A Whale of a Tale & Back to New York

Woke up to a second day where you could actually see the sun. Unfortunately the thunderstorms are predicted to roll in soon. Boston weather has not been good to us. Never able to make it downtown to get around and doesn't look like it's going to happen for us.



Today it's on to New Bedford and the Whaling Museum. Check out Joyce as she poses by a life-size example of one of these monsters of the sea!

Before we entered the Whaling Museum, we stopped in the Bethel Chapel which New Bedford whalers attended before they went out to see. Got to see Herman Melville's pew and the cenotaphs on the walls -- cenotaphs is definitely an Honors English word. Made it clear how dangerous a lifestyle whaling actually was. Note that the pulpit which is shaped like a ship is a new addition that was necessitated by Melville's fictional account of what the chapel looked like! It was made popular in a movie and everybody came expecting it to look like that until they finally raised the money to make it happen...funny!

Here is my Picasa Bethel Chapel photo album!

Also took a quick walk around New Bedford's historic district. Still has cobblestones on the street. Saw the Custom House -- architect was the same man who designed the Washington Monument later in his life.



The Whaling Museum has so much in it. You could easily spend a whole day there. Don't know if Joyce made it through the whole place - lots of reading & exhibits. So much artwork and more. Joyce especially like the examples of beautiful scrimshaw.

Check out my Picasa Whaling Museum photo album here!

Leaving New Bedford, we decided to drive through Rhode Island and past all the fancy mansions in Newport. Those are quite the palaces. Here's one example of one of the smaller ones...



Also got a beautiful view of the ocean at Breton State Park. Sadly this is the only ocean photo that turned out.



Our goal was to get back to New York by the end of the day. It was a challenge, but we did it.
We had to drive through a pretty nasty thunderstorm in mid-Connecticut. As we approached New York City, you should have seen the traffic streaming out of the city.

We are staying in Tarrytown tonight (which is a distant suburb of New York City.) Hope to visit Washington Irving's Sunnyside tomorrow before we hit the road into Pennsylvania -- maybe Hershey???

Blessings to all!

Dave