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ACUSHNET — A Massachusetts grandmother has a goal of visiting all 351 counties, towns and cities in the commonwealth. Last week, Acushnet marked her 31st trip.
"People were so nice to us. We had such a great time," said Beth Sobiloff, 72, creator of "Two Grannies on the Road" which is also a television show on Youtube and Plymouth-area public access television.
Sobiloff, who brings along a guest grandma (this time Louisa Clerici), traveled to Acushnet to visit several spots and learn all about its history.
The first stop was a Rochelle's Restaurant for breakfast, where they tried homemade muffins and cheese bread. "Their food was awesome," Sobiloff said.
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The restaurant had a big sign over the kitchen that welcomed the grannies. "Everybody wanted to take pictures with us," Sobiloff said, laughing. "It was just really fun and sweet."
Learning all about Acushnet
Their next stop was at Acushnet Creamery, where owners Doug and Donna Coray showed them how to make cookie dough ice cream.
The grannies also visited the Long Plain Museum to chat with two members of the historical society as well as the 9/11 memorial, the Acushnet Library, Friend's Meeting House and the old White's Factory ruins on Hamlin Street.
The duo also visited Cafe Rescue, a coffee truck that donates proceeds to a local Acushnet animal shelter, and had lunch at Captain's Place.
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"The food was to die for," praised Sobiloff, who ordered the sautéed sea bass and kale soup. They also tried the flan for dessert.
"I've never had flan like this in my life. It was a huge piece really high, like twice the size of cheesecake high," she added. "And the caramel sauce was just beautiful."
She also tried another dessert referred to as "grandma's pudding," which was vanilla pudding with a crushed-up Portuguese cookie.
They ended their day earlier because of the rainy weather and their super full stomachs.
"We couldn't eat another bite. We were so full," she joked.
How the grannies hit the road
Sobiloff said she developed the concept for "Two Grannies on the Road" almost 11 years ago while running her own website-building business but desperately wanting to travel a well.
"I hadn't ever taken a vacation because when you work for yourself, you don't take vacations a lot of times," she said.
Sobiloff said she always wanted to go across the country with her kids. However, she couldn't afford to put her business on hold for more than a few days.
"It soon became, 'What can I do for fun locally?'" she added.
At the time, she was single and didn't want to do it alone. So, she invited another grandma for the adventure.
How it became a TV show
Years later, she thought about a concept for a television series interviewing baby boomers who had reinvented themselves — to tell their stories to inspire others to live their dreams no matter their age.
"A lot of times they're retiring and then they want to do something else," she said.
The TV show soon transformed into the concept of traveling to all 351 counties, towns and cities in Massachusetts and meeting others similar in age along the way.
Sobiloff was accompanied by "guest grannies" for a while until she was joined by grandmother of 13, Debbie Thelen.
They visited towns such as Spencer, Marshfield, Hull, Carver and Marion as well as cities like Worcester and New Bedford.
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So far experiences having included King Richard's Faire, attending the Herring Festival, observing a Titus (turtle) release, seeing a Polar Bear Plunge, going on a whale watch and tasting all sorts of different foods at several restaurants.
"It's just absolutely amazing. You just don't know these things and until you do something like this, and you find these little hidden gems and once in a life-time experiences," Sobiloff said.
Recently, Sobiloff's "ride or die" grandma Thelen moved to Florida to be near her daughter. Now Sobiloff is back to bringing guests on the road with her.
Next, she has plans to visit Chelmsford, Hubbardston, North Andover and Fairhaven.
"I'm a 72-year-old grandmother who can still have fun, too," Sobiloff said. "And we do this because we love the adventure, we like to explore new places and learn about the history, and then share it with people through our show.
"I hope it inspires other people to think that way as well and go out and explore their local areas."
Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Two Grannies on the Road film television series in Acushnet
