Jay Flight now departing---this is your Captain...

[4077]

Day 2, July 11:

First full day was looking like the sunny/warm day out of the first 3 days, so made it a beach day. Made our way to First Encounter Beach on the bay side in Eastham after breakfast.

As I was on call still today, I stayed dressed in shorts an tee shirt with no sunscreen (so I could make a quick getaway without a post beach shower if I got called). While it was a bummer to stay on the chair under the umbrella for the day (rather than in swimsuit wading in the shallows at the lower tide and then splashing around with the kids in the high tide) it was also good at the same time as it is the first time that I can recall (since having kids) spending my ENTIRE beach day relaxing on the chair in the shade enjoying the beach ambience. Was nice, but was glad to be “on vacation” for real starting at 5 PM.

Anyway, we had a very nice day (perfect mix of temperature, light breeze, and sun) watching the water, planes with banners, boats, looking at the crabs, and getting ice cream from the ice cream truck.

After the beach, was gone to get ready for dinner (the meal in the pictures 2 posts back) at Arnold’s. Was a tasty dinner after which we visited 2 of the National Seashore beaches close by to us (Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach) where the boys love to hang out with their feet in their washed washing up and find rocks and just have fun being brothers. The beaches here have their own “yellow fly” versions. On the Cape Cod Bay side it is the “green head flies” which bite and hurt quite a bit (but these are all day long) and when we visit the Atlantic side National Seashore beaches it is almost always the evening which finds us fighting some no se um type skeeters.. drives me crazy…lol.

Back home we had some game night time with Old Maid and then my older sons favorite new board game, Catan. Fun strategy game if that’s your thing. We like it. I only started to think about writing report when I woke up on day 3, so will try to have more interesting pictures (at least a few per day) here on out…

edit: I did find a couple day 2 pics I took at Nauset Light Beach:

My son though this rock looked like a shark mouth…yup



He also really liked this triangle rock



He called it a pizza rock

 

[bama_ed]

Day 2, July 11:

First full day was looking like the sunny/warm day out of the first 3 days, so made it a beach day. Made our way to First Encounter Beach on the bay side in Eastham after breakfast.

As I was on call still today, I stayed dressed in shorts an tee shirt with no sunscreen (so I could make a quick getaway without a post beach shower if I got called). While it was a bummer to stay on the chair under the umbrella for the day (rather than in swimsuit wading in the shallows at the lower tide and then splashing around with the kids in the high tide) it was also good at the same time as it is the first time that I can recall (since having kids) spending my ENTIRE beach day relaxing on the chair in the shade enjoying the beach ambience. Was nice, but was glad to be “on vacation” for real starting at 5 PM.

Anyway, we had a very nice day (perfect mix of temperature, light breeze, and sun) watching the water, planes with banners, boats, looking at the crabs, and getting ice cream from the ice cream truck.

After the beach, was gone to get ready for dinner (the meal in the pictures 2 posts back) at Arnold’s. Was a tasty dinner after which we visited 2 of the National Seashore beaches close by to us (Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach) where the boys love to hang out with their feet in their washed washing up and find rocks and just have fun being brothers. The beaches here have their own “yellow fly” versions. On the Cape Cod Bay side it is the “green head flies” which bite and hurt quite a bit (but these are all day long) and when we visit the Atlantic side National Seashore beaches it is almost always the evening which finds us fighting some no se um type skeeters.. drives me crazy…lol.

Back home we had some game night time with Old Maid and then my older sons favorite new board game, Catan. Fun strategy game if that’s your thing. We like it. I only started to think about writing report when I woke up on day 3, so will try to have more interesting pictures (at least a few per day) here on out…

A trip report post with no pictures?

Dude, you should know better. You and the family, then, ....

We may have to assign you and your DIS ID to a lesser WDW/Fort internet forum for a probationary period until you show you can meme/gif/pic again (and they would be grateful for the clicks from the Disciplinary Committee).

I'll put in a good word for you, though, with the Committee based on your past posting performance.

Bama Ed

PS - <jk>

PPS - oh and that slick edit to add pix after the fact won't cut it with The Committee ..... They can read time stamps.

 

[4077]

A trip report post with no pictures?

Dude, you should know better. You and the family, then, ....

We may have to assign you and your DIS ID to a lesser WDW/Fort internet forum for a probationary period until you show you can meme/gif/pic again (and they would be grateful for the clicks from the Disciplinary Committee).

I'll put in a good word for you, though, with the Committee based on your past posting performance.

Bama Ed

PS - <jk>

PPS - oh and that slick edit to add pix after the fact won't cut it with The Committee ..... They can read time stamps.

Yes, yes....I feel shame...

 

[bama_ed]

 

[4077]

I just want to shout out THANK YOU to DIS brother bama_ed, because with his tutelage and gentle reprimand....

...so, tomorrow redemption begins!!!

 

[bama_ed]

I LOVE IT so MUCH!

Another Brother led to the Light!

Bama Ed

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Shaping up to be a good trip. A friend's dad lived in Chatham and I spent some time out on the Cape quite a bit when I was in college. I still have PTSD thinking about driving on US-6 on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

 

[4077]

Day 3. July 12:

We knew these next few days would be our cool/cloudy days, so we planned appropriate activities. It rained pretty hard during the late morning this day, so wr hung around the cottage until a bit after noon when in slowed up enough to make our way out.

First stop was the Chatham fishing pier. A popular stop driving south from Orleans towards Chatham… you can watch the local fishing boats all morning and through mid afternoon, generally, coming in to unload their catches of dogfish and skates.

Here are the skate wings on the boat, the iced up plastic boxes into which they are dumped, and the dumping process. The dumper that they fall out of is a bucket that they fill next to the boat that is then lifted up to the top of a ramp where it dumps the catch into the box as you will see in the photos below…










And then here is a boat unloading dogfish (small sharks)…







There are 2 of these unloading positions along the dock and there is an observation deck above the working pier level for the tourists to watch the action…



With the abundance of fish, the seagulls are plentiful and being tagged from above is NOT uncommon… so we use the made up story that it is actually good luck.

On to the next post….

 

[4077]

Day 3, continued:

Along with the birds above, a whole bunch of seals hang around the boats in the water looking for the scraps that fall and that the fishermen wash off of the boat decks as they unload. They remind me of dog faces when they look around at you… I always say “they look like Duke”… our black lab. Very cute to watch as they swim and play around…













While I have yet to eat there (there are SO many places to eat on Cape Cod, naturally), there is a fresh fish market/restaurant right here at the pier which looks very good and has all the usual Cape seafood offerings.

Next was on to Chatham in next post…

 

[4077]

Downtown Chatham is the place to check out for walking up and down Main Street for browsing and shopping all the little shops and stores or grabbing a bite at various little restaurants or cafes. Our annual pilgrimage is mainly for the Candy Manor, a candy and fudge shop where the boys will fill some bags with bulk/scoop candy by weight and then we pick up a few pounds of fudge as well. The boys got Oreo fudge and I picked up chocolate walnut, chocolate sea salt, turtle, and penuche walnut.



We also go to the Ben Franklin store (nothing really related to him there… it’s just a fun junk store with a wide variety of items).

I considered some new underwear:



…I think the old ones will do for now.

I did make a point to go to The Black Dog this year and my wife and I each picked up a t-shirt (our pup is influencing our newfound obsession with finding black lab type stuff…lol).



One thing about Cape Cod is that EVERYONE has the same idea on the days when it is cool or cloudy/not beach weather…so it was solid back to back traffic in both directions with hard to find parking conditions…



However, with candy and fudge in hand, we headed on out… as I seem to have a lot to say about this day, I will finish it up tomorrow…

 

[4077]

Day 3, July 12 continued:

On the way back from Chatham we stopped off briefly for a look at Lighthouse Beach in Chatham… appropriately named because here you can see Chatham Light:



There are a bunch of really cool lighthouses on Cape Cod, several of which do have tours… I will be posting at least 1 more later. You can read about and visit a lot of historical areas that explain the very cool and tragic history of the 3000+ ship wrecks that led to lighthouses and the life saving service that began here in the 1800’s as a pre-cursor to the Coast Guard.

Also displayed at this beach is the propeller from a Coast Guard motor life boat that saved sailers from a wreck here in 1952. The boat itself is restored and floating at Rock Harbor on the border between Orleans and Eastham and is open for historic tours.



Lighthouse Beach from the lot atop the bluff next to the propeller display:



Quick stop at a birdwatchers shop for my younger son where he got a bird identification book and then it was home for hot dogs for dinner before heading down to Nauset Light Beach and then Coast Guard Beach for an evening visit.

Nauset Light at Nauset Light Beach. This light has a really cool history and is open for tours have done it in past…



Boys down on the beach standing on one of the many glacially deposited rocks along the beach



A well timed photo



Seals just a few feet out here popping up to check us out…



We also drove down to Coast Guard Beach just down road to check it out for a few minutes. Named for the Coast Guard station that was in use for that purpose until 1958 (several of these built along the Cape Cod coast).



Back home for the night to watch the home run derby.

 

[bama_ed]

Would love to take the tours and climb some of those lighthouses on the Cape (and add to my fridge magnet collection). Good pix, Jimmy.

Bama Ed

 

[4077]

Day 4, July 13:

Today started with bike ride from a CCRT (Cape Cod Rail Trail) trail entrance down to The Hot Chocolate Sparrow, a coffee, bakery, breakfast sandwich type place that is right along the trail as well as just off the center of Orleans.

On down the trail:



Took a quick ride around the campground on way back…sign at the bike trail entrance:



After the bike trail, we headed back to the Salt Pond Visitor Center to walk the nature trail, partly by the pond/marsh area, and partly up on wooded “highlands”:

interesting if you can zoom in and read through the slight blur:




Trail walk:










Up from the marsh onto the wooded hills, which also happened to be the Cedar Bank Links golf course from 1928 to 1935. All grown over now.






Next post…

 

[4077]

Day 4, July 13 continued:

Next stop was Doane Rock, the largest glacial rock deposited on Cape Cod during the last ice age. People love to climb on it and get their pictures took… we do too!












Unfortunately for my older son, a broken hand means only a Pic standing next to it:

We also hit the Marconi wireless station location in Wellfleet that I have posted about before… great views up and down the shore atop the bluffs here (this high and furthest east point on Cape Cod was why the station was placed here for the first radio station communications with Europe). A look out area, signs and a few small remnants of the installation remain. Like so many things along the east facing shore of Cape Cod, most has been eroded/washed away…





Last stop today at a beach shop where youngest picked up some Taffy…


Dinner at Moby Dick’s… not so good with food/restaurant pics…lol…sorry…but it was whole belly clams for me… good stuff!!
Day over, fall into bed (well, after the All Star game).

 

[Boomer1]

We also love our black dog. Our grown children joke that Briar is our new child.

 

[garneska]

We also love our black dog. Our grown children joke that Briar is our new child.

I don't see a problem with that.

That picture is adorable. Love it.

 

[FtW Mike]

what happened to your son's hand I don't recall a Cast/Bandage on it in earlier pics

 

[4077]

what happened to your son's hand I don't recall a Cast/Bandage on it in earlier pics

He broke and displaced his thumb playing baseball back in middle of June….perhaps it was not so obvious on earlier pics, but it has been in a cast with 3 pins at the moment. Was actually his first day of summer vacation… we were camping but drove down to his baseball game where he broke it in the first inning

 

[4077]

Well… off to Disney today (driving sans trailer to stay at Boardwalk). Won’t do a “trip report” per se (heck, didn’t even finish Cape Cod yet - which I will do eventually.. life gets in the way and I find it difficult to do in the evenings.. I am not so good at live as some others on here who are excellent, BTW). Anyway, I will post any interesting pics or updates regarding how the slight reverse in masking and such seems to be going while there. With one under 12 in our party, we will probably mask up more outside.. certainly in crowded areas, although I will remove when not squished up with people. I think he will probably keep on a lot as he (with asthma, although relatively mild) has been a bit concerned through the entire ordeal.

In any case, going to enjoy our time there no matter what! Off today, back into driveway August 15th, so 8 full days on property!!

Onward ——>

 

[4077]

Got here today. Into room about 2 1/2 hours ago. Watching neat lightning from t-storm passing just east of us from our balcony top floor here at Boardwalk Villas. Got to pool for a bit before it started.

All ready got Earl, Joffrey’s, and Gideon’s at the Springs earlier after we arrived. Will be going back for some dinner there tonight after the downpour stops there.
No parks until Sunday. Tomorrow more Springs, riding Skyliner, and perhaps mini golf and whatever else we figure out. More pool at some point I hope. Upcoming week looks to be usual summer storm pattern, but that is good (as opposed to rain filled days).

I will always post the donut pic!




View from the top (floor)