The Voss Dufour World Tour

They are my favorite animal. Graceful, acrobatic, powerful, awe inspiring, thunderous, gentle, caring and entertaining to say the least.

The photos above do these animals no justice. None.

I continued my tour of New England during my couple months home and headed out of Plymouth, MA for a Whale Watch with my parents and close family friend. I don’t think I can ever go on another whale watch ever. It was, hands down, the most amazing whale watch–leaps and bounds, literally, beyond what you would dream for a whale watch to be.

As we approached the tip of Provincetown after 60-90 mins of ferrying out of the Plymouth Harbor, a couple whale blowspouts were spotted off the boat’s bow, about 2 miles away. I thought, “here we go. People seeing stuff, perhaps a whale blow, perhaps not and it’s so far away……….. I hope we can get closer.” And it was a bit choppy out, making it even more difficult to scan the horizon for whale activity.

The naturalist on board began her spiel about how Humpback Whales have baleen for teeth, explaining their eating, mating and travel habits. Her speech began to be interrupted by shouts of “tail at 10″ or “blow at 2.” (In an attempt to get everyone on the same page about describing the locations of whale sightings, you had to think of the ship as a clock and then describe the location as the “hour”.)

Then before our eyes, a whale breeched (the best way to describe this is to think of the whale throwing itself out of the water) with a resounding crash as it landed.

I cried.

Seriously. I lack the words to describe how humbling an experience it is to watch whales show a fluke (tail fin), let alone breech for you to see. Mother Nature never fails to impress me and I hold such awe for these creatures.

And so began our acrobatic display of New England’s Large-winged animals. We were lucky and followed a pair of whales, most likely a mother and calf (!!!) for 90 minutes that pretty much went something like this:

Whale fluke, the other whale’s fluke, pause, whale spout, pause, other whale’s spout, pause, pause, pause—where are they??–breech, pause, breech. For NINETY minutes straight. I hope the caps can express my amazement at this show of acrobatics.

“We cannot live for ourselves alone.” –Herman Melville

The Freedom Trail in Boston invokes images of men in tri-cornered hats and stockings, tourists with cameras who stop in my way, a red brick line through downtown Boston and rides of Paul Revere in the middle of the night. It brings me back to our 5th grade Elementary Field Trip to Boston after studying the Revolutionary War.

And there we were, a group of 10 or so, the day after Ryan and Kristen’s wedding, gathered in front of the State House where the trail starts. To say we were exhausted, dehydrated, hungover and sweaty was an understatement. It had been a 3 day whirlwind of Weddings and World Cup semi-final games. Some of the guests were from Denver and as this was their first time in Boston, it seemed appropriate to give a tour of the city. Not sure how it came to be that the Freedom Trail was the chosen activity, but there we were. Discussing which way the Freedom Trail went. It’s a red brick trail and we were at the starting point.

I am sure it was just the heat that had fogged our clarity.

Eventually finding our way, we took off through the Boston Common, heading towards our first stop, The Old Granary Burying Ground where Sam Adams and Mother Goose are buried. As it was 4th of July weekend, there was no shortage of tour guides in wool revolutionary getup, stockings, waistcoats and bloomers gathered around popular gravestones with groups of tourists peering over their shoulders. Boston was in it’s element!

This was just our first stop along the trail and this scene unfolded at every point along the trail–The Old North Church, Paul Revere’s house, The Old Meeting House and Boston’s 1st Public School to name a few stops were full of red, white and blue in many variations. American Flags were everywhere and people seemed very enthusiastic about celebrating another year of our country’s independence in Boston. What a great place to be on the 4th!

Having been a tourist myself for the past year or so, it was fun to view a familiar and beloved city to through a different set of eyes. Instead of getting mad at the tourists for jamming up the sidewalk and singing silly songs (we may or may not have done that on our trip) as they perused the streets, I was enthralled to see many people learning about Boston and it’s history. I was syked to see so many people in line at the local sandwich and soda shops (okay, and Dunkin Donuts too), taking respite from the intense sun. I enjoyed overhearing parents and grandparents explaining to kids about “one if by land, two if by sea”. I eavesdropped when locals pointed out their favorite watering hotels. I appreciated that people were taking the time to get to know Boston, “The Cradle of Liberty.”

I found myself taking note of things, places and people who wouldn’t have caught my eye a year ago. While James and I sat in the Common waiting for our friends, I was checking out all the people around me. It was easy to imagine stories about the paths that brought them to the patch of grass next to us. Perhaps they were on a lunch break from work, on their first trip to Boston and were journaling about it, relieving old haunts or maybe in Boston revisiting couchsurfing hosts?? Who knows.

On this day, I viewed Boston as a city that people visited, not just where people lived and worked. Luckily for those in town, they couldn’t have picked a more perfect weekend to visit (or hold a wedding)–gorgeous blue, cloudless skies. Cristal clear air framing the skyscrapers along the harbor. Clean and shiny white hulled boats motoring between lobster traps on their way to open waters. Green pathways weaving around museums and restaurants, bringing to life the sights and smells of the city. My appreciation for Boston as both a tourist and resident (one day again!) grew.

As we continued on the red brick path, we wove between other tourists, stopping to take their group photos or clamboring on top of monuments for a better view. We rarely deviated from that red path, following it’s many twists and turns, making it all the way to Charlestown, much to my surprise. I thought for sure that the heat and exhaustion would get the better of us. While we didn’t quite make it to the Bunker Hill Monument, we did view it in from the Tavern on the Water where we quickly refreshed ourselves with a beverage.

While walking the Freedom Trail was a different experience this time around vs in 5th grade, it was super fun to be a tourist again. Especially in my own city!

“I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” –When Harry Met Sally.

Or when Ryan met Kristen. Or when Kristen met Ryan.

It was a very warm 4th of July weekend and after a day of the quickest Red Sox game since 2002 and a non-rehearsal luncheon, we were on a hired coach bus heading in the direction of Salem. Or at least that was the plan but apparently some accidents on the highway and the bus driver’s GPS had other ideas. Thank god for the iphone or who knows where we would have ended up.

The park was inviting and peaceful. The trees, no more than 15 feet high, provided the right amount of shade over the 75 or so seats that were meticulously placed on the grass that ticked your feet. Soft cello and violin music beckoned us so we grabbed a bottle of water on the way in.

Cue the bridal entrance music and there she was. Looking stunning but super calm and happy. Not a dry eye in the place during her short walk to Ryan. Not that I am any expert in anything, let alone wedding vows and ceremonies, but this was one to remember. Even I teared up (which I seem to do at weddings now that I am in my 30′s), even more so after seeing all the grown men trying to ignore their tears by keeping sunglasses on their face. Oh yeah, I saw that chicos! Ryan and Kristen’s vows were original and beautiful and for the little that I have gotten to know them, reflected their personalities and approach to life.

Then before I could wipe the tears off, we were swept up towards Finz for some dinner, drinking but most importantly, dancing. My kind of party! It was an educational experience for me as I rocked out to some top Billboard hits that I had missed during our travels. Needless to say, song lists were quickly made on napkins and the new ipod dance playlist is being worked on as I type. (Am still taking suggestions.)

It was a fantastic evening of new and old friends. Cheers to the happy couple!