Newport

Rosecliff

Water Fire
We had a late night at Water Fire last night which meant a late Mass this morning at St. Joseph's near Kathleen's apartment. Mass was followed by a light breakfast at a restaurant.

This afternoon we drove over to Newport, the playground of the rich and famous of America's Gilded Age. We toured Rosecliff mansion. It was built as a summer house as were many mansions in a several mile area in Newport. This particular Mansion was used when they filmed The Great Gatsby.

Our time with Kathleen is running short as we plan to leave here on Tuesday. We hope to stop in Connecticut to visit Barbara and Bruce Hoag.

We Hope all is well with you.
Ken, Cathy, Kathleen and Erin

Beach Day

Ok, this is the beach we were at but try to picture it with 2,000 people!

We entered the beach as the whitest family there and we left the beach ............. at 3:30. We are heading back to Providence where tonight we will attend a huge festival called "water fire".

Hyannis

If it's true that a pictures say a thousand words, than this blog is worth a million. The above pictures are:

1. The Grave of Mother Goose

2. The grave of Paul Revere

3. A Memorial to JFK in Hyannis, MA

4. The grave of John Hancock

5. Gelato in Little Italy (Boston)

6. Kathleen & Erin at the statue of John Harvard in Harvard Square

7. The cutest Post Office in America (Hyannis)

After having a wonderful day in Boston, we had a delightful dinner with Judy, Jamie and Jeff Sheldon. We did not get back to Kathleen's apt. until around midnight. We had a lazy morning and did what all New Englanders seem to do on Fridays;:we headed to Cape Cod. After stalking a few Kennedys we toured Hyannis and Barnstable.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and that your Barns are stable too.

Ken, Cathy, Kathleen and Erin

We're in Boston

Busy day today. We took the train from Providence to Boston. We walked the Freedom trail, saw the graves of Mother Goose, John Hancock and had lunch at Quincy Market. We also had gelato in little Italy.
We took a tour of Harvard while Kathleen was in class. Here is a photo of the Widener Library @ Harvard. We took a peek inside and saw a genuine Gutenberg Bible!
Tonight we are meeting Judy and Jamie for dinner. The weather today is wonderful.

In Providence

The drive went well but 1200 miles is 1200 miles.

But good company made the time pass quickly.

We've invaded Kathleen's apartment but tried to make up for it by buying her things, like a fan and groceries. She is a wonderful host. We took a trolly tour of Providence yesterday and also a walking tour of Brown University. Both were fun. We plan on going to Boston today.

On our way out here we saw a HHHHUUUGE Motor home pulling a very small car. As we approached it from behind we saw this note on the rear window of the tiny car.

First Day on The Road

First day on the road:

0:30 amount of time it took for us to disobey Judy, the GPS.
04:32 amount of time it took for us to run our first red light
40:00 amount of time it took for us to stop for food

And so began another Blaney family road trip. Highlights thus far include going thru Chicago which Dad took as an opportunity to discuss the downfall of American politics, not knowing when we actually crossed into Indiana.

If this is the first time you are joining us for a Blaney family road trip, let me tell you something.
We are history fanatics. Not in a "how many states can you name" way, but a "name all the states, in alphabetical order way. Now do the capitals. Now the presidents. Now who was your favorite president and why"-kind of way.

In an earlier blog, dad asked our fellow Catholics to pray to your favorite intercessory saint. He should have specifically mentioned not to pray to St. Jude. At this point we are not yet a hopeless cause.

So we end our first night in Youngstown, Ohio. 600 miles down and 600 more to go.

Erin

It's Not Hot Enough Here!

Greetings,

After reading that Boston and New York have set record high triple diget temperatures, Cathy, Erin and I decided to jump into our beat up van and drive 1200 miles so we can get us some of that! The truth is we are traveling east to visit Kathleen in Providence, Rhode Island.

We know that when we get to the end of our block, we have to turn left. We're pretty sure that we have to go through Chicago and turn left again. If we hit the ocean we've gone too far. Other than that we have put ourselves at the mercy of our GPS.

During our trip we know that the sites to see will include Providence, Boston, Newport, perhaps NYC, perhaps Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and maybe a visit with cousins in Boston and Connecticut. Do any of you have any further suggestions?

Please send your suggestions to us and your prayers for safe travel to God. If you are Catholic you may send your prayers to your favorite intercessory saint.

We'll try to keep you posted about on progress.

Ken, Cathy and Erin