[1] my apologies to those who diligently have been trying to post comments on our blog. i enabled comment moderation accidently which held all your witty comments in a secret island somewhere on the internet until i waved my magic wand. well today i waved that wand and disabled comment moderation so you all should be seeing your comments as soon as you submit them.
[2] expect a mega-update on our recent germany trip very soon.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Cape Cod weekend
Elissa’s parents, Tom and Barb, visited Boston two weeks ago and we took the opportunity to visit a few Boston sites that had so far missed our grasp and to make our first trip down to Cape Cod.
Before heading down to the Cape, we subjected Tom and Barb to multiple walking tours of Boston (pay attention possible guests: we reward your travel out to the east coast with cozy apartment confines and repeated three-hour walks through our fair borough of Boston). On subsequent days, the four of us took afternoon-long walks through Boston, hitting up such destinations as Boston Public Garden and Common, Quincy Market, Long Wharf, Charlestown, Bunker Hill, and the Museum of Science. We found out after deciding to take the harbor taxi from Long Wharf over to Charlestown that the Bunker Hill Monument grounds were closed for the summer due to repairs. Alas, we still climbed up the hill to see the monument. The view from beyond the chain link fence was still sufficiently historic-looking and the walk back down the hill and over to the T stop was ever more rewarding. In one of the few times Elissa and I let her parents venture out into the city unsupervised, Tom and Barb went up to Harvard Square to visit the Longfellow house, site of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s family home and also George Washington’s residence during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The house sits on Tory Row, which was quickly vacated by British Loyalists during the build-up to the war for the safer confines of Boston proper. Here is a view from the back garden of the house:
Early Saturday morning, we piled into our Zipcar (Scion xB Bento for those in the know, see a photo below of the lovely, boxy beast) and headed like all good New Englanders for a Cape Cod weekend. At the recommendation of many locals with opinions about traffic patterns, we aimed to get to the Cape by 8am, which implies a 5am Boston departure time. Little did we know that the cruel New England weather gods prescribed a weekend of steady rain that kept all the regulars away from the Cape and meant we had no competition for highway space. Shortly after 8am, we drove up US6, the main north-south drag on the Cape, and pulled into Wellfleet. Wellfleet is a small town situated on the bay side of the Cape about half-way up its skinny arm that is home to (apparently) world famous Wellfleet oysters and some delicious seafood (I will get to that later). We grabbed some breakfast at the Lighthouse, an all-purpose café in Wellfeet and then headed out across to the sea side of the Cape to visit Marconi Beach. Besides a fisherman and a surfer, we had the beach to ourselves. Amidst on-and-off rains, we tramped through the high tide and saw a large seal swimming up the coast. As the rains picked up, we shuttled over to Marconi Station, the site of one of the first transatlantic radio transmissions and then up to Race Point Beach and the Province Lands Visitor Center at the northernmost tip of the Cape before retreating to our motel located just off US6 in North Truro. Cleaned and rested, we headed back to Wellfeet and had some remarkably good seafood at Mac’s Shack in Wellfeet. Barb had fish and chips, Tom had lobster, Elissa had scallops with curry, garlic mashed potatoes, and seaweed salad, and Ben had grilled tuna -- all highly recommended!!
On Sunday, we drove into Provincetown and visited the Pilgrim Monument and Museum. They don’t teach it in elementary school but the Pilgrims first landed on Cape Cod, shuffled around for a few weeks, stole some corn from the natives, and moved onto the other side of Cape Cod Bay to what they eventually called Plymouth. Provincetown is famous for the abundance of its shops and diversity of its citizenry and we observed both. Unfortunately, Barb’s efforts to find some Cape Cod-esque pottery were thwarted. We returned to our motel and then grabbed some typical tavern food at a restaurant in Truro -- the food was a bit of a letdown considering the great seafood we had eaten the night before.
Monday greeted us with nice weather and sunshine. After checking out of the motel, we drove over to the Highland Light, which overlooks the sea side coast of the Cape. Here are some photos of the light house and its surroundings:
Before departing the Cape and returning to Boston, we stopped at pottery shop in Truro and Barb finally found a piece of local Cape Cod pottery to bring home. Then, it was off to Plymouth for a history lesson. In Plymouth, we happened upon a replica of the Mayflower (appropriately called the Mayflower II).
Tom and Barb paid the fee to board the ship while Elissa and I waited dockside.
Later we moved on to the viewing post for the remaining chunk of so-called Plymouth Rock (the second American landing place of the Pilgrims). Supposedly, it was much bigger until folks realized that taking chunks of the rock for museums and the like would ultimately lead to its demise. Now, it is caged like a wild animal so schools kids can’t get their sticky fingers on it.
We wandered up to a cemetery where many of the Pilgrims, including William Bradford, are buried.
And then loaded back into our Zipcar (as piloted by yours truly) and aimed northward to Boston.
I would be derelict in my blogging duties not to mention that our lovely Scion was home to a rowdy crew and was always clearly identified as shown in the photo below.
(sign in car window reads: Anna Burk's family vehicle)
All in all, your typical Cape Cod weekend.
Before heading down to the Cape, we subjected Tom and Barb to multiple walking tours of Boston (pay attention possible guests: we reward your travel out to the east coast with cozy apartment confines and repeated three-hour walks through our fair borough of Boston). On subsequent days, the four of us took afternoon-long walks through Boston, hitting up such destinations as Boston Public Garden and Common, Quincy Market, Long Wharf, Charlestown, Bunker Hill, and the Museum of Science. We found out after deciding to take the harbor taxi from Long Wharf over to Charlestown that the Bunker Hill Monument grounds were closed for the summer due to repairs. Alas, we still climbed up the hill to see the monument. The view from beyond the chain link fence was still sufficiently historic-looking and the walk back down the hill and over to the T stop was ever more rewarding. In one of the few times Elissa and I let her parents venture out into the city unsupervised, Tom and Barb went up to Harvard Square to visit the Longfellow house, site of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s family home and also George Washington’s residence during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The house sits on Tory Row, which was quickly vacated by British Loyalists during the build-up to the war for the safer confines of Boston proper. Here is a view from the back garden of the house:
Early Saturday morning, we piled into our Zipcar (Scion xB Bento for those in the know, see a photo below of the lovely, boxy beast) and headed like all good New Englanders for a Cape Cod weekend. At the recommendation of many locals with opinions about traffic patterns, we aimed to get to the Cape by 8am, which implies a 5am Boston departure time. Little did we know that the cruel New England weather gods prescribed a weekend of steady rain that kept all the regulars away from the Cape and meant we had no competition for highway space. Shortly after 8am, we drove up US6, the main north-south drag on the Cape, and pulled into Wellfleet. Wellfleet is a small town situated on the bay side of the Cape about half-way up its skinny arm that is home to (apparently) world famous Wellfleet oysters and some delicious seafood (I will get to that later). We grabbed some breakfast at the Lighthouse, an all-purpose café in Wellfeet and then headed out across to the sea side of the Cape to visit Marconi Beach. Besides a fisherman and a surfer, we had the beach to ourselves. Amidst on-and-off rains, we tramped through the high tide and saw a large seal swimming up the coast. As the rains picked up, we shuttled over to Marconi Station, the site of one of the first transatlantic radio transmissions and then up to Race Point Beach and the Province Lands Visitor Center at the northernmost tip of the Cape before retreating to our motel located just off US6 in North Truro. Cleaned and rested, we headed back to Wellfeet and had some remarkably good seafood at Mac’s Shack in Wellfeet. Barb had fish and chips, Tom had lobster, Elissa had scallops with curry, garlic mashed potatoes, and seaweed salad, and Ben had grilled tuna -- all highly recommended!!
On Sunday, we drove into Provincetown and visited the Pilgrim Monument and Museum. They don’t teach it in elementary school but the Pilgrims first landed on Cape Cod, shuffled around for a few weeks, stole some corn from the natives, and moved onto the other side of Cape Cod Bay to what they eventually called Plymouth. Provincetown is famous for the abundance of its shops and diversity of its citizenry and we observed both. Unfortunately, Barb’s efforts to find some Cape Cod-esque pottery were thwarted. We returned to our motel and then grabbed some typical tavern food at a restaurant in Truro -- the food was a bit of a letdown considering the great seafood we had eaten the night before.
Monday greeted us with nice weather and sunshine. After checking out of the motel, we drove over to the Highland Light, which overlooks the sea side coast of the Cape. Here are some photos of the light house and its surroundings:
Before departing the Cape and returning to Boston, we stopped at pottery shop in Truro and Barb finally found a piece of local Cape Cod pottery to bring home. Then, it was off to Plymouth for a history lesson. In Plymouth, we happened upon a replica of the Mayflower (appropriately called the Mayflower II).
Tom and Barb paid the fee to board the ship while Elissa and I waited dockside.
Later we moved on to the viewing post for the remaining chunk of so-called Plymouth Rock (the second American landing place of the Pilgrims). Supposedly, it was much bigger until folks realized that taking chunks of the rock for museums and the like would ultimately lead to its demise. Now, it is caged like a wild animal so schools kids can’t get their sticky fingers on it.
We wandered up to a cemetery where many of the Pilgrims, including William Bradford, are buried.
And then loaded back into our Zipcar (as piloted by yours truly) and aimed northward to Boston.
I would be derelict in my blogging duties not to mention that our lovely Scion was home to a rowdy crew and was always clearly identified as shown in the photo below.
(sign in car window reads: Anna Burk's family vehicle)
All in all, your typical Cape Cod weekend.
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