September 13th, 2006:

• Old Colony CI: So my host family was cool enough to come with me to our CI at Old Colony historical museum. Our project was to help to clean up the roads and weed the gardens/lawns so that the area could look more authentic to its period. Surprisingly, I was unable to participate in the CI WITH Rich and Susannah, as I was volunteered to partner up, by myself, with one of the employees to flatten gravel. Funny, everybody had a look of fear on their faces when he told me that I would be working with him alone. Apparently many weren’t sure I would survive. Thankfully, he was a very kind gentleman who works for Old Colony. He had been trained as an architect years ago, but found a passion for renovation.
• Soda Fountain: After surviving my CI alone, Rich and Susannah took me to an old style soda fountain. I remember my Mom telling me about these places, but I had thought that they were completely extinct. Apparently not. To celebrate, I had a “Black Cow”, which I used to drink all the time when Mom and I used to live in Newburyport. Fantastic.
• Ride in Rich’s 3000GT VR-4: This brought me back to being 13 years old. I was fascinated by this car back then, with its all wheel drive, all wheel steering, active spoilers, and other various toys. Who knew that many years later, while on a world tour, I’d be taken for a ride in one?