The morning of our trip, Stephanie (a.k.a. Panama) came to give us a ride to the "airport", yes, I had told Dustin that we were going to fly somewhere to throw him off the scent. As we neared our true destination, I turned to him and said, "What would you say if we weren't flying anywhere today?" His response was just a quizzical look so I continued. "What if you were taking the train somewhere instead?" Instantly his eyes lit up, he'd never been on an Amtrak train before and the idea was much more appealing than flying. Panama dropped us at the station and wished us well on our adventure. At this point, he still didn't know where we were headed. I handed him his ticket for Chicago and we hopped aboard the Empire Builder. We found two seats and settled in for the 8 hour ride.
We played cribbage, read our books (somehow Dustin had miraculously thought to bring the perfect book on the trip, The History of the Homerun), and watched the countryside pass by.
We pulled into Chicago around 3:30 p.m., 
we locked up our carry ons and headed out to explore the windy city. We had 6 hours to pass until our next train left, so we set out. I had been to Chicago once before and Dustin had lived there when he was very young but didn't necessarily remember all of the highlights so we decided to wander toward Navy Pier. We stumbled upon the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. It consists of two towers of glass brick that water cascades down and forms a very shallow pool that they encourage folks to wade in. I, of course, hopped right in. 
I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this statue, it reminds me of Flight of the Navigator.
After a 2.5 mile walk from the train station in 90 degree heat, we finally reached our destination!
Who can resist the fun mirrors, I mean really?
Dustin took pity on me and bought us two water taxi ferries back to the station. 
The taxi dropped us off at Sears Tower (yeah, we're still calling it Sears tower, it rolls better) and walked the streets looking for a festive pub for dinner. We stumbled upon the Elephant and Castle. 
We had a delicious dinner and then headed back to the train station. We arrived back at the station and boarded the Lakeshore Limited for our next leg of the adventure. This train left at 9:45 and was set to arrive in Utica, New York at 12:45 p.m. the following day. The plan was thwarted however when at 11:30 our train (while rolling into Syracuse, New York hit a downed tree and had to stop. We were just one stop from Utica. We waited for an hour and a half for Amtrak to change out the front engines. We read our books while we waited. The finished the repair and we were off. We rolled into Utica at 2:30. 
After picking up our rental car, we set our course for Cooperstown. Our Bed and Breakfast was called the Meadowlark Inn. It was located just 15 min from Cooperstown.
A little known fact about my husband is that upon checking into any hotel or B&B he always grabs the directory and plots his evening. Attractions, restaurants, museums, you name it and in 10 minutes he'll be the expert. 
We checked in and then headed to Cooperstown to wander and rustle up some dinner.
While walking Dustin noticed a restaurant that was rather interesting, the front window looked in on the kitchen. We could see chefs bustling around preparing meals. We walked to the side of the building and found the front door...in the back. The restaurant is called Alex and Ika's. 
Dustin ordered the Fish Tacos (fried cod, roasted corn salsa, lettuce, tomato and avocado in a flour tortilla with chipotle aoli.) whereas I ordered the Chicken Enchiladas and let me just say, it was heaven! Chicken, black beans, avocado, tomato, roasted corn salsa, red pepper cream and three melted cheeses. Dustin and I couldn't believe how such a simple dish was so delicious. 
After dinner we took a stroll around Cooperstown and ended up at Doubleday Field. A true shrine to baseball in the town that is widely considered the "Birthplace of Baseball". If that doesn't float your boat then you should know that the opening and closing scenes of A League of Their Own was filmed there.
Ordering our tickets.
After we wandered the park, we hopped in the car and headed back to our B&B to settle in for the night. The next morning we were up with the sun. After a delightful breakfast of Belgian waffles (Mom, you would have loved these), fruit and coffee we were off! We had a big day ahead of us, we were going to the BASEBALL HALL OF FAME!!!
From the outside it just looked like a nice looking building. I thought, no sweat we can see everything in here in a few short hours...boy was I wrong. We'd been wandering through the museum for a few hours and I'd only made it through one room. Dustin told me I'd have to move a bit faster as there were probably 15 or so rooms to go through! It was fascinating, I wanted to read every little tidbit.One of our very first stops was into the hall of fame to see all the plaques. We headed right up to the front to pay tribute to the first class of inductees, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and of course, George Herman Ruth. These were typed from memory. I made sure I didn't leave without taking note of these five dudes...I was scared there would be a test.
Ty Cobb (not the most popular of ballplayers).
After learning about players from years past I found that Ted Williams was a pretty cool cat. If I'd have been alive when he was playing, there is a good chance I would have been a Red Sox fan. He gave up five years of his eligibility to fight in not one, but two wars! WWII and the Korean war. He was very active in charities for children and was a heck of a ballplayer! He was also easy on the eyes...
Who am I kidding, Stan the Man was also playing at the same time, I would have split my allegiance!
Stan's locker:
Hey! Here is the very same painting I posed next to when it was on display in Minneapolis at the traveling Hall of Fame exhibit! I'm following it around the country. It is one of my very favorites, Norman Rockwell and baseball? You bet.
Word on the street is that this card is worth a pretty penny...
Dustin made me do this:
The bat that hit the very first homerun at the new Target Field, it belonged to Jason Kubel. 
Yadi was even in the Hall of Fame! Well, his mask and picture were anyway. This mask was the one he was wearing when the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006.
After doing some shopping at the Hall of Fame gift shop we set out to do some other sightseeing around down.
After a few hours of shopping and dinner at the Pit (avoid it at all costs) we headed back to the B&B to settle in for the night and watch Fever Pitch.
That there is a gourmet 'smore. It was awesome!!
The next morning we were up with the sun again.
This was the view out the backdoor of our room.
We had another wonderful breakfast, checked out of the B&B and hit the road. On our way out of town we stopped off at Glimmerglass lake to take a closer look. It was stunning.
We love the self timer feature on our camera. 
Onward toward the Fly Creek Cider Mill.
Inside the mill guest could sample tons and tons of different dips, apples, cider, apple wine and such. There was an adorable gift shop upstairs as well as the pressing room. We paid for our purchases and hopped back in the HHR toward Stockbridge. Driving through the Berkshires of Massachusetts was absolutely gorgeous. The trees were in full color bloom and the roads were windy, just like I like them. They had all kinds of animal crossing signs as we drove, the first was this one:
Followed by a bear crossing sign, one that I personally had never seen before, but we didn't get a shot of that one.After our two hour drive through the beautiful countryside we arrived at the Norman Rockwell Museum and grounds.
They didn't allow photography inside the museum, so you'll have to use your imagination. I could look at his paintings all day long. The longer I gaze, the more details present themselves. I find myself creating stories about the subjects depicted in the paintings. I absolutely love him.
We strolled the grounds toward his studio. It had been in the heart of Stockbridge, but a few years back, the museum paid to have it carefully moved to its current location on the museum grounds. It is still exactly the same inside as it had been when Norman was painting. The same furniture, books, even the helmet that it in his triple self portrait. It was so cool. 
We headed back on the road toward our resort at Jiminy Peak! The resort was located at the very top of a mountain, nearly the highest point in the state Massachusetts. After we checked in we headed to our room to drop our stuff off and so Dustin could look through the resort's directory.
The room was lovely with a full kitchen, sitting room and separate bedroom. We then wandered the grounds a bit exploring the resort. It perched atop a mountain, tucked in the trees. It was gorgeous!
We had dinner that night on the top floor of the resort at John Hancock's Tavern. Dustin ordered a pasta dish and I went with a delicious hamburger that we ended up splitting, the pasta was forgotten.Then back to the room to settle in for the night.
The next morning we headed to the country store to pick up breakfast sandwiches and coffee and headed toward Mount Graylock, the highest point in Massachusetts to do a short hike.
The views were amazing. You could see for miles over the hills where the trees were all in full color change. 
We opted for the Round Rock trail because of its short length, after all, this hike was just a wayward stop on this great adventure. We didn't have all day! The trail wasn't even on the top of the mountain. After we'd gotten back to the car we continued climbing up the mountain. At the top was a beautiful lodge and lookout tower.
Climbing the tower.
Looking out the top.
After our hike and pit stop at the top of Massachusetts, we were back in the car headed due east. We had beer to drink...well, one of us did, and time was getting short!
We made it with plenty of time to spare!!
Learning about the malt and hops. They would pass them around and sniff em. I love hands on demonstrations!
The barrels of Utopia. (Blech)
We got to the tasting room and they took time to talk about the Utopia beer and how limited it is, etc. Then he asked the room if anyone had had the opportunity to sample it and of the 50 or so people in the room only Dustin and I raised our hands. The tour guide looked impressed. I explained to him that my father is a beer distributor and we'd sampled it over Memorial Day. He said he himself hadn't even had the opportunity to sample it and wanted to know what we thought, so we told him honestly. "I loved it" Dustin piped up while at the same time I said, "I thought it was disgusting." (Sorry Dad)
After the tour, the guides suggest everyone check out Doyle's bar where you can get free Sam Adams patented Boston Lager glasses for free with your tour stub and a paid beer. You didn't have to tell us twice.
Dustin and I waited as long as possible for the Red Sox game to start so we could say we watched a Sox game in a true blue Boston bar, but as neither of us have smart phones, we were left guessing if they'd have an afternoon or evening game. Turns out it was an evening game...ah well. The food and company was wonderful! After all was said and done, we hopped in the car and headed for Rockport to our next B&B, the Old Farm Inn. 
We stayed in the Loft room at the very tip top of the house. After we settled in, we headed into Rockport to do some exploring. We drove into town, parked and started to wander. We found a gorgeous beach, the wharf, tons of cute shops and more than a hundred galleries. Seriously, every other building we passed was a gallery. Darkness was starting to creep in so we decided to head back to the B&B to rest for the big day we had planned for the next day. When we're on vacation, we like to try to get up early one of the mornings and take in a sunrise if possible. We were up around 5:45 a.m., hopped in the car, stopped off at Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee and headed back to the coast to settle in and wait. It was a bit cloudy that morning, so we weren't sure we were going to see the show, but we were going to try. After 20 minutes or so, we were rewarded with a stunning sunrise.
The fishing boats were headed out to catch their fill.
It was just about time for breakfast back at the ranch so we headed in for a nice breakfast of egg bake, fruit, yogurt and coffee. Then we set a course for Salem, MA, home of the infamous witch trials. Fairly confident that the trials had been completed hundreds of years ago, we felt safe bringing a red-head into the village. We're told that Giles Corey was a red-head and things didn't work out real well for him. Alisa knew, in fact, that he was the only accused person to be pressed to death, as evidenced by this seat stone in the memorial square of the Salem historical cemetery.(Note: We had to start taking pictures with our video camera so the quality of the photos changes here. Sorry.)
But just to be safe, we took the redhead and put on a show of sorts, convincing the locals that she had been "properly" punished. This assured us that the locals would not try anything colonial. Someday we'll have a scrapbook containing nothing but pictures of Alisa's head sticking out of street-side placards.
This is a shot displaying the historical cemetery. These headstones were very, very old. We strolled around for awhile, reading the epitaphs, admiring the decoration and design, and trying to find the oldest one.
We strolled through the "village" of Salem. Sounds so quaint and olde tyme, when in an unfortunate dose of reality, we came to find that it isn't all old shackle board houses and a grassy town square. Salem is quite commercial and modern, but it has a witch trail similar to Freedom Trail in Boston so you can see all the sites without having to work much for it. So, a decision was made to see the town at night because it was clear that all the fun people were still sleeping at 10:00 AM. We'd found a convenient and very New England way to reach Boston: The Salem Ferry! For the same price as a meal out, you can take a ferry into Boston AND reserve your return trip back to Salem. No navigating downtown, no parking struggles, and you get to come into Boston the way you're supposed to...via the Harbor (Hah-ba, for the colloquially inclined).We saw our Ferry and got excited.
Then it got closer and we got really excited!
The ride was very pleasant and the weather was perfect! Boston's skyline may not be the most beautiful thing you'll ever see, but it's remarkable how much better all skylines appear when they're set against a body of water.
Coming in, Dustin was very excited about the wharfs in the harbor. Later we learned that most of what makes up Boston today was actually underwater when the settlers arrived. Lots of work and strategic planning made it what it is today.
Upon docking in Boston, we made a beeline to Boston Common to hook up with the Freedom Trail. Our day was going to be spent traveling back in time and seeing all the places that hosted events pivotal to the beginning of the American Revolution. Alisa was very excited! The quintessential picture of the trail is to simply show someone with the trail marker stretching out in front of them. Here is Alisa's...
The second stop of the Freedom Trail is the Park Street Church. Announcements were made to the public at this altar overlooking the street.
And the steeple stretches into the New England sky.
The lady in the guest house at Boston Common gave us some advice about where to eat lunch. After you view the Park Street Church you can walk through the Granary Burying Ground or you can "go across the street to the Beantown Pub and have a cold Sam Adams next to a "cold" Sam Adams"...cause he's buried at the Granary. So we stepped in and caught some of the Patriots game while Dustin had his first lobster roll.
The lobster roll was less than pleasant. It tasted ok going down...but a few short hours later it came back to bite Dud in the gut. After lunch I really wanted to see if we could track down where the Cheers bar was and with a bit of map reading and walking, we were in luck! It took us six attempts to get this picture as all the passing tourists either didn't understand our midwest accent or didn't know how to use a camera! Needless to say, we are pleased that we could get at least one shot!
The next stop of note on the freedom trail was the Granary burying ground. The burying grounds contain approximately 2,345 gravestones and tombs, although it is estimated that 5,000 people are buried at this site including three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. 
As well as my Boston crush, Paul Revere. 
There were a number of pennies at the base of his tombstone. We found out that visitors would leave them as a tribute to Paul Revere's involvement as a major supplier of copper for the US Navy fleet which included nails, bolts, spikes and sheathing. The King's Chapel and Burying Ground was next on the trail. The burying ground is the oldest in within the city of Boston.
Box pews were reserved for a fee by the patrons. I believe box 7 was Samuel Adams's pew, but I can't recall.
A gravestone from the burying ground.
These wee markers kept us on track!
Until we noticed that we were passing an obscene amount of folks walking around with Mike's Pastry boxes. So we took a site excursion to track down the epicenter of this goodness.Success!
Sights along the way. Loved the feel of Boston, so much to do and see. 
The Old State House which was the site of the Boston Massacre.
The next location of note was Paul Revere's house! It is the oldest dwelling in Boston.
Here's Paul. Any wonder why I have a Boston crush on him?
We then headed across the Charlestown Bridge to see the USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument, but as it was getting late and chilly so we were less inclined to take photos. We did however snap a few final shots of the trail and our dedication to following it to the very end. 
We made it back to the Harbor in time for our ferry to take us back to our car in Salem. We had grand plans to spend the evening hunting around Salem, maybe taking in a ghost tour or something kitschy like that, however the Salem ferry had other plans in store for us...
The day had become rather cold and rainy, darkness was falling as we boarded the ferry for our one hour return to Salem. As we were headed out of the harbor into the wide open ocean, the captain came over the PA to let the 12 or so of us onboard know that the winds had picked up and we would experience some rough water here and there. They would be going slow to compensate. None of us thought much of this and settled in. As soon as we left the harbor the boat hit the choppy water and all of us were lifted a foot or so off our seats before crashing back down. A moment passed and again, we were tossed around, it was as though we were in a popcorn popper! Each plummet must have dropped us 20 or so feet. As it was pitch black outside by now, we had no warning to let us know when to brace ourselves for oncoming waves. I have never, ever been a fan of roller coasters so this was a very uncomfortable and terrifying situation for me. At one point the trash can was lifted off of its perch and overturned, the popcorn machine that was bolted to the countertop also worked its way loose and crashed to the floor. Needless to say, the boat was as silent as a tomb. As we neared Salem, I noticed that Dustin who had been stroking my back to keep me calm was stopping every now and again. I turned to look at him and saw that he was three shades of green. Apparently that lobster roll wasn't sitting so well any longer. We made it safely to Salem after about an hour and 45 minutes of pure terror and decided to pack it in for the night. We headed back to our B&B for some much needed R&R.
The next morning we packed up the car, grabbed a cup of coffee at Duncan Doughnuts and headed back into Boston. As it was Monday morning, we got a taste of Boston rush hour. It was very enlightening. Dustin and I actually passed a woman who was reading a novel as she drove. As we got up close to her, Dustin honked the horn and I looked at her very disapprovingly and shook my head. She immediately dropped the book and put both hands back on the wheel. We're going to be awesome parents. :)
Once back in Boston proper, we proceeded to our highly anticipated destination!
The big green monster in person!
Seating on the monster!
Let this be a lesson to you, do not interfere with balls in play.
Some fun sights from the park:
After we finished up our tour of Fenway, we continued on road trip style back to Utica. Driving through the Berkshires was just as beautiful as the leaves were in full color. We arrived back at the rental car shop, dropped off the HHR and they took us to the station. We had a few hours to kill, we passed the time playing cribbage, running our lines and playing a new crossword game Dustin came up with where we each take turns finding words in the puzzle and getting points based on how many letters in the word. The train finally arrived and we were whisked up to the VIP sleeper cars. After our sleepless night on the way out, I decided to buy one last splurge of a birthday gift for myself and that was a sleeper car! They are absolutely tiny, but worth every penny. We called it the Fort.We took a great video of it, but unfortunately, posting them isn't working just now. Will try again another time. We whiled away much of the night in the fort playing the crossword game and cribbage. We slept like babies, Tug in the top bunk and me in the bottom. We reached Chicago around 2:00 and headed to the Sears tower to take in the views. They've added some glass bottom boxes out the side that took some getting used to. I was not able to walk out there, but I was able to scoot. Dustin, had zero issues!
We boarded our final train back to Minneapolis, exhausted but refreshed we hopped in our car and headed home to our caterwauling feline. All in all, a very successful and enjoyable Boats, Trains and Automobiles trip...though, we probably could have done without the boat.
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