Cape Cod, Massachusetts

We found a campground in Bourne, Massachusetts near the canal.  As luck would have it, Chuck and Helen, the couple we met in Florida on their wedding day (second marriage for both) are workcamping on the Cape for six months.   Their RV was parked about a mile from where we ended up.  They work for 61 days out of six months, get paid and have a secure, full-hookup site while they're there.  They showed us around the Bourne area.     We stopped for refreshments at a restaurant that was preparing for a catered clambake and it was interesting to watch them get ready.  One guy was cutting the band from around a lobster's claw, then getting pinched when he cut the second band.  Finally, someone in the know came and showed him how to hold both claws and cut both bands without getting pinched.   They layered clams in the bottom of a huge cooker, then covered it, then added potatoes, corn on the cob, and onions.  They covered it all again, then added the lobsters and covered it again, then steamed it all. 

More friends, Harvey and Shirley,  live in Centerville on Cape Cod.  We had visited their daughter, Nancy, in Dale City, Virginia when we stayed at Quantico.  We'd met them several times when they came to the D.C. area to visit her while we lived there.  Harvey was born on Martha's Vineyard and knows the area so well.   They have a beautiful home not far from the water.  Harvey drove us around Hyannis till Shirley got home and went with out to dinner - seafood, of course.  

At Hyannis        Artist's Studio

We went by ourselves on a round trip ferry ride from Hyannis to Nantucket to Martha's Vineyard and back to Hyannis the next day.  Each ferry ride took about 2 hours and then we had about 3 hours on each island.  Although they had bus tours when we got there, we decided we needed to walk awhile.  The weather could not have been better.  The water was calm, making the ferry rides a wonderful experience. 

   Harvey and Shirley came by to see our motorhome before we all left for a tour of a local potato chip factory (no pictures allowed!).  Harvey's brother Stanley (79) and his wife Cynthia live not far from them and invited us for a ride on their pontoon boat.  Both are photographers and have many of their photographs framed and displayed.   One photo of a blue heron almost looked like a painting.  It was exquisite.  We didn't get very far out on the water when the motor conked out.  Cynthia called the local patrol boat to tow us back.  Gerry figured out how to rig the tow rope so they wouldn't tip us over.  They wouldn't dare leave six senior citizens drifting out on the water.   They were knowledgeable and very gracious.

Harvey & Shirley              Stanley & Cynthia

The next day Harvey and Shirley drove us out to Provincetown, a picturesque little town at the very tip of the cape.  On the leisurely drive back we stopped at several beach areas, a Coast Guard station, and one fishing village where we watched the unloading of a fishing boat that just arrived at the dock.