Mon 14th: Time for some exploration of Cape Cod today, and I have to report it will be the first and last visit. The scenic highway down from Hyannis to Provincetown, could not have been more different than imagined. It was claustrophobic and monotonous, tall trees and vegetation virtually all the way. Until you reach the tip of Cape Cod there is virtually no view of beaches or sea, and the chances of finding somewhere to park if you did find a beach were very limited. You could take a cynical view and say that this is what the locals intend. Parking, where you could find some, was a fixed fee of up to $15.

We did manage to find the downtown part of Provincetown, and even managed to park for $6, which was good as we stayed less than an hour. The season is ending, many places were shut, but as the weather was so good there were still quite a few tourists about. What we hadn't realised is that Provincetown is the gay capital of Mass, maybe even the US for all I know. I haven't experienced anywhere, where there have been so many GLBTs, or where the GLBTs have so openly paraded themselves, I've obviously led a very sheltered life. We probably didn't do the place justice, but it didn't leave a pull to return any time soon.

So after the call of "I'm Straight, Get Me Outta Here", we meandered on, tried to find Dennis, and failed, or at least imagined it completely differently from what it turned out to be. Our last shot at finding somewhere decent to have a last lunch, was to return to Plymouth, where we had visited yesterday.

Our great friend SATNAV guided us faultlessly to Logan International, and I'm here typing the last page of our travelogue. It has been an amazing trip, so many highlights and memories to cherish, as well as friendships cemented for the future. Things that stand out aside the hospitality we have been shown, were being guests of honour at the Simon Family party, our first game of American football in Miami, seeing Wicked on Broadway, visiting Sun & Stax studios in Memphis, waking up to the view over Central Park in New York, eating lobster, mussels and clam chowder at the same lunch in Boston, having just wanted a snack, and taking the COG railway to the top of Mount Washington. My best meal was at the Bistro Cassis in New York, and the most comfortable bed was, well I'll keep that one to myself!

One or two errors of judgement were our hotel location in Memphis, eating at the pretentious Ruth & Chris's, and our expectations of Cape Cod. The Constitution Inn in Boston was unexpectedly a YMCA hostel, and one big disappointment was the Shutdown of the US Government. 

Time to digest an amazing trip, and just what we have done:-

- driven down through the keys to Key West
- visited the Little White House
- visited Ernest Hemingway's house
- sunset cruise off Key West
- air boat ride at Sawgrass
- grand tour of Bud & Dava's retirement estate
- visited Worth Avenue, Palm Beach
- morning stroll around Wakodahatchee wetland
- visited Loxahatchee wild life park
- visited Atlantic Boulevard, Del Ray Beach
- invited to The Simon family party
- tailgating BBQ lunch
- watch Dolphins v Atlanta Falcons
- visit to Kissimmee & Give Kids the World
- tour round Daytona Speedway
- visit St. Augustine
- town & boat tour of Savannah
- drive 500 miles to Nashville
- visit Gaylord Opryland (new Grand Old Opry)
- visit Broadway bars & honky tonks
- visit Ryman Auditorium (original Grand Old Opry)
- visit Country Music Hall of Fame
- dine with strangers, Fritz & Karen (David Soul)
- Lionel Ritchie concert
- cheapest & most expensive meals today, Dairy Maid ($10) & Ruth & Chris's ($160)
- visit Sun Studios
- visit Rock 'n' Soul museum
- lunch on Beale Street (Pig on Beale)
- only visit to gym
- visit Graceland
- visit Stax Soulsville museum
- Duchess sings to us on tour bus
- visit Civil Rights museum
- fly to New York
- New York hot-dogs at Greys Papaya
- Ground Zero tour
- best meal of trip at Bistro Cassis
- visit Lincoln centre
- boat tour round Manhattan
- pre-show meal at Sardi's
- see Wicked on Broadway
- fly to Boston (Ken & Devin)
- tour of Cambridge
- visit Lexington & Concord
- lobster, mussels & clams plus at Legal Seafood luncheon
- treat Ted & Marilyn at Acquitaine
- Ted signs up for Ride London 2014
- visit Harvard Natural History museum
- town tour of Boston
- stay at YMCA
- Boston harbour cruise
- breakfast at MGH (hospital canteen)
- walk most of Freedom Trail
- only jog of the trip
- visit Salem Witch museum
- meet Dave & Jackie, Salem Lions
- Portland harbour cruise
- drive through White Mountains
- lost credit card
- rode Mount Washington COG railway
- first (& last) Subway food
- meet Chris & Sally, Honda Gold Wing riders
- meet with Kate & David Wynton for a meal in Northampton
- visit Rutland, Vermont
- visit Plymouth & Pilgrims museum

Sun 13th: This is the last full day of our fantastic US & Them trip, and boy were we glad to get away from last night's accommodation, very noisy neighbours, with very loud voices, amplified by very thin walls. Our plan is to visit Plymouth and so we meander down the scenic by-ways, stop for a coffee and blueberry muffin in Woodstock, no not that Woodstock, but like a lot of wheat based food lately it repeats regularly for the next few hours.

Now, point of philosophy, I have been suffering this trip with heart burn and dyspepsia,  or top end wind, an unfortunate bodily function, but nonetheless involuntary. A sneeze is also involuntary, and also a noisy bodily function, and is responded to with "Bless You" by friends and strangers alike. A belch however, is frowned upon as rude and distasteful, unless you are in Turkey. Now I am beginning to find this a paradox, can anyone explain it to me please; why are my unfortunate loud(ish) belches received with such displeasure, after all no germs are being propelled toward anyone, as they would be with a sneeze, a plague upon your houses!

Our meander continues through to Plymouth, and down to the beach front. We spy the replica Mayflower, or Mayflower II, built in England in 1955 and sailed over to Plymouth Ma as a museum. We also spy Plymouth Rock, reputedly the rock upon which the Pilgrims trod as they stepped ashore in December 1620. It was not recognised as such until 1741, and has been dropped twice since due to attempts to move it to a more appropriate locations for the influx of tourists. The front is slightly tacky, but we find the Pilgrims Hall Museum and spend a very informative hour learning about the birth of a nation, well worth the $15 for both of us.

The experience of the Pilgrims and the native Wampanoags should serve as a lesson for all time about intolerance, mistrust and war. King Philip's War occurred some 60/70 years after 1620, and after William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims and Samoset, the leader of the Wampanoags both died. They had cooperated successfully for 50 years, sharing resources and land, but after they died the Pilgrims got possessive over land sharing, and treated Samoset's son very badly, and he died in custody. King Philip, a brother of badly treated son took issue and the ensuing year's war destroyed most of what both the colonists and the Indians had built up over the previous half century, the biggest casualty being the trust between the colonists and the native Indians...........
........and it goes on. Examples of the trust and tolerance shown by different cultures and different leaders are too few and far between, here endeth today's lesson, amen.

Meander continues, and we look in on Barnstaple, as we are considering a 4 hour whale watching cruise leaving at 8am tomorrow morning!! Either we missed the centre of Barnstaple or it very small, but we do pass the Whale Watcher, and decide we must be losing it a bit, 8am, last day, could be cold, and we've seen whales up close before in Alaska, perhaps we'll just drive to the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown, it's only 80 miles round trip, and paddle in the sea at the very tip, or more likely have an ice cream instead. We need to be back at Logan by 4.30pm, so we have plenty of time.

Dinner at The Olive Branch, an Italian restaurant next to our hotel is unexpectedly good, and we have fun with the waitress, she's going straight home to watch Lorna's Leap. Dinner is also fun as we conject about a black couple sitting close by, she has a face on that says, "I don't believe a word you say, you lying bastard". Now matter how hard he he tries to weasle his way back into her good books, her face says, only time will heal, and in the mean time you're going to suffer, mark my words.

We speak the same language, well nearly, but visit a restaurant and we are poles apart. The way we use our knife & fork is different,

Navigation has been quite surreal, after Middlesborough is just down the road from Swansea, Barnstaple's just over the road from Chatham, it's as if someone, a Pilgrim maybe, took all the place names in England, threw them up in the air, and this is where they all landed.

Spend today: Pilgrims Museum (card); dinner (card)

Sat 12th: Well we're nearing the end of our travels, which feels strange as we still have friends to meet today, Kate & David, from the same cruise we met Judy on. We are meeting them in Northampton and have a good way to drive, and we will even have to forego a visit to the famous Ben & Jerry's ice-cream factory in Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, just up the road, shame!

Only an hour into the day and we've discussed guinea pigs and gay marriage, and with the same ladies. A guinea pig is a guest at breakfast, a travelling pet of three Asian young people. An inquisitive American lady comments and wishes it "Bon Appetit", what's that about. Returning to our room we find they are staying in the room next to us; within a couple of minutes of polite conversation they reveal that they have come to Vermont to get married, having been partners for 25 years, but live in Michigan, one of the 37 unenlightened states. It appears Vermont is a pretty liberal place, confirmed later during conversation over lunch in Rutland. Next door New Hampshire, however, is just the opposite, albeit still a little bit to the left of Texas. Not one eyelid is batted by either of us, and Lorna congratulates them and we get on with our day, hey ho!

We say goodbye to Chris, and get a snap of him on his Gold Wing, Sally doesn't make an appearance, and we ask Chris to pass on our felicitations. We're on the road by 9.40, and headed for Rutland. It is a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, but we heading into the sun, and so do not get the full benefit of the stunning scenery as we head south through Vermont. We pass through some picture postcard little towns, Rochester is but one, but we do stop on the green and snap a few pictures. We are now in the Green Mountains, and the scenery continues to wow, even if the deep reds of the maple trees has passed. There are still many shades of yellow, and green of course, and this continues right into Rutland, where we stop to announce our arrival!

We lunch at a largish art fayre, and chat to the locals, Rutland is famous for chocolate, and when asked what else, the response is drugs and crime, a little unexpected. The lady explains that Vermont is too soft on the African American gangs that have moved in over the last five years or so. The area feels very white, and it is, around 95%, but it is changing fast with both black and Hispanic people moving away from the cities. Not many of those we mention we are from Rutland UK, have heard of Rutland UK, and are somewhat underwhelmed that we have come so far to attend their art fayre. Well we are underwhelmed with Rutland Vermont, so there! Lorna had hoped it would be a pretty little town like Rochester, but it is much larger, and more sprawling, although we didn't really do it justice, some other time, maybe!

We outthink the SATNAV lady, and arrive in Northampton a minute early for our dinner date with Kate & David. Their company is good, but the restaurant is very noisy, and the food is forgettable, however it is always good to catch up with travelling companions. David has battled through some difficult health problems in the four years since we met, but he is positive and seems to have weathered the undoubted fear very well. They are off to their winter home in Florida, just south of Tampa, in a couple of weeks time. With his Scottish heritage, David is ambivalent about Scottish independence; I tell him that my head says no, but my heart says "on yer bike". We split the bill and we're on our way, a short hop down to West Springfield, and a Hampton Inn.

Spend today: hotel (card); dinner (card)

Fri 11th: The least comfortable night's sleep of the trip, I mean we have to share the same bed, and it's small and the mattress creaks every time one of us moves, and it sinks in toward the middle, but we survive the night.

A wholesome breakfast over the road and we're on our way, but not before a visit to the local "drive-through" ATM. I feel sort of strange as I'm without car, and after my request for $500 is rejected I try again and get out $400. After that we're on our way, and it's not until we try to pay for our tickets on the Mount Washington COG railway that I realise I no longer have my credit card. I don't recall putting it back in my wallet at the ATM, I remember being  more pre-occupied about the wad of $20 bills.

Someone will have handed it in, it's an honest sort of place, we hope. The people at the bank are extremely helpful, but no card has been handed in. Cheryl, a bank official, explains that it is unlikely that anyone has taken the card, more likely that the card has been captured by the machine, and it is not under their control and will not be emptied until next Tuesday. They are unable to offer us an outside line to contact Post Office; we leave our contact details if any news is forthcoming. So, next port of call is the hotel we stayed at last night, and the lady receptionist who was so helpful last night lets us call for free and then decides we need a big hug, and very nearly takes the breath out of both of us. We managed to cancel my card, but leave Lorna's operational, so we can still get the benefit. Lorna is glad it wasn't her that lost the card.

In between we pick a perfect weather day to ride to the top of Mount Washington, it's warm in the sun, and the wind is light. When I realise I've lost my credit card, I've already been asked if we are ready to go in three minutes, which sort of focussed the mind, go back or get on with the day. So we get on with the day. The trip to the top takes 45 minutes at 6mph max, and at angles of up to 30 degrees, a serious gradient.

A stroll round the top, snap Lorna's amazing climb, she borrows a walking pole off a young couple who really have walked the five miles to the top for her picture, and everyone has a good laugh. It's 6,288 feet high, so a good walk from the base at 2,300. Our brakeman says he can't remember a better day this late in the year, and it makes up for the fact that we've missed peak leaf-peeping. I think to do justice to this beautiful area, and beautiful time of year at least two weeks is needed, and at least two nights in certain locations.

After a crap Subway bite for lunch we travel west to Stowe and dine with a couple from Northampton, the one down in Massachusetts, not our arch-rivals from home. They are travelling up to see his folks in Canada on their brand new Honda Silver Wing. Chris gets more garrulous as the evening wears on, and is regularly admonished by Sally, "you're not going to have another one are you?", and of course we already know the answer to that.

We check and find that Tigers have lost 22-16, away to Ulster, but a losing bonus point away in the HC is valuable and so we hope for better things come next weekend.

Spend today: cash withdrawal (card); COG railway (card)

Thurs 10th: Our first chilly morning, but Lorna is dressed as usual, sleeveless blouse, she gets some looks from the tour party ladies at our hotel, a bit like a December day around the Forbidden City in Beijing.

We amble (in the car) down to downtown Portland, and it seems like an OK sort of place on a morning that is warming nicely, however what it would be like with a howling gale and horizontal rain/snow I hate to think. The boat tour of five lighthouses is booked and we stroll off to find............Starbucks, and laze in the warm sunshine until it's time to board. I watch amused as Lorna tries to refit the plastic lid to her now empty coffee cup; the round plastic top just won't seem to fit on the squeezed cup, and after several minutes I refit the top in seconds, laughing. It's entirely logical, the top is round, so the cup, which started round, needs not to be squeezed. Before rage sets in I explain it's not about right and wrong, just left and right, brains that is. We agree that we are wired differently; Lorna says that she has all the addresses, and I reply that, that may be so, but left to her own devices she'd never find any of them, and she'd drive round in circles all day.......that is of course before SATNAV, and then I'm redundant. We have a real laugh, didn't even need to get Critt out.

A friendly group assemble, and the family from Dallas have three/four layers, scarves & gloves, Lorna thinks a thin cardigan, open-neck of course, will be just fine. I do like these large harbours with their many islands, and this harbour reminds us of The Bay of Islands in NZ, albeit somewhat cooler. One island in particular takes our interest, Peak's Island, it has one store, with the motto "If we ain't got it, you don't need it!", I like that! We snap away at the famous Portland Head Lighthouse, and as ever only an opportunistic photographer you wonder what you could achieve with a beautiful sunset. Portland has a cruise ship in today, from the up-market Regent fleet. Maybe we should consider a New England cruise, there's certainly some beautiful ports of call we haven't been to yet.

We pay an exorbitant $20 for the parking, but are bouyed by the fact that I have just got the iPod working through the car radio, and we can listen to some decent music as we drive. We skip lunch and head inland; the first port of call is Naples, on a large lake. Underwhelmed we move on and there's nothing much to stop at until we get onto the Kamcamagus Highway. The drive up was very colourful, but things start improving even more when we get onto the scenic highway. We pull over several times at scenic viewpoints, and take some shots, but by now the sun is a little hazy and beginning to lower, should have been here 90 minutes earlier I think, it's always in the timing.

Tonight's accommodation is for all intents a timeshare, The Lodge at Lincoln. Lincoln is up in the White Mountains, and is a largish number of condominiums on three floors. Dinner is at Gordi's, or Gordon Eaton, an Olympic skier back in the 1960s

Spend today: hotel bill extras (card); lighthouse tour (card); petrol (card); dinner (card)

Wed 9th: Quite a night, babies screaming, shouting, doors banging, television on loudly until nearly 5am, I will have to have a word with Lorna, or Critt, perhaps he can sort these things out. We had seen a lady enter the room next door to us last night, and almost certainly not a tourist, Lorna thinks maybe a short term respite case, we're not sure. We believed that a lower floor was where women sheltering were roomed, but maybe our floor was also used last night. It's not a big problem, but it would have been good if our New England tour company had explained what The Constitution Inn was all about beforehand, where might we be staying tonight?

Well we need not have worried, it's a Best Western, and we arrive after dark, having had a slow start, and an off-the-I-95 journey up to South Portland, Maine. It's a beautiful morning to walk downtown and pick up the car, it takes me 30 minutes and that was the easy part. The Alamo office is packed and each client takes at least 5 minutes to service, some even more, and it's a further 30 minutes before a find a Toyota Camry waiting for me; the car rental people would do well to learn from the airlines with on-line check-ins, and bag drops. Anyway we should have taken this the offered car in Miami because both big cases fit the trunk, perfick, and we would have avoided a $240 upgrade!!!

In the mean time Lorna has googled Dennis McLaughlin, benefactor of the Constitution Inn, and it explains that the hotel provides help for people with substance abuse; we think that many of the people working at the hotel are people recovering and getting back into working life.

Our initial destination is Salem, seemingly the Witch capital of the world. October is halloween month, and everywhere is decorated with all manner of ghouls and pumpkins. One fantastic display of ghostly gore is set up by the Salem Lions, and they invite the public to make a donation; only pictures can do justice to the truly gory scenes arranged in their front yard. Overall they will make several hundred dollars. Turns out the florist next door is home to Dave & Jackie, formerly (35 years) of Hong Kong. They have both kept Salem Lions going over the years and I leave details and our web address.

After lunch we find our way to the Salem Witch Museum, which is well done with various scenes set up accompanied by a scary narrative. It's amazing, the witch hysteria and subsequent trials lasted less than a year between 1692 & 1693, over 300 years ago, but they define Salem, and Salem is known widely for no other reason. As they point out the witch hunts in Europe went on for much longer, and hundreds of thousands of people were drowned, or burnt at the stake, but to no avail. Salem's witches, 19 of them, were hanged, and one man was crushed to death under heavy stones. We just need to find something from the past of Oakham, and we can redefine the place.

90 minutes very pleasant driving takes us through a progression of well know places, Ipswich, Gloucester, Salisbury, Malden, and then finally onto the Turnpike before a 7pm arrival.

Spend today: petrol (card); Salem Witch Museum (card)

Tues 8th: A beautiful sunny day, but much fresher, and we're not sure we've got enough layers, Lorna one with no sleeves, me two, and the outer one is fleecy! Back onto the tour bus and another trip round town and off for our included 45 minute harbour cruise, but not before Lorna trips and goes headlong; just a few grazes and we carry on, but she can so easily trip.

Breakfast this morning was next door at an MGH building, or Massachusetts General Hospital, in their canteen. his is a difference in America it seems, if you want to pay for something, then it doesn't matter what the organisation is they are quite happy to take your money. It would be a bit like the canteen at Pedigree being quite happy to feed the good citizens of Melton Mowbray at subsidised rates, but then maybe MGH's canteen is not subsidised.

I think we've got the idea now, Boston was the first British colony in the US, and they loved their freedom from the oppressive crown very much, so much that they objected to paying taxes so that England could service its debts. Well nothing much has changed has it, only we have a vote, and they didn't, and that's what upset them so much; No Taxes without Representation became the battle cry.

There were a few key players, Paul Revere, a bell maker and model citizen, and his famous midnight ride to Lexington & Concord, Samuel Adams, a rebel rouser, and brewer, the famous local brew is a Sam Adams. George Washington of course was the general of the colonial troops, and after independence on 4th July 1776, became the first President of the America. Boston also became home to many Irish after they were driven out of Ireland between 1840 & 1845 due to the potato famine; a large proportion of the politicians in Boston today have Irish ancestry. Other famous residents have been JFK, who proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier at the Omni Parker hotel in town, and more recently John Kerry had a simple little property in the Beacon Hill district. 

An excellent lunch, and Critt embarrasses himself on his first outing. Marilyn asked that we adopt Critt to help during those critical moments when words are exchanged; Critt helps to de-personalise the situation, and lower the tension. Today unfortunately Critt discovers beer and the vapour is enough for him to fall headlong into my glass of Kentucky Bourbon beer (8.25%) so more whiskey than beer it seems, and so I'm not sure Critt is really up to it. After lunch we pick up The Freedom Trail and follow it to it's beginning/end on Boston Common. Well enough of the history.

I see so many people out running, and enjoying the area around Charlestown that I don my gym gear and trainers and get amongst them. Twenty minutes later I'm back, they just make it look so easy and comfortable, maybe they're properly hydrated because I'm certainly not.

Now a little about the hotel we're staying at. As mentioned before it is connected to the YMCA, well it seems the YMCA 

Spend today: lunch (card); dinner at Bistro (card)