Claire & Calvin October

Happy End of October!
 This month has been one busy month. We have been gone almost every weekend with trips. I'll try to catch you up and maybe include photos if I can figure out how.
  We've wanted to go to Boston for a long time and finally did. We drove to Oneanta NY for the first night's stay and then just 4 hours to Boston from there. The colors of the trees in southern NY were magnificent, but once we got to Boston, hardly any trees had changed. Our hotel was right downtown and we quickly left our room to walk "The Freedom Trail". Everything in downtown Boston is historical, everything is in walking distance. The Trail began in Boston Commons and was led by a man who was dressed in period clothing of colonial Boston. He even had the accent of a Bostonian! The trail is marked by either a painted red line on the sidewalk, or implanted red bricks, so you don't have to take a guided tour, you could actually do it yourself. But we wanted everything the trail had to offer with information so that's what we did. We stopped at many historical spots, one was a cemetery that had Ben Franklin's family, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, all buried there. We saw the Old South Church, the Irish Famine Memorial, just to name a few places we stopped. It was wonderful and so interesting. The next day we took the "Duck Tour", a bus that converts to a boat. Yes, it drives around the city and then goes out onto the harbor for a spin. Very fun. We then had lunch at "Cheers", yes, from the tv show. It's just across the street from Boston Commons. It's exactly what the tv show is from the outside, but completely different on the inside. The bar from the show is actually upstairs so we went up there for pictures. From there, we drove to the Boston Temple to see it and then to Salem, about 30 miles north of Boston.
  We stayed at a beautiful B&B called "Morning Glory", an original house built in the 1700s. All the rooms are named after one of the women who were hung during the Salem Witch Trials. We stayed in Elizabeth Howe's room. The room was beautifully decorated, but the bed. We looked at the bed and couldn't believe our eyes. I had to get my measuring tape out of my purse.  It was a double! Not even a queen! You know how long it's been since we slept in a double? Newlyweds!!!! We do not fit double beds very easily, so the night was tough. But the days we spent in Salem were fantastic. The first night we went on a ghost tour of the town. The guide took us to haunted places and told of the history of Salem. IN 1692, there was a fevered problem with some of the townfolk who were accused as witches for such silly reasons. Up to 22 people were hung, one was 'pressed' to death. There is a beautiful memorial there to honor them. The next day we took another tour but this was really fun, it was a Segway tour of the town. Yes, we got on Segways! I was cautious at first, having never been on anything even remote like it, not even been on a bike in years but after a few minutes trying it out, it became second nature to us. The guides took us around the town, telling us more history and even showed us spots where the movie "Hocus Pocus" was filmed. The segways were a blast, even in the rain. I want one.
  From Salem we drove down to Newport, RI. There are mansions to tour there from the very wealthy of New York back in the 1890s. We toured 4 of the homes there, "The Breakers", "Marble House", "The Elms" and "Rose Cliff". The homes were amazing. So much money went into them. We did audio tours of each home and each home overlooked the ocean. Quite a spectacular view.
  From Newport, we drove to Rehoboth, MA to stay in another B&B. We went inside to our room and the owner mentioned that she wanted to watch the VP debate that night and assuming since she's from MA, she'd be a democrat. Another older couple stayed there too and they wanted to watch the debate too, so we all watched. No one said a thing as to which way they leaned, until about halfway through and they started commenting on what a buffoon Biden was! And rude and nasty and when it was all over it was very apparent they were conservative! yeah!! The next morning was a yummy breakfast and then we headed to upper state New York to Mt. Morris to stay in another B&B before we headed home.
  This B&B was a home built in the 1830s by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His house was huge. We stayed in the "Lexington Room". All the rooms had a theme of some sort and beautifully decorated and furnished. The breakfast was no big deal. Then we left to come home and finally got home around 9:30 that night. We were wiped out. I had to teach Gospel Doctrine the next day and then came home and crashed for 3 hours!
  The next weekend we drove to Nauvoo for a wedding. We went a day early to stay overnight in the Woodruff Inn. We've stayed there before, it's just kittycorner to the temple. The wedding was at noon on Sat. We didn't tour any of Old Town since we'd seen so much of it before. Then we left to come home.
  This last weekend we went to the temple with friends and stayed overnight in a crummy hotel, thanks to Priceline! usually we get really nice hotels, but this was a Super 8, which in itself isn't so bad, but this one was old. When we walked into the room, we about died. Another small bed!! What??? In a hotel? They called it a 'full' bed. We thought that would never happen again. But that wasn't the only bad thing that happened that night. People above us ran and jumped and shouted and profaned until 2:30 am, until Calvin couldn't stand it anymore so he went up to the next floor to see where the sound was coming from and sure enough it was the room just about ours. So he went down to the front desk to complain. It was surprising that no one else had complained. THe guy said he'd take care of it and did just that. We didn't hear anymore from them.
  This last weekend was Stake Conference too, so we weren't done travelling. Calvin had to go to Priesthood Leadership and then I came in with a friend for the adult session. We went to Red Robin for dinner with 2 other couples that we've started a tradition with. We've gone to RR for a few years now after Adult Conference and the men drink as many rootbeer floats as they can. The next day Calvin gave a talk and it was wonderful. We came home and then back out again for an open house/farewell for a boy who's going on a mission. He's one of my old seminary students. I loved that boy and so proud of his decision to go. So when we finally got to come home, we got right into our pjs and it was only 4:30 in the afternoon!
  We are home this weekend! But we're still not done travelling for the week. I leave tomorrow for Kelli's. We'll get to go out with Joseph for trick or treating. Calvin is working in Indy so that worked out well. And then November hits. Calvin is gone alot of the month and I have my bi-annual Dear Jane retreat to go to. Plus Thanksgiving, which we're putting off till Sam gets home.
 Speaking of Sam, he comes home the night of Nov 30. Holly is coming in on the train the day before, Kelli and family will come up, Colin is coming down. Not sure about Jacob. So we'll have our Thanksgiving dinner the day after he's home. We are SOOOO excited to have our kid home, though it will only be for a month since he'll head back to BYU in January.
  Jacob and family are doing well. Amanda has had a very slow recovery from her knee surgery. They wonder why Galen explodes in tempers so easily these days, they think he might have a sensory problem. The kids are doing well in school, top in their classes (of course).
  Kelli is loving her new job at a hospital that's closer. She's done with her training so her regular hours are Friday and Saturday night only. Joseph loves preschool and can't wait for Halloween.
  Holly already filled you in on her life.
 And Colin is going to be a Utah boy!!! He got a job with Channel 4 and starts Dec 10. So another move for my poor husband. We're so thrilled for Colin. It's a bigger market, more opportunity in his job and let's be honest, more chance to date a real girl!!! Unlike what Wisconsin had to offer.
  I'm doing well, though my back is a mess. I need a transplant.
  And Calvin is well too, he's got some aches and pains but that's usual at our age. He turned 57 this month. I don't even want to think how old I'll be next month.
 I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Love you all.