Eat Well, Travel Often

Our motto, mission statement, life goal, whatever you want to call for the last few years is to eat well and travel often. We even had a plaque made to hang on our wall to inspire us, not that we need any motivation. We’ve are often accused of of never being home so it seems we have the travel often part down. As for eating well. . . . Let’s just say there’s a reason my doctor is constantly on me to lose weight. Anyway, we got a hankerin’ for some fresh seafood so we took a drive to Gloucester, MA to visit a couple of our favorite seafood restaurants.

Heading to Gloucester

Seeing how it’s autumn, we took a circuitous route along the southern portion of the Green Mountain National Forest on VT 9 to check out the fall colors. We anticipated great scenery with the highlight being the overlook at the top of Hogback Mountain. On a clear day, you can see a 100 miles into the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. The vistas would’ve been spectacular except for the rain, mist and fog. In fact, Hogback Mountain was totally shrouded in fog, as were most of the higher elevations. The drive wasn’t a complete bust, though. There were some great displays of color in the lower elevations. We also passed through some quintessential small New England towns, along mountain streams and a covered bridge or two.

We arrived in Gloucester in time for dinner at the 1606 Restaurant in the Beauport Hotel overlooking Gloucester Harbor. It’s a bit fancy so I’m not quite sure how we got in. The seafood at the coast tastes so much better than in Central New York! We even got to witness a spectacular sunset from the deck. The perfect ending of a fine day.

A beautiful sunset over Gloucester Harbor

A Day of Traveling and Eating Well

On day two of our seafood excursion, we drove the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway – at least the part that went around Cape Ann. It’s quite a scenic drive (scenic is in the name, after all) by marshes, beaches and small coastal communities. There are 5 lighthouses around Cape Ann and we managed to see four of them. Thacher Island is the site of the Twin Lights. These are the last lighthouses built in the USA under British rule and are still used daily. Ten pound Lighthouse is on tiny Ten pound Island in Gloucester Harbor. A bit of trivia for you: Ten Pound Island in Gloucester Harbor housed America’s first Coast Guard station. Then there is the East point Lighthouse.

You can see the Eastern Point Lighthouse across the harbor but we wanted to get up close and personal. To do that, we took a detour off the byway onto Eastern Point Road and past more than one ‘Residents Only’ signs. I figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. A bonus is that you get to see how the 1% spend their summers.

A large vacation home overlooking Gloucester Harbor

Rockport

Next we stopped at the internationally known art colony of Bearskin Neck in Rockport. This community is full of rustic little shops full of one of a kind items from local artists. You can find paintings, fine art, photography, jewelry and everything in between on this picturesque stretch of land.

Perhaps the symbol of Rockport to many is the red fish shack. An art instructor from Paris, Lester Hornby, dubbed it Motif #1 years ago. This building is the most depicted building in the world. At any time of day and from any angle, you can find artists in front of their easels recreating this image onto their canvas.

Woodman’s

After Rockport, we headed to Essex and Woodman’s, the first of our favorite seafood places, for lunch. Over 100 years ago on July 3rd, 1916, Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman, at the humorous suggestion of a friend, fried up a few clams and the original New England fried clams were born. I remember my parents taking us here when I was a kid. It hasn’t changed much. Zagat calls it ‘An American cult classic – right up there with baseball and apple pie.’ USA calls it the ‘best seafood shack in America.’ Who am I to argue? I had to get a lobster roll. They serve it on a buttered, toasted New England style roll stuffed with fresh lobster. No fillers here! Cathy got the fried scallop boat. The scallops were lightly breaded, sweet and tasty. This stop alone makes the trip worthwhile.

The Causeway Restaurant

After lunch. we strolled around downtown Gloucester to burn off some calories before dinner. Tonight’s feat is at another favorite seafood establishment of ours – The Causeway Restaurant. On a previous visit to the area, we asked the host of our AirBnB where the locals like to eat. She pointed us here. The diner opened a just a few months earlier but had been getting rave reviews. The food was fantastic and the portions were so big, it took us three days to eat our meals. We’ve made it a point to travel to Gloucester periodically ever since just to eat here. It’s very small and crowded with very little ambienace but the food is amazing and the portions are huge. Our favorite dish is the seafood marinara. The sauce is excellent and there is more seafood in there than pasta. The prices are very reasonable, as well.

A half eaten pan of seafood marinara — A more than half eaten wok of seafood marinara

Whale watch

After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, we headed to the harbor. We wanted to do a schooner harbor tour but being the end of the season, no one was open. Plan B was a whale watch with 7 Seas. The day was ideal – sunny, calm seas, and perfect temperatures. On the way out to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to hopefully se some whales, we ran into a school of about 60 to 70 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. The narrator said this was a rare sight. We have been blessed on this trip.

Once at the marine sanctuary, we saw six different humpback whales, including a mother and calf. These things are huge and yet so graceful. What a fantastic day!

More Eating Well

We have to add another restaurant to our list of favorites here in Gloucester. Dinner tonight was at Tonno, a great Italian seafood place on Main St. The chefs at Tonno (which means ‘tuna’ in Italian) specialize in creative seafood dishes as well as the Italian favorites and homemade options. We got adventurous and shared an appetizer of grilled octopus, which was outstanding. For dinner, Cathy had an excellent tuna steak while I had the daily special, caught in the Boston Harbor that day. It’s a bit pricey but worth the money. No pictures of the meal tonight because we were very hungry and dove right in before we even thought about getting out the camera.

Heading Home

Before we started our trip home, we first had to get breakfast. We headed back the Bearskin Neck and Roy Moore’s for some lobster. Nothing better than fresh, sweet lobster with drawn butter on a dock overlooking the harbor any time of the day.

Our route home was along the Mohawk Trail in the Northern Berkshires with a stop in Shelburne Falls and the Bridge of Flowers.

The sign at The Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne, MA

The Bridge of Flowers is a 400-foot long pedestrian bridge covered in flowers expertly planted to ensure they bloom continuously from April to October. It’s advertised as “the only one of its kind in the world.” We need to do a lot more traveling to verify that claim. The gardeners have labeled the 500 varieties of flowers, vines, and shrubs, (many of the rare or historical varieties) to satisfy those interested in more than just the dazzling colors of the flowers.

The bridge was built for trolleys in 1908. In 1929, after the railway went out of business, the structure was reborn as the Bridge of Flowers. In 1983, it was completely renovated at a cost of a half-million dollars and under the expertise of a local horticulturalist. Today, its upkeep relies on a paid gardener and volunteers from the Shelburne Falls Women’s Club.

Shelburne Falls is also a good spot to grab a bite to eat, do some shopping or even enjoy a game or two of candlepin bowling. You need to try it if you’ve never done it.

Leaving Shelburne Falls, we crossed over the Northern Berkshires and the Taconic Trail, back into New York and home. The weather was a lot better than on the way out, making the drive much more pleasant and leading to more frequent stops for photos.