Crusing Cape Cod

Wednesday 8 August 2012 – Cruising Cape Cod

Day 117 and 43 to go

7am and the alarm went off blaring away again. We got out had a shower and packed a bag for today’s adventure then went down to the lobby restaurant for breakfast. We returned briefly to the room and then it was out to catch the ‘T’.

We took the green and blue lines to Seaport before walking the final few hundred metres to the hire car company to collect our car. We were given a Chevy, something bigger than we were expecting but perfect for our trip. With the GPS set we made our way to Plymouth on the coast and about 50min away.

The drive was fairly easy, the traffic was not heavy, the roads were in good condition and the drivers were courteous. At 9.45am we pulled up on the main street in Plymouth. We walked down the street checking out the shops and old buildings before walking down to the water, passing many old weatherboard houses.

At the waterfront they had the Plymouth Rock, carved 1620 and locked away in a cage. We checked it out before moving on to look at the Mayflower replica. The ship used to bring the pilgrims over. I really liked looking at all of the old weatherboard buildings they were so quaint.

We returned to the car and followed the 3A along the coastal strip and over the Sagamore Bridge on our way to Sandwich where we stopped again. This little town was so pretty. There was a large lake and a mill that is used to make corn meal. We met a local who was happy to chat about the area and gave us directions to a restaurant for lunch.

With his directions we made our way to Seafood Sams and ordered a lobster roll and then went down by the canals where we could sit, eat and watch people cruise up and down the canal and out to the Atlantic. When we had finished lunch we walked down to the beach. From here we could see large homes lining the beach. It was like a scene from the show “Revenge.”

We returned to the car, as Paul had had some beers I was given the wheel. Joy my first time driving left hand drive on the right side of the road. It was actually quite easy and the car was a breeze to drive.

We followed the scenic route, 6A, through many picturesque towns including Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis and Brewster before making our way to Orleans. Every street had beautiful homes with manicured gardens. It appeared the yards were massive and many had no fences between their neighbours. Paul even suggested he could live quite happily here. There was something about the Weatherboard places, they were quintessentially American.

We made our way to Nauset Beach ignoring the full carpark signs. Unfortunately when we got there they wanted $15 to park so we turned around and I continued the drive to Chatham.

This area was very upper class. We made our way to the beach and parked before walking down to the water’s edge where I could stick my feet in the fairly warm and shallow water. The beach was lined with guesthouses and hotels that looked like they catered for the very wealthy. One place had a croquet ground out the front.

With our visit to the beach complete and our cross country drive of the Cape finished I then set the GPS for our hotel and motored along the highways for two hours while Paul had a sleep.

The drive again was not particularly difficult, but by 4pm my eyes were getting sore from staring straight ahead. When we were back in central Boston Paul was awake and helping with directions. The traffic had increased considerably but it was still manageable and at 4.45pm I pulled into the hotel car parking. Phew!
We returned to the room and I drew a bath to soak in while reading my book. Paul watched TV and kept an eye on the Boomers v Dream Team Olympics ¼ final match. I then flaked out on the bed before we decided to head downstairs to the UNO restaurant for dinner.

We were able to watch the final quarter of the basketball, but it was frustrating as we weren’t getting the calls, many of them were dubiously in favour of the US and in the end we went down by 33 points.

We enjoyed the steaks we ordered. Mine didn’t last long as I was so hungry. At 7.30pm we returned to the room, watched some TV and did some checking of things for our drive to Stowe tomorrow before getting an early night.

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