The Beckers celebrate their 50th anniversary “on the road!”

Bob and Nancy Becker, Stockton, returned home recently from a 15-day bus tour throughout New England states, 'leaf-peeping' all the beautiful fall foliage! We were not disappointed! By the end of the trip, we had traveled 4,241 miles in a luxury coach, through 14 states plus one Canadian province, and gained 46 new, best friends!

Our first day ended in Bloomington, Ill., and by late afternoon of our second day, we crossed the border into Canada, retiring forthenightinLondon, Ontario. We anxiously awaited the activities planned for Oct. 3, and by late morning, we feasted our eyes on the magnificent Niagara Falls! It takes a while just to take it all in! The amazing experience would not be complete without getting soaked on a cruise boat, which we enjoyed late in the afternoon when the heat of the day made us appreciate wet clothes. Later in the evening, we rode to the top of Skylon Tower for the view from 775 feet above the Falls, with a brilliant color-changing light display. The next morning, after crossing “Rainbow Bridge,” we were back on U.S. soil. What a beautiful drive we enjoyed all day, traveling through many scenic villages nestled among the winding highways, colorful trees and many lakes. Day 4 ended at Lake Placid, New York, host for the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympics.

In the morning, we were greeted by a step-on guide who directed our driver to many beautiful places in the Adirondack village of Lake Placid, including the Olympic Center and ski jump training area. It was there that we met and watched several young men and women, from all over the world, training in the ski jump. Without snow, a plastic material covers the entire ski area, and just before a skier started down the hill, water sprayed on the material, making it very slick with an incredible similarity to snow. Just like the athletes, we were able to go up an elevator that took us near the top of the permanent structure of the ski jump. But unlike the athletes, we rode down the elevator after watching many of them take an alternate route – flying through the air! Later that afternoon, we experienced autumn at a large orchard. Each of us made our own single-serving apple pie (with our name on the bottom of the pan!), and while we were treated to a wagon ride through the Orchard, our hosts baked all 47 pies which we enjoyed later!

After a second night in Lake Placid, Day 6 began with a celebration on-board the bus for Bob’s birthday, and then we all enjoyed hiking the beautiful High Falls Gorge area. Later we enjoyed a gondola ride to the top of White Face Mountain for more views of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. It was cloudy, but the colors on the mountains that lay before us were definitely what we signed up for on this trip. After lunch, we continued east to Lake Champlain for a short ferry ride into Vermont. Our skillful bus driver put our large tour bus within inches of the captain’s control room in the center of the ship. Numerous other vehicles and their occupants were also traveling across the ocean on the ferry with us, and it was strange to think that, for some of them, this may be an everyday trip due to work, shopping or other reasons. When in Vermont, a tour would not be complete without stopping to explore the maple syrup industry, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Many of our fellow travelers went home with a bottle of syrup just as we did, and all of us wished there was a way to bring home the maple-swirled/vanilla homemade ice cream cone!

The coldest day of our trip was also the day we journeyed to the top of the highest peak in New England on the world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway. This threemile

route to the summit of Mount Washington is the second steepest railway in the world. If it had been a clear day, we may have been able to view four states from the summit, but not this miserably cold day. The wind seemed like it would blow us right off the mountain, and it was accompanied by heavy, horizontal rain. But this is a very important place, we learned, as it is home to the Mount Washington Observatory, a private, non-profit member-supported institution with a mission “to advance understanding of the natural systems that create Earth’s weather and climate.” It is currently staffed by 19 intelligent persons and one gray cat, Nimbus, who shares his name with the dark gray clouds that generally bring precipitation. Cats have been members of the observatory family and weather station since the founding of the observatory in 1932, and Nimbus proudly continues this tradition. After the cog ride down the mountain, we enjoyed backroad scenery as we drove to our beautiful hotel in Portland, Maine. That evening the majority of our group cracked and picked at a bright red lobster, larger than their plates. But not me! I stuck with something I knew how to eat: a hamburger and fries. Mostly I took lots of pictures of people in our group trying to figure out what to do with the thing on their plate.

Day 8 we were greeted by another step-on guide who identified places of interest while leading our driver on a city tour of Portland, which includes the beautiful Portland Head Lighthouse. It was commissioned by George Washington and is the oldest lighthouse in continuous use in the country. After a scenic route through many picturesque villages along the coast, we came to the fishing village of Ogunquit. The sea was really rough on this day, so rather than a lobster boat, our tour guide made arrangements for us to tour the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Another local guide joined us the following day, Day 9, and took us on a very interesting tour of Historical Boston. Here were the amazing places we had only read about in history books, such as Lexington, the site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War; numerous historic homes, dating back to the 1700s, still lived in today; and Old North Church, where a lantern in the window was the signal for Paul Revere and his famous ride (and yes, there was a lantern in that very window for us to see, as well). The Old North Church continues to this day with services every Sunday, and the most interesting thing about the church are the “box pews,” which, unlike pews in churches as we know them, there are half walls with benches or pews inside, a door, and a brass plaque stating who owned that box pew. Back in the 1700s, families were required to buy their box pew, and that’s where their family would be every church service, throughout all generations. Several of the plaques were dated in the late 1700s. I took a picture of one such brass plaque, with the name of “Edward Stanbridge,” dated 1724.

An exciting day was planned for us on Tuesday, Day 10, as we boarded a boat for a cruise to the Island of Nantucket. Here over 800 homes, built between 1740 and 1840 by brave whaling-men, still stand preserved. Here is where the real estate booklet I picked up shows homes that range from $1.5M to $18M. And the “cheapest one,” at $1.5M, was a very small, cracker box of a house. As we boarded a couple of small buses for the island, our group was treated to a story-telling, song-singing, joke-sharing driver who had all kinds of stories to tell about the homes and the people who supposedly owned them but never came to stay there; it was a great tax write-off, our guide thought. Nantucket is certainly an interesting place, with its quaint boutiques and stores downtown, cobblestoned Main Street from the 1700s, homes of the rich and famous, perfect box-trimmed hedges that serve as privacy fences, and gray wooden shingles as siding as well as roofing. There’s something for everyone on this unforgettable, fun-loving, sophisticated island, but bring your credit card! After another cruise to return us to Boston, we made one more stop — in Plymouth, where the Pilgrims landed in the New World. There we viewed a replica of the Mayflower 2 in the harbor, and we saw the famous “Plymouth Rock” that seemed kind of anticlimactic, as in, “Is that all it is?” I guess all my life I just figured Plymouth Rock was some large boulder that served as a beacon of hope for the Pilgrims. But no, it’s just an average size rock, and it’s in two pieces that appear to have been pieced back together.

That’s a whole other, very interesting story that you can Google for yourself!

Day 11 took us to Newport, Rhode Island, and a cruise of Narragansett Bay. Here we cruised by the Newport Bridge and saw spectacular views of lighthouses, Newport mansions, and yachts that line the shoreline. Judging by the real estate visible from our boat, these were wealthy people here. Our favorite was a very large, multi-decked yacht with a helicopter on the main level. There was some serious money sitting around in that harbor, and us po’ folks just puttered around the bay on our little cruiser named “Amazing Grace,” pointing fingers and snapping pictures like old tourists from Kansas. As if we weren’t already feeling like poor, country bumpkins, our next activity took us to the Breakers Mansion, on a self-guided tour of the extravagant home of the Vanderbilts.

As we wrapped up our last several days, a walking tour of Yale University was Day 12’s adventure. We were guided by a lovely 2nd-year student who was well-spoken and delightful as she shared of Yale’s prestigious 300-year history as well as answered questions from our group. She is a fourth-generation Yale student, with two brothers ahead of her who have already graduated. Even though she is obviously very intelligent and will no doubt have a great future in whatever she decides to do, she was also delightful and an excellent representative of that college, smudging the stereotype of Ivy League rich kids.

Day 13, also being October 13, the morning started with our decorated seat area and cake and a busload of friends who celebrated with us for our 50th Wedding Anniversary. (I remember how old my grandparents and my parents were when we celebrated their “Golden” anniversaries, and I’m just certain that we are not THAT old!) We continued our westward push on Day 13 with a stop in Canton, Ohio, at the Football Hall of Fame. This is a place we want to go to again when we can spend more time. A very impressive presentation. Our lunch stop was really fun at Quaker Steak & Lube in Canton, which featured cars and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling or displayed throughout, with vehicle parts and pieces everywhere.

Our last scheduled stop of interest was at the Indianapolis Speedway on Day 14, with a behind-thescenes tour that had us driving around the track. Stopping at the “Finish Line,” several of our number did the “kiss the bricks” thing, just because they could. A very interesting museum had many vehicles of years gone by and the stories they each told.

Finally, on Day 15, we packed our suitcases one more time and then it was Westward-Ho! Even though we felt ready to be home, it was hard saying our goodbyes as we parted as new, best friends. We are so glad we made this trip happen, not just because of Bob’s birthday and our anniversary celebration, but because of the wonderful friends we now have. We hope to see some of them again, perhaps on another bus trip! We really loved being on the bus with someone else doing the driving, so we could both just sit back in our comfortable seats and enjoy the ride! We highly recommend it!!