Cape Cod

Vacation was spent the first week of June in Brewster, MA (at Cape Cod). This was our first trip to The Cape (as it is affectionately called in these parts). This was among one of my favorite vacations, right up there with Kauai, Hawaii.

We stayed at a home rental known as The Barn. It is a pole barn (no nails used in the construction) that was built into a home (this being the original conception). It had a lovely loft, but we primarily stayed on the main level.

At this juncture, it has been an entire week since returning, so as I recollect my time there, I will not necessarily be keeping days and events in sequence, though I will try my best to do so.

We cruised the small, rural town of Brewster with its quaint cape cod homes, many of them with victorian details. Some of these are centuries old, and several are former sea captain homes. There were windmills and grist mills as well as marshes and beaches all along the cape. Brewster is a well preserved community that has held fast to its heritage and the old charms of the era. They have no fast food joints, and the locals still gather together on the porch of the town coffee shop and talk politics, etc. Families still swim in the little streams, that become larger streams as the tides come in. It is a place where you feel like you've stepped back in time and enjoy the old, simple ways of living.

We pretty much visited every little town, or at least passed through them in the area. Each town has a different flavor, some are artsy, some touristy, some commercialized. I'm very glad we stayed in Brewster as opposed to Hyannis where we originally considered staying, which is very much a city, with heavy traffic (not my idea of a vacation).

Apparently we picked the right time to visit, just before the tourist season, but still at a point where it was warm...before school lets out... (they say that right away, when school is back in session, is another ideal time to visit, as the tourists have left). We didn't have to contend with traffic and crowded beaches.

We went to Provincetown (sadly this town has been taken over by gays and lesbians, so their peace/rainbow flags were waving all over the place), but we went first thing in the morning before the town was stirring and avoided them. We went to First Encounter and to where they docked the Mayflower at the tip of Provincetown (here is a monument and very small park dedicated to the the Pilgrims). This would have been the general area where Peregrine White would have born born, in port, aboard the Mayflower (of whom I am a direct descendant).

We visited Truro Vineyard and did a tour and wine tasting. They have won a good number of awards both nationally and internationally. I very much enjoyed their wines. Truro is where it is thought that, during the scouting of the land, the Pilgrims first found fresh water, very needful for their preservation given they were surrounded by salt water with marshes, the cape, and the ocean.

The beaches are beautiful along the cape. Lighthouses and windmills dot the landscape. Seals and gulls share the waters with the visitors, keeping a safe distance, though still unbelievably close. The sunsets were amazing on the cape waters. Along the east coast it's not often one gets to enjoy the sun setting on the waters, but rather the sunrise. I have long missed the sunsets from the west coast, and still do for that matter. This was a close runner up to that!

We spent one day in Plymouth and saw Plymouth Rock (it was under a portico undergoing construction, so not worth taking pictures). We also visited the Plymouth Hall Museum which was really informative and had great exhibits. Sadly, they would not allow photography or video cameras in the exhibit areas, so I was only able to take pictures outside.

It was funny that, while at the museum, I was trying to watch the informational movie; just outside the viewing area a couple of people kept talking so loud that I could hardly hear. I kept turning to give them "the eye", hoping they would get the hint, but to no avail. I finally turned and did a loud, "shhhh!" I later learned it was the Governor and a museum staffer. He had come for the day to do a commemorative dedication for the upcoming 400th year that will be celebrated very soon. So, I have to laugh at myself for having shhhh-ed the Governor of Massachusettes.

While at Plymouth we also boarded/toured the Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship. It is amazing how little living space these folks had; it is said they were regarded as cargo. I really enjoyed visiting Plymouth, and had I more time or could have planned better, I would have liked to have visited Marshfield and Scituate, as these were towns that were settled by my ancestors after the initial settlement of Plymouth. Edward Winslow and Susanna White (widow of William White) settled Marshfield with her two children and utimately four more they had together. I'm sure there would be plenty of historical information about them there.

Plymouth was probably the high point of my trip, as I cannot help but consider God's providence upon my life in preserving this lineage. It amazes me as I read Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647 by William Bradford, how much history is still preserved along the cape, all throughout the area (not just Plymouth).

A close runner up to the day at Plymouth was the day we took the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard. We rented a little convertible crossfire car and rode around with the top down. We visited all but one of the towns. This is a very special place for sure! We especially enjoyed talking with two locals Mike and Jackie, whose son owns a rental beach home next to Michael J. Fox. We just hung out eating local, fresh seafood that the fishermen had just brought in off the boats. There we sat on crates outside Larsen's in Menemsha overlooking the dock. Mike and his wife Jackie were so down to earth and told us about the island, the best places to visit, etc.

We had such a great time; the area has some very rural countryside/farmland with horses, huge ponds, etc. but also has some very charming towns that are artsy, historical, and even victorian communities. It was very fun cruising around all day, the wind whipping through our hair and being able to, on a whim, stroll a beach, or duck into a little restaurant/bar for clams and drinks while watching the sailboats from the patio.

When back to Brewster we enjoyed more beach time. We visited Nausette, Marconi and other beaches, and popped into a little local museum that told about the life/history of the area. We took in a double feature at the drive-in movie, as well as visiting the Brewster Grist Mill site where there is a huge pond (reported to have been fed by several other ponds/lakes) and built with locks to channel the water for powering the grist mill. It is no longer in use, but is still quite a beautiful sight, with abundant water fowl, a fish run of herring, as well a huge snapper turtle. This santuary with clean running streams and small water falls and bridges was within short walking distance from The Barn where we stayed, as was the Paine's Creek site where we observed the stunning sunsets. It was amazing to see the green grassy marshes one day, and then a few days later, have them all under water for the tide.

Cape Cod is definitely one of those places that calls you back for another visit.

On our final day we packed up the car to return home. We checked in one last time with Dave and Judy (parents of the home owner Craig) and neighboring hosts during our stay. We were treated to the most amazing personal tour of their home and garden. Dave is a landscaper by trade and his wife is a stone sculptist. The garden at their home was amazing. It ramble on as though one room to the next, but instead of walls of drywall, were walls of trees, shrubs, grasses, and varying art sculpture. Inside their actual home Judy showed me her handiwork with a relief plaster of paris wall landscape mural she had done in her foyer, a border crafted of actual shells and marine life was featured in their kitchen, and a whimsical faux painted book shelf inter-mixed with real 3-D book bindings was strategically placed around her desk in her office space. It was like a magic playland inside and out! Dave showed us their little secret hideout where they camp in a rustic bedroom shack that lets in breezes, and told us how they once camped the whole winter season without heat! They simply piled blanket upon blanket in 8 degree weather. Granted these two are retired citizens. They simply enjoy life and embrace it at every turn! What a wonderful treat that was...

We took the long way home via Newport, stopping in Misquamicut where I ate a famous lobster roll with locally brewed beer, and rested once more upon the beach at Atlantic Avenue.

We finally arrived home to a very big surprise! While on vacation for the week, Walter had arranged for some friends of ours to do a living room and kitchen make-over. David was in on it as well. What a surprise to come home to an amazingly beautiful new living room and improved kitchen. I had no idea this had been in the works, they had been planning this for weeks, even months. I was totally clueless! Talk about keeping a secret... Friends of ours had even put some flowers in the yard at the entries. So, thinking I was coming home from a surreal vacation to reality, I instead came home to more of the surreal!

It was so funny, because just the week prior to taking my vacation, upon reading a little book called As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, I decided to embrace God's providence upon my life and try and be content with the home I have, to make the most of what I have, with what I have. I started a mini home improvement project of fixing the water damage in the bathroom. I sanded, I painted, and decided I would try and love this little place the best I could and that if I would do this, God would bless me. Well, this was definitely a quick response on God's part to bless me back on account of endeavoring to embrace contentment more.

You can never out do God!

Thank you to my friends and family who allowed God to work such a sweet work in your hearts to bless little ole me! I am moved beyond words!