After Philadelphia and Valley Forge we set out for Massachusetts by way of the Delaware Valley on our way to Cape Cod, Plymouth, and Boston to see the JFK Library.

We spent most of the first day making our way through the Delaware Valley by way of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the Pocono Mountains. It was a beautiful drive, and we made it as far as Warwick RI, just outside Providence where we spent the night.

The next morning we made our way to Cape Cod. Most of Cape Cod had closed for the season, and it was cold, rainy, and foggy. Cape Cod is probably better as a summer destination. Note to bicyclists: there's a great bicycle trail that goes around most of the cape through the state and national parks.

We stayed in Hyannis, and went downtown looking for a nice restaurant to celebrate the Mrs.'s birthday. Lots of places were closed, and we could only find three nice restaurants. One was having a private party, one was Italian and we weren't in the mood, and the one we finally picked was slammed by a tour bus that had just unloaded and they were understaffed and overstressed and it was showing. So we had our special birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

The next day we made our way to Plymouth to see the Pilgrim's landing site at Plymouth Rock. It's a nice little town with a mix of historic and tourist attractions. The Plymouth Rock is not all of the original and the Mayflower is a reproduction.

The original Plymouth Rock was broken up, chipped away by souvenir hunters, and moved around various places in town until what remains was moved to its present location, believed to be near the original landing site. The Mayflower replica was built in England in 1956 and sailed across the Atlantic to its present location.

The next day we were on to Boston to visit the JFK Library and Museum. It's a beautiful building with interesting architecture. The exhibits are a fascinating walk through early 1960s history and the aftermath. It starts with the Los Angeles convention and JFK's acceptance speech, and moves on through the campaign and various highlights of his presidency.

There is an exhibit on the Cold War and the escalation of conflict in Southeast Asia, an exhibit on the space program with some great artifacts, and a section with a 30 minute film (which we did not watch) on the Cuban Missile crisis. Several other exhibits featured video of famous speeches, including his inauguration speech.

The one exhibit I didn't get a photo of that I wish had was a reproduction of the network news set (NBC, I think) from election night, showing results from all the states. There was an electoral map, and nearly all of the South was blue. It's interesting how times have changed.

Jackie is prominently featured in several exhibits, with dresses, jewelry, and photos from White House social events with thank you notes from dignitaries from around the world and Jackie's handwritten catering instructions to the staff.

There's also an entire section on RFK and the Civil Rights movement and his war on organized crime, with lots of fascinating documents and photos and artifacts from the era.

Near the end you enter a dark room with black walls with an inscription that simply says November 22. 1963. We weren't quite sure what to expect and I wasn't sure I even wanted to see it. We were somewhat surprised that it consisted only of a few television monitors on a black wall playing clips from network news reporting, ending with Walter Cronkite's tearful announcement that the president had died from his wounds. It took me a minute to recover from this exhibit and the memories of that day.

The JFK library and Museum was definitely the highlight of this part of our trip.

Some photos...

The Delaware River

Raymondskill Falls, Pocono Mountains (didn't have a tripod or a ND filter to get the nice smooth water flow effect)

Salt marsh, Cape Cod National Sea Shore

Coast Guard station at Coast Guard Beach, now occupied by a Coast Guard commander. This nice beach house is near the first landing site of the Mayflower before making its way to Plymouth.

Ran into some fellow East Tennessee travelers at Cape Cod doing some, uh, shopping.

Plymouth Harbor

The Plymouth Rock Monument

Plymouth Rock

The Mayflower II (replica)

Another view of Plymouth Harbor

The Mayflower Society Headquarters

Church at the site of the first gathering of Pilgrims for worship in 1620. This church was built in 1897.

Another church just down the street. Not sure of its history or when it was built, just thought it was a pretty picture.

The I.M Pei designed JFK Library and Museum in Boston

Convention memorabilia

Campaign poster

The famous Kennedy v. Nixon debate

Reproduction of the JFK Oval Office

A piece of the Berlin Wall

The enormous flag hanging in the JFK Library and Museum pavilion. The photo doesn't do justice to the scale.