The long and not very winding road

Monday 20 July was home time, and we just drove. And drove. And drove. IS90 is a very straight road indeed, going through Massachussetts and New York State, and much of it is quite pretty and green. We searched (mainly in vain) for decent stations on the car radio, stopped a couple of times, paid several tolls, got through the Canada-US border in a matter of minutes, and after about 11 hours arrived back in Missisauga, with everything in good order - apart from possibly our bank balances. 

On Tuesday 21 July, Toni immersed herself in all matters domestic and I slept and read by the pool. Yes, all day. And I loved every minute of it. I wouldn't agree with Frank that it's always nicer to come home after travelling, but it was certainly good to have a day free of dashing about and to enjoy my first swim of this holiday!

Toasting tootsies in the other direction, but today no chipmunk

Cod piece

We spent today viewing the Cape, stopping off en route to Provincetown. We took a look in Shiver Me Timbers, a roadside antiques centre in Dennis, with the most bonkers collection of junk and gems indoors and out. Without a weight limit and a suitcase with very little space to spare, how I would've spent hours sifting through to pick up some lovely old pre-loved and quirky pieces, especially for the garden.

We pressed on to Chatham, which is a bit like Sandwich but with even more shops - definitely more upmarket than Hyannis, but again you probably need the cottage to match the merchandise, and a large wallet to afford the very tasteful clothing. Sadly, I have neither.

On to Provincetown along a picturesque coastal road, with the sun making an appearance from time to time, but remaining resolutely behind the clouds when we reached PTown. It's another strange mix of the tasteful and the tacky, and we had a walk along the pier with its fishing, whale watching and pirate ship cruises. Ice cream stop today was almond chip from Lewis Bros, a very old creamery, and we sat while I scoffed it (Toni has so much more willpower when it comes to frozen desserts) watching a large group of mainly mature and well-dressed gay men playing croquet near the memorial. And I still can't fathom out the rules.

We headed up to the Provincetown memorial, erected in honour of the Pilgrim fathers who first set foot in the US on this narrow strip of land. Contrary to popular belief, it was PTown and not Plymouth where the US as we know it was founded. The 200+ steps up to the top were embellished by memorial stones awarded by various New England towns, most of which bear familiar UK names including Manchester, Rochester, Kingston and even Norwood. 

There's a good little museum on site too, which also covers the whaling history of PTown - though now thankfully the locals are more involved in conservation and un-entangling the whales from fishing lines than killing them for blubber and oil.

A stroll back towards the car down a pretty street, refreshing wheat beer in the sunshine at a pleasant bar staffed by very pretty waiters, and we headed back to Hyannis, via Chatham for dinner - swordfish for me which was pretty darn good. (Though be warned, seafood here isn't cheap...)

Twee and tat on Cape Cod

We headed off from a drizzly Boston on Saturday morning and joined the traffic heading out of the city to Cape Cod. We stopped off in Sandwich - where I vaguely remember staying in the mid-90s - which is still a collection of clapperboard houses with perfect gardens and stars & stripes outside. There's still a number of antique shops and places selling tasteful homewares just perfect for Cape cottages, together with any number of Cape Cod hoodies and T-shirts. A highlight for me was an elderly man riding around on his bike with the most enormous fish strapped to the back of it, shouting to anyone looking "I caught it in the canal! It weighs 20 pounds!"

I must confess to a little retail therapy (well, it was a very unusual jacket at half price), and after a lobster roll and an iced tea at Betty's Bakery for sustenance, we headed off for Hyannis. I must just mention though that we came across the first of many 'Home for the holidays' sections in shops - the dreaded C word - and there are even entire shops devoted to the festive season which I know isn't unheard of in the UK but just not as prevalent. As many of you will know, Christmas sets off a nervous tick in me - why do you think I'm taking long leave in the second half of the year?!

The Hyannis Host is close to the airport on a long dual carriageway, close to a mall with K-Mart, Macy's and Sears and not far from Dunkin' Donuts. You park outside your room - it's clean, a little scruffy, with air conditioning circa 1980s, swirly carpets and a big old boxy TV set in the room - which gives you an idea of what over £100 a night buys you on Cape Cod! As a base it was fine but we certainly couldn't walk anywhere in comfort, so we dumped our luggage and headed off into Hyannis in the hope that just around the corner was a place something like Sandwich, which was vaguely what I remembered from 1996. Oh dear...what would JFK and Jackie have thought of their vacation spot now?

Words you will never hear a visitor to Hyannis say: "I looked everywhere for a Cape Cod T-shirt/saltwater taffy/a furry whale/pair of flip flops/restaurant with scrod on the menu but couldn't find any in Hyannis." The main drag is a mix of upmarket womenswear stores and outlets selling all of the aforementioned in huge quantities. It's also a strange melting pot of the great unwashed in vests and baseball caps bound for the beach and fish and chips,  and weekender people from the cities who visit the Cape on a regular basis and own or rent property there. That isn't to say I didn't like it - people were friendly, and it had a brash charm about it - but I wouldn't choose if for a holiday.

Today's ice cream was coconut, served up by a sweet and unnaturally pale girl (for someone who lives near the sea) who gave us a brief history of the old-established dairy and whose sister lives in London (well. possibly Oxford but she wasn't really sure), and who can't wait to visit.

When we walked the fair distance (along the road of course - it appears the US and Canada don't really do footpaths at any length) to the beach we found much of it was private - though there were very few people around by 5pm (it had been quite a cloudy day), and there was a lot of seaweed in the water as the tide came in so we had a pretty peaceful walk. Any beach owners obviously weren't too bothered by the presence of two women of a certain age who'd slipped their sandals off, and it felt good to get the sand between our toes even if it was relatively brief.

Taken by a friendly local - we've been very impressed by the warmth and helpfulness of people towards us

We walked in a big loop back to the car past the lovely seaside cottages and the waterfront, which is basically a ferry port for Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard ferries - we hadn't ventured as we'd be warned off taking a trip to the islands on a weekend by a waiter in Boston, plus at $77 each it seemed a bit pricey.

We went back to the hotel/motel via a quick trip to the mall (damn those sales), had a wash and brush up and then headed back for an enormous Italian dinner at an enormous Italian restaurant, where we sat on the verandah and watched the world perambulating up and down the main street, only occasionally being deafened by a passing Harley Davidson. What is it with Harleys and New England?! (There was of course a HD shop in Hyannis....)

Watching whales

I started the day with a spin class at 6am. Yes, really. And then I did 45 mins of yoga. Yes really. Well, it's free and I was awake.

We set off for Gloucester again, via Cambridge in order to visit Harvard which is actually a jolly long way and having realised there's nothing much in Cambridge, and having gone the wrong way up the street (I really only have done this once), we decided to abandon that particular adventure and head straight for the whales.

The whale watch was worth the wait, and worth the long trip out there and back to the whale-full bit of water not that far from Provincetown off Cape Cod. (I snoozed on the way out, which made up for the 6am start - I'd earned it). We had a sweet girl who gave a running commentary on what we'd see and all the whale's characteristics. I learned a lot! Shame on Japan, Iceland and Norway for continuing to whale commercially. 

When the first of them appeared - a spout and a fluke (a dive, showing their tail), everyone gasped and shrieked a little and I have to say I filled up and shed a little tear - it felt so overwhelming having waited so long to see these amazing creatures in their natural habitat. And the humpbacks just kept coming - in pairs, threes and even a four, and although we weren't treated to a breach, just before we turned back for land the four gave us a grand finale as a parting shot. Their grace is amazing.

I've lots of video footage that I need to sort out, but this one gives you an idea. We ate after we got off the boat as was already gone 7.30, headed back to the city and then packed for the last stage of our road trip, Cape Cod.