Countdown to Elisabeth's Arrival...

July 21, 2009-Well, after weeks of preparations and more emails than we could have imagined, Elisabeth will be arriving at Logan at 8PM the day after tomorrow! She’ll be here for a week before we leave, so we will have some outings as well as getting to know each other.
The following are on our calendar at this point....
Saturday afternoon-Elisabeth and Linda and her mother will FINALLY meet here. Linda wrote, “I think it is such a wonderful, amazing 'small-world story!' Finally meeting Elisabeth on Saturday will be such a high point in my life -- we are all eagerly anticipating the day!”
Next Monday, we are taking a day trip up to southern Maine with Ogunquit as our destination. Walking the famous Marginal Way with the quintessential vista of the coast of Maine has been a treat for me, since I was 6, so it will be fun to revisit it with Elisabeth. We’re stopping in Newburyport to pick up Joan (Havey Denning) and Jean (Havey Sweeney) of Arlington, VA to join in the adventure! They are twin sisters and high school friends of mine; Jean and I were at UMass together.
Tuesday we’ll drive over to Concord-great local museum, Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott’s home, the Old Manse, and, of course, the Battlefield- and Lexington, where there is Visitors’ Center which shows an interesting video about Paul Revere and the Revolutionary War.
Wednesday we’ll head down to Jamestown, Rhode Island, to visit Anne Lane, another UMass friend. We’ll have a myriad of “entertainment” options-sailing on the Fast Lane, visiting the Newport mansions, visit Beavertail on Jamestown, a wonderful park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
In between all of these fun outings, I’ll introduce her to Weston, the Town Pool, the landfill, etc. Elisabeth is not the “typical” tourist, as she wrote,”I'm not interested in touristic places and events. I want to go to true American events and places.” Too bad I couldn’t get her tickets to see the Red Sox!
Friday Elisabeth will leave Melissa and me at Logan, as we head to France and her home in Saint-Raphael, while she returns to Chez 56 to plan what she wants to do for the next three weeks. (She is very kindly leaving us some wonderful French goodies in her freezer...ratatouille and rabbit in white wine which she made for us! YUM!!) She’ll visit with Linda, who will, of course, have some great outings planned-Rockport is one I know of! In addition, she has a great weekend trip to New York City scheduled. (Understandably NYC is big feature of the French guide books-not so much about Boston!)