More Lobsters and Scenery...and Funny T-Shirts

There are no shortage of souvenir shops in town, that's for sure.  A lot of the tshirts are really funny.  I loved this one.  The flies are such a nice touch.

Yes.  The answer is Yes.

 I need this one, especially as it relates to this past summer's weather.

Best. Celtics shirt.  EVER.  I would even wear this one and I don't like basketball, but I couldn't help but get sucked into Celtics fever when they were winning year after year.

The Mayflower II in her home port.  I think she'll be towed through the Canal again later this fall for more repairs at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.  Plymouth is gearing up for the big 400th year celebration in 2020.

This was my favourite lobster of all.  It was the Plymouth & Brockton Bus entry and it's brilliant.

Even a miniature Plymouth Rock memorial!

He looks kinda sad though.  I guess if I had to deal with Boston traffic multiple times a day, I'd be pretty sad too.

Usually I make the climb but not today.  The drought has fried all the grass too.

More pretty chairs.

This was my fave.

I was gonna walk over to Brewster Gardens but I was sweating to death and afraid that the time was nearly up at my parking meter so I walked back.

No shortage of souvenir shops.  I actually hadn't gotten a fridge magnet in all the times I've been there so I rectified that situation.  Although I'm sure Russell would say, 'How can you tell if there is one or not when there are a hundred magnets on the fridge?'  

I have about three months' worth of photography junkets to catch up on so hopefully I can cover some ground this fall.

Another Thing That Doesn't Get Old

Last year I posted pics of the Mayflower II being towed through the Canal on a very rainy, dark afternoon.  It was headed to dry dock in Mystic, CT for repairs.  I knew it was supposed to get towed back to Plymouth but I totally forgot to check the marine traffic website that morning.  We were headed over to Sandwich and from the lights near our house, you can see the tops of large boats and ships that are in the Canal.  We saw the 2 masts and I said, 'Oh my god!  That's the Mayflower!'  I sped down to the parking lot at the Herring Run along with a whole bunch of other people.  We had to double park but everyone was doing it and we weren't staying long anyway.  

Looking at the Sagamore Bridge.  I stayed up in the parking lot rather than go down on the service road.

Here it comes!

Escort

Seeing it out of port, even though it's not sailing under it's own power, never gets old.

The ship will stay up in Plymouth all summer and then get towed back to Mystic next fall for more repairs.  I've heard that it's going to be gone this time for 30 months and will return to Plymouth in time for the 400 year celebration in 2020.

Mayflower and May Flowers

The Mayflower II was in dry dock down in Mystic, CT all winter long for continuing repairs and was towed back to Plymouth a couple of weeks ago.  I was monitoring the tug's progress on the Marine Tracker website and it looked pretty far away still, when I left the house.  I thought I had time to do a couple of quick errands.  But when I finally parked and was walking through the park, I saw the top of the masts going under the railroad bridge! I broke into a sprint, which is no easy feat for me (and let's face it, my boobs are just way too big for that nonsense) and this was as far as I got before it passed by.  The tug was moving at breakneck speed and I'm guessing they had a tailwind and the current was flowing that way.  

So I was disappointed that I didn't get some better shots, but at least I saw it come through in 2013.

I finally remembered to bring my camera to my mom's to shoot pictures of the rhododendrons because they are fabulous.  When I was a kid, my dad kept the area across the driveway mowed, so as to have a 'nature trail'.  It's pretty overgrown now but you can still get back there and the rhodies are still thriving.  This one is ginormous.  It's my favourite.

Another one along the driveway.

And another near the end of the driveway.

This one is kind of stunted cause a giant pine tree has grown around it but the few red flowers are still gorgeous.

This one is off the driveway in the old nature trail.

This is a very unusual rhodie in that it has a lovely fragrance to it, where all the others do not.

There's the back of the purple one that I featured first.

When I got home, my hot pink azalea was in it's glory so I took a few snappies of that as well.

Now if only the wretched green inchworms and pollen would go away!

Burial Hill & Other Stuff, Plymouth

After getting my table at the Mill Store, I went downtown to wait for a friend of mine to meet me for dinner so I hiked up to the top of Burial Hill.  The original Pilgrims and their families are up here, so the graves date back to the late 1600s.

I LOVE how this came out.

On the walk back down to the street.

I have no idea what this statue is, I saw it way in the distance on top of the hill.  I'll have to go back and find it!

This is the first time I've ever seen a hot pink and black flower.

Inside the restaurant

Then we walked over to the Mayflower II.

Safely back in port!

Plymouth Harbour.