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Sunday and Monday were spent at the lovely cottage pictured here, in the ***MVCMA|http://www.mvcma.org/*** campground in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. It was our first trip down, and the ‘unofficial’ start of the summer season. We spent most of our time working in and around the house, putting up wallpaper, painting, mowing, weeding, sweeping, washing, etc, etc. Generally trying to get it ready for the summer season. But there was time for relaxing, eating lunch out on the porch, walking down to the beach, and generally taking it easy. More of that to come later this summer – hooray!

I also discovered that my camera has a so-called “HDTV” mode, where it can take photos in a ‘widescreen’ format. Essentially, this is just the full-frame format, with the top and bottom cropped out on screen… but it does make it easier to take some creative photos.

Full gallery ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/vineyard_20050529***.

Don’t break the bank on weekend entertainment

As 20-somethings, living in the over priced Boston area, Peter and I are always on the look out for good deals, bargains and free events. Sometimes it is hard to pass up the pricey activities, but the savings in the end is worth it. I would like to give some encouragement to any one else that might find themselves in the same position.

We spent this weekend doing some great things around New England. All of it, with the exception of gas and food, was FREE FREE FREE. We scored ourselves a free $35 whale watch which was fantastic. In addition to seeing whales we learned a ton about them and also about Stellwagen Bank, a national marine sanctuary. From there we toured the Cape Pond Ice Company and learned all about the ice and fishing industries. Saturday was a very educational day.

On Sunday we got up early and drove to Mt Washington and climbed the nearby Imp Face Trail. Not only did we get a great, natural workout, but we got to spend the whole day with Dad and Corey and see some FANTASTIC views of New Hampshire’s Presidential mountain range.
Also we saw a bear. Imagine that!

Sometimes it is hard to believe that there are free things to do outside of watching cable (which really isn’t free, is it?) Luckily for those of us strapped of cash there are ways of finding exciting, free activites. So, check out the web, the newspapers and signs posted on local telephone poles and get out there without spending a fortune!

Just a quick post to let our readers know that we arrived back safe and sound in Beverly this evening. We had a wonderful time on our week-long vacation. I expect that Becky or I will have more details to post later, but for now, here are a few random thoughts on our trip:

* You Ohioans don’t know how good you’ve got it in the real estate pricing department. Or maybe you do, and that’s why you’re living there, and not in the Greater Boston area.
* Taco Bell IS better in Ohio. Being served by Customer Fanatic ***Will Farnham|http://gallery.prwdot.org/ohio_trip_day_2/IMG_8061*** was an added bonus.
* We dubbed a man at ***Niagara Falls KOA|http://www.niagarakoa.com/*** “Admiral Snorrington”
* On one side of our camp site we had Mark and Kirsten for one night, and another nice family the second night. On the other side, we had a different dysfunctional family unit both nights. Think drunken yelling at 3 a.m., or paddling of a child at 6 a.m.
* As tempting as it was, I did not, in fact, take advantage of our Kampground’s wireless internet access.
* Raccoons love graham crackers. Or any other type of food. They are evil.
* Among the words that I didn’t expect to be spelled differently in Canada: Jewelry -> Jewellery

The photos from the Ohio part of our trip are up ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/ohio_trip***, and the photos from the Niagara Falls part will be up ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/niagara_falls_trip*** soon – check back if it doesn’t come up.

Today was the day – I absolutely, positively had to fill up my car’s gas tank for the first time since the fuel price hike. Luckily, I needed to be on the other side of town where the cheapest gas station is located (American Petroleum at 586 Cabot St. in Beverly). Here is how it broke down:

15.602 gallons of gasoline to fill my tank @ $2.019 dollars per gallon for 87 octane (the lowest price *anywhere* around here!) = $31.50 total!!

*sigh*

I just did a quick calculation, and if I were to need to fill up the gas tank in my car today (which, thankfully, I don’t), I would be paying about $30 for 15 gallons of 87 octane, even at the cheapest stations. I’m probably going to need to fill it next week, though.

🙁

We would like to thank you for your very awesome Christmas gift! We would have never thought to rent snowshoes for a weekend and go tromping off into the snow!

We went this weekend up to Jackson, New Hampshire and spent a couple nights at the ***Ellis River House|http://www.ellisriverhouse.com***. It was a cozy little ***bed and breakfast|http://gallery.prwdot.org/nh_weekend/IMG_2980*** with nice views of the White Mountains and a fantastic breakfast!

Saturday we ventured out early to ***Jackson Ski Touring Foundation|http://www.jacksonxc.org*** Lodge and got ready to do a little snowshoeing. Peter picked it up quite nicely, considering his being a newbie to winter sports. I enjoyed the snowshoes, but those ***nicely groomed nordic tracks|http://gallery.prwdot.org/nh_weekend/IMG_3008*** were calling my name and I soon exchanged my shoes for skiis. I’ve never skiied on nice tracks like that and it was incredible! I may be spoiled for life now.

Tired, cold and wet we went back to the inn and eased our muscles in the hot tub for a while, went out for some dinner and grabbed dessert at the North Conway McDonald’s. Do you remember that one we went to with Greg, Sue and Pete with the ***Ski Gondola tables|http://gallery.prwdot.org/nh_weekend/IMG_3042***? Fun, fun.

Being unable to resist the temptation we succumbed to the lure of the N.Conway outlet shops after a yummy breakfast and relaxing Sunday morning. We didn’t buy much but got to see some fine ice sculptures being carved.

It was a great weekend away and we thank you so much for giving us the little kick in the pants we needed to get outside.

Love,
Becky and Peter

ps. there’s more pics ***where those came from|http://gallery.prwdot.org/nh_weekend?page=1***!

Taking the lead from ***Michelle|http://mikao.blogspot.com/***, Becky and I have constructed maps of the States in the US that we’ve visited, and maps of the countries of the world that we’ve visited. Note that some of the places may have been visited by only one of us.

First, the United States:

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Next, The World:

create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

That’s a lot of ground that we’ve covered… and yet, still much, much more to see! If we had the time and the money, we’d see it all. But we’ll take what we can get. 🙂

I got a couple new tires for my car a couple days ago, hoping that would be enough to get me through the ***Mass State Inspections|http://vehicletest.state.ma.us/*** and that I wouldn’t have to spend too much more money for a while.

Well, today I got a big fat “R” sticker on the car, because apparently there’s a problem with my brakes. They couldn’t actually find a problem with the brakes, and as far as I can tell, my emergency brake and my regular brakes are working fine. But the “brake” indicator light on my dashboard has been going on and off intermittently for the past couple of months… and they said because the brake light stayed on, there must be some problem with the brake system. I had hoped they would be able to overlook that light and just pass the car… but apparently not. Now I have 60 days to fix the problem and get the car re-inspected. Well, I suppose safe is better than sorry, and that’s the whole reason they do these tests every year.

This is one of the things I miss about having my car registered in Knox County, Ohio – no vehicle inspection required to register your car, and no yearly inspection. In Ohio, you’re only required to get an emissions test if you live in one of ***these three metropolitan areas|http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dapc/echeck/station_loc.html***.

In Massachusetts, every car must receive a safety inspection every year, and an emissions test every other year (unless it’s older than a certain age). In addition, your car must pass an inspection before you can register it.

This is the third year that my car has been subject to the state inspection. The first year I had to buy two new tires before I could pass. The second year I passed with no problem. This year I had to get two more new tires and apparently also get some brake work done.

Bah.

Tomorrow after I get off of ***work|http://www.christianbook.com/***, Becky and I are heading down to ***Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania|http://www.schuylkillhaven.org/*** for Christmas. My mom’s side of the family, the Keefers, have their home base there. Mom, dad, Mark and Kirsten will all be coming out, and it should be great to get to see a lot of folks again — and for Becky to meet some people she hasn’t met at all!

For those who would like to put Schuylkill Haven on the map, below is the route we will be taking from Beverly:

And here’s the rough area map of Haven, with a few recognizeable cities:

We’ll be gone for the rest of the week, so this may be my last post for a while. Merry Christmas to everyone!