When I was preparing for my road trip to see family up on Cape Ann, I couldn't find any lodging at all in Gloucester or Essex for the four nights I planned to stay there. (And I still haven't figured out why; no one up there had a clue either...) I wound up finding a room at the The Inn at Wylie Center (which I'd never heard of), on the grounds of Endicott College in Beverly.   It turned out to be quite the nice spot to stay, and handy to the areas I visited.   And nowheres near as expensive as some of the hotels I saw listed in Gloucester.

Entrance to the Inn

Fountain between the Inn and Tupper Manor, which is part of the Wylie Center.

A short path leads down from the back of Tupper Manor, shown here, to a small beach.

Beach view There was no one else around when I walked down here a couple of times.

Marsh view from the path down to the beach.

On Friday, Holly and Ed treated me to supper at Great Marsh Brewing in Essex. The dining area overlooks the Essex marsh.

On Saturday, our nephew Nathaniel and his wife Amanda put on a brunch party.   Twenty-two family members attended, from age 1 to 95!   I brought my drone and fully intended to get a group photo of everyone out in front of their house.   But with all those folks, I got so wrapped up in talking and catching up that I completely forget about taking any pics!   And apparently everyone else did too. Afterwards, some of us went over to Ben's; at least we thought to get a few pics with the remaining folks.

Half of the original brunch group

Roberts siblings I guess I can't call us kids anymore!

Visiting with my dad and Nancy My father is 95 years old.

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