Vacation Day 3: Sandwich on Cape Cod

 

Wednesday was our 3rd day in Plymouth and we chose to do something that I wanted to do.  The Battleship Cove visit in Fall River on our Anniversary (30 June) was for Dave. Although if you are on Facebook with me, you know I also loved it.  

I had really wanted us to go back to the Botanical Heritage Gardens and Museums.  We had been there during Memorial Day weekend circa 2004 when we camped in Sandwich that year and the girls were 5 and 8.  But it was rainy, gloomy, chilly the morning we went to the Gardens and hardly anything was blooming yet.  So we took them inside the Auto Museum there and then on the carousel.  They must have ridden that 5-6 times and then we ended up in Wareham to visit their grandparents (Dave's folks) and get warm by the fireplace. Wareham is where we had the T family beach house on Buzzards Bay which is just over the Bridge from the Cape. 

So I was very excited that it was a gorgeous, although hot and humid, day. We were thanking God for the ocean breeze!

Sandwich is the oldest village on Cape Cod. It's quaint with beautifully manicured lawns and pretty Cape Cod bungalows, ranch style homes, and now more colonial type homes.  Some are very simple and some are much more ornate. 

There's a very small shopping district with quaint gift shops and art galleries. 

We headed first to the Botanical Gardens which is at the end of a row of homes that are quite pricey and just beautiful and some are like mansions.  Definitely a more up scale part of town. 

There are 100 acres at the Gardens and at the admissions center they give you a map.  Most of the paths connect.  Some do not. At one point we were a bit confused as the map wasn't great but we figured out where we wanted to go and the above pic took us to a beautiful maze where it was a very sensory experience with sight, scent, sound, and touch. It was very shady in the maze and I neglected to take photos because I was reading what all the trees/plants were. This photo above was one of my favorite walkways through the gardens.  

Here are some hydrangeas that were just gorgeous. Much prettier in person than in the pics. 

Dark blue ones were my fave

the light blue ones were pretty too
We didn't know there were so many varieties!

The Botanical Gardens have 155 different species of hydrangeas.  Click on the link to read about this. 

I also loved this section, paying homage to the Wampanoag tribes. 

a replica of a Wetu, the homes of the Wampanoag 

The "three sisters":  corn, beans and squash
that the Wampanoag people taught the Pilgrims to plant 
This is why these vegetables are featured in a traditional Thanksgiving feast 

Across from the Wetu and Wampanoag Garden was the Cranberry House in an historic building that actually comes from NY! This holds the largest museum collection of cranberry history in the nation! 

Where the Cranberry Collection is exhibited

We will start celebrating Cranberry Day!
Who knew??!!

iconic signage from the 1940s 

An example of a cranberry sorting table

We were allowed to pick these up.
They are scoops to harvest the cranberries.
The one on the right, when I lifted it, was like lifting 
both of my 4 lb weights.
The one on the left I couldn't lift!  It was VERY heavy. Dave could.
Can you imagine using these for 8-10 hour days???  

After the Cranberry Exhibit, we continued onto the various gardens.  Here are my fave photos from the walks: 

a species of day lilies 

a Yew tree

Beets in the vegetable garden

An historic windmill...is called 
The Old East Mill and was built in 1800
it was used to ground corn meal for the Union soldiers of the Civil War
and was orginally located in Orleans which is further out on the cape
It was moved to Sandwich in 1967. 

a trail to the pond where it was a bit cooler
and definitely more shady 

Peas in the veggie garden.....
they were so ready to be picked and eaten!

onions!!

I really liked this whole garden area
with the yew trees

Dave by the yew tree

I loved this pot of flowers
 and the shadow it's making

The labyrinth section was peaceful and beautiful
We walked the labyrinth and had some prayer time
and it was a half mile walk!

on our prayer walk 

we thought this bench was super cool 

Dave just loved this stone wall 

We enjoyed the sundial near the front entrance

Shawnee Pond at Botanical Gardens

the trail from Shawnee Pond.....so pretty

A pretty little water garden 

Another fave water fountain garden
I especially loved this one 

a pollinator busy working!

Riding the carousel on one of the historic
handcrafted carriages 
We ended our time at the Botanical Gardens with the Carousel
in memory of when our girls did this in 2004. 
1 July 

Fish tacos with pineapple salsa and the house salad; Dave had the seafood reuben and the caesar salad
We ended the day with the BEST food, BEST prices and 
BEST drinks....at Dillon's Local
We ate late and then enjoyed time on the hotel terrace overlooking the Atlantic

a refreshing MaiTai for me and a Guiness for Dave

The beautiful sunset at Pilgrim Sands 
evening of 1 July 

That's a wrap for Wednesday 1 July!

WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE EARLY

It's Tuesday but I'm writing these answers up to this week's Hodgepodge because I'm at the car dealership waiting for my first oil change and tire rotation on my car I bought this past October. I'm joining in with other bloggers at this site. 

1. What's something you enjoy now that your younger self would never have appreciated? 

the peace and quiet of a summer morning on the deck; a quiet walk in the woods by myself; quietly sitting sipping a good glass of wine by the bonfire by myself or with my husband

2. What was peaceful about today? 

There's nothing peaceful so far about my day. This waiting lounge at the dealership is loud. TV is annoyingly loud and someone's cellphone alarm keeps going off. I'll answer this later today. 😀

Ok..the most peaceful part of my day so far (it's about 2:30 pm on Tuesday) is having a steaming mug of chocolate raspberry truffle coffee by Fresh Market that I made as a pour over after lunch. The coffee time with a good book I'm reading was just what I needed after driving home from the car dealership in the pouring rain and then needing the AC on because it's still so humid!  The temp is only 68 but it's humid!!  I don't like humidity. Hopefully it breaks over the weekend. 

3. It's National Blueberry Day (July 8). Will you celebrate?  You can have one of the following right now-a slice of blueberry pie, a warm blueberry muffin, or a stack of blueberry pancakes...which do you choose?

OOH....I love blueberries but I actually don't like many pies. 

I made blueberry muffins before vacation so will pass on those this week. 

Maybe I will get it together and make blueberry pancakes for hubby before he leaves for work, although we did have them before we left on vacation last week.  

I have a lot of blueberries and eat them year round so will probably do tonight for dinner what we did last evening:  cut up peaches, nectarines and blueberries as a side dish. 

This or that-blueberries or raspberries? blueberries or strawberries? 

I love both blueberries and raspberries and have both in pretty bowls in the fridge this week. 

I am allergic to strawberries....less so now as an adult but I actually don't like the taste or scent of strawberries.

4. Do you need a break? From what? 

I need a break from political news. I cannot stand it. Especially the "news" I see when I log into Facebook to post my photos. 

5. What has surprised you most about getting older? 

That I actually don't really care  what people think of my style or my opinions. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

fish tacos with pineapple salsa and house salad

best MaiTai ever!

These were the best fish tacos I've had since we were in Portland Maine last year. These were SO good.  The cod was fresh!  Of course we were in Plymouth for our Anniversary vacation and you don't get much fresher than Plymouth.  Plymouth incidentally was so pumped up for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Although it wasn't written in Plymouth, Plymouth IS where our nation began!! If you've never been to Plymouth to do all the Pilgrim and Wampanoag stuff, I highly recommend it. I firmly believe every American should get there at least once. For us? We've gone often since I got engaged to Dave in 1989. If you're a regular here, you know why.  Click here to learn why Plymouth has been rather important to us. It was awesome. The food pictured above was at the Irish pub off the main drag called Dillon's Local. SO good. 

HAPPY SUMMER!

I'm leading a hike today so had to post this on Tuesday. 

2026 Book Review #23:The Lying Game

 

I've read quite a few of this author's novels.  Some I loved, others were just ok.

This one was very good!  My reading this past month has slowed down but I'm slowly getting back into reading more each day.  My goal for retirement was to read 2 books a week...but that's before I started volunteering with the hiking group I founded and also volunteer for another 2 ministries at church. But now that it's summer, I'm really only doing the hiking group so I hope to get more reading done each day. 

STORY SUMMARY

 It's a June morning and a cool one. There's a woman walking her dog in the pretty coastal village of Salten. She's walking along a tidal estuary known as The Reach. All of a sudden, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what at first looks like a stick. But the woman is horrified when she sees that it is a human bone!  

The very next morning, three women in their early 30s who live in and around London, are notified by a fourth woman. Their names are Fatima (married with 3 children), Thea (single career woman, anorexic and alcoholic), and Isa (living with her boyfriend and father of her baby girl Freya).  The 4th  woman's name is Kate.  She sends them all a text saying "I need you". No explanation.  And they haven't seen each other in 17 years. 

These 4 women were best friends when they were teenagers at Salten House, a 2nd rate boarding school. It was set near the cliffs of the English Channel.  Kate lived in an old mill on The Reach with her father Ambrose who was the art teacher at Salten House. Her "brother" Luc (they were like brother and sister but Luc was from France and his mother, now a heroin addict in France, used to live with Ambrose.  Luc's biological father is unkown. 

The 4 girls were inseparable in high school and were notorious for playing what they called The Lying Game. They told lies constantly to fellow boarders and to the faculty and staff. 

But their game had terrible consequences finally. 

As they gather aga; in in Salten....now all grown up.....they realize that their game of lying and their shared past with its secrets, was not buried as deeply...or as safely.... as they thought and hoped. 

What was the final big secret between them? and why is it surfacing now after all these years? 

MY THOUGHTS

This is a twisty plot kind of book.  I loved the character  development although at times every single character except Fatima, drove me crazy. 

The setting is well described and I could just smell the briny salt water of the Reach. 

The main themes in this book are: complex female friendships; parent-child relationship and being raised by single parents; addictions; the ripple effects of lying/dishonesty; the burden of teenage guilt; isolation by choice; deep loyalty; betrayals. 

I loved the way the book ended......it was a bit of  a surprise the way it ended although I did guess correctly who was involved in the crime. 

I don't want to reveal too much about what the crime was or who  was involved as that would ruin the story for you. 

I did find a few editing errors.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content). 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 8.  

Vacation Day 4: Pilgrim Hall

 I'm taking time on this hot, humid Sunday afternoon, to write about the fourth day of our anniversary vacation. (I'm posting our days going backwards).  We were in Plymouth and when we woke up on Thursday, we saw the forecast was going to have an air temp feel of 102.  That's hot and combined with the 90% humidity, we decided we weren't going to do the hike we had planned.  We chose instead, to have a late breakfast in the dining room of the hotel and then we talked about all the monuments we've seen/visited in years past in Plymouth.  

Dave's family used to have a beach house on Buzzards Bay as some of you know. This is where we would spend a part of June, July, and August when our girls were little. We also had the big T---- family Thanksgiving there every year from 2002-2013.  Those were great times.  Because Dave's side of the family had pilgrims as ancestors, Plymouth was a big draw for us to take our children.  We've been on the Mayflower II replica for the tours twice. We've seen Plymouth Rock ad nauseum and a few years ago, Dave and I stayed in a different part of Plymouth and did the Pilgrim Trail and stopped at all the national historic monuments and there are many! One place we never had visited or toured, though, was Pilgrim Hall Museum.

Dave in front of Pilgrim Hall Museum
 the oldest museum in the USA

Here is a quote from their website:

"Built in 1824 by the Pilgrim Society, Pilgrim Hall is one of America’s earliest public museums. The Society was incorporated in 1820 during the 200th anniversary of Plymouth Colony’s founding, to commemorate the history of the Mayflower Pilgrims. "

Now, Dave's dad had a great times 9 uncle come over on the Mayflower with his 2 sons.  However, they died before the harvest that next November. The wife did not come nor is there any information as to if she ever did or if she died in England before they left for the New Land. 

Dave's dad also told us that his great times 9 grandfather came over on the Speedwell.  The names on the Speedwell, though, match the names on the Mayflower.  So that's a bit confusing.  However, the Speedwell never made it to Plymouth! It had to turn around and go back to England as it wasn't seaworthy.  So it was really the great times 9 uncle that arrived in Plymouth on the Mayflower. 

So that left us wondering about the great times 9 grandfather?  We checked the passenger lists for the Fortune, Anne, and Little James ships which came over in 1623.  And guess what??  There was no T------family member on any of those!!  

So....we are puzzled. My guess is he did come over as a separatist but it was later than 1623 or on a ship that isn't listed. 

But....we enjoyed all of the pilgrim displays and it was fascinating to see the  actual items that the 1620 pilgrims owned.  We couldn't take photos in the first part of the museum but we were allowed to in the main gallery.  Here are some photos for you to enjoy.  

I really liked the look of this in front of the museum
The museum is on the main street through the historic section
away from the waterfront street but parallel to it.

The very first baby born when the Pilgrims
landed in America was Peregrine White.
Zoom in on the pic to read about this. 
The first baby born on the Mayflower
during the crossing of the Atlantic was Oceanus Hopkins

This cradle came from Holland
and was used by the White family 
for the first Pilgrim baby to be born in America
His mother gave birth on the ship which of course
was docked in Provincetown Harbor. 

The replica of the Mayflower, called The Mayflower II, is of course docked in Plymouth Harbor and is a major tourist attraction. Every American should visit the Mayflower, the Rock, (although it's disappointing as is so small as some of it is buried underground)  which is in a portico right on the sidewalk on the Harbor and next to Pilgrim Memorial State Park. The harbor and attractions are all a part of  the park. Dave's great grandfather was involved in the moving of the Rock. 

In the museum you can actually see and touch a piece of Plymouth Rock.  

I'm touching Plymouth Rock

a replica of the Mayflower ship 

I wasn't allowed to take a photo of some of the other Pilgrim items and my photo of William Bradford's Geneva Bible didn't come out. (If you don't know who he was, click on the blue link). 

The entire museum only takes about 1.5 hours to walk through and there is a little gift shop. We were fortunate that we got to talk with the historian who was on site.  She used to be one of the "pilgrims" over at Plimoth-Patuxet Plantation/Museum back when our  daughters were young. She was fascinating to talk to and she is the one who directed us to the passenger lists for the other ships. 

After our 2  hour parking was up, we drove over to a small town outside of Plymouth to get some refresher drinks at Dunkin' and then ordered some sandwiches and took them back to the hotel dining room to have a late lunch.  After lunch, we rested on the ocean side of the hotel with our books and then it was time to leave for Dave's brother's camp on Long Pond.  Long Pond is only about 15 minutes from our hotel which is on Long Beach.  The pond is really a lake. We had a lovely visit with them and Peter made chicken and beef kabobs for dinner. We hung out on the deck which is literally right on the water until about 10:45 pm and then ended the day by packing up almost all of our things as we were leaving for NY and our home the next day. 

Here is proof that the great times 9 uncle
of my father-in-law came over on the Mayflower
with his two young sons. 

Patriotic decor on the camp deck 
compliments of my sister-in-law Katharine

relaxing on Peter and Kathy's camp deck before dinner
Their bernese Kyss is a sweet dog! 
 I like her. and I don't like most dogs 

Come on back sometime Monday to see more photos and read about Sandwich, the oldest town on Cape Cod!