{"id":644,"date":"2011-08-04T11:21:36","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T11:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=644"},"modified":"2011-08-04T11:21:36","modified_gmt":"2011-08-04T11:21:36","slug":"2011-vacation-day-five-cape-cod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2011\/08\/04\/2011-vacation-day-five-cape-cod\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Vacation: Day Five: Cape Cod"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Park<\/a>
Park Headquarters for the Cape Cod National Seashore<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I began the day with a six-mile run along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, a converted railroad right of way for bicycles and runners. \u00a0After cleaning up, we headed to The Last Stop, a local deli, for tremendous breakfast sandwiches and sandwiches to take in the cooler for lunch. \u00a0Our first stop was the park headquarters for the Cape Cod National Seashore, where we took a couple of hikes nearby.<\/p>\n

\"Salt<\/a>
Salt pond near park headquarters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the hikes took us near this salt pond. \u00a0When glaciers receded from this area, they left blocks of ice that created depressions that filled with fresh water bubbling up from the water table. \u00a0These are called “kettle ponds.” \u00a0Over time, due to erosion and other factors, some of these kettle ponds became connected to the ocean. \u00a0The tide at this salt pond can change the water level by several feet during the day. \u00a0A lot of sea-water wildlife is left in little ponds as the tides go out each day, making it easy to see some of it up-close. \u00a0Incidentally, this was the only nature trail I’ve ever seen that was set up to enable blind people to enjoy it. \u00a0There were ropes to hold while walking the trail that had cork stops in front of plaques, written in Braille.<\/p>\n

\"Plaque<\/a>
Plaque commemorating the site of the first trans-atlantic wireless station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View of the beach from the site of Marconi's towers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We stopped near Wellfleet, where Marconi set up the first trans-Atlantic wireless tower. \u00a0The ground has eroded around the area, so the original towers have fallen or been taken down, but the site is marked by a nice plaque and a scale model of the tower setup\u00a0under glass.<\/p>\n

\"Mayo<\/a>
Mayo Beach in Wellfleet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You really couldn’t get to the beach near the Marconi site, so we drove to one of the public beaches, Mayo Beach, in Wellfleet. \u00a0We arrived about 1230. \u00a0By 1400, most of the beach was gone due to rising tides. \u00a0The water was VERY warm. \u00a0Apparently on this bay side of Cape Cod, the water is much more shallow, and therefore much warmer. \u00a0In this picture you see the kids fighting in vain to preserve the foundation of their sand castle from the encroaching tide. \u00a0They lost their epic battle against nature.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View from "Pilgrim Heights"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later we stopped at an area, named “Pilgrim Heights.” \u00a0The pilgrims first landed at Cape Code and spent five weeks exploring various parts of the cape looking for a suitable site to build their colony. \u00a0This area is part of their second expedition, where they found their first fresh water since leaving England. \u00a0They didn’t think the area was suitable for a colony and eventually moved to Plymouth. \u00a0The view from here was really nice, because you could see salt pond, lower and upper marsh, and the ocean. \u00a0By the way, we made a bunch of mosquitos’ days walking along the marsh trail.<\/p>\n

\"Race<\/a>
Race Point Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working our way further up the cape we stopped at Race Point Beach to visit the old lifesaving station. \u00a0This is a nicely restored lifesaving station. \u00a0From here, members of the Lifesaving Service would watch for wrecked boats and launch into the stormy weather to rescue seamen. \u00a0The Lifesaving Service eventually was combined with the Coast Guard. \u00a0Near the lifesaving station is Race Point Beach, where we spent a little time on the white, sandy beach. \u00a0The Mayo Beach on the bay side was covered in broken shells and dead crustaceans. \u00a0Race Point Beach was white, clean sand, more like Panama City, FL.<\/p>\n

\"Pilgrim<\/a>
Pilgrim Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Provincetown, we saw the Pilgrim Memorial, the tallest granite structure in North America. \u00a0This commemorates where the pilgrims first landed.<\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/a>
Outside the Waydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also in Provincetown was a nice little museum dedicated to showing off some of the relics and telling the salvage story of the pirate ship Whydah. \u00a0Whydah was commanded by Sam Bellamy, who was the most successful pirate ever — until his ship ran aground near Provincetown, cracked open, and went down. \u00a0There were only ten survivors, two of whom were sold into slavery and six of whom were executed. \u00a0The museum had interesting displays about how they found the wreck and how they bring up parts of the treasure. \u00a0At this point they’ve brought up only 6% of the treasure.<\/p>\n

The rest of Provincetown was crowded and touristy. \u00a0While some of the shops and restaurants looked interesting, the crowds were so heavy we didn’t really want to go in any of them. \u00a0The crowds were thick, the drivers nuts (made worse by skateboarders weaving in and out of traffic apparently oblivious to the cars), and many of the locals of deviant proclivities. \u00a0Suffice to say other than the beach and the pirate museum, we didn’t enjoy Provincetown. \u00a0We were also getting hungry. \u00a0The pool at our hotel closed at 2000, so we drove back to Orleans so the kids could play in the pool while I picked up a couple of pizzas for dinner.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we’re off to Plymouth and then on to Boston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I began the day with a six-mile run along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, a converted railroad right of way for bicycles and runners. \u00a0After cleaning up, we headed to The Last Stop, a local deli, for tremendous breakfast sandwiches and sandwiches to take in the cooler for lunch. \u00a0Our first stop was the park … Continue reading 2011 Vacation: Day Five: Cape Cod<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}