Even though I'm a New Englander, prior to this trip I had only been out to Cape Cod once when my cousin Becky and I took our four girls out to stay near Hyannis for a few days a long, long time ago back when I was still married. While we were there we took the girls up to the National Seashore near Marconi Beach and they just loved it as did I. What a beautiful place! I'd always wanted to go back again but the opportunity had never presented itself until this last vacation.

As I creaked my way upstairs to get a cup of coffee I was starting to despair that I was going to be able to make the trip out to the Cape but I really, really wanted to go so doubled up the Advil and Aleve and hoped for the best. Had I not been able to make the trip the only good thing about it would have been that I could have spent some extra time with Kai as she was under the weather herself and opted to stay at the beach house. Still, I had studied up on the history of Provincetown (did you know that it was the first landing place for the Pilgrims prior to packing the Mayflower back up and calling Plymouth Plantation home?) and I really wanted to see it so I climbed into the

The drive to the Cape was very nice as I got to finally travel over the Jamestown Bridge and catch a glimpse of Newport; another place I've yet to get to but would really like to see up close one of these days. Traveling out of Rhode Island and into Fall River, Massachusetts, though, we got a little turned around and ended up in East Providence rather than where we were supposed to be. As Mags worked on getting us pointed in the right direction, my back teeth were starting to float so she pulled in at a small bakery for directions and a much-needed restroom break.
After extricating myself from the back of the van, Callie and I went in only to find that they didn't have a public restroom but the nice guy in the front said we could use the employee one in the back. Of course, he didn't tell the people in the back that so as we made our way through the back bakery in search of the restroom we got questioned by a lot of people with Rhode Island accents about what we were doing! If you've never heard a Rhode Island accent before, especially an East Providence one, think mafia and you'll be pretty darned close! Needless to say, after the kindness of letting us use their non-public restroom I thought the least I could do was buy something so I picked out a nice loaf of sweet bread that was very, very tasty.
Back on the road again, we were now pointed in the right direction and before I knew it we were driving back through Fall River, Massachusetts (home of the infamous Lizzie Borden) and heading towards New Bedford which used to be a major whaling town way back in the day. From there it was a hop, skip, and a jump out to the Cape but as we traveled east, the skies overhead began to darken and cloud up as our beautiful weather seemed to be heading back towards Providence! Ut-oh ...
Once we got onto Route 6, the main road that runs the entire length of the Cape, things were pretty uneventful and we all found ourselves drifting off to sleep - with the exception of Mags who was driving - until we got closer to Wellfleet and Truro where the skies cleared up and the sun came back out like it had never gone away. To say that it was windy, though, would be a major understatement!
Funny story here ... Callie, who is a complete and total sweetheart, had no clue that P'Town was a predominantly gay town even though there were same sex couples walking by hand-in-hand on a fairly regular basis and there were rainbow flags flying everywhere and signs and magnets galore! Upon finding that out she said she felt like she fit right in with her tote bag with its rainbow handles that she had bought in Palm Springs - another predominantly gay community! True story!
Instead Claire and I walked around the small park at the base of the monument that commemorates the Pilgrims’ first landing in the New World at Provincetown in November 1620 and the signing of the Mayflower Compact, which established the rule of law for the new land. Liking historic things I thought it was pretty darned cool to be walking where the Pilgrims once walked though I also thought someone needed to take some time to clean the monuments up a little! Darned seagulls!

The drive back to the beach house was uneventful until we got took the wrong turn in darned Fall River and once again found ourselves in East Providence! This time Mags continued on towards Providence which was okay because I knew we could get to where we needed to be just by following Interstate 95 southbound and it gave Callie, Claire, and Mo a chance to catch a glimpse of Providence. Turns out they got a glimpse of it three times as, Rhode Island being Rhode Island, Mags got lost a couple of times! I don't know how it is that the smallest State in the Union can be so confusing but it is!

Oh, and for the record, I refused to sleep on the mattress from hell anymore and spent the last two nights at the house sleeping very comfortably on the couch in the upstairs living room that had a fantastic view of the water!
With that view I'd be sleeping on the sofa too... with the windows wide open!
ReplyDeleteI love the herd of turtles comment.
Was the lobster good? I like lobster!
Ah, Marconi beach has to be the best beach in the world. It's named after me of course, so it must be. Hahahaha.
ReplyDeleteWe took a trip there when I was in 12th grade. Loved it, still have the pictures, too!
Oh Linda, the seashore is breathtaking and P-town looks like a lot of fun :o) Makes me want to take a vacation...
ReplyDeleteSeriously what a beautiful post. Wow, I love it when you re-live it. I had already forgotten about some of the stuff... wow... this was fun. Thank you Linda. Hope you have a good day at work.
ReplyDeleteLove ya tons and oodles.... now I am off like a herd of turtles to tackle the day.
Hey, I'm baaaaacccckkkk!!! Yep, I managed to sign back up again to leave comments like I used to! It's been too long, and too many good posts...! Linda, I LOVED hearing about your vacation, and in some ways, feel like I was there with you all! You know you can write when you achieve that ability! BTW: I had NO idea you've never been to Newport. Since I went to school there, I'll have to give you an open, no-expiration-date offer to let me be your "tour guide" if & when you do decide to go!
ReplyDeletewhy is it every time I come by here lately I start craving lobster and crabs??
ReplyDeleteYou had a great trip, Linda. Very memorable.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention my blood sugar crash, turning me into a surly zombie.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
I could never get enough of the sea! Again, your photos, combined with your story-telling, are top notch!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some of the places I've only heard about. Thanks for sharing, Linda!
~~~~Blessings~~~
*LOL* @ the shake the monkey shop! :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you all had a great time, just wish I could've been there.
I'm just wondering how the heck I missed so many posts! I played catch-up...
ReplyDeletethese have been very cool posts...
ReplyDeleteEi yi yi!
ReplyDeleteYou're the second blogging buddy that has posted about her trip to Cape Cod...and while I'm pining to go to Maine!
It's killing me. ;-)
Your shots are lovely. It looks like you had a great time. I'm glad you didn't sleep on the bad mattress.
Interesting story along with great photos (I totally love the one with sand and fences - it's brilliant!)
ReplyDeleteAwesome slideshow Linda, and I too am surprised you didn't make it to Newport yet!! Make sure when you go, to do the Cliff Walk to see the mansions and the awesome scenery. You'll get some awesome pics there!!! Lots of neat little shops there too!
ReplyDeleteHope the O.T. at work isn't killing you too bad. TTYS, Erik
No wonder you opted for the sofa with a view like that!
ReplyDeleteLove the photos and the slide show Linda. x