We started today in Gloucester and are saying goodnight in Boston, and in between we spent the day watching some of the largest animals on the planet. Not a bad way to spend a day.

Leo woke up early to get a run in before it got too hot. The boys have been so dedicated in keeping up with their runs for soccer over vacation. Leo said the views on this run were much better than his normal run around our neighborhood.

Not a bad view for us either.

We read several reviews about the restaurant on site, so we definitely wanted to give it a try. It lived up to every review! Some people were tired of my picture-taking, so we did a selfie without them – I’m sure they are devastated 🤣 we did learn that the restuarant was clearly a spot for locals. Two older ladies came in and sat behind us. I feel fairly certain that if we stayed there for another 20 minutes, I would have all the dirt on everyone in Gloucester.

When we left, I wanted a picture of the beautiful flowers and landscaping. The landscaping is so pretty that it looks fake, so I asked Leo to take a picture of us. While we ended up with a great picture, we also got 37 pictures of a trash can. Clearly, we starting laughing during our photo session 🤣

We also did a little exploring around the Inn since we still had time before checkout.

Everyone enjoyed the views ♥️

After we checked out, we had a couple of hours before our next adventure, so we did a little exploring around Gloucester. It is a gorgeous town that we will definitely come back to one day. And today we learned that Gloucester is home to the Gorton’s Fisherman (you know, the fishstick guy in the yellow slicker). Certainly makes sense with all the fishing around here.

We saw the coolest draw bridge that doesn’t go straight up. Instead, both sides lift and twist to allow even taller boats through. It raises and lowers 3-4 times per hour, so it thankfully isn’t a terribly long process.

Along the ocean walk is a memorial to the Gloucester fishermen who have died since the 1800’s. Some years have hundreds of names and others only a few. A storm in 1862 and another in 1879 killed over 120 men each. The most famous names (at least to us) were in 1991 on a ship named the Andrea Gail. If that didn’t trigger anything, it was the ship and sailors portrayed in the movie The Perfect Storm.

We still had 45 minutes to kill before our adventure, so the boys changed into their swimsuits and messed around in the water and rocks. Apparently they don’t have shells here (I could only find one shell) just rocks, but I did find a few stones to add to my collection from our travels. I cannot imagine how these two are swimming, because this water is frigid! 🥶

All done and ready to head back to the car for dry clothes.

By now, we could check in for today’s adventure – Whale Watching! We had no idea what to expect today, but in planning the trip, the 7 Seas Whale Watching Company had the highest reviews for actually seeing whales. We were a little worried about Mike and Leo with the sea travel but it was like glass today! The waves were so calm, it was almost like being on a lake. (Prayers answered!) Plus, the cool air and wrist bands (on pressure points) made for a great day for everyone and their stomachs!

Another reason I booked this tour was the naturalist onboard. She gave a ton of information about what kinds of animals we might see today. But they were quick to remind us, that these animals are wild. They aren’t trained to come to the boat. So in a really nice way, she said “you get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit!” 🤣

When we first left the harbor, we went along the coast, and again the beautiful Gloucester coastline.

Thankfully, we could see the horizon for a long time, which helped with seasickness. We saw lighthouses and the boys found their own entertainment 🤦🏻‍♀️. We were starting to get hungry and then… Bam, Mom’s cafe goes nautical!

We made it about an hour, when we saw our first humpback whale! They are huge, and peaceful and graceful and amazing! Clearly, we were in awe.

We continued following this guy, named Pickard, and then it got crazy!

Look on the left (port) side!

Look on the right (starboard) side!

⬆️ this is a basking shark who don’t usually eat people but it would still give me a heart attack!

Back to port… back to starboard… we were making the boat rock running back and forth!

It was simply incredible! Then they announced would we be okay being a little late getting back because one of most elusive animals may be near… um, yea, we can absolutely do that!

On our way to see whatever we were going to see, we saw a mola mola – the largest bony fish in the ocean. Look it up. It’s not an attractive fish but it is huge! Think of a giant flounder who swim sideways and have one shiny side.

We thought the mola mola was big until we saw what we were really looking for – a blue whale! These whales weigh 80,000 to 90,000 pounds, and a rarely seen in Maine Harbor. Our naturalist said they were hoping to see one this year because they’ve had such a great year for krill. This was the first year they’ve been seen here since 2011!

As excited as we were, I wish we could explain the crew and naturalists response. They were so cute to see – like kids at Christmas!

We made it back to shore, and I convinced my people to take one silly picture… but my word! The ordeal of the guy with took our photo… first, he tried to take it behind the scene, then he tried to take it 18 inches in front, then we were certain his fingers were in front of the lens (thank goodness for iPhones multi cameras!) BUT after all that, the picture itself isn’t awful 🤣

Back in the car, we headed out for Boston. Oh Lawd, the traffic! But in Boston’s defense, it was 5:45/6pm.

We made it to Boston!

We had a bit of an issue when we checked into the hotel: we booked a 2 queen room, but they didn’t have any available so they put us in king suite with sofa bed… the boys barely fit on queen bed together so we thought we were going to have to find somewhere else to stay. But Dean at check in said we could have rollaway bed AND 2pm late checkout… it ended up working out fine because the king suite had a plenty of room for us. We unloaded and headed out for dinner. Mike wanted sushi so we found a great place, Fuji at Ink Block, just a short Uber ride away.

We all really appreciated the architecture of Boston. It definitely is not a city of straight-up boring skyscrapers. Tomorrow we head out to explore Boston in the day time with a little history and a little NBA 🏀