Sunday, November 11, 2007

Boston Area, My Way, Day Two

So today, we had our 'carbohydrate' breakfast that was offered free from the hotel. They should try to offer their customers some type of protein. One gets tired of bagels and cream cheese after a few days. But, it is complimentary. Now if you really wanted to pinch some penny's, take along a couple pieces of bread, the peanut butter and jelly that's offered and tah-dah! You have your free lunch. So you should only be paying for an evening meal, if you decide to eat that evening. We opted not to enjoy the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today. Instead we opted to take along the subs we purchased the evening before from the Subway across the street along with a few small bottles of wine. Soon, we were on our way to Cape Cod and the Cape Cod National Seashore.

We decided to take the more scenic route to Provincetown, on Cape Cod, which ultimately was our final destination for the day. We took 3A south, with a stop in Plymouth. We only had time to visit the Mayflower II, walk along the shore, stopped for an ice cream and saw Plymouth Rock. It is a very nice park and walkway along these destinations. There is plenty of metered parking (and yes there are meter police that walk up and down the path so pay your quarters) shopping and a few places to stop off and have a bite to eat if you desire. Due to time constraints, we did not get to the Plimouth Plantation (and yes that is spelled correctly - both Plymouth and Plimouth are correct if you visit that town). From 3A to 6A, we traveled through the various towns, each unique in their own way. One of the funniest things we noticed along the way was a "Sandwich Police" car in the town of Sandwich. Sandwich Police. Sandwich Mayor. Unusual name Sandwich, a quaint and quiet New England town, and is the oldest on Cape Cod.

We found our way to the National Seashore. Our first stop was the Nauset Light Beach and lighthouse. This was a very nice beach to have our picnic. Subs and beverages, laughter and pictures. Just remember to bring a blanket or something to sit on. Sand is great, but crunchy on the subs. We stayed here for about 45 minutes. We still had a long way to go and more to see and we were already into the afternoon. We did see a wonderful, healthy red tail fox and I captured a beautiful picture of it gazing over the bank at the ocean. The lighthouse is a beauty too, only tours were not offered at the time of our visit. There are other walking paths in the immediate area (to 3 Sisters Lighthouses), easy to take if you have the time.

The next stop was the Highlands area. Here we saw the golf course that is part of this area and the Highland Lighthouse (otherwise known as the Cape Cod Lighthouse). This lighthouse was the first lighthouse built on Cape Cod and is now fully automated. A great photo opportunity.


Next, continuing to drive along 6, we visited the Dunes in the Province Lands area. Don't forget to go on the observation deck at the visitors center for a wonderful 360-degree view of the surrounding area. From there you could see the dunes, the ocean and the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown. We walked the beach for a bit then headed towards Provincetown, our final stop before we returned to Hull.

Provincetown is quite the artsy area. Many choices for shopping and places to eat. The Pilgrim Monument is awesome to look at as well as the areas homes, streets and marina. The most unique picture we took was the Barbie and Ken Doll pond. A small pond in front of a tiny red house was decorated with numerous Barbie and Ken dolls, all decked out for Halloween (which was the time we visited). Our favorite shopping place was Cuffy's. Here we bought 3 great hooded, zippered sweatshirts and received 3 free. A great bargain for our families. There were other sales (buy one, get 2 free, etc.) but we wanted the hoodies. We had a hard time finding a place to eat because many of the places were closed (due to the time of year), were having private parties, were pricey or didn't look appealing. Finally settling on a restaurant, we ate our meal and then headed out of town. We took 6 to 3 to 228 back and were back to our hotel in less than 2 hours. We left at 9am from our hotel and returned at 10:30pm after a full day on the Cape.

Our vacation, our way and not costing us much at all.