✈️✈️✈️1994 ~ Feb 19-22, Trip Berwick, Maine, to visit a friend

I am looking forward to seeing my friend, Velma, and the snow-covered grounds of Berwick, Maine (This is the first time I ever flew by myself)

Waiting for my flight to Portland MA 

Day 1: Wednesday, February 19, 1994

So, to prepare for my trip, I packed cuddle duds, sweaters, coats, gloves, jeans, & boots.

Maine is located as far northeast in North America as you can travel to the United States.

The average temperature for this time of the year is F. 35  And the average snowfall is 12.

On February 19, I flew on Delta Airlines from Huntsville, Al., to Atlanta, Georgia, and from Atlanta, Ga., to Berwick, Maine.

Velma was waiting at the airport when I embarked on the plane and she greeted me with a hug. 

We collected my luggage and we rode to her apartment.

I unpack, we eat lunch and then we head out to see the sites.

We stop in Somersworth, New Hampshire, for what I do not remember, which borders Berwick, Maine on the Southwest side. 

The major routes that pass through Berwick are 6, 9, and 236. Berwick is 1/2 hour from the ocean and one hour from the mountains.

Velma said they have just built our first Walmart store here in Berwick.

We stop at the Insurance Company where Velma works and she introduces me to her co-workers.

Our next stop was a large building that houses a crowded, quaint tavern, on the second floor, there was no elevator and we had to walk up several steps.

Velma took me to visit her friends at the police department, which was located at 11 Sullivan Street Berwick, ME. 03901. 

That night we went to a Country and Western club where we danced to the Boot-Scootin' Boogie.

Riding in Berwick Maine

Town Hall of Berwick Maine

Portland Airport

Portland Airport

Traveling to Boston, MA

Day 2: Thursday, February 20, 1994

Today we are going to visit Velma’s daughter, she lives in the Bay area outside Boston, which is about an hour's drive.

Velma’s daughter greets us at the door and she proudly shows us her newly remodeled old home.

Her home has two bedrooms upstairs, and the living area is downstairs. 

It has a view of the bay and has several large oak trees growing in her backyard.

We are served lunch and after lunch, we ride into Boston.

The traffic is terrible in Boston, and it is easier to park and ride the T.

So we park head for the ticket counter and board the T.

 The T is the first subway ever built in the US it has some awesome graphics on the walls. 

“FIVE CENTS FAIR LASTED TWENTY-FIVE YEARS”

“PARK STREET – THE FIRST SUBWAY BUILT IN AMERICA”. 

1897 is the year on the subway wall. 

Boston has the oldest subway and bus system in America, the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority). 

A ride on the MBTA or to the locals “The T,” is an adventure visitors to Boston should try. 

We get off the T and walk around, stopping at one of the indoor malls (where we all grab a cup of hot chocolate) and then walk to Cheers Pub to eat dinner.

“Bull Finch PUB” Cheers is located next to Hampshire Hotel on 84 Beacon St. Boston, MA. 0210-3421 and the telephone number is 617-227-9605. 

We order cocktails while waiting for our food to be served.

For an extra four dollars, you can get a souvenir glass that has “CHEERS” BOSTON written on the glass.

Velma and I each paid the extra four dollars for the souvenir glass.

There is a picture of Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, and Rhea Perlman hanging on the walls of Cheer.

Velma and I get our picture taken standing in front of this picture.

Tourist still flocks to Cheers the Beacon Street Bar, which was the inspiration for the Cheers television series, this series ran for eleven years. 

In 1989, when I was at MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, I had the opportunity to play a part in the making of a skit of Cheers.

At that time, they would choose volunteers from the audience to be in the show.

By the time we left Cheers, it was dark. We walked up Beacon Hill toward the Capitol Building stopping to take some pictures. 

From the Capitol Building, we could see the frozen pond in the park below.

People were ice-skating on the frozen pond.

As we walked back to the T, we could feel the cold wind as it whipped around the tall building. We rode back to Velma’s daughter's house where we spent the night.

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Velma and I at Cheers 

Velma and I at Cheers 

Velma and I posing next to the Cheers Gang

Velma and I have a drink before dinner at Cheers

We are having a drink before dinner at Cheers

Capitol Building Boston MA

Capitol Building Boston MA

Day 3: Friday, February 21, 1994

It has always been a dream of mine to take a sleigh ride in the New England area.

For some crazy reason, I have always associated the Christmas Holidays with snow, and a sleigh ride in the New England States. 

Maybe it was the Saturday Evening Post print of a snowball fight by J. F.  Kernan. Or maybe the Deadman’s Hill sleigh ride by Norman Rockwell. Or maybe it was a Victorian Christmas by Thomas Kinkade, where you can feel the warm yellow glow from the windows of each and every home as you watch Santa ride down the street in his sleigh.

It was my last night in Berwick and we still had not taken that sleigh ride. So, we drove to Maple Brook Farm where they have sleigh rides but were closing up for the day.  

I said please take us on a sleigh ride, for tonight is my last night in Maine, so the owner hooked up his draft horses and his wooden sleigh.

Maple Brook Farm is also known for its potbelly pigs, and while the owner was hitching his draft horses for the sleigh ride, he let us hold the squealing, squirmy pig.

It was a night I will never forget. 

It was a full moon that shone down on the forbidden snow as we rode through the woods on a snowy night. 

The only signs of life in the snow were the wagon wheels, and hoof prints of the large workhorses as they slowly pulled the wagon (sleigh) through the snow. 

What a wonderful way to end my visit with my friend and to have a childhood dream come true. 

My wonderful trip to Berwick to visit my friend has now come to a bittersweet end and I have to return to work.

Maplebrook Farm 

Maplebrook Farm holding Potbelly Pig 

Maplebrook Farm holding Potbelly Pig 

Posing in front of Horses and Sleigh 

Taking a Sleigh Ride

Maple Brook Farm 

Day 4: Saturday, February 22, 1994

Velma drove me to the airport in Portland, Maine where we said goodbye.

My flight is headed to LaGuardia Airport in New York.  

 “The LaGuardia airport is located on the waterfront in the Borough of Queens, New York City.  LaGuardia handles mostly domestic flights and is only 9 miles from Midtown Manhattan. It is named after Fiorello LaGuardia, the former mayor of New York. It is the smallest of New York’s three major commercial airports.”  

At the airport in LaGuardia, I bought my daughter a T-shirt that said, New York.

One of her dreams is to visit New York City.  

I made a quick telephone call home to tell my husband that I had landed in LaGuardia and I was waiting for my flight to Atlanta.

While I was on the telephone, there was an announcement, that said, because of the weather everyone flying to Atlanta had to board another plane. 

I looked around and everyone was gone, they had boarded the plane. I almost missed my flight.

I quickly boarded the plane and I was seated between two men. 

The man sitting on the right of me was from New York and he had moved to Atlanta, Georgia. 

The man on the left of me was from France and he was now living in the United States.  

The man from France and I struck up a conversation and we talked the entire flight to Atlanta, Georgia. 

During the flight, we were served dinner and the man from France and I kept talking.  

The man from Atlanta, Georgia said, “ I have never heard two people talk as much as the two of you.” The man from France was going to Atlanta and needed to know more information about Atlanta, so he struck up a conversation with the man from Atlanta. 

The plane landed in Atlanta I said goodbye to both men. 

They said goodbye to me and they started walking and talking to each other. 

I walked to the waiting area for my flight to Huntsville, Alabama.  

That flight took a little over one hour. 

My husband was waiting to pick me up at the airport.  

My trip had been quite an adventure where, I got to visit my old friend, to take a moonlight sleigh ride; to eat at Cheers in Boston, and to make a new friend on the flight home.

February 19-22 1994 Berwick, Maine

Delta Airlines 

Leave Huntsville International Airport (HSV)

Arrive at Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Leave Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Arrive, Berwick, Maine Airport 

Leave Berwick Maine Airport

Arrive at LaGuardia International Airport 

Leave LaGuardia International Airport

Arrive. Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Leave Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Arrive Huntsville International Airport (HSV) 

Freedom Trail 👣👣👣👣 👣👣👣👣 👣👣👣👣 👣👣👣👣 👣👣👣👣

Today we are going to Boston, Massachusetts to walk the freedom trail, on the way we stop at Dunkin Donuts at 7:30 AM so my daughter could purchase a tea and a pumpkin spice bagel that she had cut in half.

I ate a banana and a slice of angel food cake for breakfast.

It took my daughter about two hours to drive to Boston, MA.

We parked at 50 New Sudbury Street Boston MA 02114 (617)-227-0385 at 10:10 AM.

We had a good view of downtown Boston from the parking garage.

I took several pictures before we left the parking garage.

We were not sure where we were going so we made several wrong turns. 

My daughter had to use the restroom and we were not sure where to go. 

We asked several different people where the restrooms were and finally, someone said to go to City Hall.

Faneuil Hall Visitor Center and Retail Shop is where we purchased tickets for the Tours of the Freedom Trail. (Here is where the trail began once cattle grazed here).

The tours of Freedom Trail is where a ranger takes a group of up to 30 people on a 60-minute walking tour where they tell you about people, places, and events that happened in Boston that helped shape the American Revolution.

We walked past the Old State House built in 1713, implanted in the concrete is a marker of the Boston Massacre, we were told the Water Street story, we walked past the Old Corner Book Store, Old South Meeting House, and our last stop was Park Street Church where the hymn “American” was first sung. 

This is where the tour ended.

My daughter and I began our tour walking along the red brick-walking trail.

Right across the street was Boston Irish Memorials and from there, we followed the red bricks to Old City Hall. 

At the site of the first public school, we saw a statue of Benjamin Franklin, the democrat donkey, and the Republican Elephant standing in opposition footprints, a statue of Josiah Quincy 1772-1864 (who served in the senate, congress, judge, mayor, president Harvard University).

We followed the red brick to Kings Chapel Church and the cemetery where John Winthrop, the colony’s first governor is buried. 

This cemetery inspired the book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

We visit the Granary Burying Ground was Paul Revere and his family are buried. 

Mother Goose, John Hancock, James Otis, Samuel Adams, Robert Paine, and the victims of the Boston Massacre are also buried here.

We walked past the Capitol building through the park to 84 Beacon Street to Cheer’s Club “Where Everyone Knows Your Name.”

We split Rebecca’s Fish and Chips, which was a plate of Crispy, and flakey Cod lightly battered and deep-fried served with fries and slaw.

Dipping tartar sauce for the fish and Ice tea with lemon to drink total cost  $16.45 plus tip.

After we finished lunch, we walked upstairs and took pictures of side famous actors, actors from the Cheers TV show.

We took a few pictures outside the restaurant and then we walked back to the park.

We stopped at the Visitor Center on Tremont St to use the restroom and look around.

At the visitor center, I took my daughter's picture with one of the volunteers.

We also stop to take a picture of a living statue.

We walked past Central Burial ground and at the Government Center where there was a Lebanon Day Festival going on.

They were dancing, playing music, had exhibits, folkloric, and they were just having a good time.

We walked back to Faneuil Hall where we first began to use the restrooms.

We walked upstairs to Faneuil Hall a 1742 public debate in Boston and Meeting Hall. 

We saw John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster's statues in this hall alongside pictures of George Washington and James Faneuil.

We walked back downstairs and over to Market Square where we split a chocolate fudge candy. 

We exited out the side door, were turned around, and we were going in the wrong direction. 

We were headed to visit the Paul Revere Home.

We met a US Coast Guard who was on his way to catch the bus home and he asked if we were lost and if he could help.

My daughter said we were going to Paul Revere's home and we needed directions.

He walked with us to get us going in the right direction, said goodbye, and then went to catch his ride home.

We walked along Cross St to Hanover St passing Ristorante Villa Francesca 150 Richmond St Boston, MA (617) 367-2948 and Limoncello’s Lebanese Ristorante 190 N Street Boston, MA (617)-523-4480.

We arrived at Paul Revere's house at 19 N Street Boston; Ma's cost to enter was $3.00 each.

On the night of April 18, 1775, a silversmith, Paul Revere left his small wooden home in Boston’s north end and set out on a journey that would make him into a legend.

We walked through a park where stood a statue of Paul Revere riding a horse. 

Inside the park were plaques on both walls.

We stopped at the printing office of Edes and Gills where he was showing the process of printing a legal document.

On to the Old North Church “the midnight of Paul Revere” on April 18, 1775, where Robert Newman hung two lanterns in the steeple to warn Charlestown of the advance of the British.

Next, we stopped at Copp’s Burying Ground where British soldiers placed cannons to bombard Breed’s Hill.

We are headed to Charlestown but first, we must cross the Charles River Bridge. 

We strolled through Charlestown City Square Park where we saw a fountain, marker (Charlestown established 1828), fish, (markers) Great house and three cranes Tavern City Square continuity Change, and four large markers listing the American Soldiers killed on June 17, 1775.

We walked past the Vietnam Memorial, firehouse ladder number 24, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, and the Deacon Larking House.

We are on our way to Bunker Hill where the famous quote: “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”

There were 294 steps to the top of the monument; by the time we arrived, the monument was closed.

Thank God! 

By this time, we had walked from Beacon Street in Boston, to across the bridge to Charlestown.

Our last stop was the USS Constitution at Charlestown Naval Yard

To go inside the gate and board the ship required a photo ID.

I took pictures of markers, “A State of Perfect Chaos”, Charlestown Navy Yard, Dry Dock #1 How it Works, Dry Dock 1, Serving the Fleet, “Old Ironsides “in Dry Dock 1”, The Changing Yard, Boston, the Navy Yard, and the War of 1812, the Yard as Home, Working in the Yard, Life, and Work in the Navy Yard in 1812, of anchors, dry dock ships, Old Ironsides and many more.

It was now getting late and my daughter and I were both very tired from all the walking. 

We tried to board the trolley but they were done for the day, no more trips.

We met a couple and started talking to them, they said they were going to take the ferry back across the Charles River to Boston, so we followed them. 

We also met a man from Chicago and we told him about the ferry, so all of us rode the ferry back to Boston.

Ferry ride cost three dollars each.

The man from Chicago took my and my daughter's picture while we were riding the boat back to Boston.

I also took some great shots of Boston as the sun was setting.

As we arrived in Boston Harbor, we saw a Godzilla Boat and Legal Sea Foods.

We started our walk back to the visitor center stopping at Dunkin Donuts to use the restroom. 

We were going to get a sandwich but they had stopped making them for the day.

We saw a small red brick building (Crosio) nestled among giants (skyscrapers).

We pass the Old State House and we are on our way to the parking deck.

You pay before you go back to your car costs thirty-five dollars; we got our ticket and headed to the car.

We took the elevator this time and not the six flights of stairs.

It had been a long day and still, my daughter had to drive us back home.