The Charles W. Morgan - built and launched in 1841 - is the last of an American whaling fleet that numbered more than 2,700 vessels over 150 years. In her 80 year whaling career, she embarked on 37 voyages. She was dubbed 'Lucky Ship" as she successfully navigated the crushing northern ice, hostile South Seas natives, countless storms, became a movie star, became derelict for some time, survived the 1938 hurricane but is now a fully refurbished Historic National Landmark at Mystic, CT a quaint New England shipping town. Several whaling ships and their crew weren't as 'lucky'. Some have found a home here in Mystic as a relic to the whaling history and some are still being used as training ships for those who aspire to become shippers one day. They even have a toy boat building area for tots (or perhaps more 'the parents') to exercise their creativity in boat building. A must see!
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Roger Williams, a visionary thinker on religious freedom, equal treatment of Native Americans, and founder of Rhode Island, made this area a haven for persecuted religious groups. He laid the groundwork for the ideas of liberty, equality, and the separation of church and state in the US Constitution. Today, we take this concept of freedom of religion for granted, but most people of his time condemned such ideas as naive and dangerous. Religious freedom and civil order could not coexist. But like that little train, Roger Williams persisted, founded Rhode Island and put his beliefs into practice, giving "shelter for persons distressed of conscience". As we walked the city streets of Providence we witnessed the culture of this religious tolerance and respect first hand. This respect was evidenced by a marquee we spotted from a Baptist Church recognizing Ramadan! Impressive! I personally have never seen (with the exception in my birth country of Indonesia) a Christian Church recognizing the holy month of Ramadan of the Muslim religion. If only more people in this world can follow this example and teachings of tolerance and respect. The mansions of Rhode Island - Misquamicut Other amazing sites of Rhode Island were its seashore and its mansions - of which Allan & I were shoo'd away from.... Funny story: We found lodging right on the beach in an overpriced little vacation hotel on an amazing stretch of beach. Once settled in and grumbling about the amenities in contrast to the price we paid, we went to the beach and spotted a light house in the distance. So we decided to hike towards it. Spotting beautiful mansions along the way and four miles later, tired and needing a drink, we spotted a huge spectacular building which we thought must be a hotel. The beach in front of this amazing structure was dotted with chairs and a cozy looking restaurant/bar eating type area under a large canopy. Ahah.. we thought, what a great place to rest, have a drink and some pupu's. So we thought.... We walked towards it, and as we're approaching the entrance a nice young lady came to us who we thought was a receptionist.... ooops...eratta... she was a security person letting us 'gently' know that we're not welcome there as this is a 'private party'. So Allan asked: OK, is there a restaurant inside we can go to? Her now stern comment, 'no sir, the entire facility is for a private party, the public is not allowed here'.... Hmmm, so I asked, 'what is the occasion? A wedding?' Her snide comment, 'that is priviliged information'.... OK... guess we're the peanut gallery... so we lingered a little trying to decide what to do next... Guess, we didn't move away fast enough as the young lady told us that the area we're at is reserved and we must move away.... Hmmmm... my sand is not your sand.. guess we don't belong here... so away we went..... The next day we drove to the same area to see what this special place was. It was a private club... FANCY......Check it out! Watch Hill That day, we never reached the Light House, as it was on a hill surrounded by rocks and we didn't wear the right shoes - so we decided to find it the next day! We found Watch Hill - aptly named for this light house. We walked through an exclusive mansion-lined neighborhood (where cars were not allowed & no photography) to reach the light house.
It was an interesting hike indeed! OK, we all heard about Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard as the places to go to catch some rays and frolic on the sand and sea. But do you really know Cape Cod? I didn't. I've never been here and of course I had to visit the place as all the 'rich & famous' always vacation in Cape Cod and the outlying islands, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Mother Nature did her best work here. This is the tale of how Cape Cod became the place she is today.
"On the morning of June 17, 1775, no one could have imagined the outcome of events later that day in Charlestown, MA. That afternoon, New England provincials, subjects of the king, stood up to the mighty British army for the first time in pitched battle."
Salem - the Witch Trials
The Pilgrims - Plymouth Rock & the Mayflower II I don't think I need to elaborate on the historical significance of Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower. Thus, I'm just going to show you some photos. One encounter worthy of mention is our convincing ways to obtain passage when we came across the very first church in Plymouth built nearly 400 years ago, also known as the National Memorial Pilgrim Church. During the time we arrived, the church was actually closed to the public. However, the front door was ajar and one of the parishioners was coming out as he thought that we were the staff who needed to set the church community center for some sort of event. When he told us that the church is closed, I played the 'most disappointed' tourist who traveled 'all the way from Hawaii' just to see this historical sight and whined that 'I probably won't ever have the chance to be here again'. Well, he actually stayed firm, but when Allan gave him his camera so that he can take a few inside pictures for us while we wait outside, he really felt sorry for us and..... we got a personal tour... WOO HOO! Capitalizing on the good humor of Jack's friend the Garage Owner in Tilghman Island, we left Gertrude a little longer than we originally planned when we flew back to CA for the kid's graduations. Instead of flying back to Baltimore, we flew to Boston.. hey they both start with a 'B' right... and they're both on the East Coast!!! :-) Anyways, we wanted to see all the famous and infamous places around the Boston area, NY City, Jersey and Rhode Island, and we thought that it wouldn't be advisable to drive Gertrude in these major cities and historic States. We were so right! We have decided that the Easterners must know they're way around very well, cuz the signage in these States is, well.... not so good... I guess as the old adage goes: If you must need directions or a road sign, you don't belong here!!! :-( The confusion already started after we landed at the Boston Logan Airport at 1:30 in the morning. We couldn't find the Hilton Hotel even though the hotel was attached to the airport! Hey, we didn't even know which terminal we landed at, to get our bearings on the airport map!!! And, no... the map didn't show the usual "YOU ARE HERE" spot! Argh! After walking through a maze of sky bridges, we found the hotel...just to get lost to try to find the registration desk! No exaggeration. This should have been an omen of further confusions to come. After a well deserved night's sleep, the hotel luckily had a shuttle to take us to the rental car agency. Good thing, cuz I really didn't want to roam around the airport again. The Boston tunnels - deserving a special 'anxiety' mention What an underground maze!!! Exiting the airport, we immediately found ourselves in the tunnels (yes, plural) of the city of Boston. No, it's not just tunnel in, tunnel out. It is tunnel in, and ... oh (expletive..expletive)... where the heck are all these cars and commercial trucks whizzing by coming from!! Oh, no... there are several tunnels merging and diverging and the signs.. where are they, aiiih.. they're not even lit.. no, no, no.. we have to go the the left, yikes we're in the wrong lane again! Which way??? Which way??? Oh, heck we're committed.... Let's just go to Salem and decompress with the witches. No we didn't get any pics from these tunnels. Finding the correct direction toward Salem was challenging enough. All throughout this state we had to resort to at least 3 navigational tools to get somewhat near to our destination. Our Garmin GPS, our Android Notepad (so we can check with Google maps since miss GPS is usually wrong) AND our conventional paper map as we don't have any signals in the tunnels!!! Aiiiih And this with a little car, no less. Can you imagine the anxiety levels we both would have if we did this with Gertrude? Ay ya yai...
and, of course.... family & friends!
Enough of the blood and guts and gore of all these Civil War battles, and the heartbreaking stories of the victims from 9/11 Flight UA 93. Let's lift our moods a little. The Amish Country in the heart of Pennsylvania is full of bliss, rolling hills, farms, and lots of horse buggies. Time stood still and nature is at peace here. The Amish are very private people, so we were only able to take some impromptu snapshots. But we did have the opportunity to tour a farm. Check it out. Gettysburg - A silent tribute A lesson in the American Civil War is not complete until one has visited Gettysburg. More men fell during the Battle of Gettysburg than in any other battle on American soil, before or since. Today, the most tangible connection to those three fateful days in July, 1863, is the preserved battlefield and the Seminary Ridge Museum, where many soldiers were treated, some loosing limbs, others their lives. Today, the hills, fences, rocks, cannons and the monuments give us pause, an opportunity to reflect and understand what happened here. Some of the exhibits at the Seminary museum were so graphic that I couldn't bear look at them. It is with heavy heart that I present you our photos so that you too may see a glimpse of this battlefield, and remember that the price of Freedom is extremely high. May we always cherish and remember our soldiers who sacrificed and struggled here, and the men and women who still fight for our freedom every day. Let us respect the freedom we now have and regard the eloquent speech of President Lincoln. The Gettysburg Address gave meaning to the struggles and stated that the war would lead to a "new birth of freedom" for this nation. Let's not mess up this country of ours anymore than it already is. Give your Vet a hug and say "Thank You" to the next service man/woman you meet in your travels! We don't want to repeat history! Flight 93 - a terrorist attack September 11, 2001, morning: Four commercial airliners are hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists in a planned attack against us. Two are flown into the World Trade Center's twin towers in NY City. A third is flown into the Pentagon in Arlington, VA. A fourth, UA Flt 93, a Boing 757 bound from Newark, NJ for SF, CA is delayed 25 minutes before takeoff. Just before 10 am a plane is seen flying low and erratically over southwestern PA, At 10:03 it crashes, upside-down, at 563 mph into this Somerset County field. There are no survivors. All 33 passengers, 7 crew members, and 4 hijackers are killed. Again, we're reminded that our freedom, too often, hangs by a thin thread. Amazingly, as in this incident, everyday people got up and sacrificed their own life for the greater good. The museum had the voice recordings of the ongoings in the cockpit and some of the passengers and flight crew called their loved ones. Their voice messages were preserved and can be heard. It was so terribly heartbreaking to hear these voices knowing that the next few minutes will be their last, and they are still trying to reassure their loved ones that they are OK. One lady gave instructions to her deposit box so that her affairs can be dealt with. Heartbreaking! ".......when bullets are cracking skulls like eggshells, the consuming passion..... is to get out of the way!" Union Pvt. David L. Thompson Of nearly 100,000 soldiers engaged in battle, about 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing. Late on September 18, 1862, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee forded the Potomac to Virginia. The Union Army held the field. |
Talk Story
Allan & Sri, Where we are now:
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