Cape Cod

On the first day in Cape Cod we went to Nauset Light Beach. The reason it has the name Nauset Light Beach is because it is by the light house. After the beach we went to Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar. The line was so long we decided to go back to the RV and order pickup. On day two I did my chores and went to the beach. We found jellyfish we dug a hole and put the jellyfish in it and then we went home.

Bye

-Alastair

Leaving Boston

This is Addie here. Today we are leaving Boston and going to Plymouth Rock. I think my favorite part of Boston was going on the Freedom Trail with relatives. Now we are going to see dad's friends. After that we will see Plymouth Rock. When the Plymouth site seeing is over, we will go to Cape Cod. That is where our campground is. It was hard to leave Joseph, Micah, Aunt Heather, and Aunt Lauren because we had so much fun and AI love hem so much. W will go to the beach once we get to Cape Cod. I'm so excited.

Goodbye,
Addie

Jelly Fish

Hello, I'm Dagny.  I found a lot of jelly fish. At least ten jelly fish. The first jelly fish I found I asked the lifeguard what it was. She said it was a jelly fish.

See you next time. Dagny

We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us.

We had our last breakfast with Heather, Lauren, Joseph, and Micah this morning and parted ways in Littleton, MA. We headed south and they headed back to Vermont. It was nice to be able to spend so much time with them over the last few weeks. On our way to Cape Cod, we stopped in Plymouth to meet up with Michael and Michelle Papper. I have known Mike since childhood and since he now lives in Massachusetts, I don't get to see him as often as I would like. Mike and his family spent the last week in Cape Cod and were on their way back to their home in Shrewsbury and we crossed paths in Plymouth. We had lunch together at the Cabby Shack and it was great to see Mike and Michelle again and to meet their two sons, Zach and Adam. Since we were in Plymouth and Plymouth Rock was only a half a mile walk down the road, it seemed obligatory to see it. I felt a little like Clark Griswold in Vacation when they stop to see the Grand Canyon. I looked at the rock, took the kids' picture at the rock, and it was time to move on.

We drove over the Sagamore Bridge and we're now on Cape Cod. We are staying in Eastham, just about a block from Arnold's Lobster & Crab Shack. Over lunch Mike asked Michelle where Eastham is located, and she responded that it is where their favorite crab shack, Arnold's, is located. After settling in at the campground, we suited up and headed to Nauset Light Beach. It was hot when we arrived, and I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to take the heat. One dip in the ocean assured that I wouldn't overheat, and we had a great time. None of the kids floated off to see and if it weren't for the flies eating me alive, we would have stayed longer. On our way back to Eastham, we hatched a plan to hit Arnold's for dinner and so we did. Upon arriving, we say a huge line out the door and through the parking lot. After standing in line for about five minutes and not moving, we had to come up with a better plan. I had already obtained a menu, and the folks in front of us in line suggested that if we were staying close by, all we need to do is phone in our order, come back and pick it up. That was enough of a plan for us, so we ditched the line. The one thing on which we had not planned was that we were not the only family with this idea. According to the log on my phone, I started calling at 6:54 and I couldn't get through until 7:04, 37 calls in all. On the bright side, Adelaide now knows what a busy signal sounds like. I headed back to Arnold's to pick up dinner while Jll got the kids cleaned up. I had the largest lobster roll I'd ever seen and I've gone from thinking that I will eat lobster at every meal while on Cape Cod to thinking that I may never eat lobster again.

That's it for the day. We will be here for another few days, so let me know what we should not miss. I am toying with the idea of catching a ferry to either Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket for a day. Any suggestions?

- Dave

Happy Independence Day (and day after)

Yesterday we celebrated the Fourth of July by spending the better part of the day swimming and hiking around Walden Pond. Lauren's sister, Kathryn, was kind enough to meet us there with a great breakfast. After having some donuts, quiche, and coffee cake, we lathered up with sunscreen and headed into the water. The pond is small enough to warm up quite nicely. We splashed around for a while and none of the kids even missed the coin dive and soda dive at Eastmoor Swim & Tennis. Allen and I hiked to the site of Henry David Thoreau's cabin and I was disappointed to find that the cabin no longer remains. I can't imagine why I should be surprised to find a tiny cabin gone after 168 or so years. I had visions of asking the park service about renting the cabin for 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days and making a documentary out of the experience. Walden Pond is certainly more visited now than in Thoreau's day so I am not sure the idea would have worked. In the afternoon, we let the kids swim at the pool at the campground. Again, there was no coin dive and the kids didn't even notice. We did eat s'mores before watching the Boston Pops concert and fireworks on local television. It was not our typical July 4th routine, but it was very enjoyable nonetheless.

Dagny participating in the lightning show.

This morning was hot and humid by the time we started rolling and by the time we finished breakfast, we decided it would be an inside day. We drove into Boston and spent the day at the Museum of Science. I was shocked that for a family of six it is cheaper to buy a membership to the museum than two buy six individual tickets. We are now proud members of the Boston Museum of Science. The guy at the counter tried to upsell me on the auto-renewal option, which I declined. We enjoyed the museum very much. I especially liked the lightning demonstration. Not only did the museum have the original four-story Van de Graaff generator from M.I.T., it also had an assortment of Tesla coils, two of which were tuned such that they played Happy Birthday in lightning. The show was much better than the lightning demonstration at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

After an unremarkable dinner back at the campground, we wound down in the air conditioned comfort of our RV, visiting with Heather and Lauren while the kids played. After Lauren had taken Micah to bed, it seemed like a good idea to venture out in search of ice cream. The closest place was a Baskin Robbins in the next town over. When we pulled in we were greeted by a policeman in the parking lot who told us to not go to Baskin Robbins. He said that there was a much better place only five miles away, so we loaded back up and headed to Kimball Farm Ice Cream. Not only did it have great ice cream, but it also had a classic car show going on so we could entertain ourselves while gorging ourselves on the outrageous portions. Here is a picture of Adelaide with a "kiddie cone." Most of our kiddies came nowhere close to finishing their ice cream.

We will be sad to part ways with Heather, Lauren, Joseph, and Micah tomorrow but we are excited for whatever adventures await us next.

The Freedom Trail

After fueling up for the day on breakfast at the RV, we headed into Boston to walk the Freedom Trail. We were able to find a parking lot under Boston Common, where the trail starts. It was warm and humid when we started, which did not bode well for the kids' long term durability. The highlights for the day included the King's Chapel, at which we arrived at around noon. Learning that the church was closed to visitors for a mid-day service, we walked in and waited for the 12:15 service. Despite being warm inside, the kids did exceptionally well at sitting still and remaining quite. This was a good thing because, just like at Wellshire Presbyterian back home, we found ourselves front and center. The children enjoyed having our own private pew. Perhaps we will suggest this to Dr. Bell when we get back to Denver. The service was only a half an hour and I enjoyed it not only for its brevity, but also for its content. Reverend Joy Fallon, for her homily, read a sermon previously given by James Freeman, the church's rector from 1787 through 1836.

After church we continued on the Freedom Trail, reaching Faneuil Hall in time for lunch. We grabbed a quick bite from the Quincy Market and sat outside between the two watching a magical, juggling comedian, Lucky Bob. We enjoyed the show despite the fact that we were baking in the hot sun to watch.

Because I saw it on the other side of the street as we walked past, we stopped into Modern Pastry for an afternoon treat of cannoli and gelato. Walking past the line to get into Paul Revere's house, we made our way to the Old North Church. We walked around a little bit, again remarking how interesting it was to have family pews. I am not sure how this system worked, perhaps someone in the know can leave a comment with the answer. One of the exhibits at the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL indicated that even though Abraham Lincoln never joined the church to which Mary Todd Lincoln belonged, he always paid for the pew and would occasionally attend services. My assumption is that churches would collect a fee for pew rental in addition to tithing. On the one hand, I would be nice to know that you could always sit in the same place, but on the other hand, it would be easier to spot an absent family.

Leaving the North End we crossed the Charles River to visit the USS Constitution. I felt embarrassed going through security that I could not answer Alastair when he asked me what USS stood for. I had to ask the security guard and he informed us that it stands for United States Ship. During the Civil War, they were referred to as USSS, United States Steam Ships, but the Navy obviously dropped the steam reference. We waited for the guided tour as that was the only way to visit below the spar deck. Unfortunately, we only got to go down as far as the gun deck because they were painting the decks below that. I had hoped to see the operating room. I think I recall from childhood that the floor of the operating room was painted red so that you could not see all of the blood, but now I am not sure if I am remembering this correctly. 

We heard from Heather and Lauren that they were almost to Boston, so we arranged to meet them in the North End for dinner. Allen found a restaurant that could seat us all and we reunited at Benevento's. I had the carbonara with the homemade fusilli. I exclaimed "Fusilli Jerry" to the waitress, but she was not impressed with my Seinfeld reference. Dinner was exceptionally rich and delicious. Because it was only a block away, we had to stop at Mike's Pastry for another round of cannoli. Though larger and more crowded, I preferred the cannoli from the Modern Pastry, which was fresh made rather than premade sitting in a stack of other cannoli in a refrigerated case.

By now we were stuffed, tired, and just about the length of the Freedom Trail away from our car at the Boston Common. We walked back as the sun went down. Alastair fell asleep on the way back to the campground in Littleton and Maggie kept asking Allen to tell her ghost stories, just not too scary. It was a good day, and we are all wiped out.

- Dave

From Maine to Massachusetts

Yesterday the kids woke up in a little better mood than that in which they went to bed the night before. After getting ready for the day, we loaded up the van and headed to the Portland Head Light and Fort Williams Park. We walked around the lighthouse and took the self-guided tour. Maggie made Jll ask the woman who sold us our tickets whether we could go up to the top of the lighthouse. The woman confirmed Jll's suspicion that we could not. Maggie was disappointed.




We walked across the park to Fort Williams, an old military installation, where the kids became intrigued by a small concrete tunnel through one of the bunkers. The tunnel made two turns, and the back side of it was pitch black. After walking through once with adults, the kids started making loops around the tunnel, having quite a time. There was a nice picnic area near Fort Williams, and we were joined for lunch by Uncle Rick and Kyle, Victoria and Sascha, Elizabeth, Isabel, and Sophie, Tricia, Rosemary, and Molly. It started to rain on us pretty heavily, right after being joined by Les and Patty, so everyone had to run back to their cars. Not knowing where else to go, we decided to make our way to Beal's Ice Cream in Old Port. The kids did not object.





After a trip to the grocery store, we headed to Victoria's for dinner. After the big family gatherings we've enjoyed, it seemed like a small group for dinner, including Uncle Rick and Kyle, Daniel, Tricia, Rosemary, and Molly, Victoria and Sascha. Not wanting to crush the kids again, we said our goodbyes and made our way to the RV to get the kids to bed.

This morning we woke to rain, again. Allen and I spent some time packing everything up, including the tent Heather and Lauren left behind. Uncle Rick and Kyle stopped by to see us off and we had a nice chat until the kids started fighting and causing chaos. We said goodbye to Uncle Rick and Kyle and were on the road again.

We made the drive to Massachusetts and set up camp in Littleton, MA. Once we got everything set up and the tent dried out, we went to the Minute Man National Historical Park. We watched the multi-media presentation at the visitors' center to give the kids a primer on the battles at Lexington and Concord, then we went to see the Lexington Common and the North Bridge in Concord. I can't remember the last time I visited these sites, but I truly find it inspiring to be here.

Concord Hymn 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson