A busy holiday weekend
So I didn’t go fishing at all. I’m disappointed because I really wanted to go. Truth be told, I didn’t want to take the kids my first time out like this. I felt fairly certain I would screw something up and it would have been nice to have a “dry run” before show the kids how to fish. Still, I would have been fine with taking one with me.
So, all day Saturday I worked. On Sunday morning we got everyone moving and headed down to Plymouth. I was still sore and tired from the day before and didn’t feel like arguing about fishing. I also didn’t (and still don’t) want to disappoint whichever kids didn’t come with me. So, I didn’t push to go early on Sunday morning. Instead we went to Plymouth.
It was a good trip. On the way down, despite having had some motion-sickness medicine Chloe’s lips turned pale and she got a sickly look about her. We keep a small bucket next to her seat for just such on occasion, but we pulled over anyway. The kids got to play in a McDonald’s playland and had a good time. The weather was perfect! That was only a few miles shy of Plimoth Plantation (http://www.plimothplanation.org) so after a brief leg-stretching and snack we got under way again.
Plimoth Plantation was busy by 11am when we arrived. Because of our membership we were able to skip the lines though. We went to the Indian village first and talked with some native Americans. Turns out they really do (or did) plant a fish in each mound of maize! The natives are there just to talk about their lives and they don’t pretend to be from the year 1627 like the settlers do. That is, if you go to the recreated village of Plymouth all of the residents speak in an authentic English accent from 1627 and use their vocabulary — with greater and lesser degrees of success. I think the Indians don’t feel that’s necessary and prefer not to go that route.
There were several tour buses there with groups from Japan and Russia. The kids visited with the livestock and peeked in houses to see what the women were up to. I don’t think Chloe quite understands what’s going on because she always talks with them like they’re modern people. She introduced herself and explained that we were on a little vacation and she has some older brothers and that we were staying in a hotel with a swimming pool. The actors were very cooperative and kind to her. In fact, most of them introduced her to what they were doing by inviting her to participate. They put her to work grinding corn into meal and weeding a garden and making goat cheese. She had a wonderful time.
Gabriel met an actor who was carving a yoke that would be used to carry buckets of water. He tried the yoke on each child and they liked it! A short while later Liz looked over and saw Gabriel rubbing a rock against a piece of wood. When asked what he was doing he replied that he was carving a yoke like the settler. But because he’s not allowed to have anything sharp he had to use a rock. It was a cute idea.
For me the highpoint is always the views from the fort. You can get a great look at the harbor in Plymouth from there. Liz picked up some souvenirs from the gift shop. Grace wandered in to some tall grass and complained that she was “stuck”. The kids tried to lead her down the hill and out of the grass but she wouldn’t have it. Apparently she was VERY stuck. She reminded us of Kerry Ingalls from the beginning of the “Little House on the Prairie” TV show. It was pretty cute. A short while later we found a wide open grassy knoll that had recently been mowed. It had one steep side that the kids rolled down. Over and over again.
They always have a good time when we go there. I don’t find you can spend a whole day there, but its easy to spend a few hours visiting and poking around. Around lunchtime we went to our hotel in Plymouth. It was about this time that I was thinking it would have been really handy to have gotten directions to the hotel, but I figured I could probably find it. It turned out that luck was with us, because we found it right away. It was as easy as falling off a log!
We had Lunch at the hotel. Grace was sleeping, so Liz stayed in the van with her. I ordered a chicken club to go for her and brought it out to her after a short delay. Me and the kids had a good lunch and reviewed our tourist-options for the town. I wanted to make sure I saw Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II, a reproduction of a 181-ton merchant ship from the time. There was also a place called “Burial Hill” and a 300 year old Unitarian Universalist church made of ancient stones. I also knew of a Mexican restaurant that I liked and wanted to visit.
After lunch we checked in and immediately went swimming. The three oldest were able to swim unattended while Grace got undivided attention from me and/or Liz. There’s a large spiral-shaped waterslide that dominates the large swimming pool. In the center of it is a small island with a hot tub. All in all, it was a fun place to spend an hour or so.
After that we got ourselves washed and dressed and headed out for a little walk. We discovered a great little park with an idyllic stream running through it. Signs indicated that its got herring and I saw a fish ladder to one side of an old grist mill. There were lots of flowers and the grass was cut short. The whole thing was in a narrow deep valley. It was very cozy and unexpected! There were lots of statues and well tended flower gardens.
After a brief walk around downtown we ducked in to Sam Diego’s Mexican restaurant for a fine meal. On the way back to the hotel it seemed like there was a plaque on every surface that could support one! Plymouth is a VERY historic town! Back at the hotel it was time for some quiet rest. The kids watched some TV and played some video games that were available in the hotel. We talked a little about our day. It was nice!
The next day was memorial day. The kids woke up at 8am and after some breakfast and a brief walk we took another dip in the pool. In fact, after we got home we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was and they all said that it was swimming in the pool. What was their least favorite part?
Getting out of the pool.
After we checked out we watched a parade go by. That was fun. We investigated “Burial Hill” for about half an hour. Liz is already making plans for going back and performing a closer inspection of the stones. We walked down the hill to the harbor where the H.M.S Bounty was docked near the Mayflower II. There were lots of tourists and touristy shops and restaurants. We toured the Mayflower II - that was interesting. While Liz was perusing a gift shop me and the kids got a closer look at the place where the first Pilgrims are said to have stepped off the boat and on to American soil: Plymouth Rock.
Sure enough: its a rock.
There’s no direct evidence that they actually stepped on the rock or anything. In the early 1700’s an old man who knew some of the original Pilgrims referred anecdotally to the rock and told the story. So nobody really knows if its the exact location, but I guess it doesn’t matter much. Its the symbolism that’s important.
Finally we got some lunch. Grace was running out of goodness, so I took her for a little walk back to the van where I discovered that the battery was dead. It was disappointing, but not a disaster. I called AAA and in about 45 minutes we were on our way. The return trip only took about 45 or 50 minutes.
I was pretty tired by the time we got home and after we got settled it was already 3pm. So I didn’t feel like trying to work in any fishing. So, although I didn’t get to do the one thing I really wanted, at least it was a productive and enjoyable weekend. I made another slide show, similar to the others.
You can view it here: mms://www.blogrilla.com/Plymouth.wmv
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