Bar Harbor this morning and continued heading up Route 1 towards Calais. The route is littered with tiny towns with more amazing houses. We assume these were bustling harbor towns at one time. They seem sleepy and most of the homes are for sale now. Beautiful old Victorian, Federalist, and Gothic style homes, some of which have been lovingly cared for, others of which are crumbling in upon themselves. Lunch in Machias at the Artist’s Café. I had a spectacular fresh crab salad with dill mayonnaise and potato leek soup, and Brett splurged on a crab and brie melt – very tasty!

Drove through the town of Perry, settled in 1758 and located at the 45th Parallel, half way between the equator and the North Pole. We crossed the border at 4:21pm in Calais (settled in 1604). I was very anxious about crossing the border due to our lack of vehicle registration and how packed our car is. The experience turned out to be anticlimactic though. The agent asked us the usual questions, where are you going? (To our response of “Oregon” he commented that we seemed to be taking the long way.) Where have you been? “Boston.” How many of there are you? We both turned our heads, looked at the packed suitcases and coolers filling the back of the car to make sure there was no one else with us, and then answered “just the two of us.” Do you have any alcohol or tobacco? This last question spurred a heated discussion between Brett and I about whether we still had a bottle of wine or not, to which the agent responded by rolling his eyes. Are you carrying any firearms? Both of us responded to this with equally emphatic head nodding, serious expressions, and loud “no’s.” He then asked us our license plate number, and when we replied that we didn’t have plates, but instead were traveling on a temporary trip permit, he nodded, made a comment that we purchased the car in Boston and are driving it home, to which we again emphatically nodded our heads again, “yes!” He then told us to “have a good time, eh!” and waved us through. WE’RE IN CANADA!!!! My palms are still sweating, another reminder that I would never make it as a criminal.

We continued to drive towards Fundy National Park. Thinking we might spend the night in St. John, we exited the freeway and started making hotel calls, only to discover that everything was full - several conventions going on as well as a big hockey match. Oh well, we hit the road again. Calling ahead to the Parkland Village Inn in Alma (just on the edge of Fundy), we were advised to stop for food before heading out into the woods, because "dinner would be over by the time we got to Alma." The inn keeper also warned us to watch out for moose as we headed through the woods on highway 114, commenting that "they've been calling them out."

We stopped for a quick bite at a little town that happened to be hosting some sort of religious convention. There were hundreds of cars parked along the roads, all of which had big wooden crosses hanging from their rear view mirrors and fish bumper stickers. Large families carried casseroles down the road as they made their way to the event. Needless to say, we drove quickly out of town.

The rest of the trip was made in the dark, anxiety ridden over hitting a moose. Fortunately, the only wild life we saw were some deer on the side of the freeway. Everything else was well hidden.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 Acadia National Park

On Wednesday morning, it was raining. We drove to Acadia National Park, up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. When we arrived, it was shrouded in fog, but the sun soon started to come out and the view that was revealed was spectacular, with sweeping vistas of the rocky Maine coast and fishing villages. One of the amazing things about this coast and how it differs from Oregon’s is the beautiful architecture. Huge, gorgeous old houses, mostly built for shipping captains, but now populated by B&B’s and used as summer homes for the wealthy. We spent the day driving through Acadia, stopped at the Acadia natives botanical garden, took a quick hike by Tarn Pond, and followed the Loop Road around the park. We saw a huge owl that was hooting at us while we meandered down a trail. He was amazing and we watched him from far below as he swiveled his head seemingly 360 degrees. We did get one step closer to camping, by touring the Blackwoods campground – which true to its name was very dark, even in the middle of the day. Realizing that we weren’t quite ready for the camping experience, we found another B&B, the LedgeLawn Inn. A 1904 rambling home that has been converted to a B&B. The buffet breakfast was nasty, but the wireless access and the afternoon wine bar by the fireplace, made up for that. We had a great Italian dinner at Guinness & Porcelli’s in Bar Harbor.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Bar Harbor, ME

We drove across Maine to Portland, visited the AAA store to pick up some camping books and maps, and then headed up the coast for Bar Harbor. On Jean’s recommendation, we stopped briefly in Wiscasset and then Damariscotta for a lunch of mussels and a great glass on Sancerre. While at lunch, we met an 86 year old man, who had just lost his wife of 65 years the previous week. She had suffered from Alzheimer’s for the past five years. He told us about her funeral at Arlington cemetery, how he had just sold his house of 26 years in Damariscotta, how he had been Senator in Rhode Island for 10 years (noting that the state was full of crooks), and was now taking some time to decide which child / grandchild he wanted to live near. We were sad to leave our new friend, but he insisted that we better get on the road if we were going to make it to Bar Harbor before dark.

On our way to Bar Harbor, we called a couple of B&B’s to make reservations. We ended up staying at the Bay Ledge Inn. It was like staying at your grandmother’s house – I don’t recommend it. Although their collection of dogs – a Boston Terrier, Standard Poodle, and Wheaton Terrier, and the excellent breakfast, made up for the fussy décor of angels and floral quilts. The hosts were very friendly too. Dinner on Tuesday night was at This Way Café – an eclectic café in Bar Harbor.

Sunday-Tuesday, September 17-19, 2006 Maplewood, ME

We spent two very relaxing days with Jean, Pokey, and Pinky at Jean’s early 1800’s country house in Maplewood. This house is a marvelous example of early New England homes, with mazes of rooms, beautiful 16” wide-plank floors, low ceilings, beautiful antiques, and lots of fresh air. Jean’s herbs were drying throughout the house in preparation for her yummy five-mint tea. The house is set on the edge of deep Maine woods, surrounded by a barn, several out buildings, beautiful flower and herb beds, and a pond full of croaking frogs. Our first night there was spent feasting on fresh Maine lobster and sweet corn – yum!

On Monday, we drove to a local orchard and picked Macoun apples. In the afternoon, we practiced erecting our new SUV tent. It’s a large four person tent that has a “sock” that attaches to the back of the opened SUV, giving you access to the inside of the car, either for sleeping or accessing your stuff. It worked .. . . so we’re all set for camping. Once we had that figured out, we all took a long walk through the woods. In true Pokey spirit, he stole an old, partially deflated ball from a nutty woman’s house. He really refused to continue on, unless we let him take the ball with him. So, we gave in and he carried that ball for several miles, until he inadvertently left it in the road. When he realized his mistake, he ran back to where he thought he had left it, but was unable to find it. We all felt kind of sorry for him – he looked so dejected, but none of us offered to help find the lost ball. Pokey soaked in every puddle and pond that we walked by, taking advantage of all water opportunities. Near the end of our walk, we strolled through a beautiful meadow that was filled with milkweed and Monarch butterflies. Jean collected New England Asters and Goldenrod, and the dogs took one final dip in a pond before we returned home. We enjoyed a simple dinner of roast chicken and garden fresh tomatoes that night, topped off with an apple crisp made of apples we had picked that morning, all whipped together in minutes by Jean.

Tuesday morning, we packed up and headed out . . . . tears in our eyes as we said good-bye with hugs for our very dear friend and the perfect neighbor, Jean Degnon.

Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006 Ashfield, MA

Emotionally and physically exhausted, we left Boston after a final cup of coffee at Faye’s place with Gilles & Karen. Bye kids, we’ll miss you!!!

We drove directly to Sports Authority in Somerville, where we proceeded to be their favorite customers. We bought a Thule, new sleeping bags, a new combination cook stove / grill, hiking boots, emergency blankets, and a whistle. The last two items are directly related to our last mountain experience on Mt. Hood when we did the stupid city person thing and went on a hike unprepared. To quote Todd Wells, “I rescue idiots like you off the mountain all the time.” We promised never to do that again, hence the emergency supplies. Once we’d completed our purchase, we spent about an hour in the parking lot rearranging our packed car and trying to figure out how we ended up with sooo much stuff! We even attracted the attention of a local cop who stopped by and remarked that “wow, that looks like a lot of gear for just the two of youse.” Brett thinks he was really checking out our vehicle temporary trip permit, although he never mentioned the fact that the car is without plates, which apparently is against the law in MA.

Once we were “geared up,” we headed drove about 2.5 hrs to Ashfield in Western Massachusetts, where Brett’s clients Diane & Peter had graciously invited us to stay at their country house, “Wildrest.” Built in the mid-1800’s the house is a maze of light and airy rooms touched by wildflowers, and a kitchen inhabited by someone who loves to cook! The home has a cozy, sunken fireplace, collected antiques, and fine examples of Diane’s passion for linens. She is the owner of London Lace – check it out on the net at www.londonlace.com . Wildrest is set on a beautiful hill, with an English cottage style garden that Peter has put a lot of love into. Winding paths lead through perennial beds that were slowly fading in the early autumn. Statuary, trellises, vine covered arbors, and carefully placed benches provided plenty of vistas and vignettes for photos and for enjoying the final sunny and warm days of the season.

We dined Friday night at Tusk & Rattle in Shelburne Falls. We also took a stroll across the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls. The town reclaimed a defunct railroad bridge and turned it into a beautiful flower garden, maintained by the local garden club.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a great breakfast in Ashfield at Elmers and then headed to Northampton. We spent a few hours at the Smith College Museum of art, spent the afternoon wandering around their botanical gardens and the plant conservatory, one of the few remaining glass conservatories in the nation. Northampton is very much like Eugene, Oregon . . . . a very crunchy college town - not that there’s anything wrong with that! We had a great dinner Saturday night at the Green Street Café in Northampton.

Got up Sunday morning and left Wildrest (thanks Peter & Diane!), had breakfast in Shelburne Falls, and began our drive out to the Maine / New Hampshire boarder to meet our neighbor Jean at her place in Maplewood, near Province Lake.

Introduction

We’ve been preparing for our move from Boston to Portland for about a month. Our condo sat on the slowing south end condo market for about three months before our buyer came along. The next month was a flurry of activity, preparing for the move. Just to add some excitement to the activities, we decided to purchase a vehicle and take a road trip across country back to Oregon. We ended up purchasing a 2006 Nissan Xterra, and then faced the registration dilemma. Having sold our place in Massachusetts, we didn’t want to register the vehicle there, especially since that would force us to pay sales tax on the vehicle as well as an exorbitant registration fee. We ended up convincing the Oregon DMV to send us two temporary trip permits of 21 days each. Since registration and plate delivery in Oregon can take up to four weeks and our temporary trip permits would get us to Oct 22, we had just enough time to take the long way back to Oregon, including a stop in Colorado for the week of October 8th for a work related training..

Leaving Boston turned out to be much more difficult that either of us had anticipated. We have developed friendships with great people there. Our WINO club members are people with whom we have shared many bottles of exquisite wine, to-die-for food, long conversations, and lots of political arguments. We thank Otis (now long gone) for introducing us to Gilles and Karen, Moshe and Cindy, Judy, and other members of the Blackstone park dog owners club . . . which later was distilled into the WINO group. We will treasure our memories of wine and Averna fueled conversations that continued long into the morning hours; our introduction to Unicum (which “tasted great in Hungary!”); catching Thom’s condo on fire; fourth of July parties on Thom’s roof; walking down Mass Ave at 3am for the “fresh air;” leaving poor, inebriated Mike to find a cab and his way home to the wilds of Brighton in a rain storm at 2am; finding out that Sue was pregnant; meeting Jayvin; waiting for Gilles to spill wine on himself, again; being impressed once again with Jim’s snappy attire and acumen for identifying the best antique watch repair shop in Boston; listening to Moshe sing “Coward of the County” in a tremulous vibrato out in the garden at 2am; learning how to prosecute a deal, reupholster a chair, and the value of really good cornishon hand carried from France; learning that Heather secretly was a professional tuba player . . . or was she?; and finishing it all off with one more chartreuse.

One of the highlights of our time in Boston was winning awards in the Mayor’s Annual Garden contest. In 2005, we placed third in the decks, patios, and terraces category. In 2006, we placed second in the small yard category. In Boston it always helps to know someone and we thank Thom for introducing us to the contest, hosting the judges (which Moshe’s help) the first year when we happened to be in NYC on the day of the judging, and introducing our garden to Suzanne in the Mayor’s office. We hope that the new owner continues to love the space and care for the garden with the attention it needs.

We already miss our Bostonian friends, but plan on doing our very best to maintain those relationships. Those friendships made life in Boston pleasurable and memorable. Thanks guys!

We wanted to share odd commentary, trivia, and photos of our road trip from Boston to Portland and chose this forum to do so. We look forward to sharing with you all and will do our best to update this daily. . . . pending wifi availability!