Newport!

Rainy day - so we headed to another car museum.  The guys love their cars!!  This was a really nice museum - only open for 18 months (a personal collection)

 

 A lot of newer Mustang's; Porche's, etc, but also a good collection of older muscle cars & some fun 50's era hot rods

 They also allow you to do a driving experience.  Donna & I gave our passes to they guys.  They had fun

 We did get to walk around Newport a little in the afternoon

 and headed out to Ocean Drive

 and the Cliff Walk  (& mansions!)

 Angry sea!!  We then headed back to Bristol & had dinner at a local restaurant.

Freedom Trail

Donna's conference was in Boston, so we spent 4 days in and around the city.  It was fun, since Chris & I don't get to the city much.  But it was a little chilly!  Winter has arrived

 

We spent one day wandering the Freedom Trail - so much history. 

 

 Oldest restaurant

 Every old building had spiral staircases - and beautifully restored and maintained

And I love the old graveyards - stuck right in the middle of downtown.

 My favorite neighborhood is the North End.  Here we say Paul Revere's house. 

 The Old North Church!  Paul Revere lit the 2 lanterns in the steeple to warn the colonists that the British were coming by sea

 Bunker Hill in the distance

 Time for a Hot Toddy (and Mike's pastry!)

 We ended the evening at City Winery, where we had dinner and listened to a very good Tom Petty Tribute band

Boston visit - Fenway & Larz Anderson auto museum

More fun time with friends from Reno!  Donna had to attend a conference, so we would meet her for lunch most days.  Then me, Chris, and Troy would find another adventure for a few hours.

Boston Common

 

 Then we headed to Fenway!

 World Series Champions 2018!!  We also spent some time at MIT and Harvard - getting our smarts on :) 

 Our afternoon adventure took us to the Larz Anderson museum in Brookline.  It is housed in the old carriage house  (yes this was their carriage house...)  The mansion was torn down in 1959.

 The carriage house was used to keep their carriages, obviously, as well as their horses.  The first floor has visiting cars

 They kept the integrity of the carriage house - this was where they hosed down and cleaned the horses.  Above- are the stall dividers with the horse names still listed on plaques.

 The Anderson's personal cars are kept in the basement.  My oh my - these are some cool cars from the early 1900's.  They drove this one to New Hampshire in 1901 (it had a porta potty; and a bed in the back, since it was such a long drive in those days).  Most people were still riding horses or using carriages in these days.  Larz Anderson was a diplomat and spent a great deal of time in Europe.  Many of their cars were European, so were right hand drive.

 This was their electric car - from 1906 (and people today think they are so cool driving them like they were just invented - Not!)

 They had a new car every year (and they drove them - you can see the wear and tear - it's so cool!).  Both Larz and Isabelle came from prominent families - with Civil War heroes in their family tree.  Isabelle was given $17 million dollars on her 5th birthday in 1881, making her the wealthiest woman in America at the time.  They didn't have any children, so they donated their cars and carriage house to the town.  It's a beautiful museum to visit - you can just feel the history oozing out of the walls and cars!

 View of Boston from the carriage house lawn - Nice!!

Bruins Game!

Fun night out with friends visiting!

Hockey games are never dull, so it's always fun

 

 Our friends - Troy & Donna from Nevada

 Bruins won - 5 to 1, wow!!  Exciting night!!

RIP Twix

Beautiful Twix passed away, and is now hopefully playing with her little brother Toules (whom she loved very very much).  They would romp around all over the house.  Toules would usually get the better of her, since she was quite the klutz.  She was born in Sparks, NV and has lived in 5 houses with us! (2 in Nevada,2 in MA and 1 in RI) Her thyroid issue finally got the best of her, but she put up a good fight.  The night before she died she was still eating and jumping from chair to chair.  She was 16 1/2 years young.  This pic was taken on her 16th birthday.