Welcome to the 17th Century

After a day-long drive yesterday, we made it to Plymouth, Mass. We drove safely and only got frustrated with some of the traffic we hit. Oh, and the kids. I got frustrated with the kids once in a while, too.

Today was spent exploring the Mayflower 2 which you can see in this photo. I don't know if the picture captures how tiny the boat really is. "How tiny is it?" you ask? It's so small, you can display it on your mantle... in a bottle. In a shot bottle. You know, I'm on vacation. Don't ask me to write good jokes while I'm on vacation.

We then went to Plimoth Plantation. That's actually how they misspell it. I'm not sure why. After we saw a short orientation movie, we visited the Wampanoag Homesite, a small representation of the lifestyle of the native people who lived here when the Europeans arrived. Then we visited the Pilgrim Village. At the Pilgrim Village, the people are role players who act like pilgrims and answer questions in character. In the Wampanoag Homesite, the people are members of the Wampanoag Nation. They also wear period dress and explain some cultural traditions. But they aren't role players. Both areas were really fascinating and enjoyable, but on the the cool scale, the native people are on the Way Cool end, and the pilgrims hover somewhere between Eccentric Thespian and D&D Nerd.