A Little Bit of Boston and Some Apple Pie

So....it's been FOREVER since I've written a blog post.  I hope you'll be patient with me.  I knew I should have tried to finish BEFORE I got home because I knew it would be almost IMPOSSIBLE to finish the blog.  I am going to try my best to finish it even if it takes me FOREVER!  There are so many more stories to tell of God's faithfulness and His great plan He had for this trip. 

This is the last time I'm going to talk about how long it's been since I've posted (well, maybe the last time.  I always feel as though I should apologize).  Just know I do plan on finishing the story even if no one is reading anymore, BUT I hope you will!

After Barry left Boston, I felt that I should stay a little longer.  We didn't get a chance to visit the city of Boston while Barry was with me.  We were enjoying Rockport too much to leave.  

Barry works really hard and works a lot, so his idea of a vacation is NOT doing anything.  He likes to just relax and enjoy where he is...not fill his days with schedules and things to see.  

I, on the other hand, do not want to miss ANYTHING, so since I was in the area, and Boston is a pretty big city, and I'm not sure I'll be back, I wanted to spend a little bit of time there. 

I found another great place to rent from airbnb for my stay in Boston.  The place was in a town called Tyngsborough, which is a short train ride to the city.  Lynnwood and Denise, the owners of the house, were great hosts with goodies in the frig and wine and cheese waiting for me when I arrived, and their studio that I rented  was very nice too. 

Here's a link to their place in case you need a place to stay in the Boston area: 

Charming Studio in the Heart of New England

After a long day as a tourist in Boston, I came "home" to Lynnwood & Denise's house to find that Denise was making homemade apple pie.  She was gracious enough to share some with me.  

How nice is that?

Thanks, Lynnwood & Denise, for your wonderful hospitality.  It was nice to stay at your house, and very nice to meet you. 
And thanks for the awesome apple pie!

  

Boston is a beautiful city with great food! 

The North End is full of Italian restaurants, and it was heavenly just to walk down the street and smell the food.

  Also, Mike's Pastry  is a famous bakery to get lots of amazing baked goods, but if you do go there, please get at least one cannoli!  I am a huge cannoli fan, and they have one of the best I've ever had besides at Caffe Palermo in NYC.   The owner of Cafe Palermo is known as the "Cannoli King," and I would say, 

Yes, he is!

Look at all you learn from reading my blog.  

You're welcome!

This trip was about eating, right?

I took a tour of the city that also included a boat ride for a city view from the water.



This is a statue of the great ride of Paul Revere.  The church in the background is where the light was shown.....

one if by land, two if by sea

The Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

Different view of the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

"Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

Before I left for my Journey, I felt as though God told me I was to go to four states while on my trip.  

One was Texas (check); 

two was Louisiana (check); 

three was Maine...

I almost didn't make it to Maine because Barry and I didn't feel like driving there from Rockport, but after he left and I visited Boston, I decided to be obedient and stick my foot in Maine.  So I drove a couple of hours to the border, saw this sign and did a little shopping.  Do I know why God had me go to Maine?  No.  I don't think we always know the reason God asks us to do something, but I know it's worth the obedience.  It was beautiful; I bought some cool stuff, and now I can say I've been to Maine.

  

That's "The Way Life Should Be!"

New England in the Fall

One of my Bucket List items was to travel the country in an RV. 

Obviously, I am going to be able to check that one off the "list."
 

Another one of my Bucket List items was to go to New England for the Fall. 

It's pretty cool that I get to check that one off my "list" also.
 

My very favorite time of the year is Fall.  I love the leaves changing; the crisp, cool weather; football games; sweatshirts...you get the picture.
 

This year while on my JOURNEY, I was able to see so much Fall! 
It was absolutely AMAZING! 
The scenery was so SPECTACULAR! 
That's the word I came up with for how beautiful all the leaves were on the trees. 
It was absolutely SPECTACULAR! 

Now, this is coming from a girl who grew up in NJ, but who's lived in Southern California for 30 years, and I don't see very much Fall here.  Our leaves (a tiny bit of them) change around December; fall off by January, and start blooming again in about two weeks.  I don't consider that Fall at all. 

I was one happy girl to get to be in the South for fall; the East Coast for Fall; New England for Fall; Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana for Fall. 
There was a little bit of Fall left in Illinois, but just a little bit!
Then there was Fall again in New Mexico and Utah!
 

After Barry and I left NYC, we went back and picked up our truck in NJ from our friend, Jeff.  He was the great guy who let us park our truck in his driveway and took us to the train station AND when we got back, he had washed and waxed our truck! 
Now, that is an amazing friend. 
That blew us away! 
Thanks again, Jeff!  You're the best!
 

Last year, when I was talking about my trip to my friend, John Graham, whom I cleaned for to raise money for my trip, he told me that he had been to Connecticut last October, and it had SNOWED!  I was like, "Oh, no!  There is no way I can drive a truck and trailer in the snow!  I haven't driven in snow for 30 years!" 
So that's why we decided to leave the camper in NJ and just take the truck to New England. 

It's a good thing we did! 

Barry and I were on a major road (no, I don't know the number of the road.  That's such a guy thing.  My whole trip, guys would ask me, "Did you take Route 2 or 79 or 32 or 52 or 8 or 5 or?"...okay...you get the picture). 
I don't know what road we were on, but it was a major road.  I cannot tell you how many bridges we had to drive under that the camper would NOT have fit under!  It would have been bad....really, really bad!  My camper is at least 9' tall without considering the air conditioner.  There were bridges that had a clearance of only 9'! 
Thank God for John Graham sharing his snow experience, or we would have been in BIG touble towing the camper to Massachusetts and not being able to fit under the bridges of the Northeast!
 

On that road with the low clearance bridges, we headed to Rockport, MA.  We stayed in a cozy, little cottage in Rockport that we rented on a site called AirBnb from a very nice woman named Patricia.

Here's the link to her house:  Sea Mist Cottage. 

It was such a cute place, and Patricia was great! 
 

Rockport is such a quaint, little New England coastal town.  It's the kind you see in the movies (The Proposal was filmed there), and they definitely use their scenery for jigsaw puzzles :)
 

We had a great time walking through the little town and going out for lobster at a really cool place called The Lobster Pool.  It wasn't very fancy...paper plates, plastic utensils and plastic cups, but the view was breathtaking, and it was BYOB, so Barry and I got to share a great bottle of Riesling that my friend, Laurie, bought me for my birthday from Napa! 
Yes, the bottle traveled from Napa to San Diego all the way across the country to Rockport! 

Thanks, Laurie.

All of that was so great, but one thing that blessed me the most was one of the days, Barry was reading his bible on his Ipad (very cool that you don't have to just have that really BIG bible that sits on the coffee table collecting dust anymore). 

He said, "I want to read you something.  I think this bible verse is about you."

Oh, no!!!  That could be really good or really bad!

He read to me Proverbs 31:10-31

"A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She’s quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn’t worry about her family when it snows;
their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:
“Many women have done wonderful things,
but you’ve outclassed them all!”
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!"

Ummmm I don't really knit or sew or make clothes or a lot of other things that scripture says, and
Barry doesn't even know that that's the one part of the bible most Christian women want to be about them! 
I was and am very blessed that Barry thinks that about me.
And if Barry thinks that about me, I thank God because only through God could those things be possible!

Thanks so much, Barry!

Thank you, God!

 

New England coastline - just beautiful!

 

 

Rockport, MA

 

Some Fall :)

 

This is "Motif #1" located on Bradley Wharf in the harbor town of Rockport, Massachusetts, it's a fishing shack well known to students of art and art history as "the most often-painted building in America."

 

Enjoying coffee

This is a hiking trail we took to an old quarry on the ocean

 



 

A sea angel :)

 

We added some stones to the piles

The old quarry

 



 

The Lobster Pool restaurant

 

Me and my bottle of Riesling from Laurie :)

 

 

A beautiful sunset to go with our lobster and wine

 

This is in the little town of Rockport.  I thought it was funny because it goes with a blog post way back in the beginning of my trip.  See:  Can the Maker of Sunrises Make Bad Things Good, Part 1 where God had given me a vision of Gumby for the tire repair guy. 

So funny!

 

This is Patricia, the owner of the Sea Mist Cottage, where we stayed.  She was a great hostess. 

As Barry and I were leaving, we asked Pat if we could pray for her.  She said yes.  We prayed for her, her kids, her business etc.  She was very touched.  She said, "No one that has stayed at my cottage has ever prayed for me before."

We were happy to do that! 

Thanks for everything, Pat.  We enjoyed meeting you and staying in your cottage.

  Hope you're following along on the JOURNEY :)

Miracles on 57th Street, New York City

I'm BACK!!!

 

Yes, I am BACK to blogging! 
And, yes, I am BACK in San Diego. 
I got home November 16th. 
 

BUT I still have lots of stories to tell,
so I HOPE to write about them,

and I HOPE you'll keep reading them.

 

I believe I left you guys in New Jersey. 
Sorry about that.  I guess there are worse places I could have left you.
 
It was just really hard to write my blog when I had visitors with me on my trip
and when I was visiting. 

 

So....after dropping our truck off in New Jersey, Barry and I went to New York City. 

Let me tell you about a couple of things I believe were MIRACLES for that part of the trip. 
We own a timeshare (that was a MISTAKE, NOT a MIRACLE...don't buy one)
 that has a property in NYC. 
I believe we can only make our reservations for that property 45 days before the checkout date....
yeah....that's a little confusing. 
Anyway, I was trying to do that. 
Since it is our timeshare, it should not cost us any money to stay there.  The day I was suppose to make my reservations, there were not three nights in a row available. There was only one night in a studio for Monday; one night in a one-bedroom for Tuesday, and one night in a studio for Wednesday. 
Well, that would be annoying....switching rooms every day. 
After trying to figure something else out, we decided we would do that...switch rooms every day.
When I called to make the reservations,
they told me because I was switching rooms like that,
it would cost me $400! 
What!? 
I have to switch rooms AND pay more money?

So...I said NO, and prayed God would open up a room three nights in a row for me. 
After searching NYC for some other options, I said to God,
"Okay....I'm going to refresh this one more time. 
Please, provide a room for us with three nights in a row."

And after I hit refresh, a room popped up with three nights in a row!!!! 

OH MY GOSH!!!

I was so excited!!!

I quickly put all of our information in and our debit card number to hold our room, and when I pushed the confirm button, the stupid computer took me back to the home page and didn't confirm our reservation. 
I was so upset! 
I quickly tried again to see if the room was available, and it was GONE!!! 

OH MY GOSH!!!
 

I called the timeshare company to cry, complain, curse, etc. 
The lady said, "Mrs. Strickland, you have the reservation."

WHAT?!
 

YES!!! 

I don't know what happened.  All I know is that was a stressful few minutes,
and God answered my prayer. 

Sometimes our prayers are not answered as nice and calm as we'd like them to be,
but He did answer my prayer nonetheless.
 

That was our first MIRACLE!

The second MIRACLE....I'm not sure you'd call this a "MIRACLE," but stayed tuned because you'll see why it was later.
 

The second MIRACLE was that as I was taking a shower....
now, remember I've been taking RV showers this whole time.  For those of you who don't know what an RV shower is...it's a shower that you have to keep turning the water off and on the whole time, so you don't run out of hot water, and you don't overflow your holding tank.
 

So after taking RV showers for a long, long time, I was excited to take a "real" shower. 

The shower I took may have been a LITTLE long. 

And the shower drain could have been a LITTLE clogged,

and the lip from the shower to the bathroom floor could have been LITTLE,

so because of my LONG shower,

and because of the clogged drain,

and because of the LITTLE lip between the shower and the bathroom floor,

there ended up being A LOT of water in the bathroom. 

A LOT of water...like two inches of water! 

I didn't even notice! 
I was too busy enjoying the non-RV shower. 
Barry ended up seeing water running out the bathroom door! 
OH MY GOSH! 
We had to call maintenance. 
They had to come vacuum up all the water flooding the bathroom floor and try to fix the drain.
 

They did vacuum the water up, and they thought they fixed the drain, but they didn't fix the drain, so Barry ended up taking an RV shower where he had to keep turning the water off and on so the bathroom wouldn't flood again.

  Hahahaha.  That is funny!
 

Here's the MIRACLE part....because of our "incident," they gave us $95!

 

Here's the third MIRACLE!
 

The next night, our air conditioner didn't work. 

Was that a big deal?

 No, it wasn't even hot. 

We didn't even know we were going to be blessed for that one. 

As we were standing out front waiting for a cab to leave the City the next day, the manager came running out to us and said she was sorry for everything that had happened to us, and that they were going to refund us a night of points AND to contact her next time we come because she wants to make sure our next visit is enjoyable!

YAY!!!

So...just to review....three nights show up in a row, so it doesn't cost us anything. 

They give us $95,
AND we get a night's worth of points back!!!
 

YAY, God!

Thanks for the miracles on 57th Street! 

 

 

Barry looking quite excited on the train to NYC

 

A model in Times Square

 

This was a truck parked on the street in Times Square

 

Barry and me in Times Square

 

This is a place called the "High Line" where they made a walking path where a train used to run through the city.  This is just showing you where the tracks were.  The walking path they created is very nice and doesn't have a bunch of plants in your way. 

 

There are some things that happened on the trip that were presents just for me.  I'm the only one who understands how important this was for me.  This is a Picardy Shepherd.  I used to have a Picardy Shepherd.  They are very rare in America.  I have a whole miracle story about how I got mine.  The short version is I was praying for one.  My friend, Loretta, prayed I would get one for FREE.  They are very expensive.  I ended up finding a rescue Picardy Shepherd that had been imported from Belgium in my same neighborhood in Alpine!  I got a very expensive Picardy Shepherd for FREE right in my own neighborhood!  That was definitely a MIRACLE! 

Her name was Addy, and I had her for a year and a half, and then she died unexpectedly, but we had a great year and a half together, and honestly I've never felt more loved by an animal in my life. 

A weird thing is (don't tell anyone), I brought her with me on the JOURNEY (her ashes) because I believe she was a gift from God to me, and I brought her along as my little guardian.  So it's just crazy I'd see one in NYC. 

Yes, that was a gift for me! 

The owner was amazed that I even knew what kind of dog it was.

 

God had told me before the trip that He knows the things I like, and that He'd show me them on my JOURNEY.  He said I was to look for special surprises.  This was a special surprise/gift for me.

 

Thanks, God!

 

Barry at Washington Square 

 

 

Barry is half Italian, and we LOVE Italian food and especially desserts. 

We may have gotten a little carried away here.

 

 

We don't have Mr. Softee in San Diego, so we were excited!

 

My FAVORITE part of the year is Fall.  San Diego doesn't really have very much Fall, so that's why I wanted to travel during that time. 

This is Central Park with a little bit of Fall. 

I got to see so much Fall after this. 

It was AMAZING! 

What a beautiful picture God paints! 

\

Next stop....New England!



Barry Joins the JOURNEY

 

After visiting our friends, Dave & Amy, in Virgina, we headed to Pennsylvania to visit our cousins, Lou & Ida and their son, Louis, and his family, so the Panellas. 

 

Let's talk about that drive for a minute...yes, the drive from Virginia to Pennsylvania. 
Let me just say that I am happy I live in California where there are FREEways because I really, really, really can't stand the TOLL roads of the East Coast. 
I stopped keeping track, but I know for sure we paid at least $70 in tolls from Virginia to Pennsylvania. 

It's only a three-hour ride. 

That's ridiculous!!!

The worst was Maryland.  I swear we were on their precious road for about five minutes.  We get to the tollbooth and the girl says $24. 
I said, "What???  Are you kidding me???  $24???" 

That was NOT how you act on a missionary trip across the country!
 

Okay....I'm done complaining now, but THAT is so crazy! 

Illinois was worse in the toll department for different reasons, but we'll get to that in another post.
 

Just a side note...Barry and I are very much into budgeting our money and keeping track of everything we spend (thanks to Dave Ramsey....
see blog post One of the Top Ten Days of My Life (Dave Ramsey),
but on this trip, I audibly heard God say in the beginning when I was keeping track of everything I was spending, "Stop it.  Don't keep track of everything this whole trip.  I'll take care of it,"
and He has...way more than I could have imagined. 

So I haven't kept track, and that's why I don't know EXACTLY what we paid in tolls, and now I'm not going to complain about the tolls anymore...
until Illinois!

We had a nice visit with the Panellas. 
Thanks, Panellas, for dinner and for letting us "camp" in your backyard!

 

This was on a gas pump by Lou's house. 

So fitting :)

Their cute dogs

 

Barry and his second cousin, Louis

 

Louis, Kristy & Alaina

 

There was also Lou, Ida & Brianna, but we didn't get any pictures of them. 

Sorry, you guys. 

 

The next day, we drove to New Jersey (more tolls) to visit Barry's dad's grave. 

 

The JOURNEY mobile driving through the cemetery

 

A great man, Guy Strickland

 

We then went to my Aunt Debbie's to park the camper, so we could take the train to

New York City

 

 

This picture was taken at the lake behind her house. 

So beautiful!

 

We left my aunt's house and went to our friend, Jeff's house. 

He was so awesome! 

He let us park our truck at his house for a few days while we went to NYC. 

 

This is how nice Jeff is....

he let us park our truck at his house;

he took us to the train station in New Brunswick AND

when we got back from NYC, he had washed AND waxed our truck!!! 

 

Are you kidding me?

 

That was so nice!

 

Thank you so much, Jeff!!! 

You really BLESSED us!!! 

We really appreciate all that you did!!!

 

Jeff had said he's been a faithful follower of the JOURNEY blog.  We asked him if he needed prayer for anything.  He said reconciliation with his daughter. 

Barry and I prayed with him that God would reconcile his relationship with his daughter. 

If you would, please pray that for Jeff and his daughter.

 

We're expecting a MIRACLE.

 

Jeff & me

 

Jeff & Barry

 

Jeff took us to New Brunswick, which is where I went to college :)

Thanks again to the Panellas, Aunt Debbie & Jeff.

You guys are the BEST!