Looking Back: Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Nanna's house. Days 25-27

Day 25

The camp was so dark because of the small handful of other groups there two were bicycle touring and one was motorcycle touring! We enjoyed talking with these folks about their adventures, especially one married couple from Canada who was touring with their seven year old son, how fun!

After we leaving the campground we were surprised to pass by a home of the Vanderbilt family whose grounds are open to the public.

The Biltmore's small cousin.

With a lovely garden maintained by volunteers.

Later that day we road into Connecticut.

As we were nearing the end of the day we went by a dairy that we noticed provided milk to Cabot (a cheese maker that sources milk from many medium to small farms in New England and makes excellent cheese). This was exciting to see and we were even more excited to see that the dairy had a market store attached. With thoughts of fresh produce and cheese we approached the store only to find out it was closing. However, seeing our bikes and hungry faces the owner not only invited us in but gave us a tour of her produce and products and fed us the best tomatoes I've ever had. We loaded up on produce and treats for dinner-- kale, corn, tomatoes, Cabot cheese, and onion which we cooked with our red lentils that night. We also got pastries galore and maple syrup made nearby in Connecticut. 

Jon in the store.

Day 26

We knew this would be a long hilly day and long and hilly it was. We climbed and rolled from Connecticut into Rhode Island (where we stayed for about 10 miles) then into Massachusetts. There were no road signs to welcome us into these states, and we didn't take many photos that day. Jonathan did take a lovely photo of a dam we road over though:

Day 27

This was the day we eventually arrived at my Nanna's house in Melrose, Massachusetts. This is a place I've flown to many times to visit so it was particularly fun to arrive by bike.

The day started off strong with pastries at a coffee shop in Whitinsville. Later in the morning we came across a farmers market in Westborough. We pass by a lot of signs for community events so it was great to be able to participate in one (by buying more pastries and a tomatoe for lunch). West borough seemed like a cool town and had a neat way to improve drivers' awareness of pedestrians in crosswalks; I tried it out:

You pull the flag out of a bucket on one side of the crossing and deposit it in the bucket on the other side.

We ate lunch-- bagels with tomatoe and that Cabot cheese with scones-- on a wall overlooking a beautiful valley and hills. 

After lunch we were approaching Boston and the Minitenan Commuter bikeway. Due to some trail construction and closures we had some trouble finding the trail but eventually made it with the help of several locals' directions. 

We deviated from the Adventure Cycling route to go to Melrose and Nanna's house where we met Mom (who had brought me supplementary warm clothes for Maine), Dad, and Nanna. It was great to be with family again and especially great to see Nanna. We ate Billy's Roast Beef for dinner which is classic Boston fare. We stashed our bikes in her basement and got ready to head to...not Maine...Los Angeles.