A few years ago we took a July vacation to Plymouth, Massachusetts. I had spent time in New England 25 years earlier when my sister lived in Boston, and had found the Plimoth Plantation historic site fascinating, years before I started reenacting myself.
Unlike many other recreated historic villages, all of the costumed role players at Plimoth Plantation give first-person impressions, meaning they are representing actual people who had settled in Plimoth, and while they may freely discuss events of their past, everything beyond that is in their future. These are not scripted actors, but people who have learned their character’s history, as well as the history of the time period. They will speak to you in Elizabethan English and will present the views of their day, not modern American philosophy.
It was close to 100 degrees the day we visited, so life was moving slowly and could mostly be found in the shade. The coolness of the creamery one woman had insisted her husband build in her New World home was welcome.
The breeze on the water when we went on a whale watch a few days later was even more welcome.
With prime spots along the rail in the bow of the tour boat, we were able to get some nice photos when the humpback and finback whales came along side the vessel. I’ve always wanted to see whales in the wild, and the trip certainly provided that! Our four-hour trip was extended to at least six hours when two of the finback whales refused to leave the side of the boat. They dove under the boat, swimming from side to side, giving everyone aboard some excellent views as they dove, raising their tail flukes high out of the water.
We spent one day just driving around the area and came across a state park that looked like it had a fairly level, shady hiking trail. The trail went around a cranberry bog so it seemed like something we should add to a New England vacation. The trail was gentle, mostly covered with pine needles and easy to hike, but we ended up being lunch for about 100 mosquitoes that apparently had been craving fresh people.
Our own dining experiences were more pleasant, though casual was definitely in when it came to fantastic food deals. On our way into Plymouth we passed a teensy tiny Thai restaurant with inexpensive but tasty food. (Yes, you can eat at the restaurant, but you’ll be dining al fresco at a picnic table in the family’s garden.) A lobster shack in the center of town with a cafeteria-like ordering process yielded a dinner for two for about $20. (The key there is to get the regular lobster dinner and order an extra lobster with it, plus any additional side dishes a la carte.)
One tip: take the time to read the article on how to eat a whole lobster found in the tourist booklet in the hotel rooms….I read it after our lobster dinner and learned that the icky looking red stuff I threw away was actually lobster roe, a caviar-like delicacy.
