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Just a couple miles up the road from Louis’ Lunch we stopped at the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, CT.  http://www.eliwhitney.org

This is a great stop! IF you are an elementary age student. Two busses of school kids were having a great time.  First they saw a presentation about inventing things. Then they moved to the wood ship where they built model canal boats. They they moved to the water park where they played with exhibits that helped them learn such things as how water wheels and canal locks work.

They were in the water park when we arrived and gathering up their stuff to leave when we left. We were there, oh maybe, ten minutes. If you want to enjoy this place, you really need to be a kid.

TTYL,

Linda

An email from a friend (Hi, George) told us we were near the place where the first hamburger sandwich was served.  http://www.louislunch.com/

The place is only open a few hours per day a few days per week so we were amazed that we managed to fit it into our schedule but fit it in we did.

This sign says it all:

They serve hamburgers. Period. You can have cheese, tomato and/or onion on it. Period. There is no catsup, mustard or pickles to be seen. You can have potato salad or one of several flavors of chips which come in a bag. You can have pie. Today’s choices were apple or Oreo cream pie. You can have your choice of several beverages. Our Diet Pepsi came in the can; we shared one and took the other, unopened, with us. The burgers are cooked medium rare unless you specify otherwise and they are served on toast.

The “Maestro” who cooks the hamburgers is a direct descendant of the founder and he had fun with the fact that I wanted my pie before my burger. No “clean your plate or you can’t have desert for me!”

As you can see the place is tiny. Come early if you want a seat. We shared the one big table, seats eight with two per side, with several other people who came and went while we were there.

You can tell the tourists from the regulars. We tourists gawk and take pictures and take a long time to order from even such a simple menu. The regulars call ahead to place their order or come in and call out, “Cheese works” then (about 20 minutes later) grab their portable lunch and go back to work. It’s not wonderful food but it is a wonderful experience. If you are ever in New Haven, CT, at the right time of the right day you might want to stop by. Metered parking right across the street was available when we were there yesterday.

TTYL,

Linda

Driving in Massachusetts.

Which some of our friends call Taxachusetts since they tax nearly everything. But, they obviously spend a lot of those taxes on roads. The state had the best freeways we’ve ever driven.  All the ones we drove were smooth asphalt with no potholes. It was a pleasure to drive there.

At least it would have been if not for the Massachusetts drivers. Which our daughter and her friends in Maine call Massholes. They all drive as if they have the right of way at all times. Coming down a ramp onto a freeway? Not a problem. Just keep coming at whatever speed suits you. Never mind that there is a big motorhome towing a car in the space you are headed for which has no room to change lanes; just keep coming anyway. We had so many near misses I almost had to change my underwear and my jaw hurts from clenching my teeth.

And it’s not just on the freeways. Right turn on a red light? No problem. Just do it. We actually had one driver honk at us because we stopped before making our right turn.

We enjoyed a lot of things in Massachusetts but I’m glad to be out of there. Just driving across the state line into Rhode Island made a huge difference. People on the freeway ramps actually adjusted their speed to that on the freeway. Whew!

TTYL,

Linda

When I began researching the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park I got very confused. Was it a national park? Was it a whaling museum? Were those the same place? If so, why did it have two different street addresses?

It turns out the “Park” is an historic district of several blocks with several buildings officially part of the park but not all owned by the National Park System. The National Park System owns a visitor center with free exhibits and a film. Kitty Corner across the street from the NP Visitor Center is the Whaling Museum with it’s exhibits and films but my National Parks pass is not honored there.

We went only to those two buildings. By the time we did that our brains were on overload so we skipped the other buildings. We might have made an effort to see the church known as Seamen’s Bethel, a.k.a the Whaleman’s Chapel in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, but it was closed to the public today as it often is on weekends for weddings, baptisms, funerals, and memorial services.

We didn’t take a lot of pictures today because there was just too much to photograph it all but here’s a small sampling of what we saw.

The below deck section is the part of a whaling ship in which the ordinary seamen slept. Even I had to duck to get in there and the bunks were too short for me to stretch out in. The sides were higher than the mattresses so you wouldn’t roll out of bed in rough weather. I’d be badly bruised, though.

When a whale was sighted, you were expected to get into one of these boats with seven other seamen and go catch a whale whose skeleton was bigger than your boat.

If the harpooner did his job right, the whale would then take you for a wild ride before it died. Then you hauled the dead whale back to the ship for processing. The products it was turned into depended on where and when you caught your whale.

Personally, I’ve never been that fond of fishing.

TTYL,

Linda

For two years we traveled in a house that moves. Now we are coming to realize we live in a house that can travel. That difference is huge.

When one lives in a house, even when one is retired, he does not go sightseeing every day. There are days for doing chores and days for just being as well as days for playing. We can stay in one place for a week or more and have enough time to catch up with ourselves. We can do more in depth study of places we’d like to go thus making better plans. That causes my stress levels to drop rather dramatically. And my knees prefer a day of rest between museum trips. Plus, if we give ourselves permission to really slow down, we might be able to plan better meals and have the energy to cook them. Wouldn’t that be good?

Now, if winter will just hold off long enough to let us see the best sights without having to scurry south. It helps that the further south we go the later into the season the campgrounds are open.

TTYL,

Linda