September 13, 2017 Part 1

For the majority of Maconites, Hurricane Irma was no more than an annoyance.  For most of us, the biggest problem she caused was the loss of power.  We lost power around 9am on Monday, September 11.  I was a little surprised we had lost power so early in the day, but we packed up and headed to the church, which still had power.  We arrived, and within 30 minutes, power was lost here too.  We spent most of the day here, with several others, and rode out the "storm", such as it was.  Lots of trees and branches down and the annoying loss of power were really our only problems caused by Irma.

We had hoped to have power by Tuesday, but no.  The church had power restored Tuesday afternoon, so we spent most of Tuesday at the church, and hoped to have our power back on by Wednesday.  There was a huge downed tree on our road, so we watched that tree.  We knew there would be no power on our road until that tree was moved.  On the way to church Wednesday night, we drove by and were so happy to see the tree was moved off the wire and the linemen were working on the downed lines.  After church, I checked the Internet and saw that power had been restored to our road!  We quickly left to get home.  Sam, Jack and I left the church and headed home.  When we turned on our road, we cheered as we saw lights on in every home.  I could not wait to lay in my bed with the fan right on me!

As we rounded the large curve heading up to our house, I noticed the porch light on!  We cheered again, but even as I was cheering, I noticed the house looked "strange".  I didn't know why, but I knew it didn't look right.  I also knew I left living room lights on, and I could see the lamp in front of the window wasn't on.  I didn't give it too much thought as I pulled in the driveway, but as I pulled up, I saw smoke around the porch light.  Again, I didn't give it too much thought, thinking maybe it was fog, or condensation in the air.  I jumped out, grabbed the keys and my purse and headed toward the door.  I put the keys in the lock, turned the knob and swung open the door.

Black smoke hit me full force in the face.  I couldn't figure out what was going on,  I looked in the house but could see nothing.  Finally I realized the house was on fire.  I yelled for Schnitzel several times, then threw the phone to Sam and said call dad, the generator is on fire!  I then went back, and called for the dog again.  I heard noises in the house, and all I could think of was that the dog was in one of the bedrooms and was scratching at the door to get out.  I never really thought of going in because the smoke scared me.  All of this took place in about 30 seconds.  I quickly ran next door and pounded on their door and yelled my house is on fire.  They both came running out and I think they both called 911.  I yelled to Nick that Schnitzel was still in the house and he ran to the open door.  I was afraid he was going to try and go in and I yelled for him not to.

All the while Jack was standing in the driveway, watching everything play out.  At this point, Sharon got him and Sam and put them in her house. Paul, Ben and Emma drove up.  Sharon got Ben and Emma in her house and Paul ran around the house to the backyard to make sure Sam wasn't in the backyard, even though I told him Sam was in the neighbor's house.  Paul and Nick quickly moved the cars so the fire trucks could get close.  Paul really considered going in the house and I yelled at him not to go in.  Thankfully he didn't.

3 big firetrucks arrived and the firemen took over.  Many neighbors had come out at this point to see what was going on.  Paul Jr. and Courtney arrived and Ellie also.  It was unreal to be standing there watching your house in flames. The firemen quickly put the fire out.  I kept hoping Schnitzel was going to be ok, that he had been hiding in a back bedroom under a blanket.  I saw the firemen come out of the house, winding up the hose and I asked the fireman standing next to me if they were done.  He said yes.  I told him about Schnitzel.  He went up to one the firemen, who then put his mask back on and went back in the house.  Soon after, this fireman came back out and I watched as he went to Paul and put his hand on Paul's shoulder and shake his head.  Schnitzel didn't make it.  I knew he had probably died, but until that point, I had hoped for a different outcome.

Epic Road Trip Day 11

Wednesday was the day we had set aside to tour Boston, although, we were in the city for several hours the night before.  And, Wednesday also happened to be my 51st birthday!  We slept in a bit (even though we really didn't want to, but didn't get to sleep until after 1:30 am the night before), got up, cleaned up the apartment in the church, packed the van and left.  We drove to the train station, parked the van, bought tickets, got on the train, rode to the first stop, got off and got right back on going back toward the van.  Why?  Because Paul couldn't remember if he had locked the van.  Since we were so close, we decided that he would go check, and then buy another ticket and we would get back on the train.  Otherwise, it would have bothered him all day.  Turns out, he didn't lock it and was so glad we went back.

                                The kids and I waiting patiently for him to return.

We had purchased a trolley tour.  We could ride the trolley from place to place, get off and get back on.  With the trolley also came a boat ride in the Boston Harbor.  We boarded the boat, and decided to sit down on the bottom floor, where it was air conditioned and had nice chairs.  Ellie and some of the kids went up to the upper decks, but Paul and I enjoyed the bottom the entire boat ride.

 Ben and Emma enjoyed the snack bar.

 The weather was perfect!  While it was hot, it was not that humid (at least to these Southerners), and the sky was amazing.

 The round building is where Paul worked security while we were in college in Boston.  Over 30 years ago!

 Jack came down from the upper deck to join us.  He also really enjoyed the snack bar!

We got off the boat and walked a short distance to catch the trolley.  Boston is so full of history; it seemed everywhere you looked was a sign telling what had happened in that spot so long ago.

 The Bunker Hill Monument

 Nap time for Jack.

 We got off the trolley in Chinatown for a late lunch.

 Someone got squid.

 After lunch, we got back on the subway and rode it to a store that Ellie wanted to go to.  It was a strange Japanese store, but she found what she was looking for.  We rode the train back to where the van was parked and headed to Connecticut.

 We were staying at Sun Valley the next few days at Paul's brother Ron's trailer.  The kids were so excited because of the lake, and the fishing, and the golf carts.  Paul and I were happy to have a few down days after being on the go the last few.  We arrived, and then Paul, Jack and I went to the grocery.

When we got back, he grilled me this beautiful steak for my birthday.  It was delicious!

Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 10 part 2

After the Old North Bridge, we headed to the train station, parked the van and rode the train into the city for the Independence Day festivities.  We were going to hear the Boston Pops from the shore of the Charles River, and then watch the fireworks.  We were excited!

 We were looking for a place to eat.  We actually ended up eating at the odd shaped building in the middle of the picture.

 We wanted to eat dinner in Quincy Market, but it was packed and very hard to find a place to sit.

 So we ate at the odd shaped building and it was very good.  Now, onto the concert!

 These are some of my favorite pictures of the trip.  The lighting was perfect over the city.

 The area for watching the actual concert was very small, so we ended up sitting in an overflow area.  This screen was huge and the sound was great.  There were food trucks all around.  Our one regret was that we had no chairs and had to sit on the ground.  We got there about 30 minutes before the concert started, and before the night was over it was packed, with no room left on the grass to sit on.

 It was such a patriotic concert.  In the beginning, when the Star Spangled Banner was played, everyone got up and sang along. I looked around and saw the police officers (there were many) standing at attention with their hands on their heart, saluting the flag. It was so moving, in this day and age, to see that many people singing the national anthem, and no one (that we could see) protesting.  Later on, they played the songs of the military, one by one, and the men and women that had served in that particular branch stood up and everyone cheered and clapped for them.  It was an excellent concert.  Right after the concert ended, the fireworks began and what a fireworks show it was!  It was set to music, and was so colorful.  We had a great view of the show!  Jackson loved it, until he crawled up in Ben's lap and dozed off, even though it was very loud!

After the concert and show was over, we tried to leave quickly.  The train/subway closed at Midnight (or so we thought), so we started walking that way, as did everybody else.  When we reached the subway stop, the line was up the stairs and well out into the street.  We knew if we waited in that line, we would probably miss the last train.  Ellie found a map on her phone and led us to another subway station.  Several miles away.  By this time we were exhausted, but we had to keep walking.  Poor Jack gave out and Ellie carried him on her shoulders.  Sam, Ben and Emma were amazing and never complained.  We finally got the to station and got on the last train out.  By the time we reached where the van was, it was after 1am and we had walked over 8 miles.  Wow.  What a day!  And we were getting back up the next morning and heading into Boston again.  We all literally fell into our beds that night.