Recommended Places to Visit: Ipswich

Recreation

Water Bodies

Hood Pond
Boxford Road near Partridgeberry Place

Fruit Picking
Russell Orchards
143 Argilla Road

Museums
Wolf Hollow
114 Essex Road

Parks
Sawmill Point
~40 County Street


Beaches
Sandy Point State Reservation
End of Refuge Road

Pavilion Beach
Little Neck Road and Bayview Road

Hiking
Recommended:
Hamlin Reservation
~106 Argilla Road

Crane Estate
290 Argilla Road

Architecture

Monuments

Town Common
Market Street and North Main Street

Places of Worship

First Presbyterian Church
179 County Road

Linebrook Church
391 Linebrook Road

Our Lady of Hope Church
1 Pineswamp Road

Orthodox Church of St. John the Russian
16 Mount Pleasant Avenue

Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church
8 Lafayette Road

First Church of Christ, Scientist
15 North Main Street

United Methodist Church
31 North Main Street

Ascension Memorial Church
31 County Street

First Church in Ipswich
1 Meetinghouse Green

Schools
Ipswich High School
134 High Street

Town Facilities
Public Library
25 North Main Street


Historical Buildings
Old Polish Church

28 Topsfield Road

Commercial Buildings
Cable Gardens

126 County Road

Clam Box
246 High Street

Institution for Savings
2 Depot Square

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Western
Salt Kitchen and Rum Bar
1 Market Street
Recommended Dishes:
Pork Steamed Buns
Scallop Sausage
Marinated Flank Steak

Tried:
Western

Stone Soup Cafe
141 High Street
Recommended Dishes:
French Onion Soup
Breakfast Monster

Deli
Five Corners Cafe and Deli
0 Central Street
Recommended Dishes:
Beef and Boursin

July 19th 2015: Exploring Ipswich

In order to try to beat the crowd, we headed out early today to the Crane Estate in Ipswich, where the path we took to explore the area is shown below in pink.

I was here in the past for a wedding, and it was nice to check out some new areas as well.

Our original intention was to hike to Crane Beach, but as my friend was tired, we decided against it, heading back to our car and going to Russell Orchards nearby for some fruit picking.

We initially wanted to pick red currants,

but decided against it as they are too sour,

and it was the same for the black currants.

We did try some blackberries as well which were mostly yet to ripen,

but they were sour as well.

In the end, as we had to pay an entrance fee, we resorted to picking blueberries to justify the cost.

Pretty good crop of them, thankfully.

On the way back, we noticed that onions actually have pretty nice flowers. Never knew that.

From here, we headed to Pavilion Beach in town for a bit, as Crane Beach was already full of people. This kinda makes me wonder why they don't come here first, as parking is free as well. It is a little rocky though.

After the visit to the beach, I decided it was time for some food. I wanted to check out Salt Kitchen and Rum Bar in town, but as it only opens at 11.30am, we had some time to kill, so we visited Five Corners Cafe and Deli next door instead.

I got the Beef + Boursin (roast beef, boursin, tomatoes, lettuce, light rye) sandwich as a result,

which was actually pretty good, although the rye in the bread made it taste a little weird at times. I only ate half of it though, as I wanted to have space for the meal to come.

The bar restaurant itself has a pretty interesting menu, and we were spoilt for choice.

In the end, we went with the Pork Steamed Buns (pulled pork, kimchi, cucumber, hoisin),

the Scallop Sausage (roasted cream corn, pancetta and sage)

and the Marinated Flank Steak (sweet potato, apple hash with pancetta, roasted scallion Dijon aioli).

The buns were pretty good, although the buns were a little soggy. The sausage was a really interesting concept as well, and tasty with the corn. The steak was the best of all, with all the ingredients coming together very well. Glad we decided to check this place out.

After lunch, we went to Wolf Hollow in town, a non-profit organization committed to the conservation of wolves.

It was cool to be able to come up close with the animals themselves, and see how they interacted with each other,

as well as learn several interesting facts about them, like that there have only been 2 people killed by wolves in the past 100 years, even though they have been demonized by us in popular culture. I didn't know that it is the females who can't stand other females being in the same pack, and that they mate for life. In a pack, only the alpha pair is allowed to have offspring in order to control the population to avoid a lack of food resources as a result. It was also interesting to learn how they impact the ecosystem of any area they are in in a positive way, and that their disappearance from Massachusetts is the main reason for the proliferation of deer, and hence of lyme causing deer ticks. It was sad to learn that even though there are only 5000 wolves left in the wild, they are not being considered as endangered, and people are still allowed to hunt them.

What an interesting day in Ipswich, to say the least.

July 3rd 2015: Our First Day in Newburyport

After meeting up with our friends today, we headed to Newburyport, where we were to stay the weekend at the Essex Street Inn. Not bad, with a fireplace that can be turned on with a switch and warms up the room pretty quickly, and a jacuzzi as well.

After settling down, we went out into the downtown area for a walk,

Yankee Clipper Harbor Tours

where there were a lot of boats docked at the Waterfront Promenade Park.

We stepped into Port City Sandwich Company for a bite, with me getting the Rueben (Corned Beef, Swiss Cheese and sauerkraut with Russian dressing grilled on dark rye).

Not bad, although a little soggy at times.

After lunch at the park, we headed to Dolce Freddo Gelato for ice cream,

getting 2 big pints of Coconut and Black Raspberry, which were delicious

We then headed to Plum Island, going the long way down to Sandy Point State Reservation in Ipswich, where we were lucky enough to find parking.

On the left side, most of the beach was closed off for the piping plover nesting season, with rocks on the other side.

We headed to the right side instead, where I decided to go for a walk along the beach while my other friends frolicked in the water. It was a beautiful day by the beach to say the least,

and I spotted piping plovers and least terns as well.

A beautiful day in the Newburyport area to say the least.