Day Trip to Gloucester and Rockport

It's a rarity that Travis and I end up with a Saturday totally free, so when we do we love to take advantage of it!  Today, we decided to head off to two of our favorite sea-side towns on Boston's north shore - Gloucester and Rockport!  We were also itching to try out our new camera we got each other for our 6 year wedding anniversary, so this was a perfect opportunity.

We've been to Gloucester many times before, but had never been to Hammond Castle.  Hammond Castle was built by John Hays Hammond, Jr. in 1929 to serve both as his home and as a backdrop for his collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts.  It was a self-guided tour so we got to wander around at our own pace...so beautiful!

 

With a drawbridge, moat, and everything!

An old organ!  There were pipes all around the top of the room.

An amazing needlepoint!  (I'm pretty into needlepoint right now.)  :)

Then we headed into the town center.  There's a beach there that's a great spot to find seaglass, so we spent an hour or so there.  It's pretty easy to find clear and brown sea glass there since Gloucester is such a big fishing town.  This time I found a dark blue and orange piece (pretty rare)!

There's always some kind of festival going on in Gloucester during the summer, and this weekend was no different!  After dinner we went to the Cape Ann Brewery for dinner.

Then we headed 10 minutes down the road to Rockport, MA to walk around Bearskin Neck and climb out on the wall of rocks while the sun set.

Tomorrow we're off to Newburyport, MA!