New England

As my son lives with his family in Lexington, near Boston, I make the trip to New England several times a year. Not as many times as I wish.

I enjoy making the trip by railroad. It takes about eight hours - but it's nice. Baltimore, then Chesapeake Bay, the skyline of Philly, New Jersey, then the skyline of Manhattan, the Kosciusko Bridge seen from distance, New Rochelle, and then New England. The first rail station there is Stamford, in Connecticut. Then the rail comes close to Atlantic: Bridgeport. The Atlantic gets distant: New Haven. The Atlantic gets very close again: Old Saybrook, New London, Mystic. Rhode Island follows: Kingston, Providence. Then Massachusetts comes into picture: Route 123, Back Bay, Boston South Station.

I made twice the trip further: New Hampshire, Maine. I took a bus from Boston, it passed through New Hampshire without stopping, the first station was at Portland, then several small stops, then Alma, the target of my journey.

Connecticut, Constitution State, Rhode Island, Ocean State. Massachusetts, Spirit of America. New Hamshire, Live Free or Die (wow!). Maine, Vacationland. And Vermont, Greenmountain State. I found some place a great phrase, whoever has traveled in the New England States will remember...the air of order and stillness, of perpetuity and unchanging repose, that seemed to breathe over the whole place.

• A Hymn to New England
• Atlantic
• Bridgeport
• Old Saybrook - Old Tales from Turgenev and Sadoveanu
• Red Rain
• Boston
• Cambridge
• Lexington
• Maine
• Rhode Island
• Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro
• My First Starbucks Experience
• Emily Dickinson
• Hipsters in Somerville
• The Clark in Williamstown
• John Sloan, Dunes at Annisquam
• New England Clam Chowder
• Gary Oro
• William Morris Hunter
• Nathaniel Hawthorne