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Whales, mosquitoes and roe

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.

More than decorations

By Christine Haines

 

I am an avid collector of Christmas ornaments and I frequently give them as presents. I look for new ornaments every time I travel, that way each year as I celebrate Christmas I also get to reminisce about past vacations.

 

I have a whale on my tree from a trip to Cape Cod a few years ago that included an incredible whale watch and a visit to Plimouth Plantation (Plymouth, Mass.) The finback whales played around our boat for hours, turning our short cruise into an all-day excursion because the whales were too close for the captain to restart the engines.

I gave my niece Emily a replica of a 19^th century toy giraffe from the toy museum at Old Salem in North Carolina. When she was a pre-schooler someone told her she could be anything she wanted to be when she grew up. Being relatively short and highly imaginative, Emily said she wanted to be a giraffe. The toy museum, in addition to being a great place to find wonderful presents, is an amazing place dedicated to the playthings of the past. The intricacy of some of the old animated or mechanical toys can still fill a person with wonder.

On that trip I also picked up a delicate, folded paper Moravian star for my own tree. Old Salem was founded by a group of Moravians who had moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania. The restored historic village within the city of Winston-Salem is a gem for history buffs. I found it at least as interesting as Colonial Williamsburg, but without the crowds and commercialism.

More than 20 years ago I flew to Seattle with a friend and on that trip I found the most delicate wooden snowflake and an elegant lit rose. Even though it was early spring, flowers were in bloom everywhere I looked in Seattle, yet we found ourselves in a blinding snowstorm when we headed up Mount Rainier. (Don’t ignore the signs that say “Last chance for snow chain rental.”)

A scale model of the Susan Constant was added to our tree this year, commemorating the 400^th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown. Many of our vacations are spent volunteering for the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation in Virginia, so it also reminds us of our many good friends who work for the foundation.

A gumball machine (floor model) reminds me not of a vacation, but of the many trips to my grandmother’s house when I was a child. My grandfather, who had died long before I was born, had run a shoe shop and had a gumball machine that eventually ended up in the basement at my grandmother’s house. The ornament provides a connection for me to a man I never met, but whose history is part of my past as well.

An ornament of a black bear making a snow angel reminds me of the incredible man I married. I spotted the fanciful ornament on a summer trip to Snowshoe, W. Va., but had passed it by as being too expensive to justify buying for myself. I still have no idea how my husband, who I swear never left my side, managed to purchase it and hide it not only during our vacation, but for another five months until Christmas!

E-mail your travel memories and photos to chris@howyouspinit.com.

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