Drive Report: None - More tourist stuff. I should write a book.
Today we made the trek to the far North end of the Cape - Provincetown. It’s about a 41 mile jaunt which hadn’t ought to be a big deal, and it wasn’t. But probably only because we’re here after Labor Day when most of the tourists have given up and gone home. The scooter is certainly handy for this sort of stuff - ya can park it pretty much anywhere. And it moves right along on the highway. But alas, it is short for this world. We’ve decided that once we get back to Manhattan we’re gonna sell it. There does not exist, apparently, enough space in the garage for two similar toys. And since we’re going to go get the Moto Guzzi fairly soon after we get home, something’s gotta go. If you see the Scoot, don’t say anything. I wanna break it to him gently.
It was another interesting day. Did you know, for example, that before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they first landed at Provincetown? Yup - they all signed the Mayflower Compact aboard ship while anchored at what would later become Provincetown, then sallied forth to look for stuff like freshwater and soil that would support crops. Th Compact set the tone for governance in the New World for centuries to come. If you doubt this, as proof they have a museum and everything. Right now they’re cranking up to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing come 2020. Apparently the Mayflower II (a full size replica of the original as best they’re able to determine) is due to be here for the festivities. It should be a hoot...
Oh yes, and someone I know is a Mayflower descendant. More on this later.
So, hug the kids and pat the dog, here we go...
One learns all these nifty Pilgrim/Mayflower facts either by paying attention in school, or by going to the Pilgrim Monument. I'll leave the reader hanging as to my assimilation of this information. This, readers, would be Pilgrim Monument, built between 1907 and 1910. It rises just over 250 feet and cost less than 75k to build. Made of solid granite from Maine. There some stairs and a series of ramps inside which permit breathless treks to the top by tourists from near and far. It is a pretty impressive sight. Taller than the Astoria Column (which we also ascended) by 90 feet, if memory serves.
But before our climb commenced we walked around the hill on which the monument is located. The sights from there were pretty impressive, and the hill is only 100 feet above the water. Note the one lone sailboat just outside the harbor.
Another view from ground level. Not as many boats here as in Newport, but this isn't an active port any longer. At one time it was the whaling capital of the world, but those days are long past.
Once you climb the Monument, the view is a little different. The same breakwater in front of that little sailboat a few pics back is now clearly visible. BTW - fewer boats doesn't mean that there aren't some big ones here. Check out the blue and white motor yacht to the right of the pic. I believe the one in motion pointing toward the reader in the center of the pic is a whale watching expedition returning to off load all those high paying whale watchers. We didn't watch whales, we walked up a zillion steps instead. It sounded like more fun.
But a zillion steps or not, we were still all smiles. What's not to smile about - I'm still not at work! The view would have been much better without the modern glass across the opening. See the bars behind the glass? That's all they used to have. This is a sure sign that lawyers are overpopulating their ecosystem and that we need to implement a program to restrict their breeding. Either that or open a hunting season on 'em. All that glass means I now have to look around grimy kid hand prints and nose prints.
A view down the shoreline of Provincetown from atop the Monument. Pretty cool.
After that it was off to Herring Cove Beach to check out the lighthouse.
This is us on Herring Cove Beach. Ya can't go much farther North on Cape Cod and stay on dry land. Herring Cove Beach is at that little hook on the North end of the Cape. Not much wave action here either since we're on the inside of the Cape and the water you see behind us is Cape Cod Bay.
Getting to the beach - easy. Getting to Race Point Lighthouse - not so much. You can do it, but it's a 2.5 mile walk down the beach, in the sand. Yeah - no. So I zoomed up the old i-phone camera and this is what we got. That spindly little thing in the distance is it.
This doesn't look like too big of a deal, but this is one of those motor yachts. We watched it for a while and at first it was so far away that its speed wasn't apparent. But as it roared past the beach maybe half a mile out, it looked like it was really moving. Open the pic up and check out the wake of this thing. It's going fast enough to throw up two wake waves instead of just one. My Lord - stopping that thing must be like stopping a freight train.
We headed back to The Rig at about 1630, but stopped by a local Italian eatery on the way.
And it was some Italian eatery. I opted for the traditional Spaghetti and Meatballs, while Susan chowed down on the Shrimp Scampi with pasta. The waiter tried to get us to order dessert. Ha! Oh - did I forget to mention that we stopped by the pie place today? Yeah - they didn't sell by the slice. And since Susan likes cherry pie so much, I had to order a pie of my own - blueberry/peach, if you must know. We felt less guilty since they were 6 inch pies. The net result of the piefest, is that we each have half a pie left from that trip. It's sitting right there in boxes daring us to eat it. Being as it's only 2030 here right now, it may not survive the evening.
Finally, among her other endearing qualities, Susan is the previously mentioned Mayflower descendant. When we were going thru the museum today there was a list of passengers on the Mayflower - some with asterisks beside their names. When I inquired, she pointed to the name of Samuel Fuller. He had a dot beside his name. Apparently some g-g-g-granddaughter or another of Fuller's married a g-g-g-grandson of John Cary's. John Cary's name ring a bell? Yeah. More Plymouth Colony history. He didn't make the Mayflower trip. Must not have been paying attention to his cell phone when the text came telling him it was time to board. But he showed up in the second wave.
I tell ya, I may have to learn a snooty accent to go to Cary holiday gatherings. Rumor has it they have a nail from the Mayflower.
Till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment