Cape Cod – Day 3

Jim says:

Another full day of wandering…mostly cloudy, high 70’s with high humidity.

First stop…the Cape Cod National Seashore Park Visitors Center at Eastham. This is the primary center to learn about the park. We watched a couple of short movies and visited the nice museum.

Next stop was a few miles north to the location of the site Marconi telegraph site. At this place the first trans-Atlantic telegraph message occurred in 1903. Here’s an informational link about that location…
http://www.stormfax.com/wireless.htm

Mary’s youngest daughter had told her about the Cape Cod Kettle Ponds. They are fresh water ponds which were formed during the ice age and Mary had to see some for herself. During the course of our day she saw several and she took off her shoes and waded into a couple of them.

The cape is only about one mile wide in this area, so we drifted westerly and allowed Mary to get her first view of Cape Cod Bay.

Along the way we went through the small fishing port of Rock Harbor where we bought a couple of live lobsters. You know what happened next! Within an hour we were back to the motorhome and those buggers were in the pot. I think Mary’s become addicted to Lobster!

Here are four photos that I took…

To see the other 40, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/CapeCodMA062010#

Here’s the official government website for the Cape Cod National Seashore Park Visitors Center…
http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm

In his book Cape Cod, Henry David Thoreau wrote…
“The seashore is sort of a neutral ground, a most advantageous point from which to contemplate this world”. Well said, Henry!

In other news…
I must recant a statement I made several days ago…that is that in Hyannis the motorhome had reached its most easterly point planned for our current trip. A couple of days ago I located another VFW in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, about 50 miles Northeast of Hyannis. We’ll move the motorhome to there today.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2009
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

TO CAPE COD BY FERRY

Arriving on  Marthas Vineyard by ferry a week ago, locked in the dark behind a huge truck, we were unable to open the door, get out, and walk around.  I wasn’t looking forward to the ride back. We got there early and Jim asked if we could take an earlier ferry and his request was granted. Leaving for Cape Cod by ferry proved to be a very different event. As we entered, first in line, its difficult to imagine that this ferry can take five lanes of traffic. Placed up front, no cars blocked our exit from the motor home and we gladly went up on deck to enjoy the ride.

The tall ships anchor on one side of the harbor…

the small boats on the other side.

A boat, just out of the picture, looked like it was going to run into the ferry. By the time I turned on my camera and aimed, he disappeared behind it.

It was cool and beautiful on deck as we watched boaters play, and the Island disappear.

A bell buoy is no big deal to people who live here, but hearing them toll in the wind, and being a New England Newbie, I finally got a good look at one.

We pulled into the landing with a front seat view. The new crew was waiting on deck for the old crew to get off. We found out the ferry we were supposed to take was held up for mechanical problems and we luckily missed that frustrating experience.

It didn’t take long for “reality” to sink in. A short drive from the ferry landing and we met our first stop light. (It turned green just as I snapped the picture.)
And, I have an amendment to make. Though we were refused  alcohol with our meals twice, and told we were in a dry county, we saw ads and signs that indicate that some places on the island allow you to have beer or wine in an eating establishment. And, we saw a discount liquor store where you could  buy spirits. Its a mystery to me. Years ago, in Kansas, we ran into a dry county. You could not buy anything alcoholic. If you brought it in your car from another county, and were caught, you could be ticketed. Dry county means different things in different states.