People in Glass Houses... — Camp Buy Me Love

NP Roadtrip – Days 105 – 109 – Connecticut – Boston – Cape Cod – Vermont

The day we left New York City was absolutely gorgeous, and as a result, we had fantastic views of the city as we drove northeast to Connecticut. What a beautiful drive that is! Henry Hudson Parkway winds its way through upper Manhattan and Yonkers, then splits into several highways leading into the Connecticut area. There are a bunch of low clearance tunnels, but we fit easily under those at only 6 feet 11 inches in height.

Before going to our friend’s Greenwich home for the evening, we had arranged to do a tour at The Glass House in New Canaan, just 15 minutes away. The tour of Fallingwater sparked a more focused look at some of the country’s most iconic homes. I had known The Glass House was in Connecticut so I jumped on the opportunity to see this architectural masterpiece.

I’m not quite sure when my obsession with glass houses was born, but when I think of the type of home I would love to live in (even as a vacation home), Philip Johnson’s “The Glass House” is the blueprint for that dream. New Canaan, where the home was built, was a hotbed for modern architecture, thanks to the town’s more liberal and relaxed views on “what is pretty architecture” or “what is acceptable architecture”. The town and surrounding areas have a few Johnson works that I love! I also instantly fell in love with the glass and steel lake home from the movie “The Lake House”. There is also a vacation rental home I’ve always wanted to stay at in La Conner, Washington called “A Door to the Wild” that was built in a similar vein. Overall, I think I love the simplicity of no obstruction to the eye, clean lines, no clutter, and a strong, yet delicate looking structure. Plus, all of these homes have one thing in common; they have a mostly unobstructed view to the nature that surrounds them. I would rather look at any element of nature over the perfect taupe colored wall any day of the week. Who’s with me?!

The Glass House is a veritable jewel box set in the center of a stunning, undulating wooded property. I won’t go into detail about Philip Johnson’s theories about architecture and life, because I could easily do an entire blog post about this property and the man himself. What I will tell you is that Mr. Johnson was a prolific art collector, which appealed to me greatly. He has always had a rotating collection of art in the painting gallery located within one of the hills on the property, as well as a sculpture gallery located further beyond the path. There is art in the home, outside the home, art in the driveway, art as buildings, sculptural art in the pond below and high up on a hill behind the house. It’s an architecture and art nerd’s dream all wrapped up in a beautiful steel and glass box set on a field of green grass and tall trees.

Despite a major scheduling snafu (my fault), we ended up going on a 3 hour in depth tour of all the buildings of the Glass House. We had originally wanted to do a shorter tour, but are so glad there was room in the in-depth tour. During this tour, the only building we were not able to go into was the Brick House, due to an ongoing restoration process. I also have to mention that our guide, Chris (sp.) was incredible, and an architect herself so she had a genuine respect and knowledge of the works she was presenting. I cannot speak highly enough of this entire experience and encourage anyone in the area to try to check it out. We were told tours in the summer are incredibly hard to score at the last minute, so my advice would be to plan ahead.

We stayed the night in Greenwich at G’s dear friend’s house, whom he met at Brooks Institute’s photography school. He has the most charming 4 year old son, a beautiful home, and plenty of room for the dogs to run and bark their heads off. We enjoyed our brief stay in Greenwich, but it was time to head North to the Boston area with looming weather off the coast of Massachusetts.

We ventured through tons of traffic in New Haven and rain, pretty much, the entire way to the KOA Boston/Cape Cod. The name of this KOA is a little (or a lot) misleading, though. While I might consider it a “gateway” to these two areas, they are both, at least, a 45 minute drive in no traffic. The original plan was to go all the way to a campground at the tip of Cape Cod, but the weather was so bad and it was going to get dark soon, we cancelled the reservation and instead drove to the KOA in Middleborough. The new, modified plan was to go into Boston one day and drive up the Cape the next day. We knew we were going to have crummy weather, which didn’t help with our motivation, but we ventured out both days, regardless. We pulled into the KOA and it was totally packed. Apparently, they have a buy one night, get one night free special going on for Mother’s Day weekend. It’s sort of their “kick-off the season” weekend. We were really lucky to have gotten a spot. We caused a little bit of a stir when we pulled in on Saturday night when everyone else was in “full tilt” mode. G expertly parked in one try and as he got out of the car a passerby genuinely commented, “Eh, nice pawking jawb, man.” We chatted with a few of the locals, made some agnolotti with mushroom sauce for dinner, and tried to go to sleep despite the pouring rain and the dance party going on at the pavilion. Those Bostonians really know how to party!

The next morning, we tried to take the train into Boston, rather than try to find parking downtown. Unfortunately, the train schedule is a bit different on Sundays and it didn’t end up working out for us. We were able to find parking easily, though, and were able to explore a bit of the downtown area. The rain was absolutely dumping on us, so we didn’t end up venturing about too much. We walked through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market which were just ok. They were a little reminiscent of the Savannah and South Carolina downtown markets, but I persevered in an effort to find the kind of food market I so love going to. I must say, though, that there is a great National Park Service desk in Faneuil Hall with a bunch of information and maps for the area’s park service sites.

Finally, we found that the Boston Public Market was just down the street and included all the local foodie stuff I was so looking forward to. It’s pretty awesome. They have tons of ready made food choices, cheese shops, charcuterie, pasta, butchers, green grocers, etc. We had a blast checking all the food stalls out, trying things, and filling a well curated basket of a few items to take on our way. Even if you don’t have access to a cooler to store perishables, I would still check this spot out for their non-perishable goods such as tea, syrups, mustards, baked goods, and a few local artisans.

I should have taken my own advice and eaten a meal at the Public Market, but instead opted to go to a local spot, Fin. It was good, but the setting was stuffy, the menu very limited, and it was a little pricey. It was getting to be late afternoon so we just shared a few appetizers so as not to spoil our appetite for dinner.

Before heading back to the KOA, we walked over to the Boston Tea Party Museum. This is one of the things my family did when we visited when I was a kid. I really wanted to see the museum again as I had remembered our experience fondly. It had changed SO much so, that to me, it was unrecognizable and I honestly wasn’t sure if we were at the same place I had been beforeNow, it’s a unique, multi-media experience with period costumed tour guides, live action, holograms, and talking paintings. I would say it’s geared toward a generation that needs a lot of shiny things in order to pay attention. I am not one of those people, so I was not enthralled with the show, but I’m sure this would be enjoyable to families with children and young adults.

The next day was our big “Cape Cod” day. I have grown to love our National Seashores and Lakeshores and they have become priority stops, even though they don’t exactly fit within our National Park roadtrip list. Cape Cod’s National Seashore is no exception. It is stunningly beautiful. We didn’t have great weather, but I imagine that this coastline sees a lot of hairy weather given the jagged cliffs, very little vegetation, and steep seawalls. Our first stop was the Kennedy Compound, naturally. I think the world is still in love with the idea of Camelot, and I am no different. I just had to see this home that I’ve only seen on documentaries, news reports, and in the magazines. Honestly, it was refreshingly humble. Beautiful, classy, but not flashy in any way. It didn’t have huge walled gates with armed security guards. It was grand, but still very understated. And even more surprising to me, it was surrounded by understated beach homes that still retained a classic and untouched look. None of this sparkly pink and palm trees of the Florida coast or walled compounds covered in Ivy in California. It looked normal, like you’d invite the neighbors over for cocktails and game night or watch each other’s dogs while they were on vacation. I can totally see why it has remained a place for the Kennedy family to convene, to be themselves, to relax, to celebrate, and to mourn. The home is a member of the family in its own right.

Next, we stopped off at the park service Visitor Center to get the lay of the land then headed further up the coast. We stopped at Nauset Light Beach and let the dogs out to run a little bit. They absolutely love the beach and run around like crazy wild animals, but they hate the water. Go figure. After putting in some good beach time, we continued on the main road to Provincetown. This was where our original campsite was that we had to cancel due to weather. It was still overcast and very windy, but the rain had subsided just enough for us to walk through town, grab a bite at the iconic Lobster Pot and a coffee for the road at Wired Coffee.

While leaving Boston the day prior (on a Sunday) we had a total bust trying to find a brewery for G that was either open or close to our route. We really try to balance out things that I like to do, with things that he likes to do. And let it be known that I get to do far more things on my “List” than G does on his. So, when we have some free time I really try to find a cool brewery or restaurant or art exhibit or tour that I think he will like. We didn’t necessarily need to get right back to the campsite, so I found a brewery called Cape Cod Brewery in Barnstable. They were such awesome people and the dogs were allowed inside the brewery. Even when our dogs would not stop barking at an admirer, they didn’t bat an eye. It’s a great laid back brewery with spectacular beers. It’s too bad the state of Massachusetts doesn’t allow personal growler fills! Instead, G grabbed a few different bottles to go and we headed back to the campsite to eat leftovers for dinner.

We had originally planned on spending some time in Providence, RI, but due to the Mother’s Day weekend our Providence friends had made other plans. It’s ok, though, because we now had a chance to check Vermont off the state list (putting stickers on my state map makes me happy) and spend a night in Brattleboro. Apparently, they had seen snow just a few days before, but we had FANTASTIC weather. It was so nice that once we arrived and set up camp, we left right away to do our own “tour of Brattleboro” hitting up some popular foodie spots like, Grafton Village Cheese Co., Vermont Deli Co., Brattleboro Food Coop, and Whetstone Station Brewery. Sadly, none of those spots allowed doggies and it was too hot outside to leave them in the car so we let the AC run while we checked each place out and drove back to the KOA for dinner. We filled our bellies with maple brined pork tenderloin, shaved brussel sprouts with pecorino and pistachios, and garlic bread. A fitting “foodie” end to our surprisingly “foodie” stop, Brattleboro.