Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA

Yesterday we visited the largest historic naval ship exhibit in the world – Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. Here is Teressa’s journal entry for the day:

Brian and Laura slept in a little today. After a light breakfast, we drove to Fall River to see Battleship Cove where they have PT boats, the Battleship USS Massachusetts (which fired the last American 16” projectile in WWII), the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, and the submarine USS Lionfish on display. We walked all through the battleship and were amazed at how short the beds were. They were stacked four-high and suspended by chains or cords. Brian’s feet jutted off the end of the bed by at least a foot. My least favorite part of the ship was the engine room down in the bowels of the ship. The air was dank, and it was hard to know exactly how to get out. It was much nicer to get back up on the main deck where you could feel the fresh air. Gary and the kids went on the submarine, and again my two tall boys were cramped on several occasions!

It was fun to see the Bailey kids (they were 3 and 1 when their parents, Colin and Diane, left Sequent in Portland to move back to Boston). John is a junior. Claire is 14 and a half and a freshman. Nice kids. After seeing the ships we used the GPS to try to find a restaurant. We chose Fall River Grill in Fall River. Fall River is a Portuguese community. It is old, lower on the socio-economic scale, and has an ethnic feel to it. Laura and I were interested in the houses which were all fairly narrow but built 3 stories tall. Many of the storefront signs were in Spanish or Portuguese. So it’s no surprise that the Fall River Grill turned out to be a Portuguese restaurant, and the menu was in Portuguese and English. All the kids had burgers, but the rest of us tried some of the other entrees including a pulled pork sandwich, and a spiced shish kabob. The food was pleasant, but a bit on the bland side.

Our great friends, Rich and Janet Wells, have a beach home at Mattapoisett which is just southwest of Cape Cod. We were only 15 minutes away from Mattapoisett so decided to drop in. It is a cute, New England cottage and the area is beautiful and peaceful. We walked to the beach and the lighthouse. I was surprised at how course the sand is here in New England compared to ours on the west coast. But to compensate for that, the water is warm -- something I’ve never said about the Oregon coast! Mattapoisett has a lot of history from the whaling days. Mike Wells and fiancé, Ellie, joined us and we all had dinner at the Kinsale Inn, which is the oldest working seaside inn in the country. Their food is Irish, so we all ate things like Shepherd’s pie and stew. Brian got a chocolate mousse in honor of his birthday. He also drove the 40 miles back home.