Essex, Halibut Point State Park, and The Lobster Pool

I'm so far behind.  I can't believe I haven't told you all about the other half of our Memorial Day weekend.  Sunday, Travis and I decided to see a little more of Cape Ann, Massachusetts' north shore area.  We LOVE Cape Ann and have spent a lot of time in Gloucester, Rockport, and Newburyport. One place we hadn't gone before was Essex..so we decided this would be a great time to go explore!

Essex is a super cute sea-side town that is a big ship building hub.  Almost 4,000 wooden ships were built here!  There are lots of antique stores, cute shops, and shipyards to wander around.  We love to go antiquing, so of course we spent a few hours sifting through several of the stores.  One of the stores had some old pictures with holes cut where the faces used to be...which we had a great time with...you'll see evidence below.

A really cool metal clarinet!

After that, we stopped by the shipbuilding museum and walked around for a while.

As we were finishing up at the shipbuilding museum, it started to rain, so we jumped in the car for cover.  I'd talked to my friend Bailey a few days before, and her boyfriend Dave had some great suggestions for other places to see on Cape Ann.  We decided to take one of his suggestions and spend the rest of the day at Halibut Point State Park in Rockport.  He also suggested we get there via Route 127, so like good little listeners, we took off for destination #2!  He was 100% right - it was a beautiful, windy road that takes you through little towns along the coast.  We decided to go straight to Halibut Point...but vowed to double back later to check out some of the beautiful overlooks.

Halibut Point is at the tip of Rockport, MA and has stunning views.  On a clear day, you can see the coast of New Hampshire and Maine!  There are lots of paths that lead you around an old granite quarry, down along the rocky coast, and up to a tall visitors center.

After we'd seen most of Halibut Point, we decided to have dinner at The Lobster Pool.  Our friends Tyson and Kelly introduced us to this gem a few years ago on a group day trip.  The Lobster Pool is a cute red building along Route 127 and is nestled in a rocky cove.  The food is fantastic...and it's a super laid-back place to eat.  You can either eat inside, or out back on one of the picnic tables scattered across their lawn.  When the sun goes down, the owner makes a bonfire and brings out ingredients for S'mores.  Last time we were there, they had crafts for kids (decorate oyster shells) and guitar and other instruments laying around.

The front

The back.  Can you find us?

Then, as promised, we stopped by several of the scenic overlooks/beaches on the drive back.  The first was Folly's Cove.

Then we went to Plum Cove Beach where there was some crazy person in the water.  It may have been Memorial Day weekend...but it was a COLD 52 degrees and windy!

Then we turned out sites toward home.  One the way we passed a house covered in lobster buoys that I loved.  Such great colors!

The next day we went to Kennebunkport - read more about it!

Day Trip to Gloucester and Rockport

It's a rarity that Travis and I end up with a Saturday totally free, so when we do we love to take advantage of it!  Today, we decided to head off to two of our favorite sea-side towns on Boston's north shore - Gloucester and Rockport!  We were also itching to try out our new camera we got each other for our 6 year wedding anniversary, so this was a perfect opportunity.

We've been to Gloucester many times before, but had never been to Hammond Castle.  Hammond Castle was built by John Hays Hammond, Jr. in 1929 to serve both as his home and as a backdrop for his collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts.  It was a self-guided tour so we got to wander around at our own pace...so beautiful!

 

With a drawbridge, moat, and everything!

An old organ!  There were pipes all around the top of the room.

An amazing needlepoint!  (I'm pretty into needlepoint right now.)  :)

Then we headed into the town center.  There's a beach there that's a great spot to find seaglass, so we spent an hour or so there.  It's pretty easy to find clear and brown sea glass there since Gloucester is such a big fishing town.  This time I found a dark blue and orange piece (pretty rare)!

There's always some kind of festival going on in Gloucester during the summer, and this weekend was no different!  After dinner we went to the Cape Ann Brewery for dinner.

Then we headed 10 minutes down the road to Rockport, MA to walk around Bearskin Neck and climb out on the wall of rocks while the sun set.

Tomorrow we're off to Newburyport, MA!