Fall River

There’s something special about Boston. I felt it the last time I was here. If you fly in on a clear day and you’re sitting on the right side of the plane look down, you’ll see a lighthouse standing alone on rocks in the Atlantic just a couple of miles from the airport. I’ve decided that’s where I want to write all my movies from now on.

When I went to the Enterprise I was greeted pleasantly and Mike took me outside to re introduce me to my old friend. That’s right “Big Blue”. The same PT Cruiser I had in Maine, the exact same color. I asked “Big Blue” how he got all the way down and he didn’t really want to talk about it. I mean we aren’t the best of friends because we argue a lot but it’s always good to see a familiar face.

Getting lost in Salem was quite the experience, which now is going to be a common theme I’m finding out. Salem was a pretty cool town and being here during Halloween was a rare treat. It’s funny, I didn’t even think of it until I was there. As you walk around you can’t shake that eerie history that happened so long ago. When you walk around the cemetery you just have that strange feeling. It’s kinda touristy but that’s expected. Hey, I’m tourist or do I not count since I got lost and ended up there? I’m glad I ended up getting lost there.

I’ve learned that I have picked the most secluded out of the way hotel in North Boston. There is nothing literally for miles. There’s only one easy to get to restaurant and I went there yesterday. It wasn’t very good, but the apple dumpling was amazing. Yet this over priced golf resort wannabe is nothing special. The room is like every other plain jane hotel. It’s still under construction and it’s smoke-free. Which I don’t mind if there’s a bench our something outside to sit at, but there’s not. The pool is located down the way in another building. It’s a wacky set up but whatever, I have things to do.

I woke up at 5am and took my time this morning. My presentation wasn’t until 11am but it was an hour away. You see, I’m really not in Boston. All my school are on the outskirts of Boston. So I probably won’t make it into the city. Today’s school and Friday’s school are way south of MA. My other schools are North Boston. So “Big Blue” and I will be driving around quite a bit. A lucky for me, I decided to leave the hotel at 7am prepared for a Boston morning rush hour and I got it. Mapquest stated that my drive would take me an hour to get the school. It actually took me an hour to get to the city of Boston at that was just 11miles. I still had another forty miles to go. I cranked up NPR and enjoyed my morning coffee in stop and go traffic. Finally it cleared up a bit. Cruising down the highway a rock jumps up and slams into my windshield making a dime size crack. What is it with windshields and me lately? While thinking of that I realized I got off the wrong exit. I went off exit 6 instead of exit 5. Of course there wasn’t an on ramp south bound so I had to go north to another exit and then head back south. I finally get to my exit and pull into a shopping center. I call enterprise and no one picks up the phone. I call 3 times. I call my boss and again no one picks up the phone. Urgh. Oh well. I grab a cup off coffee at a bagel shop and look at the clock. I realize I have time.

I drive down narrow one-way streets of old New England homes, strange intersections until I get to 2nd Ave. I drive up several blocks growing frustrated. I turn down a side street and around back on 2nd Ave. At the last moment I see it! I drive around a couple of blocks and park. I put a couple of quarters in the meter and start walking down the block. Tucked away in between buildings is Scavenger Hunt Quest #2 Lizzie Borden’s Home. Of course it wasn’t going to be open to the public until 11am and if you wanted a tour it would set you back 10 dollars. Though looking at the house, you kinda wonder how you’re going to get 10 dollars worth from a tour in a small house. I was hoping for a gift shop at least, but all the doors were closed. Though the hunt said I had to drive by it, which I did twice and leaving it 3 times, I stood back and took a picture on my cell phone. So…

COMPLETE: 2. fall river - drive by the house where lizzie borden
killed her parents (now a b&b):
http://www.lizzie-borden.com/about.asp?SiteSectionID=1&SiteSubSectionID=1\

The presentation went well. The kids were really receptive. I was only there for an hour and a half, less the time it took for me to drive down there. That’s okay, at least I saw Lizzie’s house and for you that aren’t aware of her story, she was the O.J. Simpson of her time.

Driving back I had no incidents. I made it to the hotel in an hour. Then I had a swell idea to grab dinner and catch a movie. Well after getting lost to the movie theater and finally finding it I realize there’s no restaurants anywhere near by. So I turned around drove back up the US 1 and found a place to eat. Now, if you never have driven in Boston, it takes a master skill. No matter what the speed limit you have to drive 20mph over it. So in a 30 you have to drive 50. At some point you may have to turn left and then right and then left to stay on the same road constantly looking at signs while going 50 in a 30 on a two-lane road. Sitting at the restaurant exhausted on US 1 I decided to skip the movie. You can’t just get on US 1 you have to scheme your way between cars and if you need to go south instead of north you may be able to do it if the exit you get off lets you. US 1 N and US 1 S is divided by a wall you cannot cross over it unless at an exit (maybe) So as I am going back to my hotel on US 1 N I find the exit. Well I have to turn left, but it won’t let me. So I turn right and see a church on a hill that I will pull into and turn left out of. Well, on a two-lane road where cars going 50 in a thirty and the traffic don’t let up makes it almost impossible. So I wait several minutes and get defeated so I turn right and drive to a stop light take a right and enter an elementary school and turn to the stoplight. Sure a few miles out of my way but needless to say I make it back to my hotel just fine…letting out a long exhausting sigh.

So here I am back at the hotel where I’m going stay in for the night. I have two things on my list that I have to do tomorrow so I have to get some much needed sleep. Oh by the way, I did get ahold of Enterprise, they told me not to worry about the crack. I just feel sad that Big Blue has not got a Black Eye.

My body is beginning to shut down from all the traveling. But hey, if Mick Jagger can do it, so can’t I!!!!

P.S. I figured out how to get pictures from my cell phone.

Lizzie Borden's House, Fall River, MA


Old Burying Ground, Salem MA