Just about packed up and ready to go.
There isn't much narrative to present - it was the usual Pine Point vacation: walking on sand bars in the morning, supervising the tide in the afternoon, and convening the family and friends for a communal dinner in the evening. Even the pictures are repetitious! Everyone free to do their own thing. It was wonderful!
Some nomenclature - 81JCD refers to the “Little House” that Cindy and I bought in 2010 at 81 Jones Creek Drive. The “King Cottage” or just “the cottage” refers to the shack that my great-great-grandfather Cyrus Shaw King bought in the 1880s. The cottage is across the street at 82 Jones Creek Drive and overlooks the tidal marsh. The “Big House” would refer to the house now owned by my cousin Sally that was purchased by my grandfather Howard King Sr. some time back in (I'm guessing) the 1950s.
We drove again, about 1,550 miles by Google Maps. We wanted to visit Jonathan's friend of longest standing, Káča, in Lindsay Ontario in Canada, but the covid pandemic had closed the border. So we took the usual route following I-90 east from Chicago, spending the night in Erie PA.
Things went awry on the NY Thruway in Utica NY the next day, when during a heavy rainfall, the car hydroplaned and I lost control of the vehicle. Although the car was totaled, we walked away with only some abrasions from Jonathan's close encounter with the airbags. There were no lodgings available in the area, so Cindy drove 5½ hours from Pine Point to collect us and our belongings (the balance of which we had to retrieve from the wreck at the collision company's junk yard).
Rather than drive the entire 5½ hours back, we found lodgings in Lenox MA at the Church Street Inn, and dinner at Brava, a wine bar within walking distance of the inn.
Just about packed up and ready to go.
Our poor car. Despite the damage the passenger compartment was uncompromised.
The rear corner - this is where there was some minor damage to our belongings.
Lemonade.
That's what a posted on FB from Brava, the wine bar.
Jonathan and Cindy walking back to the Church Street Inn.
Amtrak's Downeaster crossing the Scarborough River; that's an oyster farm in the river this side of the trestle.
The family of ducks next door.
Late sun on the boats in the river.
Mike - a rather good shot using my iPhone.
Sam.
My 4th cousin Eric and Sam on the deck. Samuel and Betsy Shaw King are our shared 3xgreat grand parents.
Dinner @ 81JCD: Diane, Cindy (obscured), Eric, Sam, Devlin, and Arman.
My treat to myself - a jigsaw puzzle cut from wood with unique shapes by Mosaic Puzzles
Fog & mist on the marshes on the far side of the Scarborough River - the tide is returning.
A cormorant leaves a wake.
A "water Uber?" - heading to the boats in the morning.
The sun peaks out from behind the clouds as it rises.
Carol Tate took this shot at lunch in Cambridge MA.
Another Pine Point sunset.
Sunrise at low tide.
The completed Mosaic puzzle with a representative piece removed.
The new car.
The chipmunk at the cottage - it was so bold as to come onto the deck while you were sitting there.
Dinner on the deck: Devlin, Arman, M'lyn, Jonathan, and Mike.
Devlin and Arman.
M'lyn.
Cloud reflections across the creek.
Cindy collecting another sunset.
Firepit in use.
More reflections.
Sunrise over the town pier.
Sea gull on the beach.
A catamaran was anchored off the beach - it was there for only a day or so.
Looking towards Prouts Neck along the sand bar.
Moon snail.
Sunrise reflected in tidal pools on the sand bar.
The pine tree at the tip of Prouts Neck - taken from the tip of the sand bar.
Surf clam (and my toes).
Looking back towards the point along the river from the tip of the sand bar.
Arman, Madison and Devlin engaged in tide supervision.
Sunrise.
Lobster boat on its way to work.
Clouds and blue sky.
Madison.
Red sky at morning - sailor take warning?
Walking the sand bars.
An impressive haul of surf clams.
The changeable weather arrives.
Fog on the beach in the morning.
Fisherman at the tip of the sand bars.
Dinner - balsamic soy marinated tuna (and soy for the vegetarians).
Devlin, Arman, Andrew and Madison heading out into the marsh.
Snowy egrets (Egretta thula) at the edge of the marsh grass.
Cormorant taking flight.
Red sun rising.
Lifting above the morning mists.
Madison.
Devlin and Arman.
Madison and Andrew.
Snowy egret on the hunt.
Morning shot of the boats in the river and the town pier.
My VT flag has been joined by Devlin's IU flag.
Jonathan about to descend to the beach.
Taking a snap.
Moon snail creating ripples in the waves.
Lighthouse in the distance.
Clouds over the marsh.
Cindy.
A last morning shot of the boats in the river and the town pier.
Driving back home, we took our usual route to Toledo OH where we stayed the night. Then next morning we headed West Lafayette IN to visit Barb Gibbs, a former RepliGen colleague and friend who settled there with her late husband Rich who taught at Purdue until his untimely passing. It was great to catch up in person and we plan on taking the same route home next year.
Home again.
The background on the webpages for this trip is a shot of the marsh grasses on the back side of the point. I've altered the color, but not the pattern, to match the color scheme of this site. For my own memory: this is done in Photoshop, not Lightroom. Fiddling with the properties the Hue/Saturation adjustment has a 'colorize' option, where I ended up selecting the values +60 hue, +15 saturation, and 0 lightness.
The images on the site, unless otherwise noted, were taken using an Olympus E-M10 II (4608 x 3456 pixel RAW file, ~16 MB) or iPhone 11.
I've whittled the image size down to two sizes - a thumbnail I use on the page for the day, and a 1280x960 pixel (or 960x1280 pixel, assuming I haven't cropped or altered the size) image that I've saved optimized for web usage.
The images are processed using Lightroom, a trimmed down version of Adobe Photoshop.
