When your grandmother tells you what her ideal vacation is, you find a way to make it happen. Several years ago, my mom, aunt, and I conspired to give her the gift of travel for her birthday and booked a trip to Portland, Maine and Lancaster, Pennsylvania (with a few stops here and there).
First time on a plane!
Grandmama, in her 70+ years, had never been on an airplane… and was not super enthused when we broke the news that part of her gift was a flight to Boston. Throughout the 3 hour flight, we had a bit of a laugh as she closed her eyes and refused to look out the window once we were in the air. I’m not sure she’ll be hopping on another plane anytime soon, but I think she’s proud of herself that she made it without panicking too much.
It was also mama’s first flight and though I can’t say she enjoyed it, I don’t think she’d hesitate too much to hop back on for another trip.
We hung around Boston for a few hours, visited the harbor and dumped some tea in it got a bite to eat before heading towards our first official destination: Hyannis, Massachusetts on the Cape Cod peninsula.
While there, we took day trips via ferry to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Though not part of Grandmama’s bucket list destinations, we thought both places would be an excellent addition to the trip. (Plus mama really wanted to go there.)
We walked around the two islands, getting over 25,000 steps a day. Although, after the first day, Grandmama decided to sit out some of the hundreds of lighthouses we visited (not really, but it was a lot) in favor of taking much needed walking breaks. She told everyone she talked to about the trip how much we walked.
Two of our stops in Nantucket were the Old Mill, which is the oldest working windmill in the United States and the Oldest House, believed to be the oldest residence on Nantucket. We also visited the Whaling Museum where we learned about the whaling ship Essex tragedy, on which the novel Moby Dick and the movie In the Heart of the Sea were based.
After leaving Massachusetts, we headed onwards to Portland, Maine. One of our first stops was the Portland Headlight, one of the most famous lighthouses in the area. There, Courtney and I ventured out onto rocks to take pictures while Grandmama stood far back from the edge and worried about us falling.
We then ventured over to the Goddard Mansion, originally built as a home but used by the army as NCO quarters in the early 1900’s. It is set off a bit into the woods not far from the Portland Headlight. The interior was burned in the 1980’s, but the exterior walls still remain. It is now fenced off for safety reasons, but you can still walk around the outside of the 100+ year old building. We also stopped by the Victoria Mansion, an old Italian villa style home built in the late 1800’s that was converted into a museum in the 1940’s. Most of the original furniture and decor is still there and quite beautiful to see.
We somehow found out about lobster boat tours and decided we really needed to partake in that activity. We went out with Lucky Catch Cruises. We helped catch a few lobsters and learned how to ID which to keep and which to throw back. At the end, we could choose to pick a lobster from those we’d caught and take it back to the restaurant on shore and have them cook it for us.
My lobster actually pinched me pretty badly when I lost my grip on its claws, but I suppose I did plan to eat him so all’s fair.
Our last stop was in Lancaster, PA. Grandmama had always wanted to visit the Amish country so we thought this would be a good place to end the trip. We went on a tour with Amish Farm and House. First, we got to walk around the farm and visit an old schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, and more. Then, on the tour, they took us to various Amish shops and to a traditional Amish dinner.
All in all, I think Grandmama really enjoyed the trip, even if she did say that we tried to walk her to death. And we really enjoyed it too. I’m really glad we got the chance to take her.
~Mallory
Our McTravels 