We explored the USS Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides”, the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy. It is operated by the Navy in partnership with Boston National Historical Park.
Month: August 2025
Boston National Historical Park
We visited the Boston National Historical Park in Massachusetts, and walked about half of the Freedom Trail.
An interactive map of our walking route:
Faneuil Hall:
The Freedom Trail:
Irish Famine Memorial:
Ironically a popular place to eat lunch:
Latin School memorial:
Graveyard:
Boston Common:
Massachusetts State House:
MLK sculpture:
Visitor info and the end (or start) of the Freedom Trail:
Back to Faneuil Hall:
Cape Cod National Seashore
We took a drive out to the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
Here’s an interactive map of our route:
Entering Cape Cod:
A small visitor center at a rest area:
Salt Pond Visitor Center:
Map:
Shells:
Other exhibits:
Pond:
Boat:
Highland Lighthouse:
Province Lands Visitor Center:
Three Sisters Lighthouses:
Nauset Light:
Baseball: Boston Red Sox vs Cincinnati Reds
After our two tours of Fenway Park, we attended part of a game of the Boston Red Sox vs the Cincinnati Reds.
Jenn’s game summary:
Took two different Fenway tours before the game—one more history-oriented, one where we got to go on the warning track and then watch batting practice from the Green Monster seats. It was pretty fun to watch the homers go over our heads or come very near us. Not a bad vantage for a game, but spendy! We changed our tickets from grandstand seats to loge box ones and got to see three innings before the game was postponed due to severe thunderstorms. A pity, because I was really digging the vibe. The Red Sox did win it the next day.
An interactive map of the ballpark:
Outside Fenway:
Free fans handed out on entry, which was appreciated; it was rather hot:
Concourse:
Exhibits:
Bobbleheads:
Concourse:
View from our seats; our original seats were Grandstand 16, Row 4, Seats 5 & 6; after experiencing how uncomfortable those seats were, we changed them to Section Loge Box 133, Row DD, Seats 5 & 6:
Seat selfie:
Mascots:
Play ball:
There is netting above the seats behind home plate (rather unusually). A ball landed on the netting, rolled down, and got stuck:
Run scores:
Interesting hot dog vendor box:
And pretzel vendor:
Nasty weather on the way:
Unconvered the tarp:
Covering home plate and the mound:
Unrolling the tarp:
Game delayed:
LL Bean Keeping your Sox Dry:
Weights for the tarp:
Take cover:
Tarp on the field:
We left, as we could tell the rain wouldn’t stop for hours. The game was eventually postponed.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.
Baseball: Fenway tours
We did two guided tours of Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts: the Fenway Public Tour, which focused on the history, and the Fenway Pre-game Tour, with access to the warning track on the field behind home plate. Both tours had us sit in historic seats and the Green Monster.
Approaching Boston downtown:
A selfie:
Newer plastic seating in the foreground, historic wooden seating in the background:
Historic wooden seats… rather uncomfortable:
Historic wooden seats:
The Green Monster:
View from the Green Monster:
Music performances at Fenway:
Gardens at Fenway:
The lone red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21) signifies the longest home run ever hit at Fenway, hit by Ted Williams on June 9, 1946, and was officially measured at 502 feet (153 m):
Examples of seating over time:
Exhibits:
Behind the Green Monster:
Fenway Park plaque:
On the field during our second tour:
View from historic seats (again):
And the Green Monster:
View from the Green Monster:
Souvenir photo:
Interesting tours. In the next post, an actual game.
Completed visiting all contiguous states
With our road trip to Connecticut and Rhode Island, we have now visited all 48 contiguous states of the US.
Here’s Jenn adding last state pin:
These states are so tiny, the pins in the state capitals overlap:
All 48 states:
Here’s the full pin board. Alaska and Hawaii are the only two remaining, which will require special efforts:
Here I’m adding the last state sticker of the 48 to the outside of our coach:
The completed contiguious states map:
An exciting milestone.
Rhode Island
To complete visiting the 48 contiguous US states, we stopped in Rhode Island for dinner — our rule is that a state counts as being visited if we do something in the state, not just drive through. And with the tiny Connecticut and Rhode Island states, they’re too small to actually stay in each, so dinner and driving around Newport will suffice.
“Discover Beautiful Rhode Island”:
A duck and ducklings crossing the highway:
Coast Guard House:
Sculpture:
Major marine layer:
We wanted seafood to celebrate this milestone, so we stopped for dinner at JB’s on the Water, and sat outside:
Menu:
Ahi tuna nachos appetizer:
Split fish and chips and BLT (which we were unable to finish):
Major marine layer:
Driving through Newport, Rhode Island:
Gilded Age mansions:
An exciting milestone!
Mystic Aquarium
We visited Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut.
Mystic Aquarium had some fond memories for Jenn:
Map:
Beluga:
Sea lions:
Seals:
Belugas:
Fish:
Touch tank:
Sharks:
Stingrays:
Fish:
Coral:
Jellyfish:
Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort
We stayed at Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Established way back in 1759 as a farm, and made into a campground in the late 1960’s, this campground has been around a while, and has the amenities to show for it, if you’re into such things. Very popular with weekenders. Though we did visit on the Fourth of July weekend, so it might have been more busy than normal.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-06-29
- Check out: 2025-07-06
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy, a little rain
- High temps 76-87°F, lows 61-68°F
- Some wind, gusts to 24 MPH, but sheltered by trees
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- A lot of neighbor noise (dogs, kids, partiers)
Site:
- #819, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
- Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 20 feet wide
- 12 feet to neighbor on passenger side
- 0-35 feet to road on driver side
- Just grass between sites
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees
- Clean site
- Elevation 220 feet, front facing NW
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located towards rear of site
- 80 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located towards rear of site
- Unthreaded sewer connection, two ports, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 176-224 Mbps down, 13-30 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- RoamLink: 7-9 Mbps down, 0.1-2 Mbps up, 160-190 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
- AT&T: 28-216 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50-120 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Pool
- Restaurant on site (didn’t try)
- Package delivery to office
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Great base for New England exploration
We’re not really “campground activities” kind of people, but if you are, this is the place to go and do that. For us, it was a great home base for exploring Boston, Cape Cod, and a daytrip into CT and RI, so we didn’t spend a lot of time at the campground itself. I really enjoyed having a massage therapist on site, however. What an awesome perk that I wish more campgrounds had. While the amenities offered definitely live up to the “resort” name, the sites themselves were a bit on the basic side, with gravel roads, pads that weren’t entirely level, and no garbage pickup. The utilities all worked well, however, and they do accept packages. We’d be happy to stay here again when we’re in the area. We camped at Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Other sites:
Cabins:
Activity center:
Playground:
Court:
Field:
Horses:
We’d be happy to stay here again.
Video: Trenton, Maine to Foxboro, Massachusetts motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 324 miles from Trenton, Maine to Foxboro, Massachusetts.