Today we touched on three states: Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The weather was extremely wet and windy, but we intrepid travelers managed to get some sightseeing in before dark. I must say, though, that I’ve noticed in the last several days that the sky seems to start darkening around 3:00 in the afternoon. It may not be completely dark till 5:00, but it does make for some rather dismal pictures.
Boston, MA from a lower ramp on the highway. The ramp division reminded me of driving through Seattle, WA.
Coming into the city, we drove under this bridge suspension.
Then we burrowed down under the city for most of the way through it.
When we came out of the tunnel we were looking at the southern part of Boston.
We arrived at our KOA campground in Middleborough, Massachusetts and quickly got set up. Then we jumped in the truck to do some sightseeing.
I found this leaf in our site…the first indication I’ve had of what the autumn colors must have looked like a month ago.
Our campground is only about a fifteen-minute drive from Plymouth, MA.
Mark next to Plymouth Bay
The monument over Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock. Somehow, I had always envisioned it being bigger!
There was a sign nearby that explained the history of Plymouth Rock. Apparently, there are no records from the Pilgrims that they stepped onto Plymouth Rock when they first landed. Instead, in the early 1700’s, a man who said he’d known some of the Pilgrims, said that they told him they had stepped on Plymouth Rock. I get the impression that it’s possible he said this to save the rock from being buried. When it sounded like the rock had historical value, they cut the top half of the rock off and carried it further inland. Later, the current monument was built and the top and bottom halves of the rock were put back together. The sign said that regardless of whether the rock has any historical value, it has symbolic value and has been preserved as such.
Within sight of Plymouth Rock is the Mayflower II — a replica of the original Mayflower. Apparently this replica was sailed across the Atlantic and back in 1957. It was difficult for me to get this shot without my lens becoming covered with raindrops.
The little cottage next to the Mayflower II is a gift shop where we ducked in to get out of the rain.
As we were wandering around the gift shop, Mark was reminded that he is supposed to be a descendent of William Bradford, and there is also a Fuller family on the passenger list. I jokingly said, “If these Fullers are also related to you, you could be related to yourself!” We bought a booklet that gives brief histories of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in the hopes of learning something more of his connections to them.
We asked the saleslady in the gift shop if she had any recommendations for a place to get dinner. She told us about Woods Fish Market on the wharf and said, “You can’t get any more fresh than at a fish market!”
You can see how close the restaurant is to the Mayflower II. I took this shot through our window and you can see the masts of the Mayflower II in the background.
With fishing vessels right outside our window, I had the feeling that the seafood at this restaurant was, indeed, very fresh.
If you look closely at this picture, you can see that the rain is blowing sideways!
I had baked salmon, and I told Mark that I don’t think I’ve ever had such delicious salmon. I don’t know if it’s the way they prepared it or if it has something to do with being from the Atlantic, but I do believe it was the best salmon I’ve ever eaten!
Mark had a lobster salad. As you can see, they didn’t put a lot of money into the dishes or silverware, but at market value, Mark’s lobster salad was only about $16 — a pretty good deal from what I was expecting!
I had this e-mail update from my mother today:
Hi, All–Since my earlier email, the Vets are finally coming through with treatment for Cal. They are awaiting Cal’s primary Vet doc forwarding all of the reports we hand-delivered to her office in Vancouver and when they have rec’d them, they will give us a call and tell us when his appt is. He will be receiving his treatments at OHSU on the hill, but much preferred to driving to Vancouver. I cancelled his appt. for tomorrow at St. Vincent’s with a bit of sadness, as I was hoping for the more direct route to his 5-day/week treatments.