Another Glorious Day

We began today knowing that we would be returning our little black Ford Focus to Hertz. After coffee, bagels and sweet rolls, we made sure that all of our belongings were out of the car. We drove in the the car and Wadi and Rosemary followed in their van. We headed down I-495 towards the nearest Hertz location. On the way, we found ourselves in the middle of road construction surrounded by

18 wheelers! We though that maybe the truckers might get us after all. Through that, I began to notice the magnificence of God's creation. Most of the trees are bare of leaves, beautiful in their own right. Just as I was enjoying them, we'd turn a corner and a pop of red would appear, a small bush with all of it's red leaves still in tact, or an orange tree or yellow. It was amazing. Then, occasionally, we'd see an evergreen simply to complete the picture. Finally, we were at the Hertz location and turned in the car.

When we turned it in, we had driven 2606 miles in our little Ford. Imagine that! When we got in the van and the reality set in, we were a little sad.

But we forged ahead to what would be a wonderful rest of the day.

We drove to Lowell, MA where textile manufacturing started and flourished in the United States. The first thing we saw when we got out of the car was an amazing dragon made out of CDs, paint and strips of cloth. Then, we went into the visitor's center at Lowell National Park and got directions to the factory. Before we headed out, we saw a film about Lowell, that the textile industry was started there because they could use water power, about the factories and the workers and how the industry grew and, then, faltered. On the way to the factory, we stopped for soup. I saw hot dogs, so decided I needed one. Earla ordered one, too. They were cold, so we sent them back. They were put back on the grill and returned to us luke warm. We ate them that way --- not terrible. The corn chowder we had with them was very good, though.

At the factory (Museum), we listened to an introductory talk that was very informative about the machines used for weaving, the dangers, etc. A few of the weaving machines were in operation which was quite interesting. We saw another film here. The subject was similar, but this was even more informative. We had known some of the conditions and the history of factories and factory workers from studying the industrial revolution, but seeing the conditions and the pictures made it so much more real.

By this time, we were wearing down and decided to head back to Rosemary and Wadi's. The sun was shining today but it was a little chilly --- a nice day for walking around and gawking.

Back in Amesbury, we played a little Scrabble and had a little coffee.

Soon, dinner was ready and we feasted on pasta, pasta sauce with sausage, green salad and wine. It was most satisfying.

After dinner, we continued our Scrabble marathon.

Now, it's time to put together a few things for a trip to Boston tomorrow and, then, get a good night's sleep. We are staying in Boston until Friday, so no blogging tomorrow. Saturday promises to be a full and fun day, too.