Pilgrims, Patriots, & Politics!
August 19-26, 2022
This was actually our second trip to the Plymouth/Boston area. In 1996, we did an east coast vacation in our pop-up camper. Brandon was twelve years old, Lauren was ten, and Maggie was five. It is one of our favorite family vacations! When Lauren saw we were heading there again, she thought it was time she and Adam brought Emma and Eli to visit Massachusetts! It was beyond incredible to have Lauren, Adam, Emma and Eli join us for this next trip to the area!
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| Anna's Harborside Grille |
As luck would have it, Captain John Boats is still in business and we were able to book a cruise with the same company that we did 26 years ago! Once again, Captain John did not disappoint! We saw humpback whales (sometimes three at a time!), fin whales, a mola mola and many dolphins during our four-hour cruise! It was pretty cool to be taking the same whale watch cruise with two of our grandchildren that we did with our children so many years ago!
While we were in Plymouth, we also took in Plymouth Rock and toured the Mayflower II. Unlike 26 years ago, the tour didn’t included characters in costume aboard the ship, but it was still fun for Emma and Eli to see what life on the Mayflower was like. With the overall length of the ship being 106 feet, it was difficult to imagine 102 passengers surviving the 66-day voyage from England. Since the passengers were the “cargo”, they had to live in the dark, cold cargo area below the crew’s quarters.
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| Plymouth's Tavern on the Wharf |
Boston’s Freedom trail was another big attraction we enjoyed together! Boston has done an amazing job of preserving the sites of the beginning of our country’s fight for independence. Most of the trail is marked with red bricks imbedded into the sidewalk. Where the bricks didn’t work, a red line is painted on the walk. Following the red trail throughout the historic district is nothing less than fascinating! If you weren’t into history before this experience, you will be afterwards!
As fascinating as the history was, our appetites were making themselves known about the time we wandered past Little Italy. There, Adam found Regina Pizza and we devoured some of the best pizza of my life! In fact, while we were waiting for our pizza, the family at the table next to us shared that they drive here every Sunday, claiming this to be the best pizza in the States.
With happy tummies, we continued following the red line past the sites we read about in history books. We saw the Old North Church, made famous with the “one if by land and two if by sea” lanterns that were hung in its steeple windows. We toured Paul Revere’s home, Bunker Hill, Copp's Hill Cemetery and the USS Constitution! It was a fun and interesting day!
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| Copp's Hill Cemetery - Boston Tea Party participant |
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| Bunker Hill Monument |
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| Old North Church |
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| Old North Church's Pew Boxes |
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| "The Regulars are out!" (what Paul Revere REALLY warned) |
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| Paul Revere's home |
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| USS Constitution with Emma at the helm! |
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| Sleeping hammocks for the sailors fighting in the War of 1812 onboard the USS Constitution |
With the start of school quickly approaching and work responsibilities calling, Lauren’s family headed back to Minneapolis while we continued our explorations. Saying goodbye was tough. It most likely will be June before we see them again.
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| JFK's Oval Office |
Touring the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California a year ago lit a passion in us to tour other presidential libraries. Boston is home to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and we had a rainy day to deal with, so off to the library we went! Having been only six years old when J.F. Kennedy was assassinated, it was interesting to learn details about his path into politics, his campaign, inauguration, and the accomplishments he made during his short time in office. This included the space program, Cuban missile crisis, and civil rights movement. The Vietnam War was certainly part of all of this, but it’s hard to call anything associated with Vietnam an accomplishment.
I particularly loved listening to Kennedy’s inauguration speech and his famous words:
“And so, my fellow American’s: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessings and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”
Oh, to have only known this man!
It was remarkable to watch the video of Kennedy talking to the people of Berlin in front of the Berlin Wall where he paid tribute to the Berliners’ spirit and their quest for freedom. Included in the museum is a section of the Berlin wall that had been erected during Kennedy’s term in office. It was interesting to note the graffiti on the west side of the wall and the stark lack of graffiti on the east side of the wall due to the fact nobody could approach it from that side. Graffiti isn’t a good thing, but the lack of paint certainly lends testimony to the dark and stifling life the people of East Berlin lived in.
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| The mirror in the upper right reveals the back of the Berlin wall |
The visit to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum ends in a giant, glass pavilion, giving you a stunning view of the sea that President Kennedy loved. Just to bring this home a little more, sitting on the lawn between the pavilion and Boston Harbor is JFK’s beloved Victura. It wasn’t hard to picture JFK sailing Victura as you gazed at the boat with the harbor just beyond.
The campground we stayed at was called Gateway to Cape Cod. It is about an hour south of Boston and thirty minutes west of the Cape. We took the campground’s name as an invitation to spend the rest of our time exploring Cape Cod!
I have always seen photos of cranberry bogs, but hadn’t really bothered to investigate the cranberry industry. With cranberries being Massachusetts’ major agricultural product, here was our opportunity to learn a little! Random fact: cranberries are one of only three major fruits that are native to North America!
We were really hoping to tour a cranberry farm; however, our timing was just a little off. In another month, the tours will be beginning as the harvest season starts. We learned the process of flooding the fields to harvest the ripe cranberries was accidentally discovered when a storm hit at harvest time and flooded the fields, causing all of the ripe berries to float. They still “dry harvest” cranberries to be sold fresh; however, most of the cranberries are “wet harvested”. Cranberry bogs were certainly not hard to find! Driving through the area, you find them everywhere. Cape Cod in particular is known for its cranberry production!
In doing a little reading, Dick discovered the Cape Cod Rail Trail. The entire trail is over 25 miles long, extending from South Dennis to Wellfleet. We picked it up at Harwich and rode it for ten miles before turning around. It was fun riding past cranberry bogs, lakes and through the forested region of the Cape.
Along the way, we discovered Cobie’s! Cobie’s has been in operation for 75 years, serving seafood, burgers, hotdogs, french fries and ice cream! All of the locals know it, so you know it’s got to be good! We couldn’t help indulging ourselves in a lobster roll while visiting the cape. Different from Maine, the hot lobster roll at Cobie’s was not only covered in hot butter, but the lobster meat was hot too! Dick really enjoyed this; however, I stuck to the classic cold with a light dressing of mayo!
No trip to the Cape is complete without a visit to Hyannis Port to catch a glimpse of the Kennedy Home. There is no access to the house from the street; however, if you take a little stroll down the beach, you can’t help but find it! What a magnificent home!
A trip to Provincetown also seemed like a “must do” when you visit the Cape. This quirky town is quite the experience! First there is its history! This was actually the first place the Pilgrims landed when they finally saw land after their 66-day voyage. They stayed here for five weeks, scouting out the area before deciding the land was too sandy to be able to grow the crops needed for a settlement. A monument was erected in 1910 commemorating Provincetown as the first landing place of the Pilgrims. I think they were getting a little jealous of the attention Plymouth was getting!
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| Where the Pilgrims first landed |
P-town proudly boasts its LGBTQIA+ friendliness. It is well known as a location loving and accepting of everyone! We enjoyed strolling the busy streets, stopping for some of the best ice-cream we’ve ever eaten and heading for the beach before we began our trip off the tip of Cape Cod.
Our final destination in the Cape was to the town of Sandwich. Sandwich is one of the first towns you reach when you arrive on the Cape. Sandwich is a small town with a population of 3,006 in 2022. We stopped here mainly to visit their Heritage Museums and Gardens. Here we found a huge collection of not only hydrangea plants but surprisingly -- automobiles! J.K. Lilly III collected automobiles and they are now a part of Heritage! We saw everything from one of the first “horseless carriages” to President Taft’s steam-powered car! It was a pretty fascinating museum to tour. We hadn’t realized that, when cars were first developing, there were electric cars, steam cars as well as gas-powered cars. Too bad that electric thing didn’t work out way back then!
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| President William Howard Taft's steam-powered car |
Sandwich is also known for its boardwalk. The boardwalk is rated among the top ten boardwalks in the States, so we thought we should take a post lunch stroll on it! Our stroll didn’t last long as a storm had done some damage to it and a portion of it is waiting to be put back together! Well, we enjoyed what we did see!
Life on Cape Cod looks charming. It certainly became a tourist destination in the mid 1950’s and continues to be a favorite vacation destination today! It’s easy to see why!
Next up: Rhode Island!
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