Showing posts with label scituate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scituate. Show all posts

Thursday, December 16, 2010

28 - 12/16/2010 - In My Footsteps Trip


Initial Impressions
Christopher Setterlund


28 – 12/16/2010 – In My Footsteps Trip


1.  Today was the final In My Footsteps trip of the calendar year.  The next one will be on the 1-year anniversary of my first trip, 1/7/2011.
2.  This was the coldest trip I have taken since the beginning during the last winter, it was 25 degrees to start and windy, busted out the heavy winter coat today.
3.  First visited Rockland, it was the second Rockland I have traveled to.  Only Newport is a town that I have seen in 2 different states.
4.  On the blue crosswalks in Rockland there was some sort of symbol painted in white, it was hard to get a good photo of something in the middle of a busy street, but luckily I found one that I shot.  Still trying to figure out what the hell it is.
5.  I visited Rockland thinking that the original Rockland Trust Bank would be located there.  Seems logical right?  So I start chatting up this nice old guy raising the flag outside and he tells me that the original one was in Scituate.  So then why was it not named Scituate Trust?  I rapidly lost interest as he gave me directions to it, I had one of those thought clouds with a monkey playing the drums going on while he spoke.
6.  The best part of Rockland was this row of 5 wooden soldiers in front of the Town Hall sign.  They were so awesome, every brand of the military was represented too.  I wish I could have taken one home.
Awesome yellow and red house.
7.  There was a nice row of old homes at the end of Union Street in Rockland, but none topped the crazy yellow one with red shutters and little awnings over each window.  The photo will show you what I mean, it was so cool. 
8.  In order to see these homes I parked at a Mobil station.  There was some guy sitting in his parked running car next to mine and he just stared at me.  I wanted to say ‘Dude, I am going to walk around, you’re just sitting here like a creepy stalker so quit staring!’
9.  I always love finding places that aren’t on my list to see.  The only problem is cutting the wheel to whip my car into a parking spot, or turning around with no regard for human life, yeah I might need to change that.
Norwell was a pleasant surprise, best spot of the day.  I stopped at the Town Offices and found myself interested enough to shoot a pair of drop boxes.  I then thought to myself ‘are these really that important to the day?’  The answer was of course yes.
10.  The White Oak Farm Barn was an unexpected spot to see.  I parked across the street and took a few photos, then the owner came to the door with his dog.  Lucky for me he thought it was cool that I was photographing his historic home, or else I’d have been a chew toy.
11.  Garfield Park was a nice little spot, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with the famous orange cat.  I mean even a little chalk sketch on the sidewalk would have sufficed for me.
12.  Best spot of the day was Norris Reservation, a conservation area.  There was a frozen pond which emptied into a creek.  There was some amazing ice build ups around rocks and branches.  I ventured down and walked onto the rocks into the creek, one slip and it was an unpleasant ending.  So I am hunched down taking photos when I notice a guy and his dog staring, yeah looked like I was peeing so what about it?
13.  Wanted a few photos of the North River going through Norwell.  I drove over a bridge and parked in a pretty dangerous area and walked back onto the bridge.  It was here that I saw the nice dirt parking lot on the other side of the river, guess I should have turned my head slightly when driving.
14.  Definitely the oddest location I hit up was the Stetson Meadows.  I thought it was going to be a historic home, which it was, but I did not realize it would be down like a thousand miles of pot hole filled dirt road which ran along Rt. 3. 
15.  The area was nice though, I scared a chipmunk while shooting a marsh.  It was funny because while shooting I could hear the leaves rustling as the chipmunk tried to very slowly escape behind me. 
Hanover was not too exciting, some good stuff but all in like a one block radius.
16.  The best part of Hanover was getting to eat at Moe’s Southwest Grill in the Hanover Mall.  Oh man that was worth the trip all on its own!
17.  What kind of idiot drives around with his gas tank cover open?  Me, boo, real smart.
18.  I was done so quickly with my three towns I visited that I had time to go shoot a video at Old Scituate Light.  That makes 4 times I have been there, never get tired of it.  Also, if you’ve seen the photos doesn’t the lighthouse look like it’s wearing a dress with the way the bottom flows out?  Yes, this was something I really asked, it is on the video.


Quote of the Day:  “I like when I drive places and know where things are.” –Me, I immediately laughed at how stupid that sounded too when I said it.
Photo of the Day
The soldiers in front of Rockland Town Hall

Thursday, July 8, 2010

15 - July 8, 2010


Initial Impressions
Christopher Setterlund

July 8, 2010 – In My Footsteps Trip

1.      Visited Scituate, Cohasset, Hull, and Hingham today, $15 in gas got me home on fumes, total of about 175 miles.
2.      Finally got sunburned today, knew it was coming eventually, it took me this long to remember bug spray, now sunscreen is on my list of things to get.  Face, neck, arms, lobster red, yes.
3.      Seems like I see deer on almost every trip now.  Saw one at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham trying to cross the road, it hid in the woods but I distracted it long enough to get a few shots.
4.      Got to see a place in Scituate called The Old Oaken Bucket, the only reference I had for this place was the fact that it was a joke in a Three Stooges short, but hey that’s more knowledge than most I guess.
5.      Once again my GPS tries to kill me.  It tried to get me to cut across Rt. 3A in Weymouth, not to mention go over a center median.  I wanted McDonalds but not enough to kill myself, damn British Nanny!
6.      I love it when a guy is speeding and weaving in and out of traffic and then ends up getting behind me where I slow down to piss him off.  I could see the veins pulsing in his neck, ha ha, ass.
7.      Had a great visit with the head of the Historical Society in Scituate.  He happened to be locking up Lawson Tower when I arrived.  I used my clout as a writer to get him to let me inside, that’s a first.  It is a really cool place, you have to see it.
8.      I did feel kind of bad when he was showing me around inside and started falling all over these scattered boards, I told him we could go back outside before he got killed.
9.      Is it sad that when I was at the Historical Society building and saw a patch of sunflowers that all I thought of was the racist sunflower on Family Guy?
10.  It’s amazing how many dark blue Jetta’s I see on the road, like 7 today.  Didn’t think that many were made, I mean who even drives one?  Oh yeah, sorry, ha ha.
11.  So, I got these bug repellant wipes, they worked good except for the fact that it was 95 degrees and when I started sweating I got sweat mixed with bug repellant in my eyes.  Of course this got worse when I foolishly wiped my eyes with my bare arms which also contained the repellant.  Sucked to be me then.
12.  In a real bit of random humor some guy left a box of Nutty Bars on the hood of his truck at the Cohasset Sailing Club.  Hadn’t seen those in years, and also how smart is it to leave chocolate out in crazy heat.  Bet those tasted good.
13.  Saw so many amazing spots to photograph while driving that I was literally jerking the wheel off to the side not caring about human life.  Yeah I hear you beeping but my photos are worth more to me than you sucker.
14.  Did you know that the ancestors of Abraham Lincoln have roots in Hingham?  Neither did I until I happened upon a statue of him in a little green area, across the street is a house built by a Samuel Lincoln who settled Hingham, still trying to find out how he is related to the President.
15.  So you will not believe this, while walking around the Cohasset Green this church next door starts playing music, no not religious music but Ernie’s ‘Rubber Ducky’ and ‘Sing A Song.’  Yes, the church was playing Sesame Street songs with its bells.  Un-freaking-real.
16.  Actually saw a cop helping a pair of landscapers in Scituate change a tire today, didn’t know cops actually did stuff like that, maybe they get a bad rap from the fat lazy ones directing traffic.
17.  The cool tower at Fort Revere in Hull was of course not open again, but instead I got to chase a lone turkey around the grass.  It was like Homer Simpson chasing squirrels with his high pitched giggle.
18.  At Wheelwright Park in Cohasset there was a rock called ‘Devil’s Chair,’ it looked like a seat, being a bit superstitious I chose not to put my butt down there.
19.  I got to refill my water bottle with fresh spring water from a place called Mount Blue Spring in Wompatuck State Park in Hingham.  Then I proceeded to take a photo of myself enjoying it, in case my words didn’t do the trick.
20.  Speaking of the spring, some guy there had at least a dozen gallon jugs he was filling.  Is water that expensive guy?
21.  To celebrate their 375th anniversary Hingham painted a parade route with red, white, and blue lines on the street.  I got a good shot of it as cars kept trying to force me to cross the street, waving me on over and over, if they’d have left me alone I’d have gotten the shot sooner.
22.  The ride home was so easy, too easy, had to make up for it by having 3 registers go down at Stop & Shop in Hyannis, seriously, all I had was burn spray for my lobster skin, you’d think they’d have 1 person who knew how to fix those things.
23.  I really can’t wait until the day when travel writing is a full-time gig, it’s all I ever want to do, being inside working now is torture.
Quote of the Day: “A real man elevates himself to see above the trees rather than cutting them down to his size.” – Christopher J. Setterlund
Song of the DayRadiohead - Weird Fishes
Photo of the Day: Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Hingham, Ma.