by Judy Handley | Jul 24, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 276, Year 9: Cape Cod to Dover, Delaware
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2014
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, A Little Rain Here and There, Temp in the mid-70’s
Location: The Hampton Inn, Dover, Delaware
Mark and I started the day with the boys while Heather and Jed went to work. It was a rainy morning and the boys decided to dress up rain gear and go outside with the inflatable guns (ugh) they won at the Barnstable County Fair last night. Thankfully, that game lasted only a short time, but Jonah definitely got the award for the most outlandish costume!
Heather and Jed’s trip plan worked beautifully. We left East Falmouth at 4 pm (a little later than planned) and arrived here in Dover, Delaware just before mid-night. We went across the Tappan Zee Bridge rather than going through the city and across the George Washington Bridge as we wanted to avoid those famous ‘traffic problems’. Although travel was a bit slow until we reached the New Jersey Turnpike, we avoided any major traffic problems all the way. So, congrats to the planners for a job well done.
Heather and Jed chose Dover as a stopping place so that tomorrow we will have time to drive through Salisbury and over to Assateague Island in hopes of seeing the wild ponies before heading on down the Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) Peninsula to Norfolk and then on to Williamsburg. We lived in Salisbury from the summer just before Heather’s fourth grade school year until the summer before she entered tenth grade and she wants to share her old stomping grounds with Jed and the boys. Mark and I have been back to Salisbury only once since we left there in 1989. We won’t have time to stop and visit with friend tomorrow, but when we sail down this fall we do plan to linger in Chesapeake long enough to reconnect with friends.
I found the following information about Dover, Delaware on www.city.com and found it quite interesting. Thought maybe you would find it interesting as well. “At the time of the arrival of the first white men, the Lenape Indians lived along the banks of the Delaware River. The land where Dover now stands was part of a much larger grant called Zwaanendael (Valley of the Swans), where a group of Dutch patrons attempting to colonize it were killed by the local tribe in 1631. William Penn chartered Kent County, and Penn ordered his surveyors to lay out a town in 1683. In 1697, a court house was built at the site, but it was not until 1717 that Dover was plotted around a central green. By that time, most of the Native Americans had been forced to relocate elsewhere. Craftsmen and artisans such as cabinet makers, shoemakers, carpenters, tailors, and hatters shared the green with government officials and residents, as well as several inns and taverns. An Act of Assembly in 1742 provided for the establishment of a market square, and the 1751 census estimated the population of Kent County to be 1,320 families. In 1777, Dover became the capital of Delaware, largely because it was deemed safer from attack than the old capital, New Castle. Ten years later, in a Dover tavern, a Delaware convention ratified the Federal Constitution. Because it was the first to ratify, Delaware became known as ‘the first state’ and enjoys the highest level of seniority at ceremonial events.”
by Judy Handley | Jul 23, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 275, Year 9: Getting Ready to Travel
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Weather: Same as Yesterday–Sunny Day, High Temp in the Low 80’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Tomorrow afternoon we pack Heather and Jed’s van and the seven of us take off for Williamsburg, Virginia. The first part of the day will go on as usual, but with a forecast of rain, we’ll skip the beach and do something more low key at home with the kids. Today was another sunny, beautiful day, so we spent the morning at the beach. Now we can turn our attention to more land-based activities for a few days. Our travel plan for tomorrow is to leave here at 3 pm and head to New Haven, Connecticut where we will make a quick dinner stop. From there we will continue on to northern Delaware where we plan to spend the night in a motel. On Friday morning, we will drive down the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Assateague Island in hopes of seeing some of the wild ponies and then we’ll drive on south, cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Norfolk, Virginia, and on to Williamsburg. I was just reading that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is one of the seven engineering wonders of the world. If we all make it to Williamsburg without any major ‘break downs’ from children or adults, I think we will become one of the traveling wonders of the world! Wish us happy traveling.
by Judy Handley | Jul 22, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 274, Year 9: Summer Fun—Sheep, Bike Path, Osprey, Beach, Magic Show
Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Weather: Sunny Day, High Temp in the Low 80’s—Beautiful
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
What a day! We started out by visiting the town-owned Peterson Farm to check on the growth of the lambs born this spring. They are now almost as big as their mothers and running in the field together. We had a special treat today as the veterinarian that owns the sheep was in the field with her border collies. She was giving her sheep dogs a chance to move the sheep and Scamp the llama from one part of the field to another. All three boys, as well as Oma and Granddad, enjoyed the show. Next, we dropped Granddad, Ollie, and his stroller off on the bike path. The other two boys and I then drove to another part of the bike path down by the beach, parked the van, and then walked, strider-biked (Jonah), and scootered (Sam) down the path to meet Granddad and Ollie. There were three different nests of young ospreys along our route and we got to watch the young ones trying out their wings. This really was a fabulous show. Then it was time to head home for lunch and a nap for Ollie, so we did that with a short stop at the beach on the way for Ollie as he really wanted to get in the water. After lunch, Ollie went down for nap and then Sam and Jonah and I went to the beach. We only had an hour, but we made the best of it. Then it was home to put on dry clothes and head downtown to the public library for a magic show on the library lawn. But we didn’t stop there. We had arranged with Heather to meet her on the bike path down by the beach after the magic show. She then jogged with the Ollie in the stroller and Sam and Jonah on their ‘wheely’ things back to her car. Our meeting place at the beach was right next to one of Falmouth’s many osprey nests. We have watched the two baby ospreys in that nest grow over the past few weeks and today they were practicing their flying techniques. We were parked basically under the nest and we watched as one of the young ones would fly straight up from the nest and hover over it until their wings gave out and then that one would land back down in the nest and the other would lift off and hover for a bit. It was really a special treat to be able to watch this up close. I got a couple of great photos and Mark got a great video which I will post with this log. It was a busy, busy day full of summer fun.
by Judy Handley | Jul 21, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 273, Year 9: Miniature Golf and Bumper Boats
Date: Monday, July 21, 2014
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High Temp in the 70’s—Feels Much Cooler
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Our morning was overcast and a bit chilly, so we stayed home with the boys and just played in the backyard. When Ollie went down for nap, Granddad took the van in to be serviced and then after nap time, we went to play miniature golf and to have fun in the bumper boats. When I was a kid, I always looked forward to going to the amusement park in the summer and riding in the bumper cars. Here on the Cape, we have bumper boats and they are fun. Heather came home from work early and went with us which was a special treat for the boys. In between having fun, we are all getting ready to leave for our family vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia. Busy, busy.
by Judy Handley | Jul 20, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 272, Year 9: Shopping . . . Ugh
Date: Sunday, July 20, 2014
Weather: Overcast, High Temp in the 70’s—But Feels a Bit Chilly
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
This was a work day. Mark worked at West Marine and I decided to do what I call a ‘loop’ shopping trip . . . starting here and crossing the Bourne Bridge to get off the Cape, heading almost to Boston, and then coming home via a different highway and crossing the Sagamore Bridge to get home. This allows me to go to the LL Bean Outlet, an Old Navy store, IKEA, Costco, Whole Foods, and REI. I was looking for things at all of those places, but came home fairly empty handed. I did manage to get the additional deck chairs for Heather and Jed that wouldn’t fit in the car the first time around as well as get book shelf doors for them at IKEA, and I did find a couple of clothing items. I was also able to get gluten-free products at Whole Foods to take with us on vacation. Both our daughter-in-law Jo, and now grandson Ziggy, have wheat sensitivities, so I stocked up on Pamela’s gluten-free bread and baking mixes for them. By the time I delivered the chairs and book shelf doors to Heather and Jed’s, it was time to go pick up Mark from work. On Thursday of this week we leave for our family reunion in Williamsburg, Virginia, so I have a feeling it is going to be a jam-packed week of planning and packing. Just getting all seven of us in the van and ready to go on Thursday will be challenging.
At the start of the day, after dropping Mark off at West Marine, I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to check with them about the items they needed from IKEA. The boys were all dressed in safari outfits and were in the garden pretending it was a jungle. They all have such vivid imaginations and you just never know what creative play they might be into when you drop by. Jonah went to his best friend’s birthday party yesterday and the party treats were safari hats and a bucket loaded with additional items one might need on a safari. He brought home a bucket for Sam and one for Ollie, so everyone could enjoy the fun.
by Judy Handley | Jul 19, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 271, Year 9: Afternoon Sail with the Woodin’s
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2014
Weather: Overcast, High Temp in the 70’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
We had a lovely sail with Bruce and Jane Woodin this afternoon. It was overcast, but the wind came through for us. There were only 10-12 knots from the easterly quarter, but that was enough to give us a delightfully lazy sail on Buzzards Bay. We had dinner aboard when we returned to Quissett Harbor and rounded off the evening with a lovely sunset. In addition to having a great sail, we got a chance to catch up on life’s happening with Bruce and Jane. This is what summer is all about.
