Frances Perkins National Monument is less than 10 miles from where we are staying, so we planned a trip out to see it. This site has been a historical site for a couple decades, but has only been a national monument under the park system since December 2024.

While in New Hampshire we visited Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park . Many people may not be familiar with Augustus Saint-Gaudens , but he was a prominent sculptor during the Gilded Age (late 1800s) and arguably the most renowned American sculptor of all time.

While in New Hampshire, we spent an afternoon exploring the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park (map ). The land has been owned by each of these families over the last 200 years, and has an interesting story backstory from the 1800s where the trees in the area were almost all cut down for wood products and to provide space for sheep to be raised. This deforestation lead to massive erosion issues and loss of habitat for many species.

We took an afternoon to drive over to Fort Stanwix National Monument in Rome, NY (map ). Fort Stanwix is the name given to this fort by the British when it was built in 1758. British forces vacated the fort after the end of the French and Indian war and the fort fell into disrepair. During the American Revolution, the Continental Army rehabilitated the fort (1777) because of its location between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek.

A day trip took us to the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook (map ), where we stepped into the world of America’s eighth president. At Lindenwald, Van Buren’s post-presidential home, we got a glimpse into the life and times of a man whose career spanned the years from the American Revolution to the Civil War.

During our time in Plymouth we made our way to New Bedford, MA . New Bedford is home to the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park . Not all of human history is happy or good. In fact, this park, while it does highlight some good from the area, the main focus is on the commercial whaling industry that was heavily operated from the port here.

We spent this Friday with Kate’s aunt and uncle, exploring Dover. We had a few people ask us about all of us being in RED, so we got to share the story with them.

We had a great time seeing the Dover Green , the Old State House, and the John Dickinson Plantation and learning about what makes Delaware special in the founding of our great nation!

We spent part of the afternoon at the Dickinson plantation learning about life in the colonial period. John Dickinson is known as “the Penman of the American Revolution”, having penned or contributed to several notable documents written during the American Revolution.

Day 2 in Washington DC: we attempted to see a few things that one or both of us had on our bucket list. First, Kate collects Hard Rock Café pins, so we stopped to have lunch at HRC in DC on our way to Ford’s Theater.

A bit disappointing, but Ford’s Theater was closed and there was nothing on the NPS app about the closure. While we did not get to see inside the theater (Kate has been there several times), one of the docents was outside telling people the story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. She was even great enough to bring out the cancellation stamp for Steve’s passport book!

Day 1 in Washington DC we decided to walk the National Mall . The view of DC from the hill where the Washington Monument stands is one of Kate’s favorites! Today we walked a circuit of the National Mall and Tidal Basin.

We spent some time at each of the following:\

• Washington Monument\
• WWII Memorial\
• Lincoln Memorial\
• West Potomac Park (this encompasses the path/park around the tidal basin - from Lincoln to Jefferson Memorials)\
• Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial\
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial

We walked over 15,000 steps today, so we’re pretty exhausted!