Month: August 2023

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

First thing this morning we headed to the town of Provincetown, a small quaint New England town at the very end of the Cape.  It’s New England to the max.  There is quite a long jetty made of huge granite boulders like the one in Rockland that we walked our first day in Maine back in July. People were getting their exercise on this jetty this morning and it’s a great way to exercise.  We got a workout there today too.  Across the street from the jetty is a monument to the Pilgrims and per that monument it was the first landing place of the Pilgrims, and the Pilgrims went from Cap Code to Plymouth.  From there we went by the “Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum (PMPM)” located in the center of Provincetown.  It is closed on Tuesday, but we still wanted to see the huge tower and read some of the literature.  The tower is 252 feet 7.5 inches tall and rises 350 feet above sea level.  It is 116 steps and 60 ramps to the top and takes about 10 minutes for the heart healthy.  The monument is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States.  You don’t miss it when you drive into Provincetown.  Maybe we can visit the inside of the monument and museum another year.

Next, we went to the Province Lands Visitor Center at the Cape Cod National Seashore.  Recall we visited the other visitor center in Eastham yesterday. There was another movie to watch today that was again quite well done. The viewing platform off the rear of the center was a great place to get the overview of the area and decide which trails we wanted to hike.  We hiked to the beach where we saw close to 25 RVs camping in the sand.  The sand and Atlantic beach on Cape Cod is similar to our Gulf Coast beaches.  We really enjoyed our time there this morning.  We also saw some whales at a distance.  Too far for good pictures.  We could come spend a week or two here – but not this year.

Early afternoon it was time to say goodbye to the cape and head west. We drove to Coventry, Rhode Island (another state on our map.) where we will spend the night and tomorrow do some more hiking.  BTW, the weather has been delightful.  Sunny, high of 76, light breeze, low tonight predicted to be 56. It’s making it hard to head further south with a high of 96, fells like 100 back in Alabama.

Monday, August 21, 2023

This morning we left our Harvest Host spot for the night and headed to Concord, MA to the North Bridge Visitor Center.  It is the location of the Minute Man National Historical Park.  We were there before they opened so we walked to the North Bridge where the “shot heard round the world” was fired.  According to the park service it was the first time the colonists fired against and killed Red Coats.  The Red Coats fired against and killed some of the colonists earlier in the day at Lexington.  The park has two very good movies to help everyone refresh their memory of the Revolutionary War, one at the North Bridge Visitors Center and the other at the Minute Man Visitor Center.  We of course got our NPS passport stamped at both locations.  The park is very well maintained and the trails are easy to walk.  If you walk them all you will do about 15 miles of walking so we didn’t take the time to do that today but the Boston area could be an area we return to and stay several days.  There is so much history in the area.

Next we drove about an hour to Plymouth, MA.  Traffic was pretty heavy every where we were for the remainder of the day.  Of course, in Plymouth we had to go take a picture of Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower.  Yes, we know that the exact location of the landing is not known and is disputed but we think that commemorating the bravery of the people who made that journey and made a new home in what became the USA is appropriate, wherever the exact location might be.  The marina and surrounding area in Plymouth is beautiful.  There are some great boats in that harbor as well as some beautiful homes in the area.

The last leg of today’s journey took us to Cape Cod – another bucket list location.  Again, the beauty of the various marinas and boats in the different harbors was very impressive, along with just driving along the coastline.  There are some gorgeous homes on the Cape too.  We stopped and celebrated our 41^st anniversary at a recommended restaurant, the Skipper Chowder House, on the Cape.  The food was excellent and after dinner we celebrated Donna and Barry’s anniversary by having a big ice cream sundae. Happy Anniversary, Barry and Donna!  We love y’all.  Yes, two of our very best friends who are also our cousins, have the same Anniversary day as us, just different years.  Today was a wonderful day.  We thank God for blessing us with life together.

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Made it to a new state.  Massachusetts – barely.  We are in Massachusetts about 200 feet, but since we are spending the night we still get to fill in our map.

The crowd kept growing at our Harvest Host site yesterday afternoon.  We ended up with three vans, and 5 tent campers – in 3 tents.  All was good and we really enjoyed getting to know the other van owners.  We got a good night’s rest and awoke to sunshine.  (It rained pretty hard overnight.)

We traveled the length of Maine today enjoying the beautiful scenery.  There were miles of coastline at times and then we would dip inland and have miles of forests.  Nice drive.  We stopped in Portland to check out a bakery and doughnut shop that had been recommended.  We have breakfast for the next few days.  We got to visit the Eastern Promenade park where you can sit on the grassy slopes facing the water and watch the schooners and other boats going in and out. Families were there having picnics and playing games.  We also walked downtown to the wharf, shops, ferry and cruise ship terminals.  A nice break in the drive and it was good to see all the people and vendors out enjoying their city on such a pretty day.  It was another wonderful day of travel.  We love traveling together.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

We started the day with rain and fog again.  But again, by mid-morning the sun was shining brightly, and it was a delightful day.  We had our blueberry scone we got from the bakery yesterday for breakfast – very good – and then went through all our food in BB to be sure we didn’t have anything the would be disallowed at the border.  We made sure we had eaten all our fresh produce and citrus.  We had about a thirty-five-minute wait due to the number of vehicles in front of us at the Calais crossing. Longest delay we have ever had coming back into the country.  We were surprised.  We thought Saturday morning at a small-town crossing would be quick.  Oh, well.  We were in no hurry.  As soon as we cleared customs, we headed to Walmart to restock the refrigerator with produce.  Then, for the rest of the day we enjoyed the scenery making our way south.  We stopped for a picture of the huge Paul Bunyon statue when we drove through Bangor.

We arrived at our Harvest Host site in Lincolnville, ME midafternoon.  There are now three of us – a Florida couple in a Roadtrek van who also returned to the US today, a tent camper from Georgia and BB, all enjoying the peaceful rural farm.  Our hosts will be joining us shortly for a tour.  We will fill you in on that tomorrow. It’s been a good day!