October 6 - “Walkin’ in the rain”

It didn’t take us long to get to our first stop. Well, after we finally hauled all our luggage down the stairs … in the rain (I was definitely sore the rest of the day). And after we finally tracked down the proper parking garage.

 

See, our next National Park was not but 15 or 20 minutes away. In Lowell, Massachusetts, we went to what was once a huge textile manufacturing company and the site of some of the earliest labor union strikes to hit the U.S.  They had the old mill still set up and actually running. Well, at least they turned several of the machines on when they had a tourist present. It was extremely loud.  Wouldn’t take long to have your hearing affected if you worked in there every day. The machines did still produce cloth, though. You could buy it for making stuff on your own, or just go home with a ready-made kitchen towel, like we did.

 

As we walked back to the car … in the rain … what building should we pass but the New England Quilt Museum. Yes, of course we went in. I told Chris I knew of at least a dozen friends and family who would all have my head if we hadn’t gone in. It wasn’t very big, as far as displays go. And we were expecting a lot of really old quilts. Nope. The modern stuff they had was mostly machine-generated and just weird. Chris did get a thimble for her collection, though.

 

Leaving that place meant pointing the car in the direction of New York and heading that way. To avoid toll roads, one of our standing Siri requests, we were sent on a Scenic trail through some beautiful mountains. And as we rounded one particularly sharp hairpin curve, we were face to face with a most impressive cloud bank in the mountains. It was massive, and we were just above it. And as luck would have it, there was a pull out, so we took a lot of pictures (as if I had to say that. I am married to Chris, after all).

 

On the last little leg of this part of our journey, I took Chris to Paris again. Paris, New York, this time. Tiny little farming community. Very cute.

 

Micah 7:18 says, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

 

Father, thank you for that incredible view of the cloud bank we were on top of. You are amazing. Amen.