New Bedford Whaling Museum & Horseneck Beach

Today was a big day.  We started off by finishing a PBS documentary on whaling that Summer and I started the other night.  Madeline was not too interested in PBS-style 5-minute tracking shots panning a photo of 19th century New Bedford. But she was happy to play with her toys.

Why the whaling documentary?  To prepare us for the New Bedford Whaling Museum!

Madeline examined the museum guide, planning our visit but pausing frequently to look up at the whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling.

Whales are big.

Really big.

The museum features a half-scale replica of a whaling ship.  Madeline got to steer.

She loved exploring the ship.

And the rest of the museum, for that matter.

She said "hi" to this steller sea lion ...

... but was not too sure of this creature -- apparently a fur seal mistakenly taxidermied as a sea lion.  (Look for her reflection in the glass.)

We paused on the deck overlooking New Bedford's harbor.

Back inside, we visited another replica.  The bunks made Madeline a little sleepy ...

but she perked right up at the opportunity to poke her head through this old portrait!

That was all for the museum.  The next item on our agenda was The Bayside, the restaurant we always visit when we go to Horseneck Beach.  Madeline made friends at the next table, but when she got antsy at the end of the meal I took her to play first with the restaurant's inside toys ...

... and then on a swing outside.

She really liked the swing.

As you might have expected, the last item on our agenda was Horseneck Beach, where we figured Madeline could run off some steam after a long museum visit.  But our time at the beach was not quite as carefree as we'd anticipated: while it was 75 degrees in Rhode Island, it was only 55 or so in Westport.

Nevertheless, we valiantly played.

We gathered shells.

Madeline put exciting finds like this crab claw in her bucket (and Summer's cup).

And we had fun until we got too chilly and headed back to the car for the drive home to Providence.

(Grown up notes: we, appropriately, split a Just Beer's Moby D with lunch and had Harpoon Summer with dinner.)