Sunday, July 4, 2010

Rockport Gunkholing

On this spectacular July the Fourth, Mrs. Trashpaddler and I visited the coastal village of Rockport and paddled its rocky shores.  As the photo at left shows, the harbor was a little busier than usual.  Many of the sailboats were festooned with nautical flags.  The best boatname of the day was on this humble craft...
Once away from the confines of the harbor, we made landfall at one of our favorite coves...
With the right tide conditions, like we had today, this makes a nice spot for a swim and picnic.
Back onboard our boats we ventured out into Sandy Bay...
On our trip back to our launch site, we came across this young harbor seal at Bearskin Neck...
Not sure if it was injured or perhaps just taking a mid-day nap in preparation for the festivities scheduled for later in the day.
Trash recovered today consisted of only 1 empty bud bottle and 1 empty coke bottle.  Not worthy of a photograph.  However, this pile of old pallets assembled by the town's DPW was certainly worth a photo...
Rockport's July 4th tradition is for a late day parade to terminate near this pile and then once darkness has settled in, the Fire Dept. will put the flame to it for a grand bonfire.  Each year there is a different structure on the top of the pile.  Some years it's a small wooden boat.  This year it looks a bit like a privy.

2 comments:

Dixit et Fecit said...

Waltham used to have a bonfire in a field off South Street between the Buckle Factory and now Brandeis on the Brandeis side of the RR tracks. You went to more than one.
The one in the picture is small beside the Waltham one.

Al said...

Dixit et Fecit, I remember the "Mother of Bonfires" when Nuttings on the Charles caught fire. Several of my friends and I ran down there, arriving just in time to see the front facade collapse onto Prospect street.