Deana King: June 2014

Saturday, May 31 - Austin took us to the airport. We had an easy flight into Boston where we met Bill and Diane. We took a shuttle to the Marriot in Copley to pick up our rental car. We drove around, found an excellent parking spot, fed quarters to the meter, and then ate at Cheers. After lunch, we walked around the Public Garden. Later in the afternoon, we returned to the car and headed to Falmouth.

In Falmouth, we saw a Katherine Lee Bates statue (she wrote America the Beautiful) and a Library Lane sign. We ate dinner at Betty's Diner. It had an "eat heavy" sign. That sounded like us. This restaurant had rules: cash only and no cell phones, but the food was good. We left satisfied.

Sunday - The sun rises early and shines in our bedroom so I was the first one up at 6:30 AM. Bill was right behind me. When everyone rose, we decided to go back to Boston so Bill could watch a game at Fenway Park and mark that off of his bucket list. Alan went with him. Diane and I first ate lunch at Legal Seafood and then took the Old Town Trolley tour. A great day was had by all. Love Boston; hate the traffic. On our way back to Falmouth, we stopped in Plymouth - beautiful harbor town. The weather has been fabulous! We are very happy.

Monday - It was another perfect day in Cape Cod. We drove to Hyannis and took a ferry to Nantucket. When we arrived, we went on a bus tour. The loud lady in white pants on our bus was a little obnoxious, but overall the tour was great. We ate lunch at the Brotherhood of Thieves recommended by the staff member on the ferry. We then split up to walk around the island until it was time to return to the ferry. Apparently handmade baskets from Nantucket are popular and very expensive. We did not buy one.

We ferried past the Lewis Bay Light coming back in to port. Back on the cape, we drove around the Hyannis area. We found the Kennedy compound and beautiful neighborhoods.

Tuesday - We toured the area and found Nobska Lighthouse, Woods Hole, and Spohr Gardens. We have noticed a lot of flags flying, well groomed yards, and Dunkin Donuts. In the afternoon, the boys rode bikes while the girls shopped. Just as soon as we found the beautiful library, the boys came back. We napped, fixed a spaghetti dinner at home, an searched for a good sunset photo.

Wednesday - We took a lighthouse tour of Cape Cod. It was an overcast day which worked out well when we had to hike to the second light. The lighthouses we found are below. We missed Monomoy Light and Long Point Light. We saw Nobska yesterday and Lewis Bay when we went to Nantucket.

Our first selfie on Cape Cod! This is the Bass River Light or the Lighthouse Inn. It had a fire in the fireplace when we arrived.

Next, we walked over a mile of beach path to get to Stage Harbor Light. It's private property so we couldn't get very close. And someone was filming while we were there.

The 3rd lighthouse was Chatham Light. FYI - no public restrooms - except for the port-o-potties.

At this stop, Hauset Light, we saw seals playing in the surf. From here, we made a short trek to our next lighthouse location . . .

Three Sisters.

There was a tour here, but it was $9 so we passed. This is Highland Light. The fog began rolling in.

We continued our drive to Race Point Lighthouse (far left) in Providence. The boys walked to get a closer view. Diane and I waited patiently on the shore watching ducks play in the surf.

Our last house for today is Wood End Light. Again, the boys (navy blue and red on the left) trotted off to get a closer view. They scurried back when the rain started.

Thursday - It rained. We started today's adventure with a visit to the Woods Hole Aquarium. It was free. We then drove across the cape to get a picture of the Sandy Neck Light. We ate a delicious lunch and drove back through more quaint Cape Cod villages.

Friday - We drove to Newport, Rhode Island to visit the mansions. I loved this! We saw the Breakers first - opulence at its best. We then saw Rosecliff, Marble House (with a Japanese garden house in the back), Chateau-Sur-Mer, and the Elms. The last one was just 3 weeks away from becoming a parking lot. It was gorgeous.

We had to scurry to complete all 5 stops by 5 PM. I would like to return and go through them at a more leisurely pace. We had self paced audio headsets at all locations except the Chateau. We only had time for the basic tour. We didn't have time to listen to all of the extra details.