4/29/2022 I am out and about running an errand and stumble across this beautiful rig. Originally, I had driven right by it, but then my brain caught up to the name on the side of it and I turned around to take pictures. “Mad Maxine”, how great it that?!

We are off to the Springfield Armory. This is a national park site that I have been looking forward to seeing for quite some time. The amount of firearm engineering and development that originated in this very building cannot be put into words.

You aren’t allowed to climb this staircase, but it is a great first impression when you walk in the door.

The machine on the right side of the picture here (and its corresponding patent model on the left) are essentially what made mass production of rifles possible. This machine duplicates wood rifle stocks by following a pattern. No longer did each rifle stock have to be hand carved and shaped, this machine did it automatically.

The “Mishaps” display is a tad cringeworthy!

The sidearm of our military for more than 70 years. Hard to get more iconic than these things.

This is called the “Organ of Muskets” and is quite the centerpiece of the visitor center. Built in the 1830s to house completed muskets, this one is displayed holding 645 muskets and is only partially filled. For me and my little iPhone, it proves to be VERY difficult to photograph in a way that accurately captures its imposing size and beauty.

4/30/2022 We are heading to downtown Springfield for their museum district, but first we manage another visit to the Springfield Armory. Our visit the day before revealed that they would be doing some live fire demonstrations today, so we head back to see that.

….and I capture another picture of the front of the building because.....why not?

On the walk from the Armory, we head through this area that has this beautiful church and lovingly maintained old row homes.

….and you end up at the museums.

First up? “The Amazing World of Dr. Suess”. Yep, he’s from Springfield.

Dang, isn’t that the truth?!

You can talk about Green Eggs and Ham or Cat in the Hat all you want, but THIS is the best Dr. Suess book, period!

Crazy to see all the little doodles and sketches of his that never made it to publishing. His brain was just full of stuff like this.

They even made the family tree whimsical!

This blown glass fish tank display was GREAT!

This was in the bathroom! THE BATHROOM! What a crazy fun place!

Outside there is a bronze sculpture garden. Of course, I gravitated to the “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” sculpture. I have Grant in the picture for size reference and every word from the book is cast into the sculpture.

Moving on, the next stop is the Springfield Science Museum. Somehow, I manage to NOT take a lot of pictures here, but it was a fabulous Science Museum.

Next stop of the Museum of Springfield History and I’ll spare you the pain of looking at too many pictures because I took A LOT. In case, you didn’t know, Springfield was the home to Indian Motorcycles and the vast majority of the second floor is dedicated to that. With that said, here are some unique highlights;

The “Motor Toboggan” was something in-between comical and creative. Obviously, this is an early attempt at a snowmobile and given that we all have the modern vision of a snowmobile, this almost seem funny to look at.

The motorcycle in the foreground here has a FACTORY optional “Snow Ski Package”. This added the skis you see on the left and right and allowed for winter use. This seems SOOOOOOO fraught with issues to me, but what do I know?

It would appear that they also tried their hand at a small car. The crazy part of that car, is that it used the same engine from their motorcycle. It was turned sideways and then a regular 4-speed manual transmission was adapted to attach it.

Did you know that Rolls Royce also built cars in the USA?! Nope, neither did I, but they were and right here in Springfield.

The costume designed for the Black Panther movie was from Springfield and this was a highlight for Grant. He was insistent on having his picture taken with Black Panther!

5/1/2022 The Mark Twain House. Really a beautiful place and a worthwhile stop for sure…..and they do not allow photography inside the house.

5/4/2022 Roger Williams National Monument is a VERY small park in downtown Providence Rhode Island and celebrates the life and achievements of the man who expelled from Massachusetts because he wanted separation of church and state and then founded Rhode Island.

It was an overcast and rainy day, but we made the best of it.

5/5/2022 New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and museum. These places are GREAT! If you are ever in the area, they are a VERY worthwhile experiences!

Did you know that a Blue Whale’s heart is the size of a VW Beetle?! Grace is climbing into this 1:1 scale model of one.

This is a SINGLE vertebra from a whale spine!

From the files of “Here’s something that is predictable”: The world’s largest model ship…..looks…like a real ship. I’m not sure where the line is drawn between “model ship” and “actual ship”.

I am pretty sure that my brain knew that a harpoon for whales of this size needed to be pretty big, but there is something about SEEING the size of one that makes it a tad more “real”.

They have the world’s largest collection of scrimshaw and at any given time only a small portion of it is on display. It is genuinely amazing how intricate and how beautiful some of these pieces of art can be.

Outdoor lunches are the best lunches!

5/8/2022 It is Mother’s Day and we are staying on Cape Cod. What does mom deserve on Mother’s Day? Chocolate covered strawberries, of course……with a donut attached to them….of…..course? Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Back Story: I was walking Bear the previous evening and at some point in time, his nose locked onto something….and we followed his nose to a seemingly benign spot in some mowed grass. THEN, his nose went INTO the ground. THEN, after I had pulled him back, the ground started to slowing undulate where he had been sniffing. At the time, I was 100% not interested in finding out what was in that hole, nor did I want to find out just how mad it was that Bear’s nose had entered it. Today, with some daylight on my side, I return to the spot to figure it out. It looked like this:

I peeled some of the debris away and found some….some…….some…..awwwwwww, baby bunnies!!!

That afternoon we are off to hear a ranger talk about the “Whydah” (whid-uh) which is, and I quote “the first pirate shipwreck to be positively identified, and, nearly a quarter of a century later, remains the only pirate shipwreck whose identity is unquestionably authenticated”. That aside, the ranger did a GREAT job telling to story of the ship, the pirates and the man who finally discovered it……all while standing in some BRUTAL winds and getting constantly pelted with sand!

5/9/2022 We have done it again! We have found the windiest spot possible. This is Dune Beach and it’s on the bay side, not the Atlantic side. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but this beach is so windy that it’s picking up water and sand off the ground and blowing into the air. I don’t know how we do it, but we are professional wind locators!!!

Bear’s ears are basically just a sail here!

Grace found snails and forced me to take pictures of them.

Moved to a different beach and Dylan found this broken piece of glass with two living creatures attached to it. My armchair research suggests that they might be Lady Slippers.

The interesting part of this story is that because they are attached to a piece of glass, you can see them from bottom!

Now we are at Coast Guard Beach which is on the Atlantic side and one of the closest beaches to the visitor center…..and it’s still windy as can be! We just can’t escape it!

5/10/2022 Provincetown, MA. We all know the story of the pilgrims landing at Plymouth and settling in the New World. The lesser told story is that they landed here first. THIS is where the Mayflower first stopped, not Plymouth. There you go, today’s history lesson is over.

Wait, did you think we’d completely forgot about those adorable little bunnies that were living in the ground?! No way! They are now 3 days older than we first found them and their eyes are wide open and they are eager to leave the dirty hole they are living in. This will be our last visit to the nest and we wish them well on their journey to become adult rabbits.

5/12/2022 Lowell National Historic Park. This place is credited as being where the industrial revolution began. Water and steam powered equipment, canals to move raw materials and final products and electric street cars to move people around the city. The entire town was designed and built to make and move goods….and it is a VERY well-done National Park.

I love that the facial expression and angle matches. Good job Grace.

Something tells me that this guy wouldn’t be this happy, but it made us all laugh.

Here’s what this face says…”Hey……hey you……yes, you…….bring me a sandwich”

I feel like this one is a setup for failure. I mean, the quarter is setup for a profile of a face and who’s going to be able to put their face into this thing sideways?!

This was a treat! This is the power loom room which houses just as many looms as it would have back in the day and they will start turning them on as soon as you walk in the room. Even with only 5 or 6 of them running, the noise takes front and center stage. Trying to imagine this room with all of them running is a struggle.

Here’s my first attempt at posting a video that I took. This is a slow-motion video of a power loom in motion. The video is running at 25% speed, so try to imagine this going 4x faster!

Something about these old industrial spiral staircases really makes me happy.

5/13/2022 Minute Man National Historic Park. One of my favorite questions to ask park rangers (or other park goes for that matter) is “What’s your favorite park?” Seems like I’ve heard “Minute Man” more frequently than most. We are here to find out why.

The auditorium and film in the visitor center are easily the most elaborate and unique we’ve seen to date.

There is a piece of me that thinks I should go back and count all the pictures I have of Grace smelling flowers. It would be A LOT!

This is _the_ spot where Paul Revere was captured.

I don’t know that I’d call it my “favorite” park, but it does have some very beautiful trails.

North Bridge and the “Shot Heard Around the World”. This is where the revolution began!

Val spotted this guy moving through the water and she didn't even scream.

Not the greatest picture of the snake itself, but I loved the wake pattern in the water, so I included it.