Goodbye Cape Cod…Hello Miss Liberty!

Our last day at Cape Cod, we saw lots of sea lions.

If you were quiet, you could here them bark at each other.

They kept an eye on us the whole time.

We’ve arrived at the great metropolis: New York!

The 9-11 monument which is still under construction. When you look through the parallel monument, you are looking at where the twin towers stood.

God blessed us with such wonderful weather on our trip!

Leaving Jersey City Train Station on the ferry.

Ellis Island where millions of immigrants entered the United States. We figured that a few of our ancestors probably came through this island. That made it more personal.

There she is!

I think it is impossible to take a bad picture of the Statue of Liberty.

We had a great tour. It turned out to be private.

Even though we were so close to New York City, it was quiet and peaceful on the island.

We were unable to ascend to her crown due to construction. We’ll just have to come back!

Here’s Mr. Philip at his favorite part of the trip. In the first few days of our trip, we would ask Philip what his favorite part was so far. He would answer, “The Statue of Liberty.”

Holding our “torches” high.

Hello, um…Mr. Liberty.

“Guess where I am Papa!”

Good by Miss Liberty!

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

Luke 4:18

Plymouth

Our day began with another beautiful sunrise!

Today we spent the day traveling around Plymouth. Here we are standing with William Bradford.

Here we are with Massasoit on top of Cole’s Hill. The burying ground of the Pilgrims during the first winter.

The sarcophagus where the pilgrim’s bones now rest.

The home of Plymouth Rock.

It was hard to get a good picture of Plymouth Rock. To tell the truth, we were not very impressed!

The Mayflower II which is an exact replica of the Mayflower. This ship was actually built in England and sailed across the Atlantic.

We tried to imagine what it was like for the Pilgrims to be on this relatively small ship in the middle of a huge storm. Just the thought made me feel a little seasick:/

It was hard to get good pictures down below to show how small it was. 102 people lived down there for months on end without any separate rooms! You can only imagine the smell!

The men learned about the ship from one of the sailors.

Hi guys.

The Plymouth Mothers monument. The inscription on it reads:

“They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God without which nations perish.”

Enjoying lunch at the foot of Cole’s Hill.

Today we also visited the Plymouth Plantation. In the Wampanoag village we saw how the Indians burned out canoes.

Rowing a canoe is such hard work!

There is still a little color here in the Plymouth Colony.

One of the settlers talked with us for about 45 minutes about the Pilgrims beliefs in the Bible, worship, and all of life. We loved it! He also led us in singing the Geneva version of Psalm 100.

It is hard to see in this photo but the Psalm book includes the words to the song, the original text, the music, and a commentary of the text.

Luke in the main street of Plymouth.

Philip said that his favorite part of the day was seeing these cannons!

These are the same breed of sheep that the Pilgrims had.

“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence…”

One of the settlers was preparing the roof for winter.

The interior of one of the Pilgrim’s houses. It was pretty simple and crude.

Some very cute baby goats.

At the top of the hill you can see the meeting house.

Daddy having a discussion with William Bradford. He was telling us about journaling and what he usually wrote about.

You can read William Bradford’s history of the Plymouth Colony in his book Of Plymouth Plantation.

“And thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity.”

~inscribed on the back cover Of Plymouth Plantation

Boston

Just a note: we have been home for about a week now and are settling back into routine. I’ll do my best to finish posting about the trip in the next few days. Thanks!

This morning God blessed us with another beautiful sunrise. If you look close, you can see a ship underneath the sunbeams.

We took a train into Boston which was fun.

The Freedom Trail began in the Boston Commons.

The State House was very impressive. Right now the dome is overlaid in gold but at one point this dome was overlaid in Bronze by Paul Revere.

A very old graveyard in Boston where Paul Revere is buried. His tomb stone is behind us.

This is where Benjamin Franklin’s family is buried.

Stepping out of the cold and wind to get a warm drink at Starbucks. Philip got the special seat!

We met a guide from Myrtle Beach, SC outside of the Old South Meeting House. He told us about when hurricane Hugo struck.

The Old South Meeting House began as a Puritan meeting house and then was used for political meetings around the time of Independence. This is where the Boston Tea Party started.

The Old State House where the Boston Massacre took place.

These weapons and ammunition were used at Bunker Hill.

These were all John Hancock’s personal belongings.

In the front of Hancock’s Psalm Book it says, “John Hancock, Thou shalt not steal saith the Lord.”

“Let’s see what time it is.”

Inside the Old State House.

“Smile Philip!”

Since we had our Philly Cheesesteak in Philadelphia, we had to have clam chowder in Boston. It was good!

We’re used to seeing “southern cooking” all over in Charleston so this was definitely a contrast:) Wonder what it tastes like!

The Paul Revere house was very interesting. There was even some original furniture that belonged to the Revere family on display.

Philip by a bell that was made by Paul Revere.

The steeple of Old North Church where the signal lights were hung for Paul Revere.

The statue of Paul Revere in front of the Old North Church.

“Let’s see where we are.”

The USS Constitution ”Old Ironsides.”

We had a great day learning about our Nation’s history and God’s Providence through it all.

“We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

Psalm 78:4-7