Cape cod. We’re setting off for “the Cape” for a week. There’s actually a fabulous wealth of activities to do with kids on the Cape, so we have no worry of getting bored. I made reservations for a Monday canoe trip with a naturalist at the Cape Cod National Seashore with Daughter, but otherwise we are free. We’re not taking the camper, though, we’re staying in a cottage which we had reserved long before we had a thought of getting a camper. So the camper will sit in our driveway for a week, while we’re on the Cape.
Day 1: saturday
Saturday found me awakened rather early by an early-rising Son. I had been up a bit late the night before, and that made for a groggy morning getting ready for our Cape Cod trip. Which did not bode well. Generally I’m a fairly grumpy packer to begin with. I do not enjoy packing. And as our family grows, we have to stuff more and more into our same-size vehicle. In fact, as the children grow, they pack more stuff and also take up more space which we used to use for cargo. So it’s a task which grows more difficult with each trip.
We make the trip in good time, stopping only once for a bathroom break. When we stop, I notice that the kiddie bike trailer — which is strapped to the roof — is coming loose, which is kind of odd. I thought it was strapped pretty good, but it was loose enough to vibrate quite a bit, and the connector arm was flapping free. I strapped it down harder, and we continued without incident to the cottage.
The cottage is quite nice, it’s in Eastham just a short walk from the Eastham windmill. It has two bedrooms on the first floor, each with two twin beds, and a queen-size bed on the 2nd floor loft upstairs. The upstairs gets pretty hot during the daytime, so we all settle in downstairs. We’re in walking distance of the windmill and a neat little superette, where I pick up a turkey sandwich for lunch. We have pond access just a short walk down a trail, and we have use of an aluminum rowboat.
We took a quick little shopping trip and headed out for a thoroughly unexceptional dinner at the Red Barn pizza place. We gave the kids a preview of a Bay beach at First Encounter Beach, as the sun set over the water. After the kids were in bed, I took a few evening shots of the Eastham windmill.
Day 2: Sunday
This morning the wife went out for a short bike ride and was surprised to find the road shared by hundreds of other cyclists on the PanMass Bike Tour. All these people had biked to Cape Cod from the Berkshires, and were nearing the end of their journey. I, for one, was envious of them.
Envious enough to want to take a short bike ride of my own. However, I found that the connecting bolt of the bike trailer had come off during transport. Uh oh. It took about an hour of visits to two bike shops and a hardware store to come back with a makeshift replacement. It’s probably the last year we’ll use the trailer anyhow, but it was quite distressing to lose a part like that.
By that time it was getting near high noon, and getting quite warm. We skipped doing a major bike ride, and decided to head to a lakeside beach instead.
That evening was spent watching the local Cape Cod baseball league, which held Son’s interest for about a half hour. Luckily there was a nearby hill that he could run up and down until he got all dirty.
Day 3: Monday
Monday morning found me preparing the Trail-a-Bike for a ride with Daughter to the Salt Pond Visitor’s Center, where we had reserved a ranger-led canoe tour of the Salt Marshes. It was Daughter’s first time in a canoe (she had taken a brief Kayak ride in Maine when she was about 2), and she held on for dear life, at least at first. After a while she seemed to enjoy it a bit, but in the end I got the impression that she would prefer to remain on dry land, for the most part.
After a quick lunch we noticed it was getting windy, and we made for Sandwich Boardwalk and beach for some kite flying. But the wind was too fierce, really, sand was blowing all around. With the hirible sandstorm, it was not nearly as lovely an experience as it should have been!
After a lovely chicken dinner prepared by the wife, I headed for some Nauset Light photography while she took the kids to a concert at the nearby Eastham windmill.
Day 4: Tuesday
This morning we let the kids pick what they wanted to do. Son: “Bike ride”. Daughter: “Beach”. So wife took Daughter to a nearby pond beach while Son and I rode to Nickerson State Park, about 7.5 miles.
After relaxing at home for a bit, we head for the Eastham library to check out their free wireless service …
