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Published: July 25th 2015
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...took us to P'Town (P-town). Kathy, Mike and I went out to Plymouth to a passenger ferry that would take us to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. The 90-minute ferry ride takes you across Cape Cod Bay to about the middle of P'Town. From there you can walk to the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum as well as a plethora of shops and eateries.
The monument stands 252 feet and is the tallest all-granite structure in the country. It was built to commemorate the first landing of the pilgrims. Five weeks after landing in what is now Provincetown, they sailed across the bay to the much more suitable area of Plymouth. You can't grow many crops in sand. You can climb to the top of the monument via a series of steps and ramps inside. No elevator. Along the way there are large granite plaques inlaid at the corners noting the various towns and cities in eastern Mass and their dates of settlement or incorporation. Something to keep your mind off the fact that you're climbing probably the equivalent of 300 stairs. It's actually not that bad. There are 116 steps and 60 ramps and you can do
it in about 10 minutes...5 if you're in decent shape and 2 if there's nobody else in there and you're 12 years old or younger. The view from the top is spectacular. We didn't take many photos from the top this time around because I took a bunch when we visited in 2006. Sorry, guess you'll just have to make the trip yourself.
We walked up and down the main street that paralleled the shore, poking our heads in a few shops and reading the menus of the restaurants. Kathy was looking for a lobster roll, Mike wanted fried whole-belly clams and I wasn't picky. At the place we finally decided on, I ordered their lobster salad panini. It was yummy. As we walked we saw a few street performers. One was a group of four men and four women dancing to Latin-American sounding music. When they finished a young man about 10 years old picked up his violin and began busking there on the sidewalk. Later we came across a deaf man who'd discovered he enjoyed "performing" for tourists. His gig was a living statue. He painted his "uniform" to look like an aged bronze statue of a
soldier, complete with helmet, rifle, boots and the pedestal he stood on. He would pose with tourists and would request a donation before taking a picture. His pedestal was the donation box. I had asked him if he'd painted the clothing himself, he said he did. I think he was taken aback by a tourist who knew sign. That was the extent of our conversation. I wish I had talked more with him, but at the time I didn't want to keep him from his "performance." After we left I got to thinking...is this the new version of selling cards with the manual alphabet on them?
The ride back to Plymouth was much smoother, but cloudier than the ride out. We arrived back at the car sporting slight sunburns. No, we didn't take sunscreen with us, nor did we buy any while we were there because we have two perfectly good bottles back at the trailer. Mike came back with a Cape Cod baseball cap to keep his head from becoming as red as his shirt.
Being out in the sun all day makes you tired when you finally get home. Mike watched the Red Sox game on
tv while I followed the Mariners on my phone. They both lost.
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Terri Williams
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Provincetown
It was such a long drive to Provincetown from our hotel on Cape Cod that we didn't get to spend much time there. Next time I'm going the way you went. I'm enjoying the blogging. Glad you're enjoying yourselves.