2021 Life Logs, Day 290: Trip to the Cape Cod Museum of History
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 66, Low Temp 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The trip to the Cape Cod Museum of History this morning felt more like a trip through history, specifically the history of the Goldpebbles. Ollie was the only Goldpebble with us today as Sam and Jonah were walking the three miles out of Sandy Neck where they camped this weekend. Time marches on, but as Heather, Jed, Ollie, and I walked the museum trail out to the beach, a flood of memories went through my head. I first took Sam and Jonah to the Museum of History in the summer of 2013. Sam was six and Jonah was four. Ollie was only one and didn’t come with us that summer. But Heather and Jed took the boys that fall and Heather took a photo of Ollie sitting in the dune grass. She could not resist taking the same picture today. She posted those photos on Facebook and simply said, “Time flies.” It was the summer of 2014 when Mark and I started taking all three boys and I spent part of this evening looking through photos of our trips to the museum over the years. I loved the one of the three boys crossing the marsh in 2014. They were such tiny little explorers.

We usually plan trips to walk the trail out to the beach from the museum at low tide. That wasn’t possible today and it was high tide. We expected it to look different, but we were a little surprised when we got the marsh, and the walkway was underwater. Heather, Jed, and Ollie all had on long pants, but they rolled them up. Thankfully, I wore my trusty Columbia capris that can easily be pushed up. With pants rolled or pushed up, we took our shoes off and headed across. Ollie got a piggyback ride part of the way and from his higher perch, he spotted two beautiful Great Blue Herons. The marsh looked very much like fall with yellowing marsh grass and pickleweed that has turned red. We took a new-to-us trail that follows Paine’s Creek and when we emerged from the Upland Forest there was a staircase leading down to the dunes and beach. Once on the beach, I was amazed at how different it looks at high tide. No mud flats were to be seen. There was just a narrow beach backed by dunes and lots of seagulls that Ollie delighted in chasing.

I did not take Shadow with me today. A Concord Yacht Club friend whose brother lives in the area sent me an email letting me know that the museum does not allow dogs on the trail. She pointed out that there is a trail from a nearby park that connects to the museum trail. I could have taken Shadow and done that trail. Thanks, Gretchen. I will definitely try that next time. But since Ollie and I decided to stay and tour the museum, I was glad I didn’t have the dog with me today. Heather and Jed had to go pick up Jonah and Sam while Ollie and I enjoyed our favorite things in the museum. Ollie loves getting in the shark cage and looking wide eyed. We watched the honeybees in their glass case hive and then we went downstairs to the aquarium. We have always loved the Clearnose Skate that seems to be watching us. And today a pufferfish took an interest in us as well. Neither of us remembered seeing the humpback whale skull. Impressive. And it always fun to check out the moon jelly tank and the huge lobsters. We ended our adventure in the gift shop and then stopped to have clam chowder on the way home. Perfect day.