Picture perfect

Finally after some starts and stops, we made it to Halibut Point State Park in Rockport. We've been thinking of going there for a while...and it was worth the wait. This place is gorgeous. It is tucked away on Rt. 127, about 6 miles from 128. Whenever I go to these state parks, I always get the sense that I am going to be the only one there because there is never anyone else on the road. But, when I get there the place is packed. This was no exception. We had to wait about 10 minutes to get in and even then, the parking lot was jammed packed. Lynn actually got out as we were waiting in traffic so she could go ahead and feed Erin.

Once Kevin and I got there, we parked and walked into the park area. You actually park across the street from the entrance and you have to walk about 1/8 of a mile though a nice wooded trail to the park area. And once you get there, you get this stunning view of the ocean and of a quarry. Overlooking it all is an old World War II fire tower (which is now the Visitor's Center) with bathrooms, etc. The quarry went out of business in 1929 and is now filled in with water. There are trails all around the quarry and you can then walk up to an area overlooking the ocean and/or walk down to the ocean whose "beach" is all rock. After eating lunch overlooking the quarry, we walked around the quarry and then up to the overlook (where a wedding was taking place) and then walked down to the rocks. For some reason, the color and location reminded me of a place Lynn and I visited on our honeymoon in Maui. It was so unique seeing the ocean without sand, just rocks to climb on. People were just sitting there taking it all in, it was really neat.

We spent a good 2-3 hours here and after we decided to grab dinner at a place called La Rosa's in Gloucester. The restaurant is owned by a former co-worker of mine at Sun Life. We worked together for a number of years and were pretty friendly so it was nice to see him. Since I left Sun Life in 2006 I haven't seen much of him but before, we would hang out at work and on special occasions (he came to my wedding, I went to his daughter's baptism, etc). He is an amazing cook and everything at his place is homemade. We got some garlic bread for an appetizer (which came with delicious homemade pasta sauce) and a half cheese/half buffalo tender pizza for dinner. He actually adds bacon to his buffalo tender pizza which gave it a nice taste. The pizza came with homemade blue cheese dressing which Lynn kept on fawning over. Lynn is a good cook so she is very fussy about restaurant food and was blown away by Terry's cooking, that says a lot. His place is located literally at the end of Rt. 128 in Gloucester (at the intersection with Rt. 127). If you're up that way, be sure to check it out.

A picture perfect Sunday - weather and all.