Camping on The Cape Part 2
Posted on 09/22/2024 in misc
Trip:47
Nights: 156-166
On Thursday, we went back to Audubon and spent 2.5 hours walking the trails to ID 21 bird species. It was a good day of birding. Then we went back, packed up the camper, and moved about 40 miles east to a new campground, Shady Knoll Campground in Brewster. It was wonderful and definitely a solid choice for your Cape Cod campground. Between the battery I didn't need and double paying for 3 nights, I'm way over budget for this trip. YOLO. After setting up camp, we went out for ice cream and had dinner at the camper.
We spent Friday in Sandwich, MA. We started at the Heritage Museums and Gardens. Our Lewis Ginter Gardens membership back home got us in for free. We started in the automotive museum, which is the car collection of JK Lilly, of the pharmaceutical company that I have ripped on several occasions on this website. I learned that electric vehicles existed way back in the 1910s. Imagine where they might be today had we not abandoned the idea for 100 years. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous, and we took a ride on a restored 1907 carousel. Also, there was an exhibit of impressionist art by New England artists. The docent there explained that to “get” impressionist art, you need to step back and get 10 or 20 feet away. And boom, I suddenly started “seeing” impressionist art. I think I made the guy's day when I thanked him for opening my eyes to impressionist art.
After the gardens, we went into downtown Sandwich and had sandwiches for lunch, because why would you have anything else in Sandwich, MA? Both of our sandwiches were fabulous. I guess I need to get to the UK, so I can have a sandwich in the original Sandwich.
After lunch, we hit the Sandwich Glass Museum, which covers the history of the Sandwich Glass Company, and contains a surprisingly extensive collection. Following the museum, we visited the Hoxie House, the oldest saltbox style home on the Cape. It was built in 1675 and is still about 90% original. The home is 100 years older than the country, and still safe to wander around in.
That evening, we cooked at the camper and played games. I finally won a game of gin rummy after losing every game on the trip so far. Then we extended our game library by learning backgammon.
Saturday was our last day of vacation. I wanted to make it a beach day, but 70F, cloudy, with gusty winds is not beach weather for us southerners. Instead, we went to the Monomoy National Wildlife Sanctuary, an important shore area for shorebird conservation efforts. A short 1-mile hike at low tide out into the tidal flats rewarded us with really great looks at a lot of birds, including several lifers. My shorebird ID skills suck, so I probably saw a much greater variety of gulls than I can take credit for. After birding, we got ice cream, again, and headed back to the camper to start to pack up and prepare for an early exit on Sunday. However, we had one last thing to do while in New England, dinner at a proper Irish Pub. O’Shea’s Old Inne delivered, with perfectly poured pints of Guinness for only $6, live Irish music, and a fabulous dinner of fish and chips. It was the perfect way to end our week.
The 2-day trip home, with an overnight stop at the same place we stopped at on the way up, was uneventful.
