Although our vacation officially started on Saturday (July 31st), we arrived on Cape Cod so late in the day that we were only able to swim a little and mostly hang around the beach house. The next day, we decided to attend church at the Plymouth Branch, and then take in the historical sites around Plymouth Rock.
We ate lunch at a cafeteria style Lobster place. Madeline wanted her picture taken next to the menu fish.
Our family next to the Mayflower II, a replica ship of the original Mayflower. We also walked around the historic part of Plymouth and saw the first church and an early house built there, along with a variety of monuments and memorials to the pilgrims.
On Monday, we mostly stayed around the beach house, played in the pool, read books, and in the afternoon, Karl and I went golfing. The pool was none too warm, and Trevor spent more time out of the pool wrapped in his towel.
Tuesday was a windy day. We went to the beach. The sand was excellent, even with the wind.
The water was relatively warm, but there wasn't much to see beneath the surface.
Byar! Thar be a beached whale!
Wednesday was our day in Boston, about 60 miles north of our beach house on Cape Cod. We drove to the southern part of the city, parked our cars, and bought day passes on the city transit system, which included subways, buses and ferries. Kids under 10 were free, so it was a bargain.
After a train into the city, we took a ferry to the north side of the city to see the U.S.S. Constitution visitor's center, and then we began walking south along the Freedom Trail, a path marked by a variety of Revolutionary War sites.
Here are all seven kids on an anchor at the U.S.S. Constitution site.
The steeple of the Old North Church, where
Paul Revere's lanterns were hung as a warning of approaching British troops. In Paul Revere's day, this was the tallest building in town, and the buildings you see lining the street in this photo weren't there yet.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
And along a path of history, who doesn't like to stop for some giant macaroni.
When we were tired out from our historical walk through Boston, most of the family headed home, while Karl, Jake and I made our way to Harvard University and then to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game. The park was very cool, the heat and humidity were almost unbearable, and the Red Sox got killed by the Indians, 9-1. We did get to see one home run (by the Indians) bounce off the top of the Green Monster, and another to deep center field by Big Papi (David Ortiz) for the Sox's only run of the game. This photo was taken an hour or more before the sold out game started while there were still empty seats.
On Thursday, it was Aunt Jolene's birthday. While the parents went out for a seafood dinner, the kids stayed home and baked a cake.
On Friday, we drove to the very tip of Cape Cod. At the end of the Cape, there is a small town called Provincetown. Just outside Provincetown is the
Highland Lighthouse.
Provincetown is well known for a few things, some more savory than others, but the reason we went there was for whale watching.
Just north of the tip of Cape Cod is an Atlantic shelf called the Stellwagen Bank, a fertile feeding ground for a variety of types of whale. We saw several whales on our four hour trip, though none of them jumped out of the water, much to Jessica's disappointment.
Here's our boat for the whale watching tour.
On Saturday, we had to vacate the beach house by 10 am, and facing a 10 hour drive back home, we decided to leave relatively early. We arrived home at 7 pm, found all well here, and thus ended our family's summer vacation to Cape Cod.
