Monday Genea-pourri, Week of Sep 26-Oct 2, 2022

I have completed one hundred thirty-four (134) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. We were on vacation in New York City, Portland, Maine, and New Hampshire this week, so we were not on any lockdown, but whenever we were in crowds, on the subway, or indoors, we wore our masks. By Wednesday, we began our week-long tour with Special Interest Tours.

Genealogy

Blog Writing: Last week, my New to Me post was highlighted.

Road Trip—Taking Mam-ma to Stephenville, Texas. I wrote about my first road trip for genealogy: learning about where my mother and grandmother were from.

Webinars Viewed:

• "Fair Use and Foul Balls" by Judy G. Russell.

Vacation:

Monday: We went to Governor’s Island on a ferry and rode bikes and walked around. Had great tacos from a stand. Afterward, we ate dinner in Brooklyn, taking a Lyft there but riding the subway back.

Tuesday: We had brunch at Tea & Sympathy, an English café, and then walked around the Little Island at Pier 55. Dinner was Korean BBQ. We saw the new version of 1776 with an all-female cast.

Wednesday: We caught the Acela to Boston and rode first class, which gave us breakfast and lunch. In Boston, we took a cab to North Station to catch the Downeaster to Portland, Maine (state no. 48 for me). We took a cab to the hotel. Dinner was at Scales, which was very nice.

Thursday: We walked around the old part of Portland checking out shops. We also shipped some books we purchased in NYC. I’m sure we’ll buy more. Lunch was hamburgers in a pub and then at 4:30, we met up with the tour group for a cruise around the bay. Dinner was at Boone’s.

Friday: We were bussed to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, where we had a ride on a trolley and were given time to walk around the carbarns to see the other older cars they have saved. In the late afternoon, we rode on the Maine 2-foot railroad of the old Grand Trunk railroad right-a-way located along the shore in Portland.

Saturday: We traveled to Meredith, New Hampshire (state no. 49*) where we rode two trains on the Winnipesaukee Railroad. First, the train traveled north to Plymouth where we had a buffet lunch and the second in the late afternoon was a dinner train going south along the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Sunday: We were bussed to the Mt. Washington Cog Railway in the White Mountains. We rode to the top, ate a bag lunch, and returned down—all aboard their steam train. We had a shop tour following and then traveled to Lincoln for a dinner ride on Café Lafayette Dinner Train. It has been cold and the fall color was spectacular!

I am reading: Lots of time to read on the train and before bed.

• Maus I by Art Spiegelman (this got shipped home, so will continue later)
  
• The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny—FINISHED!

*State 50 is Alaska. I really need to re-visit Rhode Island, South and North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia, where I can put my feet down. I have only traveled through them by train.

Photos for this week:

Little Island at Pier 55 in Manhattan

Sunset in Portland

Streetcar at Seashore Trolley Museum

Mt. Washington Cog Railway

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great at documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme.

Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.