Monday, August 13, 2007
day # 5
we started off the day in plymouth – plymouth plantation + the mayflower – both recreations of the originals and both very interesting. then, we made a much needed walmart stop to restock our supplies. what a fantastic store.
we started our trek up the coast of maine. what a pleasure traveling in the rv – the kids didn’t even realize we were driving for 2.5 hours. we finally reached our campground in old orchard beach + the kids went off exploring on their bikes while we set up camp.
by this point elly has mastered many new skills, most importantly that of building a camp fire. we are all the lucky beneficiaries.
day #6
it was a beautiful day + since we were walking distance from the beach we were able to get there before 8:30. we had a great time and then walked back to shower for shabbos before we left the campground for bangor.
a kosher bagel store in bangor maine? apparently, it’s the only bagel store in town + so they are able to survive on mostly non-jewish customers and the 10 frum families, along with the many tourists who come through town, are able to enjoy it as well. its also the only place in town to buy food for shabbos (yes, at the bagel store) so, it was our first stop in bangor. not quite chop-a-nosh but, we made do + had more than enough food.
from there we headed to the bangor state fair – rides, shows and of course, pig races (what is it about pig racing that new yorkers get so excited about?) and then, to find our spot in front of the shul for shabbos.
i knew friday night was not going to be the pinnacle of my programming career when elly announced, “this is worse than a plane ride to israel.” it was pretty crazy – no light (moshe had turned them off soon after shabbos began,) no eruv so we couldn’t take a thing outside, attempting to eat a shabbos meal in such a cramped space, a mad search for pacifiers in the pitck dark and then . . .
day #7
at about 1:30 am I woke up + realized that our battery had died – the battery that powers the plumbing in the rv – our bathroom for the remainder shabbos. we had never so eagerly awaited the opening of a shul as we did whenwe awoke in the morning.
thank god, shabbos was uphill from there and we were able to look back at the friday night fiasco as one bad (really bad) night in an otherwise great trip. It was cool to see such a small community – how welcoming and friendly they are to visitors and how vibrant they remain despite their dwindling size (they still get a minyan 3x a day even though there are less than 10 homer shabbos families left.) we met many interesting people who invited us to their kiddush after shul where they were more than happy to share with us stories of the history + present state of the bangor jewish community.
what would shabbos be without the fogels? 450 miles away from greenfield road + we still had them over for kiddush – food courtesy of the fogels, ambience courtesy of the storch rv. we all headed to the park + then rivka left with them for a playdate with rachel and we headed back to the rv for lunch.
after lunch we split our time between the park and the shul (they were very nice + gave us the combination so we could use it at our leisure and enjoy air conditioning, plumbing and other 21st century amenities.) it turned out to be a very relaxing + very interesting shabbos.
day # 8
we left bangor right after shul in the morning + headed straight to acadia national park. after the visitors center, our 1st stop was thunder hole + from there we hiked (dasi walked the mile, moshe rode on my back) down to otter cliff – really beautiful.
we picnicked at a pretty, rocky cove + then hung out there for a while collecting beautiful rocks + shells. from there we drove up cadillac mt + hiked on the summit, enjoying the beautiful views of the coast. then, it was time to go to the campground + tackle the dreaded . . . laundry. for those who thought i couldn’t do it (mostly elly) – i actually managed to do a weeks worth of laundry for 8 people – ava would be proud.
when we pulled into our site (no easy feat considering how tight the spot was but, elly did a great job) we met our next door neighbors + the kids immediately hit it off. mady + henna spoke the universal language of harry potter + jacob + the shmaryahu+ hillel were playing waffle ball together. later, their parents joined us around the fire + we found out that theyre from wyndham, nh, that he is jewish but, she is not + that their kids were excited when they spotted orthodox people.
day # 9
our 2nd day in acadia began with a 2-hour junior ranger hike to bubble rock. the ranger was really interesting + the kids enjoyed. then, we drove to the other side of the park to hike a short trail + go tide pooling at low tide. we were there for a while collecting all kinds of cool stuff. finally, we headed to a field full of blueberry bushes that we could pick – and eat.
it was then that the sky opened up. while we were out picking berries, it began pouring. by the time we got back to the rv we were freezing, soaked to the bone + at 5pm, i could not imagine what we were going to do inside our 29 foot home for the rest of the night.
we definitely couldn’t grill so dinner had to be plan b – deli sandwiches. but, thank god, the rain finally stopped in time to make a much needed fire to warm ourselves up. we sat around for a long time with our new friends, playing games till it was time for al the kids to go to sleep.
we started off the day in plymouth – plymouth plantation + the mayflower – both recreations of the originals and both very interesting. then, we made a much needed walmart stop to restock our supplies. what a fantastic store.
we started our trek up the coast of maine. what a pleasure traveling in the rv – the kids didn’t even realize we were driving for 2.5 hours. we finally reached our campground in old orchard beach + the kids went off exploring on their bikes while we set up camp.
by this point elly has mastered many new skills, most importantly that of building a camp fire. we are all the lucky beneficiaries.
day #6
it was a beautiful day + since we were walking distance from the beach we were able to get there before 8:30. we had a great time and then walked back to shower for shabbos before we left the campground for bangor.
a kosher bagel store in bangor maine? apparently, it’s the only bagel store in town + so they are able to survive on mostly non-jewish customers and the 10 frum families, along with the many tourists who come through town, are able to enjoy it as well. its also the only place in town to buy food for shabbos (yes, at the bagel store) so, it was our first stop in bangor. not quite chop-a-nosh but, we made do + had more than enough food.
from there we headed to the bangor state fair – rides, shows and of course, pig races (what is it about pig racing that new yorkers get so excited about?) and then, to find our spot in front of the shul for shabbos.
i knew friday night was not going to be the pinnacle of my programming career when elly announced, “this is worse than a plane ride to israel.” it was pretty crazy – no light (moshe had turned them off soon after shabbos began,) no eruv so we couldn’t take a thing outside, attempting to eat a shabbos meal in such a cramped space, a mad search for pacifiers in the pitck dark and then . . .
day #7
at about 1:30 am I woke up + realized that our battery had died – the battery that powers the plumbing in the rv – our bathroom for the remainder shabbos. we had never so eagerly awaited the opening of a shul as we did whenwe awoke in the morning.
thank god, shabbos was uphill from there and we were able to look back at the friday night fiasco as one bad (really bad) night in an otherwise great trip. It was cool to see such a small community – how welcoming and friendly they are to visitors and how vibrant they remain despite their dwindling size (they still get a minyan 3x a day even though there are less than 10 homer shabbos families left.) we met many interesting people who invited us to their kiddush after shul where they were more than happy to share with us stories of the history + present state of the bangor jewish community.
what would shabbos be without the fogels? 450 miles away from greenfield road + we still had them over for kiddush – food courtesy of the fogels, ambience courtesy of the storch rv. we all headed to the park + then rivka left with them for a playdate with rachel and we headed back to the rv for lunch.
after lunch we split our time between the park and the shul (they were very nice + gave us the combination so we could use it at our leisure and enjoy air conditioning, plumbing and other 21st century amenities.) it turned out to be a very relaxing + very interesting shabbos.
day # 8
we left bangor right after shul in the morning + headed straight to acadia national park. after the visitors center, our 1st stop was thunder hole + from there we hiked (dasi walked the mile, moshe rode on my back) down to otter cliff – really beautiful.
we picnicked at a pretty, rocky cove + then hung out there for a while collecting beautiful rocks + shells. from there we drove up cadillac mt + hiked on the summit, enjoying the beautiful views of the coast. then, it was time to go to the campground + tackle the dreaded . . . laundry. for those who thought i couldn’t do it (mostly elly) – i actually managed to do a weeks worth of laundry for 8 people – ava would be proud.
when we pulled into our site (no easy feat considering how tight the spot was but, elly did a great job) we met our next door neighbors + the kids immediately hit it off. mady + henna spoke the universal language of harry potter + jacob + the shmaryahu+ hillel were playing waffle ball together. later, their parents joined us around the fire + we found out that theyre from wyndham, nh, that he is jewish but, she is not + that their kids were excited when they spotted orthodox people.
day # 9
our 2nd day in acadia began with a 2-hour junior ranger hike to bubble rock. the ranger was really interesting + the kids enjoyed. then, we drove to the other side of the park to hike a short trail + go tide pooling at low tide. we were there for a while collecting all kinds of cool stuff. finally, we headed to a field full of blueberry bushes that we could pick – and eat.
it was then that the sky opened up. while we were out picking berries, it began pouring. by the time we got back to the rv we were freezing, soaked to the bone + at 5pm, i could not imagine what we were going to do inside our 29 foot home for the rest of the night.
we definitely couldn’t grill so dinner had to be plan b – deli sandwiches. but, thank god, the rain finally stopped in time to make a much needed fire to warm ourselves up. we sat around for a long time with our new friends, playing games till it was time for al the kids to go to sleep.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
day #2
with shmaryahu as his able assistant, elly skillfully unhooked all of our connections + we were off. or, so we thought. about 5 minutes into our trip someone flagged us down to tell us we had lost much of our belongings somewhere down the road. apparently, we had forgotten to lock the outside compartments and we had to go back and retrieve several items from along route 6.
though the weather reports were ominous, thank god, the rains held up and we got in a full day of outdoor activities. we had a great time sailboating out of hyannis, on a ranger walk in the salt marshes and watching the fishing boats at the chatham pier.
for our 2nd night of camping, we were excited for a night around a big campfire but, that was easier said than done. after several attempts on our own, we were lucky to have tim, our next door neighbor at the campground, come to show us how its done (hint: light fluid.) after that we played a game shmaryahu+henna had planned, roasted marshmallows and relaxed. thanks tim, well even forgive you for being a red sox fan.
day #3
we got out early in the hopes of getting to the beach before others did. we were successful and spent a good part of the morning there. when we got there the tide was really low and hillel, with help from his siblings, collected a pail full of crabs which he tried to convince us he needed to take on the rv – we bargained him down to one pet.
after lunch we set out to bike a portion of the cape cod rail trail. with dasi on my bike and henna+shmaryahu alternating riding with moshe, we were off (rivka was “too scaried” so she+elly had to stay back.) we biked 4 miles from Harwich to dennis, it was very pretty and we all enjoyed. from there we headed to watch a cape cod baseball league game – brewster white caps vs. yarmouth/dennis red sox.
being that we weren’t going to get there till late and it it didn’t make sense to hook up at a camp ground, we drove to provincetown (where we needed to be the next morning) for our 1st night of dry camping (camping w/o a hook up.) being the novices that we are, we actually asked at the police station where it was legal to park. when we got to the lot there were 4 other rvs already there. the ads are really true, we can really go anywhere.
day #4
we started the day with whale watching – it was really cool, we saw tons of whales. from there we headed to truro to see and climb up to the highland light lighthouse and then we biked on another pretty bike trail.
we drove back up the cape to plymouth where, after dinner, we took a lantern tour through the town, learning all of the history behind it – very interesting. again, because we weren’t finished until late, it made more sense to dry camp but, 2 nights in a row without a means to replenish our water supply meant I had to become the water nazi throughout the day.
again, we asked the police where we could park + they directed us to a truck service area. knowing we had a short water supply, before we went to sleep we made sure everyone used the bathrooms + washed up at a nearby hotel bathroom – we finally felt like we had made it to real trailer trash status.
with shmaryahu as his able assistant, elly skillfully unhooked all of our connections + we were off. or, so we thought. about 5 minutes into our trip someone flagged us down to tell us we had lost much of our belongings somewhere down the road. apparently, we had forgotten to lock the outside compartments and we had to go back and retrieve several items from along route 6.
though the weather reports were ominous, thank god, the rains held up and we got in a full day of outdoor activities. we had a great time sailboating out of hyannis, on a ranger walk in the salt marshes and watching the fishing boats at the chatham pier.
for our 2nd night of camping, we were excited for a night around a big campfire but, that was easier said than done. after several attempts on our own, we were lucky to have tim, our next door neighbor at the campground, come to show us how its done (hint: light fluid.) after that we played a game shmaryahu+henna had planned, roasted marshmallows and relaxed. thanks tim, well even forgive you for being a red sox fan.
day #3
we got out early in the hopes of getting to the beach before others did. we were successful and spent a good part of the morning there. when we got there the tide was really low and hillel, with help from his siblings, collected a pail full of crabs which he tried to convince us he needed to take on the rv – we bargained him down to one pet.
after lunch we set out to bike a portion of the cape cod rail trail. with dasi on my bike and henna+shmaryahu alternating riding with moshe, we were off (rivka was “too scaried” so she+elly had to stay back.) we biked 4 miles from Harwich to dennis, it was very pretty and we all enjoyed. from there we headed to watch a cape cod baseball league game – brewster white caps vs. yarmouth/dennis red sox.
being that we weren’t going to get there till late and it it didn’t make sense to hook up at a camp ground, we drove to provincetown (where we needed to be the next morning) for our 1st night of dry camping (camping w/o a hook up.) being the novices that we are, we actually asked at the police station where it was legal to park. when we got to the lot there were 4 other rvs already there. the ads are really true, we can really go anywhere.
day #4
we started the day with whale watching – it was really cool, we saw tons of whales. from there we headed to truro to see and climb up to the highland light lighthouse and then we biked on another pretty bike trail.
we drove back up the cape to plymouth where, after dinner, we took a lantern tour through the town, learning all of the history behind it – very interesting. again, because we weren’t finished until late, it made more sense to dry camp but, 2 nights in a row without a means to replenish our water supply meant I had to become the water nazi throughout the day.
again, we asked the police where we could park + they directed us to a truck service area. knowing we had a short water supply, before we went to sleep we made sure everyone used the bathrooms + washed up at a nearby hotel bathroom – we finally felt like we had made it to real trailer trash status.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
sorry about the lack of writing but, except for a brief time on tuesday night, we haven’t had internet access (I guess that’s to be expected when were parked in a truck service area but, more about that later.) lets try to catch up . . .
day #1
bubby+zaidy woke up at the crack of dawn to see us off + thanks to kenny fogel for getting the bikes on the rack (i know that everyone who witnessed that scene has been wondering if weve managed to get them off + back on and the answer to that question is yes), we were off.
our first stop was newport, ri where elly expertly maneuvered through the narrow, windy streets. we very much enjoyed seeing the touro syngogue, the breakers and the green animals topiary garden. pulling out of our parking spots was a whole ordeal – shmaryahu + i are getting quite experienced at traffic direction.
then, we were off to cape cod for our 1st night of camping. thank god for ron, the worker who happened to be passing by as we approached the site + without whom wed probably still be looking at the site wondering what to do, who expertly directed us into our spot + showed elly how to hook up the water, electric + of course, the waste hose.
we grilled, we made a small campfire, we changed our “transformer” into a sleeping facility + hoped for the best. unfortunately, sleep was not in the cards for anyone, as moshe+dasi were having too much fun with their 1st night in a bed (the same bed no less) + as you can imagine when were sharing a 29 ft space, if they don’t sleep, nobody sleeps. but, a good time was had by all.
day #1
bubby+zaidy woke up at the crack of dawn to see us off + thanks to kenny fogel for getting the bikes on the rack (i know that everyone who witnessed that scene has been wondering if weve managed to get them off + back on and the answer to that question is yes), we were off.
our first stop was newport, ri where elly expertly maneuvered through the narrow, windy streets. we very much enjoyed seeing the touro syngogue, the breakers and the green animals topiary garden. pulling out of our parking spots was a whole ordeal – shmaryahu + i are getting quite experienced at traffic direction.
then, we were off to cape cod for our 1st night of camping. thank god for ron, the worker who happened to be passing by as we approached the site + without whom wed probably still be looking at the site wondering what to do, who expertly directed us into our spot + showed elly how to hook up the water, electric + of course, the waste hose.
we grilled, we made a small campfire, we changed our “transformer” into a sleeping facility + hoped for the best. unfortunately, sleep was not in the cards for anyone, as moshe+dasi were having too much fun with their 1st night in a bed (the same bed no less) + as you can imagine when were sharing a 29 ft space, if they don’t sleep, nobody sleeps. but, a good time was had by all.
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