August 14-16                  Beverly, Massachusetts

After a wonderful ten day stay in Fort Worth, filled with constant activity with friends and family, we returned to Massachusetts.  The weather was cool and the abundance of lush greenery was in sharp contrast to the heat and parched lawns we had left behind.  We found the boat clean from recent rains.  The “signal lamp,” left purposely on to let the marina staff  know if electrical power was operating, was brightly shining and the ice maker was functioning beautifully. I had been apprehensive we would return to a freezer filled with spoiled food and an empty ice maker.  All was well to my great relief.

After a brief rest, we called Enterprise and had a car delivered to the marina.  We planned to go to the nearby Costco and replenish our supplies for our trip south.  Taking David to a Costco is like taking a child to a toy store—he wants everything and we always leave with an inflated bill.  This Costco was large and well-stocked.  We found the wonderful capers that are never in our Fort Worth store and beautiful prime tenderloin steaks.

On Wednesday morning, I awakened early to read the book I will review for the library at Broadway and have breakfast alone on the aft deck.  The book’s author, self-described as a literary library type, wrote a chapter about an unusual favorite bookstore in Manchester-By-The-Sea, a small town renowned for its beautiful homes.  I checked the map and saw that Manchester was only seven miles from Beverly.  We had the car and we could easily visit there.

Manchester was delightful with its many small upscale shops and restaurants nestled along winding streets that snaked up and down the surrounding hills.  We had no trouble finding the mentioned bookstore, Manchester-By-The-Book.  I had the pleasure of telling the owner about my serendipitous experience of reading of his store only a few hours before.  Surprised and delighted, he immediately went on the internet and ordered the book.  (He will be even more delighted when he reads that the author and her friends had a secret crush on him!) 

Visiting unusual bookstores and perusing their shelves for long periods of time is one of my favorite activities.  This bookstore was small and crowded with stacks of books everywhere.  All books were used and most were quite old.  Many volumes were from the personal library of John Updike, the noted author.  There were also a considerable number of books on New England history, the Civil War, and religion.  I found a copy of Julia Child’s The Way to Cook to replace an earlier one I had given Amanda.

We loved driving through the many shaded streets of the residential areas with magnificent homes, mostly gray shingled, set amidst lush lawns and tall trees.  Manchester is definitely a place inhabited by “the top 1%” of the populace.  Discreet wealth and privilege were evident in one of the most beautiful places we have visited on the East Coast. With only a small number of inns, it does not invite the tourist crowds.

After leaving Manchester, we visited Gloucester, a much different scene with a huge commercial harbor.  We enjoyed a late lunch at LAT 43 and a brief driving tour through the town.  Since our visit more than fourteen years ago, Gloucester had completed many beautification projects in the harbor and downtown area.  It was a very inviting scene with many shops and restaurants.

A visit to Rowand’s Seafood Market, conveniently located near the marina, provided the live lobsters for our dinner.  We spent another delightful evening on the aft deck with delicious food, cool weather, and a nautical scene spread all about us.