Recalculating, Recalculating....

I went for a lovely weekend trip to Cape Cod recently. I drove my Favorite Nun to a retreat there.  While she was giving the retreat on Saturday, I braved the old and newly fallen snow to explore the area.

I've never been there so this was a prime opportunity to check things out. As soon as Sister Anne asked me to go with her I started exploring the area on Google Maps so I had an idea of places and things I wanted to see.

Unfortunately,  Mother Nature tried to spoil my fun.

There was lots of snow left from the winter storms

When I left the retreat house it was snowing. Nothing that seemed to hinder traffic or visibility. Just enough to get me wet and cold when I left the car.  So I cleaned off my car and headed out.

The Sagamore Bridge, the gateway to the Cape.

My final destination was to be Provincetown,  all the way over on the inside arm of Cape Cod. And that's what I plugged into the GPS. Nothing specific just get me to the center of town and I'll go from there.

Welcome

I knew I wanted to travel over Route 6 cause it was the scenic ride to Provincetown and I would be able to access the National and State parks along the way.   But GPS had other ideas. She tried to take me over route 25. Hmm.  Not the way I want to go.  I saw a sign directing me to Route 6 and jumped on it.  That was the first "recalculating"  from the GPS.  But she went with it this time.

Driving on Route 6 makes you hungry

Driving on Route 6 was lovely, even with the snow.

I took many detours on my way to Provincetown. I  stopped at the Cape Cod National Seashore Park.  GPS yelled "recalculating" at me again.

The Ocean at Cape Cod National Seashore Park

And of course, I needed to put my toes in the water. I am a polar bear, after all..

Just the toes though..

The Lighthouse at National Seashore Park

I made my way back to Route 6 which made GPS happier.  All along Route 6 there were places to explore, different accesses to the beach through the National Park.  There are clusters of cabins for vacationers, and just plenty of beautiful scenery.  I do wish I'd been able to be there once the snow is gone but I can always go back in the summer.

Getting closer to Provincetown and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be doing any more detours.  But low and behold, there is the exit for the Marconi Beach!  This is was Marconi sent the first wireless message across the ocean to England. Time for one more detour; "recalculating" from the shrieking GPS.  This was the "outer most" point of the Cape.

From this spot....

Finally, the destination:

I made it!

BUT I still decided that I wanted to go into the town from a different direction.  So more "recalculating" from the GPS.  I made my way over to the center of town where there was free parking and easy access to everything I wanted to see.

Pictures anyone?

The fishing fleet

Home on the water

Town Hall

Beach Entertainment

After wandering the narrow streets and seeing the sites, I don't think Provincetown in the "on season" is some where I'd want to visit.  It just seemed to crowded and closed in for my tastes. I was slightly claustrophobic in the "off season" for me.

I left Provincetown, with the destination of the Retreat Center plugged into the GPS.  But of course, there were more detours on my way back.  I tripped off Route 6 to see Hyannis.  I put the Kennedy Library as a pass through destination so she didn't scream "recalculating" at me the entire time.  BUT she didn't tell me WHEN we were at the library so I missed it. I  need to work on that with the GPS.  Its got to be a setting or something.

So back on Route 6 for the uneventful drive home. It was lovely.

Popcorn Anyone? - WW

This is my favorite Caramel Popcorn place EVER!

This is just my opinion of course.
I'd be willing to sample your favorite popcorn place

Views

There were so many fabulous views in Ocean City.  I was fortunate to have my camera with me to capture several of them.  Let's see if I remember where and when I got the pictures.....

The ferris wheel on the pier.
Jakes and I were pedaling on the boards.  Well, he was pedaling and I was taking pictures

This is from the parasailing boat on the way in from our sail.
This is the Inlet that leads from the bay to the ocean with the pier in the background

The beach at sunrise.

Busy busy....

While we were waiting to go parasailing, we got to see the very busy Rt 50 bridge.  The week before we were there, it got stuck in the OPEN position.  This is a main road in and out of Ocean City leading to Salisbury and other cities.  I was told that people sat there for HOURS until they were able to get the bridge fixed.

All the boats would drift back to the bridge, most with fishing lines dragging behind them

It doesn't take a tall boat before they have to raise the bridge for passage.

But at least its not open for long.

Parasailing

Jakes and I got to go Parasailing. I loved it!  Jakes did it but was white knuckled the entire time we were up there.

This isn't us but it will be!

We're up there!

that's our boat WAY down there.....
and of course the shoreline in the distance

Splashdown.....  We got dunked twice because Jakes didn't get wet enough the first time

I would do it again!

The View - WW

Is this an awesome view or what?

From the Boardwalk in the morning

Catching Up

I've been away from my blog but for a good reason.  I was on vacation with the family.  It was a lovely time!  We went to Ocean City, MD which is where Daddy spent a lot of his teenage summers.  He loves it there and so do I.  I think I prefer OCMD beach to any of the ones in NJ that I've visited.

I will share pictures with you this week of our activities.  So many good things!

I have one more vacation scheduled for the summer.  I don't have any big plans yet.  We'll see if anything good comes up.

Daddy has one or two more chemo sessions and they will then do another scan to see where things stand.  The Drs and nurses are excited over the huge drop in his cancer count numbers.  They have dropped from over 1900 to 393 at the last count!  I don't know exactly how they get this number but they are counting the cancer cells in his blood.  At 393 there is considerably less to count.


Dating. Or trying to date.  I've gotten several responses to my online profile but it hasn't materialized into anything.  One guy I chatted with for about 5 minutes, then he hung up on me.  I thought maybe my cell had cut off so I called back and left him a message.  About an hour later, I got a message from him through the dating site "good luck".  Nice.  You can tell about a person in less than 5 minutes.  Well, good for you.

The most recent one contacted me while I was on vacation.   I told him I was away and I would email him when I got back late Sunday.  About 6:30 Sunday, there was a message from him saying he figured something must have come up for me and that I wasn't interested.  Well, so sorry I have a life and you don't have any patience.

Moving onto the next one!


Jakes starts his sophomore year in high school on Thursday!  When did I get a sophomore? I'm not old enough to have a kid that old!  Hopefully this school year will be as uneventful as last year was.


Time to head out and give the garden some TLC.  I'll be around to catch up on your blogs shortly!

Vacation Plans This Summer

I have gotten to the middle of July and realized that I have 15 vacation days to use before Labor Day.  My company gives you new vacation days on your anniversary with the company.  I started in September 12 years ago.

I have 15 days to use or loose.  I refuse to loose them! So I am working every other week from now until Labor Day.  Every other week off!!  How cool is that?  Just when I'm sick of being at work, I can take the week off.  Just when I'm sick of being home, I get to go back to work.  I think I can like that schedule.

For the first vacation week, I am having lunch with a friend, cleaning my house, twisting my BFF's arm to take a day off and go to the beach with me.  Lots of reading and relaxing planned for that week.  Oh, and probably hanging at the farm with Jakes and the horses.

The next week I have off, I will be packing me, Jakes and Jaxon up and we're going with the parents for a week at the beach!  I can't wait!  More laying around and relaxing.  Then wandering the boards and people watching. No horse farm this week.

The final week I have off there are no plans for yet.  A day or two at the beach, reading and relaxing.  Jakes will be back in school so I won't be going to the farm that week for him.  I hope everyone has as much vacation time as I do!

Silly Hats

While in Washington, we stopped in a gift shop in one of the museums.  I don't remember which at this point....

My dad was in the Navy until just after I was born.  I grew up playing with his Navy hats and sleeping on US Navy sheets.

So when I saw these hats in the museum, I had to make my boys try them on.....

AZ modeling

What an expression.

Just for you daddy!

Yet Another Beach Day

We took the family to the beach last week. It wasn't a beautiful of a day as when I went with ESM but it was a lovely day in different ways.

AZ and I packed up the kids (mine, his and plus one more), the chairs, lunch and sunscreen and headed to the Wildwood, NJ.  We chose that beach because there is a boardwalk with rides and yummy food.

JR and friend wanted to just walk the boards, checking out the chicks.  Jakes wanted to swim and body surf.  AZ wanted to take a nap and get some sun.

He got the nap but not much sun.

We got there late in the afternoon so there wasn't much time for sunbathing and there was quite the breeze blowing.  We lost the umbrella! I had to go running across the beach to save it.  YIKES!

Jakes and I spent some time in the water body surfing and splashing.  He had a ball which made me happy.

After a quick stop for some dinner we turned the boys on the boards again.  AZ and I wandered around remembering all our times there as teenagers.  We also went on one ride, the loop-d-loop roller coaster.  All the boys were afraid to get on it with us. It was AWESOME!!!!  We got the first car and it was a hanging coaster.  Nothing in front of you, nothing under you.  We LOVED it!

On the way back to meet the boys we stopped to play the water gun game. AZ WON!!

Its a Butterfly!  I LOVE IT!

We met up with the boys and on the way back to the car we caught a parade.... The MUMMERS!

The string band was strutting their stuff along the boardwalk

They are amazing!

With one final look at the boardwalk, we packed back into the car for a long drive home.

Wildwood Boardwalk

It was a lovely day that I hope can be repeated very soon!

Tuesday Tidbits

I had to go back to work this week.  UGH. Getting up and out of the house yesterday was not fun.  sigh.  But its only for 3 days.  Then I'm off for a nice long weekend with my family!

Dad and ESM are taking us camping to Cherrystone Campground on the Chesapeake Bay.  We can't wait!  Its going to be a nice relaxing weekend.

Dad goes to the GI specialist today to see what the next step is going to be in figuring out what's going on with him.  Fingers crossed that's its not as bad as I have managed to imagine it.

Jakes finally went home this past weekend.  It seems like he's spent most of the summer with me.  Which isn't a bad thing, just different.  He starts school on August 22nd.  A high school freshmen!  WOW!  I am still trying to figure out when that happened!!!

The campground offers free wifi but I'm planning to unplug while we're there.  I need the downtime and the time to connect with the family.  See you when I get back!

Our Boys

AZ and I both have Boys close in age.  They are completely different in personalities and haven't spent a lot of time together.  The last two week vacations when Jakes has been with me, they have hung out together a little bit more, which has made AZ and I very happy.

We've lost the living room to the boys playing video games.......

Video games

They worked together to clean out JR's car.......

Pretending to cruise for chicks

They are not best friends but they are learning to get along!

Friday Fragments - Just Catching Up

Just to catch you up on things around my house.....

Jakes has spent a wonderful vacation with me last week and we start another one next week.  Poor kids' summer is almost over.  He starts school on August 14th.  Wasn't it just yesterday, he was graduating from 8th grade??

I have a couple of day trips planned for vacation next week with him. Can you say BEACH? And our county 4H fair is next week and he loves being able to watch the tractor pulls on Friday evening.  Can you guess where we'll be Friday?

Jakes hasn't gotten back on the horse since he was made an "authentic rider".  Ms. Eileen has plans to fix that this weekend!  Look out Jakes!

Dad has been to ER recently.  Once about 3 weeks ago after falling on his face, literally.  He tripped on a step and landed face first.  He broke his nose and had lots of scrapes and bruises.  They did a through check up of his entire body and seem to have found a mass in his stomach and some stuff on his liver.  We're waiting for a closer looksey by a specialist before we jump to conclusions.  More info as we get more info.....

I am working on mental health policies and procedures at work.  I also have to get creative and make a treatment plan form.  I'm just not feeling creative right now.  I also need to get the newsletter out before vacation starts today.  Again, the creativity is not there.  Any suggestions for getting it back?

My friend who sold me the new camera has another camera he is giving me.  Its a 14.1 mega-pixel camera!!!  I can't wait to catch up with him to get it and play with it!  Think of the PICTURES I can take with it!  droooool.............

I made an awesome pasta salad the other night!  Boiled the pasta, added a little Italian Dressing, a couple tablespoons of fresh basil and a fresh tomato.  The basil and tomato were picked minutes before being added to the pasta.  YUM!  I love summer vegetables!

I think that brings you up to date... fairly boring at my house!  Boring is good!

Room with a View

I spent a lot of time researching Hotels in DC.  I wanted to be in the city but parking is a pain and expensive.  I checked into hotels outside the city and taking the Metro in, but the cost of the Metro cards was going to be about the same as parking in the City.

I found a website that helps people rent out their parking spaces in various cities around the country.  Parking Panda lists the parking spaces by neighborhood or around hotels.  I loved this!  It allowed me to get a parking space for the weekend for what the hotel wanted for one night.  And it was in walking distance from the hotel!

I found a hotel, the Residence Inn, for a great price and they served a hot breakfast!  The breakfast saved us so much money!  We usually ate so much at breakfast we weren't hungry for lunch. 

I loved the hotel.  It was clean and updated.  The staff was lovely and helpful.  I would definitely stay there again.  The only problem (for AZ only) is that its a non-smoking hotel.  He had to go all the way downstairs and down the street in order to smoke.  I'm trying to talk him into quitting.  Fingers crossed!

When we go back to DC, if we stay the night, I will definitely stay at this hotel again.  And I will be asking for this room:

Its got a balcony and a view of this:

Wouldn't that be lovely to stare at?

Next time........

Saving Me - WW

AZ saved me from a HUGE bug at the US Botanical Gardens

More statutes from the Botanical Gardens

I love me my Butterflies!

A Different View of the Nations Monuments

Our trip to Washington was SO hot we couldn't do much during the day.  We would have just roasted.  We tried but it was just HOT.

So after a day at the Air Conditioned Capitol Building, we relaxed until the sun went down, then took the Metro over to the Monuments.  We'd been told to make sure we saw them at night because it was lovely.  I have to agree!

I need to work on my night time picture taking because most of them are blurry.  Sorry!

The Washington Monument wrapped in Scaffolding

As soon as you step out of the Metro station, this is what you see.   The Washington Monument was wrapped in scaffolding as they are making repairs from the earthquake 18 months ago.  We had hoped to be able to go to the top but since its under repair, no one is allowed up.  Next time we're visiting, we'll see what we can do about going up.

The World War II Memorial

 The World War II memorial is a beautiful testament in the daylight.  At night, its lit up and is a new level of beauty. I  really wish my pictures did it justice.  Off to the side of the memorial is a place where you can look up people who served in the war.  We looked up AZ's grandfather which made him and his mother happy.  I took a picture of the computer screen and texted it to her.

The Lincoln Memorial

 I think this is my favorite memorial, in daylight and at night.  Before we arrived in DC, I was saying I wanted to see this one at night.  I knew it would be impressive.  A week after we came home, I saw on the news where someone had thrown green paint on it.  Such a shame that people can't respect things.

The Washington Monument with the Capitol Building peaking out the side

 Jakes found this fabulous place on the Lincoln Memorial where you can get pictures of the Washington Monument with the Capitol Building peaking out.  I wish I'd been there during the day to get this one.  But I love that I got this.  Good Job Jakes!

Vietnam War Memorial

We went to the Vietnam War Memorial.  I think everyone who has a chance to go to DC should see this memorial.  It's a WALL of NAMES.  These are names of men and women who died or are still listed as missing in action from this conflict.  The wall starts out short, about a foot high.  By the time you get to the middle, its about 15 feet high, maybe taller. When we start walking you can hear the sounds of the city, traffic and talking.  When you are in the middle of it, there is absolute quiet.  Its a very solemn experience.

The walk to the Lincoln Memorial is 1.5 miles from the Metro Station so all in all we walked over three miles that night.  We didn't get back to the hotel until almost 1 am.  But we enjoyed it! 

Rainy Day Fun

Yesterday was my last day of vacation.  I spent it getting organized to go back to work.  You know, making sure the glasses are in the pocketbook, that there is stuff for lunches and munchies.  All the fun stuff.

Then it started raining.  When I looked at the weather map, it didn't look like it was going to be too bad, just a passing shower with maybe some thunder with it.  An hour and a half it was STILL raining.  And I don't mean a little shower.  There was WALLS of water coming down.  According to the news today, we had over 4 inches of rain in an hour and a half.  The water just didn't have anywhere to go.

So what did we do while it was raining?  We grabbed umbrella's, my camera and went to play in the rain!  Here is some of the fun we had:

No flooding in the camper, just lots of water around it

One road over had more water than ours.  This kid had a good idea!

Singin' in the Rain! AZ was dancing around like Gene Kelly.

Jaxon loved being out in the water, not when it was raining

Jerks who think its okay to drive through flooded streets

After it stopped raining, it only took about an hour before the road was passable.  I've been looking at pictures on the local news website and many people lost cars and had water in their homes.  Such a shame!