Left for the JFK Library in Boston this morning at about 10:30. It’s a straight shot into Boston from here. Didn’t take long at all and only had one traffic back-up. The library sits right on the old harbor just across the water from Boston. The building was designed by I. M. Pei and is a work of art in itself. Spent over 4 hours there. Extremely interesting and entertaining. JFK’s 26-foot sloop, the Victura, sits outside. We left there between 3:30 and 4:00. I thought we should have gone into Boston and had dinner, but Mike wanted to beat the rush hour. There was quite a bit of traffic at first but thinned out after we got on Rt. 3. Back to Plymouth in 50 minutes and had dinner at an Italian restaurant on the harbor and sat outside on the deck. A beautiful evening. After dinner we stopped at a local shop and bought some more chocolate covered cranberries—like we need them. Back to Pinewood Lodge and we decided to go ahead and do the laundry. Met a great couple in the laundry room from California. They’re on a three-month trip through New England and over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We told them about Door County in Wisconsin. Hope they check it out. Supposed to rain tomorrow. We’ll see.

The beach at Chatham, Cape Cod

We had some raspberry smoothies this morning and then we headed to Cape Cod. Left about 10:30. There is now a four-lane highway most of the length of the Cape. Arrived in Provincetown at about 12:30. Had lunch at the Lobster Hut on Cape Cod Bay. I was here about 25 years ago and remember it as a quaint, charming little town. Now it’s a busy, tacky, touristy nightmare. A real disappointment. We stopped at a beautiful beach before we hit Provincetown though. Beautiful sand doons covered with lush vegetation and beautiful flowers. The whole area is now a Seashore Recreation area and is protected. After leaving Provincetown we dropped down south on Rt. 28 and went through one cute little town after another. They were all established in the mid-1600s. Arrived back at the campground at 7:00.

Sunday, June 17

Happy Father's Day! Made a big breakfast this morning—sausage, eggs, biscuits and juice. Tasted pretty good. We didn’t have that much to eat last night. Another beautiful day. After breakfast we kicked back outside and read for a while. Then came in to watch the US Open. Clouding up and looking like rain. Rooting for Tiger Woods to win the Open, but he came in second. I was a wreck. After dinner we went grocery shopping (sigh). Such fun. A beautiful evening though.

The Mayflower

Went over to the lodge and had breakfast this morning. A beautiful day, so we sat out on this large deck overlooking a beautiful little lake. This is a great place. The young staff is friendly and hard working. After breakfast we drove into Plymouth, parked and walked around. Checked out Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower. Very touristy, but fun. The Mayflower is a replica that was built in England in the 1950s and then sailed over here. Must have been quite a trip. We stopped and bought some chocolate covered cranberries and had some ice cream. While sitting outside eating our ice cream a bunch of people in Ford Cobras drove by. Must have been a car show nearby. There was probably 30 of them. Back to campground and sat outside and read for a while. Burgers for dinner tonight. An absolutely beautiful day.

Left Mystic this morning at about 11:00. My turn to drive. I was a little nervous about driving through Providence, R.I., but no problems. We arrived at the Pine Wood Lodge campground in Plymouth, MA, at 2:30. This campground is really nice for a commercial campground. Lots of mature pine trees; we have full hook-ups including full cable, and it’s only $36/night. Very pretty. We’re here for 10 days. The campground we left in Mystic was nothing great, but we weren’t there much and we had great neighbors (from Florida). It was actually sunny today, but still cool—upper 60s. After getting set up we had an early dinner of left-overs from a restaurant where we had dinner a couple of days ago. Plan to kick back tomorrow. We’ll see.

Old Whaling Ship

Old Stonington Lighthouse

Left this morning at about 10:00 for Old Mystic Seaport, stopping at “Somewhere in Time”—a local diner—for breakfast. Great food. Mystic Seaport was much more involved than we thought. They have an extensive ship-building facility. Right now they’re restoring the Roann—a fishing schooner. And it’s all done using traditional tools and techniques. And they built from scratch a replica of the square-rigged “Amistad” a former slaving ship. They have an extensive collection of old wooden whaling boats and fishing boats. The whaling boats would go out for 3-5 years at a time so the captains would sometimes take their wives and children along. We left Mystic and headed back to Stonington to tour the old lighthouse there. Both Mystic and Stonington were settled in about the 1640s. Then we stopped at the Captain Nathan Palmer home and toured it. He was a very successful ship captain who accidentally discovered Antartica while on a seal hunting trip. Had dinner at a neat seafood restaurant on the dock in Stonington. Good food. Very pricy. Another cool, windy, cloudy day. We leave tomorrow for Plymouth, MA.

USS Nautilis (SSN 571)

Didn’t get up this morning until 9:30! Took a couple of Tylenol PM and I guess it worked. Very cool, cloudy, windy day. Figured it was a good day to go over to the New London sub base. Stopped and had lunch on the way. The sub base was great—and we got to go on our first nuclear class submarine…the Nautilus SSN 571. After touring the sub we got talking to two Navy 1st class petty officers who were just getting off duty. Walked and talked with them for a while. Really nice guys. Drove around for a while. Went back through Mystic and looked at all the historic homes. It’s now down in the 50s. Jeeze. Tomorrow we’ll go to Old Mystic Seaport. Weather not supposed to be any better. We were hoping to take a sail, but probably won’t because it’s so chilly. It was 85 today in Goose Bay, Labrador!