While in Massachusetts, we gazed upon Plymouth Rock, where passengers on the Mayflower stepped onto America’s soil. It is a small rock, not at all like we had expected.

We also toured Old Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts, which is a living history museum. There we saw farm animals and homes with wonderful gardens tended by workers in period dress who shared the story of life in early New England.

Massachusetts brims with history, so plan to spend enough time to see and enjoy all its famous sites.

Philadelphia played a major role in the establishment of our democratic government and has many historic sites important to the founding of our nation.

A View from the Top
Washington D.C. is the historic and current governmental center of our democracy.

While in D.C. we climbed the almost 800 breath-robbing steps to the top of Washington Monument. At 555.5 feet tall, numerous people have had heart attacks climbing it, so now visitors must take the elevator. The views from the top are stupendous!

If you’re interested in Indian history and culture, don’t miss the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn and Big Hole, Montana. From these two sites you’ll learn how the West was won, not always honorably. Or follow the Oregon Trail, which many of our ancestors traveled to settle the West.

Interesting historic spots include Register Rock in Wyoming, where names of some who traveled the route are carved on a giant sandstone wall, and nearby Guernsey State Park where you can walk through 4-foot deep ruts left by wagon wheels in the sandstone more than 150 years ago.

Take a drive to nearby Deadwood, South Dakota to see a restoration of an old west town that the gold rush created. Of particular interest there is Mount Moriah Cemetery, where you’ll discover the tombstones of Wild Bill Hickok, and next to him, Calamity Jane.

Following recent History
Everyone remembers what they were doing the day President Kennedy was assassinated. We visited Dealey Plaza where John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Going there didn’t answer any questions, like why it happened, but it somehow soothed us to see where it happened.

More recent events worth checking out include the national memorial and museum in Oklahoma City that honors the 168 people who died in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building, and the New York City site of the fallen twin towers.

Mount St. Helens in Washington is worthy of a trip to view the still-visible devastation left by the 1980 volcano. The area around the mountain is recovering and new growth is visible, but it’s coming back slowly. The river valleys are still strangled by mud flows that devastated the land, lakes, and rivers many miles from the volcano. While we were there, St. Helens puffed smoke and ash and the ground rumbled as a reminder that the mountain could blow again at any time.

Anyone reading this can remember Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast with historic fury. For years, New Orleans had been warned that a large hurricane could destroy the city. In 2005, Katrina was a category-three when it hit the coast, not the category-five that officials had

27 . ESCAPEES . Sept./Oct 2007 www.escapees.com