What a Fabulous Weekend!!

We are in the middle of the 4th of July weekend and enjoying some good weather at last in OH, just east of Cleveland.  But, I must catch up and tell you of a really FABULOUS weekend we had several weekends ago!  It was the weekend after the week we spent at 4th Cliff with the Girls and their handlers.  Friday they headed back to Newport and we met up with Jim and Ann.  They came down to 4th Cliff Friday afternoon and we moved up to Wompawtuck State Park about 18 miles north of 4th Cliff and a few miles from their weekend condo at Hull, MA.  

What a great weekend we enjoyed with these old friends touring SE Boston area on MA Bay.  We started off with a late lunch at the Beer Works, a micro brewery on the water in Hingham.  Food was fantastic and the variety of beer brewed on-premises seemed to be unlimited.  It included one that came with a slice of watermelon. 

Ann & her watermelon beer! 

Hull is a peninsula out into Massachusetts Bay southeast of Boston.  The south side of the peninsula is beach that at low tide is very wide and firm sand.  Tide was going out and the 4 of us walked down the beach for aways and Jim explained the 4th of July tradition that has developed in the community.  There are a number of streets that cross the peninsula and dead end at the beach (the other end of the street ends at the waterfront that is a too rocky to enjoy).   Over the years the community has developed this unofficial 4th of July contest where each street builds a large bonfire on the beach that evening and then after dark puts on a fireworks display.   So imagine this wide beach with 2 dozen or so bonfires burning on the beach in the 4th of July night, that alone sounds beautiful.  But top it off with a fireworks display from the vicinity of each fire!  And, the friendly rivalry between the streets has grown each year and insured increasingly great displays.   

low tide on Nantasket Beach, imagine the fires and firworks.

Later we went to a bar & grill at the end of the beach, named Beach Fire.  It was close to dark and Jim & Ann described the view from there when the beach was "afire" in the dark.  Nantasket Beach is formed as an arch and the Beach Fire is at the end so you have a full view of the entire beach, pretty anytime; but has to be spectacular with the fires and fireworks!!

The next day we headed to an Art Fair in nearby Cohassett.  On the way we stopped and I showed them about geocaching.  We found a geocache at a nearby covered bridge walkway leaving the park.  Just about didn't find it until I got homed in on the correct end of the bridge!!   Ann and BJ really enjoyed the Art Fair and Jim and I traded war stories from our days together as 2/Lt's in Boston.  He was from the area and after his stint in the USAF returned there after some adventures in other parts of the world.  We had last seen him and Ann in Germany in 1975 then lost track of each other for a number of years.  We had reestablished contact about 6 years ago but this was the first time we had visited. 

After leaving the Fair, we enjoyed another great lunch at a restaurant on the water.  TKO Malley's is on scenic Scituate Harbor.  We enjoyed some beautiful weather and great conversation at TKO Malley's dockside area.  Reminded us of Capt Hiram's in Sebastian at home!  We finished our last full day in New England back at Nantasket Beach enjoying the view from upstairs of the Red Parrot.  Later they dropped us off at the RV with detailed instructions on how to get to their place in the AM for our grand finale at Hull - breakfast at  Jo's Nautical Bar near the end of the Hull peninsula.  It is a waterfront bar overlooking the harbor and they serve an exceptionally great Bloody Mary.  Except they don't call the ones they serve on Sunday AM a Bloody Mary, just call it breakfast.  Since we were hitting road after breakfast we had to limit ourselves to one serving, but it is the best I ever had.  So good, I had to call my sister, CC and tell her I found one better then her's at last!  To top it off the weather was beautiful and we enjoyed breakfast on the deck outside overlooking the harbor.  We lingered much longer then we intended to, but did not regret it a moment.

Bob & Jim contemplating breakfast at Jo's Nautical Bar

However, all good things must come to an end and the next day we were scheduled to meet up with the Girls and their handlers on the road to NY Finger Lakes Region.  They were leaving Newport Monday AM and we were going to make the Finger Lakes together Monday evening.  But, that is another story for later.  This one is about the fabulous weekend we spent with our great friends in Hull!