What I did on my summer vacation

I'm back home now, armed with a stack of books I bought. I did quite a few writing-related things, which I didn't expect. I went to the library and a bunch of bookstores, but the most important thing I did was go to the South Street Seaport Museum. The third Friday of every month is free after 6:00pm so my family and I decided to go.

First, we checked out the SS Normandie exhibit. The Normandie is nowhere close to being an 18th century pirate ship, but the ship's interiors were in Art Deco style which I love. Next, we went on the Peking. Again, not a ship from the era I'm researching, but the great thing about her is that she was one of the last wind powered vessels. Of course, even though the ship wasn't moving, I was seasick the moment I got on. We looked around the deck for a while, took some photos of the ship, the harbor, and the Brooklyn Bridge. And then we got to hoist a sail. A 500 pound sail. I don't want to sound like a child, but honestly, it was so cool! It was unbelievably heavy and I got rope burns, but now I have an idea of what it must have felt like to live on a sailing ship.

Hoisting a sail takes team work. Tying knots takes knowledge. Life at sea on a sailing ship took courage, and perhaps a little madness. You couldn't survive a life like that on your own. Friendships among sailors and pirates were probably stronger than what I would be used to. I've never relied on my friends to literally stay alive. But, in a strange way, time of that ship was great for my family. My aunt said it was her favorite day of our visit, so I suppose being on a ship does things all sorts of things to people that being on land doesn't. I don't want to ramble too much, because summer vacation stories are rarely all that interesting. I might try to post photos of the ships we were on - hopefully it'll be helpful to somebody.

What did you do this summer?

Photo courtesy SXC