Lake Sebu Zipline at Seven Falls

Lake Sebu

So what’s the landmark that identifies your area?

Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Lady Liberty is to The Big Apple (or is it the just the apple?), The Big Ben is to London, etc. All across the globe, each destination may have several distinct landmarks but there will always be one that will stick to mind. Those are the must-haves behind each photograph taken when traveling hashtagged #souvenirshot #paris or #london or #nyc. It’s also your #braggingright, right?

Next stop.

For Rockport, the town in Essex County at the tip of the Cape Ann Peninsula, a 40-minutes drive northeast of Boston, Massachusetts, the man-made landmark is not as grandiose as one would expect it to be for a popular destination. In fact, for first time visitors (like me), expect the jaw to drop and utter, “Is that it?”

The red shack that made this town famous.

One of the most famous sites on Cape Ann is the harbor town’s “monument”— a red fishing shack on the rocks on Bradley Wharf, an active fish landing and storage area since the American Civil War. Built in the 1840s, a time when Rockport became home to fishermen and colony of artists, the shack offered convenient and immediate storage for gear and fish, and a favorite subject of painters referring to it as “a symbol of New England maritime life”.

A view of the cape and the harbor from another point of view.

Hornby, a painter, is believed to be credited for naming the red “Motif No. 1” since it became the preferred theme of the town’s artists. To the pupils of art and art history, this red shack is “most often-painted building in America.”

So this is one of the boats they use to catch my lobsters....

The former timber and granite town, and now a tourist town of Rockport saw an icon in Motif No. 1 and took measures to preserve the structure and appearance, red hue included. After the shack was razed to the ground during the Blizzard of 1978, a replica was immediately constructed on the same year.

The Atlantic

Today, along with the favorite Rockport vacation spots like the boulder-strewn ocean beaches and seaside parks, the Cape Anne’s Bradley Wharf and its iconic red shack has become one of the most-visited spots in the North Shore area of Massachusetts.

The town gets quiet when summer is over.

We know where you're going. This way, please.

The artist colony.

I wonder why the name. (leave me a comment if you know why, please)

Just one of the many galleries in this area.

Quaint-looking shop.

And now, I am ready to give another go at that lobster before I head back to Boston.

You mean we can have lobster again before heading back to Boston?

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/


Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 28, 2013.

“Have you seen the movie The Perfect Storm?,” my host, Cris, asked me. I replied the affirmative and added that it was a depressing movie.

The Fisherman's Memorial at Gloucester

“Well, the movie was adapted from a novel which was inspired by real life events. This is the place where it happened,” he said. We were in Gloucester City a 30-minute drive from Boston. It’s a city occupying most of eastern end of Cape Ann in Essex County and part of Massachusetts’ North Shore, the coastal region between Boston and New Hampshire.

It was after a hearty seafood meal at Causeway Restaurant where I feasted on lobsters, mussels and oysters, and then boom!, the next top was a downer—the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial at the west side of the Gloucester Harbor.

Our next stop after a hearty meal of fresh seafoods (what a downer)

The 8-foot tall statue is called “The Man on The Wheel,” a fisherman in oilskins, grasping a ship’s steering wheel modeled after Capt. Clayton Morrissey, a prominent Gloucester fisherman. It was built to memorialize the thousands of fishermen lost at sea in the first three centuries of Gloucester History. A dedication is inscribed on the base of the statue is “They That Go Down To The Sea In Ships 1623-1923”, a line taken from the Bible’s Psalm 107:23.

The Man on the Wheel

On a recessed area on the waterfront fronting the statue are the names of the people lost at sea etched on bronze plates.

The men lost at sea memorialized.

Apparently the 1991 Perfect Storm was just one of the many devastating storms that hit this area. It’s the one event that became known since it’s the event that was made into a best-selling non-fiction book and then into a film. The 2000 cinematic biographical disaster drama it inspired that starred Clooney and Wahlberg made it more graphic—the raging storm, tidal waves, the Andrea Gail swordfishing boat sinking, the tragic rescue, a damaged town and the families of the people lost at sea in mourning.

Flowers & love note for someone special

I found it ironic how the place I was standing on—a very picturesque and charming city under the blue sky, tranquil water and serene surrounding—had gone through so many tragedies.

A serene scene.

Gloucester has picked itself up. America’s Oldest Seaport calls itself “The place to be in summer.” It already looked great during fall, the time I visited, and I can just imagine how colorful and exciting it is during summer when the famed waterfront festivals take place, and gorgeous beaches are the must-go destinations.

Gloucester is a very popular summer destination

Loving this house.

I think I will revisit Cape Ann again and savor much more of its scenery, music and art festivals and of course, the cuisine. Another bout with the Rock Lobster, yes!

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 21, 2013.

TIme to rock the lobster!

The very first tour when I stepped on Massachusetts soil was not Boston but Salem. As to why my host, Cris, put that on top of the list, I don’t know. I welcomed the journey into the “supernatural.”

The next stop was the city of Gloucester, less than thirty minutes of driving from Salem, for another super and natural journey— of the palate this time. After walking the streets of the famed town of the witch trials, we have worked up an appetite, hungry enough to eat a horse (witchcraft!) or whatever the local offering may be.

On this side of town, seafood rules! Gloucester in Massachusetts is a coastal city, a part of the North Shore of Massachusetts and an important center of the fishing industry, thus, the seafood cuisine as the specialty.

Just one of North Shore's specialty

Along Essex Avenue is the Causeway Restaurant, a favorite restaurant of my host (he makes sure all his guests get to dine here) and voted as one of the best by the locals. It serves traditional American fare, Italian and seafood, and prides itself of its bestsellers—the Seafood Marinara (shrimp, scallops, mussels, and calamari served over a bed of linguini), the Peter's Platter (fried clams, shrimps, calamari, scallops and haddock), to name a couple.

Causeway Restaurant in Gloucester

The look is that of a typical roadside restaurant in America, nothing pretentious, no frills, so is the interior- a bar, rows of tables and chairs. Even on the low season (it was fall when I got to visit), the place was full. “It’s always like this,” said Cris. It was tough to get a seat, tougher during the peak season. Calling in for a reservation is always best, or order for take-out if you’re dying to have their food.

Consistently a full house. Amazing.

Much of the clients look local indeed. And typical of a neighborhood restaurant, the clientele dining had a good mix of middle-aged and septuagenarians who must have grown old loving the food in this joint. Although the Causeway had built a list of loyal clients through the years (and voted the place as one of the best local restaurants in Gloucester), it continues to attract new customers as well.

Even the bar is never empty with clients.

As heads turned when we entered (think: not like the others), we were lucky to get a table—long enough to fill what Cris ordered which can feed six, which attracted more attention when the food was served (how-the-heck-can-those-two-finish-all-that look)—

This is just half of the table our order filled.

Cris' greens topped with generous chunks of fish.

the Clam Chowder (thick, creamy soup with fresh seafood- delicious!)...

Creamy, truly, & no starch to thicken.

Fried Oysters (good-sized pieces, perfectly fried, the sweet of its freshness locked in)...

It could be bigger but these ones are fine.

and the boiled fresh Mussels and Lobster (just the way I love them prepared, lightly salted)—all super, all natural. Unbeatable!

Simple prep for these.

Let the battle begin!

Irresistible artery cloggers and high blood inducers.

How, indeed, but we did (#proud). The servings were generous and priced affordably, and just like the place promised, it was good to the last bite. This is one restaurant I want to go back to when I make it back to Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Good price for the serving size.

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 14, 2013.

Hey you guys better decide soon. I gotta go to work.

Thaaat’s me! A witch maybe I was, maybe I still am (because I am in love with the Sadako character?) but what I am sure of is that the “B” + “itch” rings true. I live in East Street (not Eastwick but it sounds like that), my parent’s place (I’m shameless, I know). Whatever I am called, luck is with me. That makes me one lucky W and/or B + itch.

It was the moon that navigated us home back then.

And luck brought me (and my Sadako alter ego) to Salem, a thirty-minute drive from Boston, Massachusetts. Is this home? Funny that I got to tour this place before Boston, where my host lives.

Feeling at home.

I don’t know Cris’ agenda and why he put Salem on top of the list and made me meet Sabrina (of the Bewitch fame) before showing me the rest of the area.

Sabrina finds me cute.

Maybe he wanted know if I have a certain connection with the town in Essex County that has a very fascinating history of witch hunting.

This way to reconnect with your past...

Salem as we all know was the setting of the witchcraft trials of the 1690’s. As to why it came about is what I learned after taking a tour of the Witchcraft Museum and their very interesting presentation of the history of the witch trials. It was a tour injected with humor, to lighten the mood perhaps, with the guide taking us through a journey in time via a makeshift village –at night (read: darkness).

How much do I pay?

The real story goes like this....

The dioramas depicted how the alleged practice of witchcraft started that led to the trials, the hanging on Gallows Hill to the burial ground of the alleged witches, the end of the tour.

The hanging tree up Gallows Hill

Of course it was all a mistake. The lack of knowledge in fields people know less of started it all. The puritans just had to put the blame on something, and someone, and it went out of hand. Believe it or not, it took 250 years before a formal apology was made by the state of Massachusetts for the events of 1692.

If the mood was somber upon leaving the museum, the next shop was my shot of caffeine—Remember Salem. If you love everything about the famous wizard of our time, Harry Potter, then this shop is for you.

Diagonal Alley shopping mode.

Remember Salem is pretty much like one of those shops in Diagonal Alley and this one sells everything Hogwarts and wizardry. Step in and you’ll feel the magic! From spiders to Nagini (Voldemort’s snake), wands, the Golden Snitch to Quidditch helmets, it was surreal to be at the center of these goodies that I can take home.

Catch me if you can, witch! ....errr, bitch?

Maybe the best item I’ve seen was the handmade leather Sorting Hat.

I wonder which class it'll put me in...

Of course, I had to try it on and it screamed "Slytherin!"

Slytherin!!!

We had a quick stop at the The House of the Seven Gables aka the Turner House and the Witch House aka Jonathan Corwin house before we made our way to the most exciting part of the journey to the supernatural—the food. And that’s the next story.

1..2..3..4..5..6..7! Yehey.

Judgmental place.

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 7, 2013.