Wrapping Up Maine

This is the house that inspired the central setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne's second novel The House of the Seven Gables (1851).

So, the conference focused on Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of my favorite writers. If you went to high school in the United States of America, especially since the middle of the 20th century, you're likely to have read his novel The Scarlet Letter. For those concerned, I put the finishing touches on my presentation on Saturday morning, walked downtown to the UPS Store to print it, had some lunch and then presented at the 1:30-2:50 session that afternoon.

On Saturday evening after the lobster bake, a new friend I made, a teacher at a college out in Kansas City, asked if I'd like to ride with him to Boston instead of taking the bus Amtrak had scheduled for me. He'd rented a Hyundai Tucson at Logan International, the Boston airport. I took him up on his offer. We left Brunswick a little before noon. His flight didn't leave until after 6:00 and my train didn't leave until 9:45, so we had plenty of time. Along the way, we decided that we'd stop in Salem, home of the 1692 witch trials and birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was a good stop.

We arrived in Boston at around 4:00, and I took a bus to the city's South Station, getting there a little after 5:00. Having several hours before my train left, I walked to Boston's North End, which is seeminly wall-to-wall Italian restaurants, where I had a tremendous meal.

Then--the overnight train to DC; a visit to my friend Chuck's, where I slept about three hours; the drive home to Jonesborough, where I arrived around 10:00.

Good trip.