After about three weeks of being mostly home-bound, we were feeling ready to get out and experience a bit of New England. Lucky for us, our campground is located within reasonable driving distance of numerous beautiful, interesting, historic places.

In Search of Seafood

There are a lot of things you can’t do with a broken leg.  One thing you can do?  Shovel food in your face.  And shovel food we did.

Massachusetts is chock full of seafood places. Fancy places, hole in the wall places, tourist places, local places, everything.  We took some suggestions from my brother and headed out for some serious eating. We started with JT Farnham’s, a local clam shack that won us over with its seafood chowder, overflowing with heaps of delicious shellfish, and their fried clams, perfectly light and crispy.

farnhams-collage
A roadside clam shack with a pretty nice view….

Less impressive for us was their clam chowder.  Apparently there are variations of New England’s namesake soup – some using a thicker broth (also known as “the right way”) and some using a thinner broth (also known as “the stupid way”). Unfortunately, the prevalent kind in this particular area of Massachusetts seems to be the stupid version, so we were a tiny bit disappointed in it.

But not disappointed enough to stop the shoveling. Onward we soldiered!

We headed to another well known roadside place, Woodmans of Essex, for hot boiled lobster with drawn butter and fresh lobster rolls – with zero disappointment.  They were goooooooooooood.  When we were done with all of that, we headed to a chocolate shop – which had nothing to do with anything… we just wanted some chocolate.  It was a great day and proof positive that where there’s a will to stuff your face, there’s a way to stuff your face.

img_0816
The best fried clams courtesy of JT Farnham’s along with some damn fine lobster, courtesy of Woodmans of Essex.

Another day we went to a local dive bar/restaurant that I ran into online. The bar is known for their great seafood at ridiculous prices.  And we were unquestionably impressed as we looked at the menu. In fact, we were so impressed we tried to order one appetizer and two entrees, a pretty standard order for the two of us. That was when our waitress, who reminded me of Carla from Cheers, stopped, stared at us, and said: “Do you realize how much food that is?”  Surprised by her question, we admitted that we did not.  We explained that we’d never been there before. Recognizing that she was dealing with two amateurs who had no idea what they were getting themselves into, she said, “How bout I bring you about half of what you just asked for?” Seeing few other options (no one messes with Carla), we agreed.

Here is the one entree that we tried (and failed miserably) to finish:

img_3578

It was a full fried filet of Haddock, fried shrimp, fried clams, fried scallops, cole slaw, fries and onion rings.  We gave it our all, but when all was said and done, it seemed we barely put a dent in it.  I asked Carla if anyone actually ever finished it and she said: “one guy came close.”

After that, Carla (whose name is totally not “Carla,” but I never got her real name), became our new hero.

carla

Thanks Carla!

Meeting Our New Friend, Mead

While researching the area, I found the well reviewed 1634 Meadery in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Since we’d never tried mead before, and since I am, thankfully, off my heavy duty painkillers, off we went.

img_0807

Mead is an ancient alcoholic beverage created from fermented honey.   As the proprietor of 1634 figured out, it’s come into favor again recently:

img_0894

Ignoring the puzzled look on his face as he watched me hobble into his booze-focused establishment on crutches, we settled in for a tasting of several of his hand brewed meads. And since we knew nothing about this lovely beverage, he kindly detailed how the drink is made and took us on a tour of his operation.  

Processed with Snapseed.
The owner explaining his mead making methods. Large fermenting vats on the right, a hand operated corking mechanism in front and a simple labeling machine on the table behind him.

The mead making process starts with the owner pouring hundreds of pounds of honey and hundreds of gallons of water into large temperature controlled vats. He’ll then add yeast and carefully monitor the mixture for several weeks, adding substances to control for various unwanted naturally occurring byproducts.  After about two weeks of fermentation, he’ll transfer the liquid to stainless steel barrels and add whole crushed fruits and spices, before allowing the mixture to age for several months.  When ready, he’ll filter the liquid to remove various impurities and sediment. Finally, he’ll carefully fill, cork, label, and wax each bottle.  

The process, from start to finish, takes about six months. The shop is run by the owner and his wife, along with a small crew of part time employees. Yet, in less than two years of commercial production, they’ve gotten their product onto shelves in 30 shops around the state. Pretty impressive.

We tasted six meads, from drier varieties made with local honey to the more traditional sweeter versions.

img_0799

Having long been turned off by super sweet, almost medicinal, dessert wines, it was nice to find an ‘after dinner drink’ that was sweet without being syrupy.  We bought a couple bottles to take home and vowed to return once his fall seasonal mead – made with everything that is good and right about fall – is available.

And also, because we need to devise a plan to kidnap this dude so he can stand watch outside Barney:

Processed with Snapseed.

A Tiny Taste of New England Charm

As we drove around the old Massachusetts towns of Ipswich, Essex, and Gloucester, we got to see many of the things that make New England, New England: Old homes weathered by the sea, fishing trawlers at the dock, tiny clapboard churches, and centuries old cemetaries. It would be wonderful to go back when I am more mobile to really get out and explore on foot, since these old towns are undoubtedly worthy of an extended tour.

new-england-homes
Pretty seaside New England homes and neighborhoods at sunset

While in Gloucester, we did take advantage of the fact that tourist season has ended and easily found parking on the main scenic boulevard. The boulevard faces the ocean front and features a memorial to fishermen lost at sea over the last several hundred years.

img_0876

The memorial lists thousands of names of those lost in accidents, storms, and to the unknown.  It was a simple, beautiful tribute appropriately located in a town long tied the sea.

img_0838

Having had some success with our travels, and recognizing the benefits of just getting out and about, we’re planning a couple more day trips in the coming days and weeks. As things progress and I feel more confident in the long term durability of my new and improved tibia, we’ll venture into Boston and attack some of the more challenging locales. The problem is, inasmuch as the age of these locales make this region appealing, it also creates numerous challenges for me while on crutches. (In other words, cobblestone streets and uneven brick sidewalks are a real pain in my ass right now.) So, we’ll take things slow and steady. The last thing I want is a setback necessitating another surgery. But, there are plenty of things we can see and do while I continue to heal.

Next on the list: Newport, Rhode Island.

Previous articleRandom Narcotic Fueled Musings
Next articleDear People of Yelp, WTF???

10 COMMENTS

  1. Glad you are enjoying yourself as best as you can considering the circumstances. MA really is a wicked awesome place! If you staht dropping your “r’s” then you will really fit in! 🙂

    • How bout I’ll stop dropping my R’s if they start paving over all the damn cobblestones? Seems like a fair trade. 🙂

  2. Laura:
    Glad to see you are back on your feet. Wow, what a way to start your Journey.
    What a great look at what New England has to offer.
    Let us know if you find any outstanding RV parks. We have New England on our radar for next summer. Our plan is to attend the Tiffin Rally in Syracuse in June, then go from there.
    Enjoy reading your blog as we wind down our careers and look to spend more time on the road, along with our Dog Duke.

    • Hey,

      Sorry, your comment ended up in a filter, so I am just seeing this now….

      As for campground reviews, I post reviews on Campendium and RV Park Reviews of each place we stay. I find Campendium has more younger reviewers and more recent reviews. RV Park Reviews has a lot more reviews, but oftentimes, they’re 5 or even 10 years old, so perhaps not as accurate.

      In general, expect pretty pricey campgrounds up this way and tighter spaces. Some places are better than others, but I expect it will be a very different experience once we go west. That being said, there’s a lot to see and do (and eat) up here, so there’s a trade-off to be made.

      I’m happy to hear you guys have your finish line in sight. Even with this minor disaster we’re dealing with, we’re still have a ton of fun and loving the lifestyle. We have zero regrets about any of the decisions we’ve made and we’re just looking forward to getting back on the road again.

    • They actually offered me one when I was in Walmart!! Can you imagine? People diving out of the way left and right?? Nice!

  3. That was one huge entree! I think I’ll gag after a few bites.
    Were you too far from Cape Cod National Seashore?
    We were introduced to Mead when we were in Prescott, AZ and surprisingly it is really good and not too sweet.

    • We are about 2 to 2.5 hours from Cape Cod, depending on where we would be looking to go. It’s do-able, but it’s a pretty long day trip. We’ve been out there before though, so it’s a bit farther down on our must-see list than some other places.

      There’s another meadery nearby that we’re gonna check out soon. From what we hear though, the place we went is one of the best around, so our we may now be considered “mead snobs.” 🙂

Comments are closed.