Yep… I’m that far behind on blogging!  *embarrassed*  I also will retro blog the images I shot for Gwyneth Colleen in the adorable Portsmouth, NH once she’s blogged hers 🙂

On Halloween I checked out of Cabot Cove in Kennebunkport and putzed around the area a bit.  I drove down the street and did the prerequisite pictures of the Bush Compound.  Of course, I somehow misplaced these files 🙁 (but I still have them on my iPhone! LOL).  I walked around some of the streets in “downtown” Kennebunkport and drooled over the gorgeous homes in the area (thankfully I have those files!) and then scooted over to the Maine Diner for brunch which I’d heard tons of raves about (it was OK).  I then hit the world famous Lighthouse Depot (the worlds largest lighthouse gift shop… and I bought 2 books LOL) before taking off for Boston with a pit stop at the liquor store along the way.  Instead of rest areas they have liquor store pull offs in NH.  I am NOT kidding.  Hilarious and somehow wrong – but the bonus is the liquor is ridiculously cheap!  Of course along the entire drive I kept my eyes peeled for the promised moose along the roadways that the signs kept saying to watch out for… never did see any!

I ended up in Boston in the mid-afternoon and checked into my hotel for the next couple nights, the XV Beacon.  It was a lovely hotel and I look forward to returning someday!  After I got settled I called my friend and we set out for our first stop of the day… to see Alison Arngrim‘s stand up show!  If you don’t recall who Alison is, she played Nellie in Little House on the Prairie and wrote my favorite book of 2010 called Confessions of a Prairie Bitch.  Growing up, I had caught a few shows of Little House here and there but I was a bit young for them.  Every time Carrie fell down the hill my Dad would point to her and say that she reminded him of me.  I did look like her a bit as well but the clumsiness was already well seated in my 4 year old self.  I also remember thinking that Willie was pretty cute.  I was never a normal child!  Anyways, many moons later there was a sale at Barnes & Noble for the entire boxed set (in the shape of a wagon no less) of the DVDs for rather cheap.  I hopped on it!  Over the next 6 months I watched the entire slew of DVDs.  I was hearing “Old Dan Tucker” in my head more times than I can count.  I also loved Nellie in her brazen bitchy ways.  It’s something you can appreciate as an adult but as a kid I wasn’t a big fan of hers.  Her book came out shortly after I’d finished watching the DVDs so it was perfect timing to read it.  She’s hilarious and I was so looking forward to the show. The show did not disappoint at all and it was great fun.  She’s hilarious and very nice which is a perfect combo of awesome!  🙂  What’s even better is that her husband is from Akron – who knew?  I met her afterwards and she was perfectly lovely and kind.  I highly recommend attending if you can!

After the show we did the best thing EVER to do on Halloween… go on the Ghosts & Gravestones tour of Boston.  It was so wonderful but not really as scary as I thought it would be.  The best thing is that our tour leader was a bride that killed her husbands.  Ironic, eh?  The tour was about 2 hours and you tool a bus through parts of Boston and got off and wandered 2 cemeteries… at night.  It was nearing 11PM by the time we were done and the scariest thing is that you are in some of the oldest cemeteries in the country, on Halloween, at midnight.  Kind of awesome and frightening at the same time!   I highly recommend the tour any time – and it really wasn’t too terribly scary so that kids would be terrified.  I would say anyone over about 10 or so (younger if they are more mature about ghosts) would be completely fine.  They tell the stories of different people in the cemetery and tell tales of what happened in certain areas of Boston.  It was very fun and I loved it!

*photog nerdy note*  All of these images were taken without flash, including the ones at night in the graveyards.  I used available light and cranked the ISO to 6400 with my 85 1.4 during the ghost tour.  I have to say I’m pretty pleased with my Nikon D700’s performance!

One of the many beautiful hones in Kennebunkport.  I believe this home is a historic home that is open for visitors but I am not certain!

 

Alison at the beginning of the show, I adore her bracelet.

 

Her facial expressions are fantastic!!

 

Here she was pointing me out as a Bonnet Head.  The funny thing is that I’m not really since I didn’t watch much of it growing up nor did I read all of the books until a couple years ago.  I like it but I’ve yet to I think tumble into the Bonnet Head sect.  😉  Then again, I had a crush on WILLIE so who knows.  That may be what gets me into the club.

 

I believe she is fake singing here?

 

 

At the end of the show she comes out in her Nellie costume from the infamous scene where Laura shoves Nellie down a hill.  Hilarious!!!

 

She was fantastic!!!

 

And she’s not remotely a bitch when you meet her either!

 

The first stop on the tour was Copps Hill Burying Ground.  The triple headstones for the first keeper of Boston Light, George, his wife Ann and daughter Ruth Worthylake whom drowned when their canoe capsized on their way back to the lighthouse after going to Boston for supplies.  Their other daughter Ann watched them drown from shore.  Benjamin Franklin, 12 years old at the time, wrote a poem about the tragedy and sold it on the streets for money.  George was the first ever appointed lighthouse keeper in the United States and was also the first to die during duty.

 

 

Another image of the triple gravestone.

 

Our next stop was Boston Common and the area they took us to is where they used to hang people.  Perfect stop on Halloween!

 

They did a demonstration (well without the neck breaking or actual hanging!) of the gallows that were located here with a couple volunteers from the group.

 

Pretending to have her neck break – the other guy just didn’t get it!

 

Laughing after she said she likes being choked.  O.o

 

Every time I go to Granary Burying Ground I take a picture of John Hancock’s tomb.

I’ll leave the rest to your amusements.  It’s just too funny not to take a picture of it.

 

This is another have-to shot in the graveyard.  I loved the lanterns and thought that this would be a great image since he’s known for his midnight ride etc.

 

This was our tour guide within the graveyard, a mad toy creator.  He was fantastic as well.  He told the story about a book inside the Boston Athenæum that is covered in human skin.  Lovely.