Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Massachusetts

Posted by Hippobean at 9:53 PM 1 comments

Feel I'm coming back to Massachusetts ...

So i was channel surfing and the Bee Gees One Night Only at the MGM Grand in Vegas was playing again on KQED. When they played Massachusetts, it brought me back to my night drive from Logan to Norwich, Vermont. My first drive through the New England states. As I was leaving Boston, I was singing Massachusetts to myself.

Somethings telling me I must go home ...

The melody carried me from heavy rush hour traffic in Boston, out to the unlite and empty freeways, from I93 into New Hampshire, to I89 past Lebanon, into HI-120 through Hanover, and finally crossing the river on HI-10 into Vermont to Norwich. That night was magical.

And the lights all went out in massachusetts ...

The freeways, once outside of the greater Boston area, were lonely, magically quiet and dark. For hours I drove through empty highways at 90 MPH. As my headlights shone through the pitch black New England air, Massachusetts was my only company.

Talk about the life in Massachusetts
Speak about the people I have seen
And Massachusetts is one place I have seen
...

New England felt like a whole different country.

I remember the historical colonial Norwich Inn where I stayed. The building was on a quiet and dark residential street. The original Inn built in 1797 served as a stagecoach tavern for New England travelers. The victorian building was ancient, the floorboards squeaked when you're walked on them, the staircase to each floor was in a different location in the building. I was given a corner room on the top floor (the first picture on the website shows the colonial building. My room was the top left corner one) with a 4 poster bed. The bathroom was quaint colonial style and their soap was very creamy. I remember watching the US Open Tennis men semi-final at night on TV, lying in bed with all the lights out, munching on Indian food.

I remember in Lebanon, Jerry took us for a short hike in a low hill just minutes of walk from the Vicinity office, and afterwards we went to pick apples at an orchard nearby. We did it all in about an hour during our lunch time. I remember that sunny autumn afternoon sitting outside in the industrial park next to the office, slowly looking all around to absorb the tranquility of the New England air. Everywhere was green, flat with rolling hills. As far as the eye could see.

I remember visiting Hanover where Darthmouth college sat at the end of the main downtown street. It only had 1 cinema, 1 chinese restaurant, 1 indian restaurant, 1 local bar which blasted music all evening, and a few stores. All this constituted downtown Hanover.

I remember my morning drive from the Norwich Inn on the Vermont side to the Vicinity office in Lebanon NH took less than 10 minutes. The morning rush hour freeways were empty, bright and free, the air in that early autumn morning crisp and pure.

When I finally left and returned back to Boston, my heart already ached for the small town flavor. And now, everytime I hear Massachusetts, it reminds me of that magical night drive through the 3 states, the colonial Inn, the gentle pace of life, the crisp cool air, and the vast expanse of the small states, on the other side of this magnificent country, so different from the west coast, and yet part of the same union. One day I will go back ...

I will remember Massachusetts ...
 

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