Aruba, Marriott Surf Club November 29, 2009 Karen and I were invited by Kim and Jim to share their timeshare in Aruba the week after Thanksgiving. This was the perfect way of escaping the beginning of winter in New England. We stayed at Marriott Surf Club on Palm Beach in the High Rise District of the island. The island of Aruba is justly known for its great weather, fine beaches, and exquisite restaurants. Aruba is an interesting place to visit, it’s a desert island the size of Nantucket. The weather was always great at 87 and breezy every day. This is supposed to be the rainy season and three times during the week it clouded up rained for 5 minutes and then dried up about 5 minutes later. The population of Aruba is about 100,000 people. ... read more

The Fairbanks Museum, St. Johnsbury, VT Thursday, October 28, 2009 On my list is the Fairbanks Natural History Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont located at top of the hill in the Main Street historic district. Founded by industrialist Franklin Fairbanks in 1889 the museum is an impressive Victorian building designed specifically to share his private collection with the public. The museum provides an impressive eclectic collection of a little bit of everything you could ever imagine. The place is a miniature “Night at the Museum” and in some ways is very similar to other small museums we’ve visited across New England. These include the Wilson Museum in Castine, Maine, the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont and The Fruitlands Museum in Harvard Mass. Wealthy 18th century industrialist founded all of these museums as places to display ... read more

North Adams, MASS MOCA Tuesday, October 27 This week’s trip we planned to visit the MASS MOCA in North Adams MA, the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury Vermont, and the Connecticut Lakes in Northern New Hampshire, the head-waters of the Connecticut River. Our first night we plan on staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Amherst while visiting Maxanne at Umass. We booked the room at the Holiday Inn Express through Hotwire.com and it’s one-third the cost of when we stayed at the same hotel last year for Home Coming. The hotel is clean and the staff is pleasant but the “hot” tub is only a “warm” tub and the accessible room has a tub instead of a shower. How come hotels get this so wrong? They put a few handrails in the tub and call ... read more

Today is the second day of the Topsfield Fair Flower Show. ... read more

St. Mary, Montana Saturday September 5 Saturday we drive back to the Park Café for a hearty breakfast. It’s now time to leave the park and begin our journey home. We cross the “Road to the Sun” again and head back to Spokane and tomorrows flight home. We drive the eastern shore of Flathead Lake and get some different views of Montana. We’ve really enjoyed our trip to the Pacific North West and have seen a wonderful mix of city, mountains, plains, lakes and National Parks. I’ll really cherish this trip. ... read more