By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Sponsored by the Friends of the Tewksbury Public Library, Dover Town Library shared an online event, ‘The Adventures of Two Grannies on the Road,’ starring Beth Sobiloff and Marcia Rothwell. These two adventurous grannies travel around Massachusetts to try an array of different things within each town. Their current mission is to travel to every city in Massachusetts and so far they have hit 54 cities which means they have 297 left in order to hit the total of 351 cities in Massachusetts.
Beth and Marcia reflected on their time thus far and highlighted all of their favorite spots. They have visited a variety of different attractions including restaurants, statues, historic buildings, llamas, farms, libraries, museums, mountains, sausage factories, and many, many ice cream shops.
Beth is the founder of ‘Two Grannies on the Road,’ which started back in 2010. There were actually two other grannies that tagged along with her before Marcia joined the duo. Beth is in charge of all filming and editing, while Marcia prepares the itinerary for their upcoming trips.
When it comes time to pick a new city to go to, Marcia will get recommendations from the local citizens through their town’s Facebook page. The top suggestions are where they usually go, although there have been times where they find hidden gems even the local townspeople did not know about.
A big question they commonly get asked is why they do this. In response to this, Beth stated, “For one thing, it keeps us physically and mentally active. I think that is very important when you are in the aging process and to be able to keep up with things and not get sick or go downhill. We are always learning new things. One of the biggest things that we both love is that we meet so many great, new people. Every town we meet the nicest people. We also love sharing the hidden treasures around the state. We don’t just go to the tourist spots, we find the hidden treasures that a lot of times only the people in town know about or maybe they don’t even know. We like to encourage people to go out and explore and it’s not hard to go to the next town or four towns over even and spend the day.”
Overall, these upbeat grannies want to inspire others to pursue their dreams no matter what age they are, debunk ageism, and encourage a healthy way to aging. In the wise words of Beth, “If people see two old ladies are really having fun and living life to the fullest and not letting the aging process stop us from doing things that we really want to do, then you can do it too.”
‘Two Grannies on the Road’ will conduct their next stop in Falmouth, MA this summer. They have yet to visit Dover but hopefully will soon! For more information on these lovely ladies and their journey, please visit www.twogranniesontheroad.com. They are always looking for more grannies to join their group!
