Cape Cod

Oh, my goodness. What a day! We started the day by filling out our Absentee Ballots and getting them in the mail. Then we headed out for Cape Cod. It's a windy day, so we're glad we didn't have the camper along. When we got there, our first stop was the Welcome Center. We said that we only had one day to see Cape Cod and what were the highlights that we shouldn't miss. We got a list. Then we asked where the best place for clam chowder was. A place was recommended that won the Best Clam Chowder in Cape Cod and the Boston area for four straight years. We're there! Cape Cod wasn't exactly what we expected. First of all, Cape Cod is bigger than we thought. It starts farther down the coast than the little finger we all might thinks it is. It's about 75 miles long! There are 15 small towns along the Cape. They have woods and farms. The main crop seems to be cranberries in manmade cranberry bogs, which are empty now. Parking lots that aren't paved are covered with crushed clam and oyster shells. We stopped at a realty place to ask the difference between a saltbox house and a Cape Cod. A salt box is two stories with a slanted roof down the back to one story. A Cape Cod is one story with a roof with doghouse dormers for the second story. Isn't that the best term? Doghouse dormers. Very descriptive. Rich said all the houses on Cape Cod are Cape Cod houses. What's the question?
When we got to the Visitor's Center for the Cape Cod National Seashore, Nancy asked the Ranger where Cape Cod gets its water. The answer is very interesting. Cape Cod gets its water from rain and snowmelt. The Cape is sand and a long way down to bedrock. The water table is very high (about 25 feet down) and it's saltwater. Since freshwater is lighter than saltwater, when the rain percolates through the sand and gets to the saltwater, it floats on top in what is called a lens. It is shaped like the lens in your eye and is about 100 feet thick. There are several large lenses on the Cape, except for near Provincetown out on the hook. Out there, they have to pipe their water in from the nearest lens. Nancy asked if there were any restrictions on building on the Cape to try to preserve the lenses. The Ranger said, no, that so far the rain and snowmelt recharge the lenses every year. There aren't municipal water systems so nearly every home has a well and a septic system. The wells are about 50 feet deep which puts them near the middle of the lens. Isn't that fascinating?
We stopped in a couple of places to watch the waves. The wind was about 20 miles per hour, so the waves were big and were crashing and smashing.
We stopped for lunch at a Restaurant and Bookstore. Of course the name of it drew us in. After lunch we went to the bookstore. It was big, with mostly used books. Nancy got two Thoreau books, Cape Cod and Maine; and Rich got three Westerns. Later, we were looking for the Cape Cod Light, but the signage was poor so we took a wrong turn. We ended up on a point with buildings that looked like a military base with an observatory. We asked a man walking his dog what it was. He said it had been an Air Force base. Now the radar dome (not an observatory) is used for FAA traffic control. The buildings are gradually being used for organizations and an arts colony of sorts. Beyond the fence was an interesting-looking castle tower. We asked about it and he said that an eccentric lawyer from Boston, (Henry Aldrich) had been a Jenny Lind fan, the Swedish Nightingale, a 19th century opera singer. (Weren't we just talking about her, Terry C.?) After a concert in Boston, to avert a riot about to occur because the concert had been sold out and there were many fans clamboring outside, she gave a performance from the top of the tower at the Fitchburg Railway Depot. When the tower was due to be demolished in 1927, Mr. Aldrich bought it and had it moved to the Cape to his property. It's a granite tower that's 55 feet tall. The man walking his dog said we could walk and look at it, but it was hunting season. It was bow-hunting for deer, and it was also pheasant and rabbit season. We decided to take a picture. :) Look up Jenny Lind in Wickipedia. She was an interesting person! We did find the lighthouse. It was commissioned by George Washington in 1797 and was the first lighthouse on the Cape. It was rebuilt in 1857 and moved 100 feet back from the cliff in1996. Below, all along the beach were life-saving stations. Men would patrol the beach every night in case there was a shipwreck and be there to rescue people. Speaking of lighthouses, we saw a flier for a romantic evening at the top of a lighthouse with a catered gourmet meal and waitstaff for an entire evening. It only cost $350!
As we got to the end of the Cape, we came into Provincetown, where the Mayflower landed first and the Pilgrims first got off on land after their voyage. It was in the harbor that the Mayflower Compact was signed. There is a huge tower, 252 feet tall, called the Pilgrim Monument. We went to it and the museum. You can walk up to the top, but we only went to the first window. In the museum, there was a list of the passengers. Nancy asked if they knew the names of the crew members. We know about ten of the thirty or so crew members, the most famous of which was John Alden, who was the ship's cooper.
We took U.S. Highway 6 back down the Cape. It's the same Highway 6 that comes out of Bishop, California near Rich's parents home. In California, there is a sign that says Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Once, Nancy looked that up on the internet to see what that was about. The highway was named in honor of the Union soldiers, the Grand Army of the Republic. We wondered what all that had to do with California and Nevada. Now, In Massachusetts, the sign said, Grand Army of the Repuclic Highway. NOW we get it! Outside Bishop, Califrnia there is a sign that says Provincetown, Massachusetts, 2,000 and some miles. NOW we get it! We got into West Yarmouth to have clam chowdah at Captain Parker's Pub. Oh, the clam chowder was terrific! Rich rates clam chowder wherever we go. He rated this one an 8, which is the highest he has ever rated. He's saving room at the top in case there is something out there even better. The only other 8 he gave was at the Monterey Bay Acquarium. He even ordered a second bowl! On the way back, we passed a Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor. No need to stop. No room. Here around Boston, the traffic circles are not called circles or roundabouts. They're called a rotary. Okay!
Well, we went to sleep with all the thoughts of the new things we learned today, colliding in our brains. Tomorrow - Plimouth Plantation!

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