2011 Summer in New England

New England – Summer 2011


Based on booking cheap airfare and various cycling/skating activities, I made three visits to New England for a total of four weeks. It gave me the opportunity to visit new places and scenic coastline along with doing the Boston inline skating weekend, the week-long Hudson Valley bike tour and the MicroBrew weekend mountain bike festival in Maine.

June

Newport News, VA  Virginia Beach  Williamsburg  Richmond  Washington D.C.

July

Providence, R.I. Newport, R.I. Boston  Salem, MA  Newbury Port, MA  Boston

August

Boston  Parsonsfield, Maine  Albany, NY  Hudson Valley  New York City, NY

June Highlights:

• Newport News – Museum of Ships, tour of naval base

• Virginia Beach - boat tour of port, cycling through scenic residential area and wooded trail

• Williamsburg – Evening stroll and ghost story walk

• Richmond – Overnight with Warm Shower cyclist. Toured downtown via bike (historical and lovely). Evening concert by the river.

• Washington D.C. – Cycle touring of D.C and Arlington. Evening skate from Capital with D.C. skate club. Tour of Pentagon with Navy friend. Road bike in Air Force Cycling Classic – two loops around the Pentagon with send-off by Air Force Chief of Staff General. Watched the Air Force Cycling Classic Pro Race. Viewed the Gay Pride Parade.



July Highlights:

• Providence & Newport, R.I. – toured the city and port area with snazzy yachts and beautifully restored manions.

• Boston – Attended annual Skate Boston event skating 70 miles of the city in three days with 150 fellow skaters from around the U.S.

• Salem, MA – Learned history of Salem Witch trials. Watched a Pro Cycling race.

• Newbury Port, MA – Toured the lovely port town and surroundings. Hosted by a very hospitable Warm Showers cyclist. Rode to Plum Island.

August Highlights:

• Boston – Rented car for scenic trip to Maine.

• Parsonsfield, Maine – Attended annual weekend mountain bike festival with evenings spent around a bonfire listening to two great vocalist. Lobster bake over the bonfire had the tastiest lobster ever. Great trails to ride but many wooden bridges which challenged me.

• Albany, NY – Took Amtrak from Boston to Albany to begin annual week-long cycle tour of the Hudson Valley with 150 other cyclists. http://www.ptny.org/pdfs/hudsontour/brochure.pdf

• Hudson Valley, NY – Seven day cycle tour (250 miles) of historical Hudson Valley with camping each night. Over-night towns included Albany, Hudson, Hyde Park, Garrison, Nyack, Manhattan.

Pictures posted at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8KZt3Ddu0Y7k

• New York City, NY – Cycled across bridge into NYC and rode trail to end of tour at South Street Seaport. Stayed a couple days with a friend and cycled around Manhattan and Central Park. Toured the aircraft carrier museum Intrepid. At Radio City Music Hall saw CirqueDuSoleil perform. Watched the Today Show live and chatted with Chris McCormick, multiple winner of IronMan Hawaii. Was in audience for live taping of Dr. Oz show.