The Bay State Pt.1

  We left Jefferson, OH on June 13 and headed east on I-90 into New York and the Southern Tier Expressway, aka I-86. What a mess that road is! The first 50 miles of the that stretch has to be the worst road conditions for an interstate I have seen yet. It was actually shut down in both directions causing a detour for about 15 miles. We stopped at a Corps of Engineers campground that was actually in Lawrenceville, PA. That was one of the nicest public campgrounds I have stayed in to date. We only stayed two nights and our itinerary took us to Roundout Valley in Accord, NY which is in the Hudson Valley.

We stayed there for four nights and headed to Rochester, Massachusetts Gateway to Cape Cod RV Park. Our main destination while there was Plymouth, MA. You know, the rock and Pilgrims and all of that. We made a couple of trips  there. Everyone knows the story: the Mayflower and 102 Pilgrims land at Province town on Cape Cod but decide to look for a better place to settle. They were actually given a grant to settle in Virginia but missed their mark and, being so late in the year, were not able to get there. The Rock is housed beneath a pergola:

There is much history surrounding the Rock and I will not get into it here but in a nutshell the Rock was never mentioned by William Bradford or any of the chroniclers from the Mayflower. Its existence wasn't described until about a hundred years later. The Rock will always be an icon of America and that is all that matters. We checked out Pilgrim Hall where the entire story of the Pilgrims is on display. No photography allowed so no pics inside.

The town of Plymouth is a typical quaint New England village. There is a lot of statues dedicated to historic figures including Native Americans.

Interesting fact: the original treaty signed by the Mayflower settlers and Native Americans in 1621 is the only treaty to go unbroken by the white man.

The city is teeming with historic buildings and houses:

Another cool sight in Plymouth is the Mayflower II. It is as close a replica of the original as historians can get since the original Mayflower was lost to history. No one is exactly sure what happened to the original. Some speculate it was sold for scrap! 

The hour was late and the ship was closed for the day so we moved on to celebrate my birthday. I had to have lobster of course and there is no shortage of restaurants. We selected the East Bay Grilling Company. I got the baked, stuffed, one-and-a-half pound crustacean.

What a meal!

We took a walk around the bay and took in the sights:

I had to snap a photo of our old cat's ice cream parlor:

Our second trip into Plymouth was two days later for our anniversary. Since we dropped a bundle at dinner for my birthday we decided to go a little low key. There are a couple of counter service sea food places that the locals rave about and we decided on the Lobster Hut. The main menu item is the lobster roll. It is chopped lobster served on a new England style hot dog roll. For upwards of $18! I don't get it. The ocean is right there. Why does it cost so much? We ate and watched the boaters pull their boats in at the end of the day.

Plymouth is a lovely little town worth the trip. The seafood abounds but bring your credit card.

Miles this leg: 739.2

Total miles: 4562.4

Total amount of fuel used: A SMALL FORTUNE!!!!!!! I was horrified to see diesel selling for $4.39 a gallon in New York. Those damned ISIS folks.