Oysters, Cranberry Bogs, and Flying Ladies

  We arrived in Cape Cod on Monday afternoon, planning on a 2 or 3 day visit, and we love it so much that we're still here!  Here's a rundown of our recent adventures:

Tuesday
This morning we took a beautiful bike ride around Nickerson State Park; there were great bike paths and mountain bike trails through the woods.

Then we headed across the road to Brewster Beach.  Alice looked for shells, and Dale fed some seagulls.  It is not easy to ride a bike in sand, but we had places to go!

After lunch, we decided to take the rail trail to Nauset Beach to look for whales, which are migrating south.  We did see some seals, but no whales.  They were probably hanging out in Maine with the moose.

On the (very long, almost getting dark) ride home, we happened upon a cranberry bog!  It was so cool to see one up close--Dale got a few pictures of the berries:

That evening, we had a wonderful surprise--our incredible hosts and one of their dear friends taught us all about oysters....We learned that Wellfleet oysters are especially delicious, AND we all learned how to shuck them!  It's tricky business, but we all got the hang of it.  Elliot shucked more than any of us.  Then it came time to try them (RAW)--with some lemon, cocktail sauce and a teeny bit of horseradish, they were really good.  We all felt very brave.

Wednesday
Today we drove to Coast Guard Beach to look for whales.  No luck, but we still had a magical experience.  First, we all ate lunch on the beach wearing shorts in November!  In Cape Cod!  While we were eating lunch, a very sweet woman, probably in her 70's, walked up to us and offered to take our picture.

Then, she wanted to know about our trip, and she gave us a lot of enthusiastic support and offered some suggestions about where to ride our bikes in Provincetown.  After she left us, she made her way back down along the water.  As we watched, she picked up speed, and slowly waved her arms as if she were about to fly up into the air!  She was a very joyful person, and I loved the fact that she wanted to fly down the beach!

After that, we drove up to Provincetown.  Provincetown is very interesting.

  After an abbreviated driving tour along Commercial Street, we decided to go directly to the bike path.

The bike trail is gorgeous, and we saw a fox!

  But no whales. 

We had a great dinner with our wonderful hosts, and got to sample another regional specialty, Eastham turnips.  I was never a big fan of turnips until now, and everyone in my family loved them!  A Cape Cod Miracle!

Thursday

Today we took a tour along the dunes, and we saw some whales!!  A small group of humpbacked whales was cruising by, just as we pulled up to the beach.  It was incredible and magical, and totally made up for the lack of moose for the past 25 years.  We were all thrilled!  No memory card in the camera, so you'll need to trust us....

Next we went to a wharf in Chatham, where we got a close up look at fishing boats unloading, and seals eating any fish that were tossed overboard.  We also got to spend another evening with our wonderful hosts!

Friday morning we stayed home and regrouped.  The kids worked on math, while Dale and I got things organized for our next destination.  This afternoon we drove into Chatham, which is a beautiful and historic town with great shops.  We also walked along a really lovely labyrinth.  Unfortunately, we were kind of in a hurry, so we rushed through it, and then we got laughing really hard, so we missed the whole contemplative/meditative aspect of it  Fortunately, no one else was around.

Tomorrow, we head out to Rhode Island!