Rochester, NY to Westminster, MA - Day 12

Suffice to say we have not mastered the "selfie"
Adam says to tell you he thinks it's perfect.

So after our lovely day off, we decided that a more mellow pace was required. And that we really wanted to go to Boston. There were only a few things wrong with that... mostly that we're now at another weekend, and on the weekends, hotel rooms in Boston average around $250/night. (Which is not terribly realistic on our budget to begin with, much less in a city we hadn't actually intended to visit in the first place!) The plan had been to go from NY to Vermont, and then New Hampshire (both teeny tiny little states, easily crossed in a day) and then into Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and then our flight to Newfoundland, before heading back.

But Boston just sounded like a lot more fun. So we geared up for another longish day of driving (about 6 hours) and we'd figure out what to do about hotels when we got closer in.

By the way, the turnpike toll highway system in the east is getting to be a progressively bigger pain in the keister. I get that each state has its own system, but the way it's handled (ie: go off the highway, wait in line to get a ticket, do a crazy multi-lane merge to get back on the turnpike, and then at least once (if not more) in the middle of the state, you have to go off the highway, wait in line to pay the toll (which has to be in cash), drive a little more, go off the highway, wait in line to get a new ticket, do another crazy multi-lane merge... and repeat. And if you're going through several states, you do this many, MANY times) is really antiquated and irritating. Guess we should have got an EZ pass. But I wasn't sure how to do it, and we didn't know that one EZ pass would have worked for all these different states' turnpikes. Apparently it would've. Well, live and learn!

Where was I? Oh yes... so we got off the highway near Worchester, MA and drove up to a hotel. Too much. I went online and found a much more inexpensive hotel in Westminster, which, it turns out, is more of a skiing destination, so not terribly busy in the summer. But people are stupid! This was a gorgeous drive north of Worchester, through some lovely woods, past dozens of colonial houses and old farms... so picturesque you just had to sigh. Any time someone tried to come up behind me going 10 mph over the speed limit on these beautiful winding roads, I just found the next place to pull over and let them by... this was a drive you want to do slowly, and enjoy it! (No, I'm not feeling ill... highways are for going fast. Quaint country roads are for experiencing!)

We checked into our hotel and went out in search of dinner. There was a brochure in our room for the 1761 Old Mill Restaurant and Cracker Barrel Pub. (I can't take credit for these pics - the trees are way too lush this time of year to get a good view, so I downloaded some.)

Yes, this out-of-focus one is mine...

"This building was a working sawmill from 1761 for 5 generations. It was closed and fell into disrepair in the late 1800s. From 1921 until 1942 (when war restrictions forced it to close) it was run in the summer as a tearoom.

I didn't take this one either,
 but it looks like it was taken from our table!

After serving in WWII, Ralph Foster and his wife Ruth bought the Old Mill and turned it into a restaurant, and it is now being run by the third generation of the family, over 65 years later." (quoted from the brochure)

Tonight in the main restaurant, there was a "murder mystery" - and for those of you that know me well, you will know that after so many years of interactive theatre, I generally try to avoid it. And there was a lineup. So we went downstairs to the pub. It was one of the best meals I've ever had.

First of all, they bring you corn fritters, and dinner rolls, and pecan stickybuns. Life's uncertain, right? Eat dessert first. All of these things were so delicious that I hardly had room for my baked haddock casserole (imagine a huge filet of delicious haddock topped with crabmeat and shrimp and butter and breadcrumbs and baked) and side of mashed butternut squash. So. Freaking. Awesome. Adam had a Chicken Parmigiana sandwich (a whole order of Chicken Parm on a bun with fries). And 3 22oz beers. And since this was a really fancy restaurant, the cheque came to about $48.

Completely stuffed, we went back to the hotel to relax and digest and catch up on our "nerding out."

Satisfied sigh......