Massachusetts

ROCK ON – Pilgrim Memorial State Park is “first” among tourist sites in the United States because it is home to the legendary Plymouth rock, the simple glacial erratic boulder on the shores of Plymouth Harbor that became a world famous symbol of the courage and faith of the men and women who founded the first New England colony. Located in southeastern Massachusetts. Learn more at www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/southeast/plgm.htm.

ANY VELVET ELVISES? – Tired of nodding seriously in the real art museums? Then check out the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA, to those in the know) at 580 High Street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, which proudly calls its exhibits “the worst paintings of all time.” The drawings on your refrigerator will look positively inspired after this. Look it up at www.museumofbadart.org.

UNDER SAIL – Watch your head as you go belowdecks on the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” permanently anchored in Charlestown. The frigate earned her nickname during the War of 1812 when British cannonballs bounced off her stout timbers. Peer out through the gunports and imagine you’re waiting for the command “Fire!”