Journey to America – My Recent Trip to Boston, MA. Part 2

Good morning folks! I am sat on my front porch, enjoying a nice cup of coffee in my new The Lord of the Rings mug, and writing this post. The weather is beautiful, at 18 degree Celsius and sunny, you couldn’t ask for a nicer morning! Moments earlier, as I was reading my Bible, I saw a young boy flying in the road on his scooter. He was singing some type of song, bobbing around on the machine like a mini dance floor. However, what truly made this moment better was about five minutes later, when he was going back the way he came, he held one hand on the handlebars and the other outstretched making a wave motion and said loudly, “SCUBA, SCUBA, SCUBA!” (I know some of my students reading this now are laughing).

Today is Part 2 of my Journey to America. I hope you enjoy another post by The Eason Clan.

Battleship Cove

Day Two of our trip to Boston. Location: Somerset, MA.

The following morning, after leaving the inn, we went on the prowl for some breakfast. I am a morning person, and I usually eat within an hour of waking up, or I might start to get stomach sick. Needless to say, breakfast was in my sights. A quick search on my phone led us to Rogers Family Restaurant, a delightful family diner in Somerset. Once seated, I quickly began comparing the quality of American food to Canadian – and the American food was so much better. Here’s a glimpse of my experience.

I ordered a tall glass of milk. The waitress laid it on the tip. Grasping the cup, I take a sip of the cool, creamy goodness.

“Mmmmm….American milk.”

Then a cup of coffee was brought over, piping hot. Again, I took another sip.

“Mmmm…American coffee. Robust, but not too much…delightful…”

This continued throughout the entire experience – pancakes, eggs, bacon (which was amazing), toast…and even the butter.

“Mmmm…American [insert drink or food].”

Overall, we just had a great experience there. After we left the restaurant, we went to a big grocery store to get some bottled water and snacks for the day- after all, it was going to be a hot day of touring the warships at 25 Celsius. After driving about 15 minutes, we arrived at Battleship Cove, Fall River. And there she was in her glory, the USS Massachusetts, a massive battleship that served with honour throughout World War II. Total length of the ship: about two football fields; and her three big turrets (that contain three massive barrels each)- was a spectacle to behold.

Next to battleship was a submarine and a destroyer. So being a lover of military history, I was struck with an immediate kid-like wonder as I stared at the vast size of these vessels. Once we scanned our tickets and made our way through a few military exhibits, we walked up a ramp onto the first ship, the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy. We were on the ship no longer than ten minutes when I noticed a older man walking towards us wearing a white t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and a lanyard with his picture on it. On his head was a navy blue hat with the words DDG-22 Benjamin Stoddert written in gold letter across the front – I knew right away this man was a former sailor (epic broom moustache as well).

His name… Bob.

Actually.

And Bob is the best volunteer/tour guide/dude…ever.

What followed next was B#3 (if your one of those people and you read part 2 before part 1, then B# means “Blessing #1 or #2). Bob offered to take my brother and I on a tour of the destroyer – it was incredible. Hearing first hand accounts from a navy veteran, while walking through a warship full of history – was amazing. After we toured the ship, we took a break and grabbed some much needed water, before tackling the submarine and then the battleship.

Walking onto the deck of a WWII submarine was surreal.

As I descended down a steep, steel ladder into the bow torpedo room, it felt so tight. There was about two feet of clearance in this room, so my head enjoyed this spot the most. With that said though, standing next to torpedoes that were stored on both sides of the room that was no more than a few dozen feet, was quite intimidating – especially considering that these torpedoes were over 20 feet long and used to be full of explosives. As we walked from bow to stern, checking all the side rooms like the captains quarters, radio operator/sonar room, and the conning tower, I felt particularly strange when I was in the galley (where they sailors ate, I will explain in a moment). The hallways were super tight! Have a look below at the image!

When I was in the galley, I noticed a copper memorial plaque on the back wall. On it were the words “Still On Patrol”, a memorial to all the submariners who died in the Second World War. There were a total of 52 submarines lost, with 374 officers and 3131 men. After I read those words, I was taken aback. I was standing in a submarine, and just thinking about this vessel being a watery coffin, and being hundreds of feet below water…trapped…is something else. What a courageous sacrifice that these men made, and considering that this sub served during WWII was also awe inspiring.

Shortly after we finished our tour of the submarine, we walked down one gangplank and up another to the Massachusetts.

HOLY MOLY BATMAN!

She was MASSIVE (not something you say these days lightly hehe)

But it was true! With three massive gigantic main battery guns, with barrels the height of a two story house; 5-inch gun mounts; numerous 40mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns all around the ship – she had so much firepower, it’s like showing up at a dodgeball tournament with 4 extra arms on your body!

So we explored this battleship for hours. We went up and down that many ladders it was crazy! The ladders were quite steep, and in some places super tight. They actually have difficult ratings added into the pamphlet, to make you aware of the sections on the ship that are hardest to access. There was a dedicated museum in the ship itself, full of firearms, models, plaques, pictures and more. (It is hard to fully describe our trip there as it was such a vast and in-depth experience). But we took our time, spending hours exploring the ship from top to bottom. Whether it was the mess, the pay/mail room, the dentist, the machine shop, or the photographers room – there were so many different roles on this ship.

There was one extra part that made our visit on the Massachusetts so special. As we were walking towards the stern of the ship (to make our way to another gun turret) we saw Bob walking towards us.

“How are you enjoying it so far?” he asked.

“Oh man, this is so amazing,” I replied. ” I can’t get over the size of this ship!”

He smiled under his big moustache, “Want to see under the 16 inch gun turret?”

*Jaw drop*

“Yes, please!” my brother and I replied.

Sure, we could have went down there ourselves on the self-guided tour, but having Bob offer to show us around was next level. We talked about random warship stuff as we ventured down two decks of ladders and hatches, and then we arrived in the powder/shell room. Each artillery shell weighed 2,500 pounds! He challenged me to try and count all the shells that were stored in the compartment of the gun turret – there were two levels of it! I stopped counted after 130 shells.

After a 30 minute tour or so, Bob told us he was heading home for the day. We thanked him over and over and made sure to get our picture taken with him. When he left, we decided to get some American chicken fingers in the cafeteria on the ship. Man, they tasted some good! Once that meal was finished, he walked around the ship some more and then made our way to the gift store and spent a bit too much money (but that’s okay:))

That concluded our main reason for our trip to the USA.

On the way back to the airport the next day, we visited another warship USS Salem, a heavy cruiser, which was docked about 30 minutes outside Boston. She was also a beautiful ship, with massive guns and all kinds of history throughout. We toured this ship for about two hours, visiting the museum on board, and checking out the massive engine room in the bottom of the ship as well. At that point though, I was ready to head home (plus I was baking from the heat. Being below deck in 26 degree temps is hot!)

We flew out of Boston to Toronto that evening, and then connected on our next flight from Toronto to St. John’s.

Then B#4 happened.

I, through the help of my Lord, conquered my fear of flying. On the flight I would read my Bible, work on my upcoming message for church, and listen to my Spotify playlist – “Plane Time.” We hit some turbulence on the way to Toronto, bobbing around and rocking (thankfully not rolling). We had to descend slightly to get under the turbulence pocket, but I was not afraid. Something awesome happened on the next flight to St. John’s – I met a new friend. We talked about Marvel, Star Wars, the Bible and Magic the Gathering (a game he plays). We talked for about two hours (I can hear some of you now, “Well I’m not surprised”).

That’s my trip in a condensed nutshell. If you’re ever in Boston, it’s worth the drive to Battleship Cove. I hope you enjoyed this post. Remember to subscribe via email, share my blog, likes, and you can give below to help support my writings. All your support is appreciated.

Tune in next week for a special post – I’m bringing back Short and Sweet – the wacky side of my kids.

Christian