A Fantastic Day Trip: Peaks Island, Maine
A couple of weeks ago we took a fantastic day trip to Peaks Island, Maine.
Such a great day!
We left home at about 7:15, made a pit stop in Danvers to meet up with my sister and nephew, and then drove on to Portland, Maine. A quick, easy drive. We arrived there in plenty of time to find a parking spot in one of the easily accessible and inexpensive lots, and take a quick walk to the 10:15 ferry.
The ferry ride to the island took about 20 minutes and was lovely. At less than $8 for adults and under $4 for kids….it also didn’t hurt the wallet much.
The second we arrived I was smitten. Totally charming, low key, welcoming, and picturesque.
We began our day by grabbing a bagel and coffee at Peaks Cafe before heading right next door to pick up our golf cart rental at Mike’s Carts. We called ahead to reserve our cart and paid just $50 for a three-hour rental. My sister and I sat upfront and took turns driving around the island while the three boys sat rear facing on the back seat. They were stoked and thought it was totally cool to get to sit like that and it was a fantastic way to see the island. We stopped at three little beachy areas to swim, collect shells and sea glass, and build rock sculptures…which is evidently something that you do when visiting Peaks Island.
After having toured the island by golf cart until satisfied, we returned it and walked right across the street to pick up our kayak rentals. It was kind of a snotty day on the water and the boys are only 6, 7, and 8 years old…so we kayaked pretty close to the shore for only 30 minutes. Because of the water conditions, the gentleman in charge of kayak rentals was willing to let us rent for less than the hourly rate so we paid $40 for three kayaks for 1/2 an hour. A great deal. We rented from the Peaks Island House.
Having worked up an appetite and a thirst, we walked across the street in a different direction (getting the idea of how close and easy everything is!?) and had a phenomenal little lunch and a delicious blueberry cocktail (because we were in Maine after all) outside at the Inn on Peaks Island. While eating lunch I checked out the prices to book a hotel reservation for the evening and it was totally reasonable. I should note that the 20 minute ferry ride for a mere $8 makes it worth while to stay on the island if you are visiting Portland because, for the most part, reserving a room in Portland was significantly more expensive. Just a thought.
After lunch, we walked a bit, went into two super cute little shops, and the boys got ice cream. We hopped on an afternoon ferry, grabbed an ice coffee for the ride home, found our car, stopped again in Danvers, and were still home by 6:30 in the evening.
A day trip that is fun, full of outdoor activity, and inexpensive!
Read more about the island HERE
Check out the ferry schedule HERE
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Community Stuff 8/10/15
The guys who renovated the Lane’s Cove Fish Shack have organized themselves as an official non-profit in order to raise funds to maintain the Fish Shack. Their first fundraiser is August 15th. Les Barlett will give a talk about the Shack. There will be a free lunch for everyone. The mayor will begin the Live Auction, in which there will be some beautiful paintings by local artists Jeff Weaver, Ken Knowles, and Liza Calkins, along with a lot of other great local stuff, like field box Red Sox tickets. There will be live music throughout the day. The whole thing begins at noon.
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Introducing Lighthouse BNI With Guests Joel Favazza and Kathy Boudreau
For more information check out their Facebook Page Here
All Cape Ann businesses are invited to join BNI Lighthouse for their informal Visitor Night at the Seaglass Restaurant (Castle Manor Inn) on August 26 at 6:30 P.M.
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Tour Sargent Gallery at the Sargent House Museum
Tour Sargent Gallery at the Sargent House Museum
Those of you who have attended the Museum of Fine Arts’ exhibit Searching for Sargent, which celebrates the recent gift of John Singer Sargent’s archives to the MFA, may also want to tour the Sargent Gallery at Gloucester’s own Sargent House Museum at 49 Middle Street for a brief tour of Sargent’s art and memorabilia before the Museum closes for the season on September 6, 2015. The Sargent House Museum is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 pm with tours on the hour. The Sargent Gallery tour is available to members free and non-members $6. A full tour of the Sargent House Museum is also available to members free and to non-members $12. The image below is an example of John Singer Sargent’s art included in the Sargent Gallery tour.
Fitz William Sargent (1826-1889) painted by his son, John Singer Sargent
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COME SAIL AWAY ON THE MAGNIFICENT ADVENTURE!
Did you know that if you become a member of Schooner Adventure, your membership includes TWO FREE SAILS?
At least twelve crew and volunteers are needed to help set sail and passengers are invited to participate. Note GMG contributor and Adventure super volunteer Greg Bover in the foreground.
Hoisting the Sails
This past week I was invited by FOB Adam Bolonsky to sail the Schooner Adventure to take photos and write a bit for Good Morning Gloucester.
Sailing aboard the Adventure I felt transported to another time and place. Exhilarating, yet peaceful, the ship possesses a splendid grace and steadfastness. What a treasured gift to have had this experience. Thank you, thank you Captain Edick, Adam, and crew for a truly memorable afternoon. I can’t wait to adventure aboard the Adventure again!
With sunny and blue skies above, along with a moderately strong wind, Captain Edick remarked that it was perhaps the best sail of the summer.
Experiential learning is at the core of Adventure’s mission. Volunteer Adam Bolonsky teaches young sailors how to navigate Gloucester Harbor.
In June, the Adventure was issued her Passenger Vessel Certificate by the Coast Guard. The member sails have become so popular dates have been added every week in August and early September.
The Advenutre is poised to be a tremendously positive ambassador for Gloucester. Saturday she participated in the Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta in Marblehead. The vessel is a floating museum and classroom and there are plans to sail to nearby ports from where the Adventure used to sail as a fishing boat including Boston, New York, New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Portland.
Support the Adventure by becoming a member or volunteer–opportunities abound. Take advantage of this extraordinarily beautiful gift to Gloucester that is the Adventure! Click here to learn more about becoming a member.
See Lots More Photos Here Continue reading “COME SAIL AWAY ON THE MAGNIFICENT ADVENTURE!”
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Early Morning Magnolia Harbor
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I love Rockport but
They have the ugliest Mermaids.
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Dramatic Sunset Over Wonson Cove
E.J. Lefavour
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Beautiful Dark Skies Over Gloucester
The Boston Globe reported on July 26 that Gloucester has been awarded $240,000.00 to convert streetlights to LEDs; the move is reportedly expected to save the city $130,000.00 annually on its electric bill. This is great news, but only if we’re careful with the type of LEDs that we wind up with.LEDs are by nature rich in blue light. And shining blue light around at night is a terrible idea.The sky is blue in the daytime because blue light from the sun is scattered in the atmosphere most easily. This is, unfortunately, also true at night — the blue light component of streetlights is scattered in the atmosphere and produces sky glow, which blocks out the stars and causes glare. Glare is bad for drivers, and for birds and other living things that need the dark, and for other natural resources, including the night-time sky.
The more blue light, the fewer stars we can see. We could easily lose one of Cape Ann’s great tourist attractions, our rich night skies, in the transition to the wrong LEDs. Most folks never get to see the Milky Way, but we see it all the time; tourists are often quite surprised at the beauty of our night skies. But once the stars are gone, they’re gone. Go to Boston, for example, and look up.
The good news is that in addition to saving money, we can have more environmentally-friendly lighting by being smart about our choice of LEDs. Here’s how: the amount of blue light produced by streetlights is measured by color temperature. 4000k lighting has a lot of blue light mixed in; this is obvious to the eye. 3000k lighting or lower produces a warmer color and is not just more pleasing to the eye, but better for you, for nocturnal wildlife, and much better for our night time skies.
We encourage readers of GMG to write or call the folks who will be involved in choosing our new LED streetlights, and to ask them to choose lower glare, healthier, and more night-sky friendly 3000k lights over blue-light rich 4000k lighting.
LINK TO GLOUCESTER CITY COUNCIL and mail a comment to Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken
The undersigned GAAC members, active astronomers in the area, sprinkled all over the North Shore and beyond, consider Cape Ann as the best viewing in New England. At least once a month we drag our telescopes, large and small, to the north east corner of Cape Ann for the incredible dark sky that we have here. GAAC shows the night sky to hundreds and hundreds of folks from here and away every year, and we’ve seen the night sky disappear in too many other locations. Let’s not let this happen to Cape Ann.
Michael Deneen, Boxford
Patrick Amoroso, Boston
Nanette Benoit, Gloucester
Brendan Desmond, Gloucester
Gage Desmond, Gloucester
Rick Eliot, Rockport
Lisa Hahn, Rockport
Kathleen Henneberry, Peabody
Edward Henneberry, Peabody
Andrea Johnston, Salem
Jim Koerth, Rockport
Karen Koerth, Rockport
Stephen Kolaczkowski, Beverly
Elaine Kolaczkowski, Beverly
Michael Kulick, Manchester
Michele Kulick, Manchester
Greg Lipshutz, Newton
Gregory Lippolis, Newton
Francesco Lucente Stabile, Boston
Dick Luecke, Gloucester
Gary Meehan, Danvers
Paul Morrison & RD, Rockport
Mario Motta, Gloucester
Roger Porter, Gloucester
Virginia Renehan, Gloucester
Christie Wight, Manchester
Allen Winter, Salem
Susannah Wolfe. Gloucester
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Game 1 Intertown Twilight League Championship Manchester-Essex Vs. Rowley
The Manchester Essex Mariners and the Rowley Rams squared off Saturday afternoon in game one of their best of 5 championship series. Manchester-Essex Mariners took control early and won the opener 9-3. Rory Gentile got the win and Mike Cain went deep for the game’s only home run.
History
Founded in 1929, The Intertown Twilight League is the oldest active amateur baseball league in the country, and is recognized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame as such.
Schedule
Game 2 of the series is played Sunday at 4:00PM in Rowley with Game 3 on Wednesday at 5:30PM back at Memorial Field in Essex.
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3rd Annual Rockport Fireworks
Last night’s fireworks were fantastic! Thanks to all who made the display possible!
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Town Landing Live Blogging 08/09/2015
Gloucester Town Landing 08/09/2015
9:32am
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FOB Julie from Harbor Good is At Saratoga
Julie writes, Joe and I are in Saratoga for the big Whitney race with our Wicked Strong.
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#GloucesterMA Harbor At Dawn. 5:37AM Windmills, Lobster Boats, and Cripple Cove From @CaptJoeLobster
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August 2015 International Dory Race Eliminations Results
Damon Cummings forwards-
Note: There were two heats in the Senior (open) division. There will be a runoff in that division at 6 pm on Monday at Niles Beach. Since the winners of the two heats had identical times, 10 min 17 seconds, that should be quite a race Monday evening.
Mixed doubles:
1. Lily Jean Sanfilippo and Bill Edmonds 8:16
2. Rachel Cecillio and Larry Ciulla 8:42
Juniors
1. Thomas Beaton and Tyler Edmonds 8:12
Women:
Bye – Amanda Palazzola and Lindsey Rogers
Over 50
1. Alex Thomas and Donny Favaloro 8:31
Seniors Heat 1
1. Brian Sanborn and John Francis 10:17
2. Peter Taomina and Vincent Tarranova 10:25
2. Paul Simon and Janda Ricci Munn 11:04
Seniors Heat 2
1. Glenn Harrington and Erik Dombrowski 10:17 (note tie with heat 1 above)
2. Nick and Vito Giacalone 10:18
3. Mark and Chris Giacalone 10:23
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Live From Rockport Fireworks
1/2 way through
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Rockport, Ma Live Blogging 08/08/2015
08/08/2015 7:22pm
Fireworks night. Bearskin Neck
A-Train Orchestra.
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The Welcoming Mary Prentiss Inn
Welcoming guests from all walks of life!
Hmmm, looks tasty…
don’t mind if I do!
Last week on my Mary Prentiss Inn garden check up I was greeted by a fine pair of goldfinches. They were breakfasting on the expiring cosmos and weren’t at all bothered my presence tidying up the garden. The garden is coming into full summer bloom and has become the neighborhood mecca for pollinators. See the Mary Prentiss Inn website with a new video showcasing the Inn’s many outstanding architectural features and lovely decor: The Mary Prentiss Inn.
A pair of red hibiscus topiaries greet the guests at the entryway.
Proprietor Jennifer Fandetti’s colorful pots at the Inn’s secret garden courtyard.
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Out for a sail in the haze
Good Morning Gloucester 