Cape Cod Vacation

We went to Cape Cod on a little vacation to celebrate the end of the season, just like we did last year in mid-October. We stayed at Nickerson State Park again, in a yurt. We planned to spend 4 nights, but only ended up staying 3 because it got rainy and cold.

We got there last Sunday, and after setting up in the yurt, we went for a little bike ride to a beach near Orleans. It was quite overcast, and windy, but we were well prepared with warm clothes.

On Monday, it was sunny and gorgeous. We rode to Marconi beach, 26 miles round trip from the campground, the longest ride Aiyana ever did. The beach was stunning, and made me instantly happy when I saw it. We saw seals playing in the waves; the girls played in the sand, and I just sat and looked out and eventually fell asleep in the sun, listening to the waves crashing on the shore. It was amazing.

Park ranger on the empty beach.

Ed, Sena and Aiyana

Me, very happy to be here

A very steep stairway came up the bank, and from the top of it the view was exhilarating.

We snacked on Autumn Olives, which grew plentifully along the bike path.

Aiyana on her bike

On Tuesday, Sena was feeling sick, so Ed stayed at the yurt with her and I took Aiyana to Sandwich, to the Thornton Burgess Briar Patch museum. Thornton Burgess is one of our favorite children’s books authors. I saw his “Fables of the Green Forest” series on TV when I was growing up in Romania, and always remembered his characters and the stories they were involved in. A few years ago, I quite by accident came across one of his books at a used book sale and immediately recognized it as the stories I used to love. I bought that book, which was Jimmy Skunk and read it to the girls, and since then they’ve been hooked and read all his books. Then I found out that he was from Cape Cod, and that’s how we came to visit his museum in Sandwich.

A cute little gift shop at the museum

Next to the museum, there was a jam kitchen, and there was jam making in progress, which was a nice surprise since I’ve been getting a little into jams myself this year. The smell was delightful, and it reminded me of my great-aunt’s kitchen in Romania, when she used to make sour cherry preserves.

Cranberry and beach plum jam in progress

On Wednesday, we went to Provincetown by car. It was rainy, and windy, and although Sena was feeling back to normal, she did not want to bike, and neither did the rest of us. We visited Pilgrim monument, a tall tower from the top of which you have a great view of the cape. We also visited the museum connected with it.

Quite windy up there. But fun for the girls.

Family picture

The stairway leading to the top of the tower

Later that afternoon we went to a beach south of the Cape to watch seals come out of the ocean at low tide. We were told that up to 200 of them will come out. When we got to the beach, there was a strong wind and driving rain, which made the scene very "dramatic", as Aiyana put it. Although it wasn’t the most comfortable, I found the views and the atmosphere very beautiful in their own way. But then again, to me the ocean is always beautiful, and I’d stare at it for hours no matter what the conditions. Just to be in its presence feels amazing.

Sand dunes on the way to the ocean

Sena, coming to the beach against the strong wind

Seals in the water! (Too hard to get a picture of because of the rain and heavy churning of the waves)

Despite the rain and cold, Aiyana was happily playing that she was flying in the wind

That's Ed down there.

Peace