Day Trip to Rockport

Today Liz and I took a trip with friends Andrew and Josh up to Rockport, Massachusetts. It's about an hour drive and the seaside town has lots of little shops, restaurants and a picturesque harbor and jetty. Here are some pictures. The red house is supposedly the most often painted building in America.

Boston Harbor Sailing

I finally made it back out onto the water after a couple weeks off. Yesterday Liz, Mariah, Ryan and I went sailing with a group of people out into Boston Harbor and to the harbor islands in the hopes of seeing the Volvo racing boats set out for Ireland. We passed by them at the docks as we sailed out of the harbor but by the time of their scheduled 1 o'clock start a dense fog rolled in and we couldn't see a thing. Before the fog arrived we'd sailed all the way to Spectacle Island and tried to dock to use the facilities but they turned us away as they didn't allow any boat without a motor into their harbor. On this map (click on it to enlarge) we sailed from the very top left where it says Boston (we were towed out of the Charles River through the locks) out to spectacle island just left of the center of the map.
However, when the fog settled in shortly after we departed the island on our way back to see the start of the race we decided to turn back to the island in the hope that they might be a little more hospitipal, and they were. We docked and explored the visitors center and the island, which was beautiful by any standards but especially so considering it's made up primarily of land fill. You'd never know it from the flowers, grassy areas with picknic benches and variety of bird species. The island also has a ferry dock and visitors' center that uses solar energy, radiant heat and a no-chemical, no-water, composting sewer system.

The fog lifted mid afternoon and we sailed back to Boston on a broad reach until the wind died around the airport where they tied us all back up and towed us through the locks back to Community Boating.

Here's our boat safely moored in the marina at Spectacle Island

Here are some of the other boats in our group anchoring in the fog.


Not sure why I'm sticking my tongue out (Spectacle Island in the background after the fog lifted).
The afternoon sail home.
Here's Liz having a good time while we're towed around in circles waiting for a drawbridge to open (locks in the background).

Well this past weekend I did something I'd been thinking about doing for a while. I got my motorcycle license! I took a two day beginner rider course through the Massachusetts Rider Education Program (conducted by Motorcycle Safety Foundation certified instructors) and a company called Ironstone Ventures. The course was held at Bunker Hill Community College (yes, where Good Will Hunting was filmed). It was two days split between classroom work and riding drills where I learned all the basics like shifting, balancing, turning, starting and stopping as well as some things like emergency breaking in corners, driving over obstacles (we drove over 2x4's), swerving and quick stopping. I'm not sure if I'll be getting a bike any time soon but hopefully I can ride with some of you guys back in Oregon next time I'm out for a visit.