New Bedford

 Today we visited New Bedford Whaling National Park. The children completed a handout of puzzles plus a scavenger hunt to earn their first national junior park rangers badges. Both of them repeated the words of the park ranger with their little right hands held up in the air. I was a proud Grandma. We also spent hours in the New Bedford Whaling museum. The museum has the bones of a blue whale and two right whales suspended from the ceiling. The whales were killed in boating accidents. The female right whale was ten months pregnant with another female when it was killed in a boat collision which was a sad day because right whales are endangered. Right whales are docile and live close to shore so they are the easiest to kill. Even though the blue whale was killed twenty years ago and the bones were thoroughly cleaned, oil drips daily from the whale bones. Some of the oil goes into a container near the mouth of this baleen whale but other oil drips on the slate floor. They expect oil will leak from these old bones for another 40 years. New Bedford was the epicenter for whaling 150 years ago. Oil was used for lighting and lubrication. Extending the work day beyond day light hours was a big then back then. Herman Melville stayed in New Bedford ten years before he wrote Moby Dick. Because it was a whaling port, New Bedford has a lot of cultural diversity. The whaling museum was good for adults but less interesting for kids. Although they could crawl inside a replica of a blue whale heart, most of the exhibits were hands off. Kids could go aboard a replica of a whaling ship but they weren't supposed to touch the ropes or open any doors nor go downstairs. Touring a large museum gets hard when the kids can't touch or climb on anything. This entire area is very touristy and would be fun to enjoy in the summer or on a warmer day without rain.