New Bedford Whaling NHP

On April 1, 2012 the Stovers and Hadelers made an impromptu trip to Rhode Island.  One of 5 states I've never been to, I couldn't say no to a trip that would only add about 2 hours of driving on a Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do.

On our way down, we stopped in New Bedford and got our stamps at the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park.

The town was quiet on a Sunday afternoon, the first day of April.  Parking was easy and didn't have to pay (being Sunday).  We toured the VC and walked around town a little.  Emily and Caitlin decided to color a picture at the little kids section while Chris and I learned a few things about the history of Whaling.

We grabbed our stamps and magnet and headed on our way to Rhode Island.

Spring Break to the Cape

Spring break has finally arrived and Emily and I headed north... because we are crazy. We flew to Boston, MA to see some friends, see some history, geocache 3 new states, and grab a bunch of stamps.

On the final day of March, after arriving in Boston at 2:00am, we headed with the Hadelers to Cape Cod for a relaxing weekend at a B & B. After driving 2 hours from Boston, we had reached the cape and made our way to the national park. Our first duty was to take our picture at the sign. Since we had friends with us, this was a very easy task. After heading into the visitors center, we were ushered in to watch the video on the cape.

Wow, the music was so 1992, electronic/synthesized. The video was informational, make sure to stop and make time for the videos at each park.

We then headed into the book store where we got our stamps and showed our friends all about the stamping program. They purchased a book and started stamping as well.

After asking the ranger, she pulled out another stamp from a location that was currently closed. Just a word to the wise, if you go to Cape Cod in the winter or spring, many of the things are closed until May 1 or 15, but it does save you a lot of money on lodging!

We visited the museum in the visitors center as well and learned all about fishing and whaling that happened along the cape. Then we were off to see the natural sights.

We drove up to the Marconi Station site (the site of the first wireless transatlantic transmitter built over 100 years ago) by accident. I was looking for the park headquarters, missed the entrance, and continued down the road. The station had a nice overlook of the water and dunes. There wasn't much left as the sea had eroded away 2 of the 4 pillars over the last 100 years. The cape is ever changing. We took some very colorful pictures even though the sky was grey and the ground was brown.

On Sunday (the next day) we visited Race Point beach and saw some whales playing off the beach as well as birds diving into the ocean to fish. It was a chilly day, but the sun was out. The sand and dunes are something you wouldn't expect for Massachusetts.