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 375^th 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 Day:  Radiohead - Weird Fishes

Photo of the Day: Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Hingham, Ma.