On to Philadelphia . We had gotten a hotel in the old section of the city as we knew we wanted to visit the historic sites. Got into town in time for dinner and a show. Dinner was at City Tavern, where you can get a colonial dining experience. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1854, but a replica rebuilt in 1975. In 1994, Chef Walter Stab took over and began creating 18th century style gourmet cuisine. They serve you the sweet potato biscuits, that were said to be a favorite of Thomas Jefferson. I had the smoked pork chop. The chop was probably about 2 inches thick and was reminiscent of ham. Wow, was it good. Will started with a flight of beer, three varieties of which were brewed using much the same flavorings as back in the days of the Founding Fathers. Pricey place, but great food. We then checked out a play at the Arden Theater called Fun Home. The stage is set in the middle of the theater with all the seats surrounding the stage. The play was well done, and made for an enjoyable evening.
Had to get an early start the next morning as we needed to get in line for tickets to Independence Hall. You can reserve online, but they were sold out but the time I realized it. It’s only $1.50 to get a reserved date and time and the tickets themselves are free. So, do yourself a favor, reserve in advance as the ones available the day of sell out quickly and will save you from having to stand in line at 8:30 in the morning. We got our American History for the day, saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed), the Old Senate, and the Old City Hall. Interesting to see what was the Nation’s capital for a brief point in time.
Made it to Campos to get a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. They offer a gluten free bun option there, so I was all set.
Then it was on to the Museum of the American Revolution. After that we were worn out on history and had to get a power nap in before the Phillies’ game. I like to try and get to a baseball game if it works out with our schedule. We thought the Blue Jays were going to make the game a landslide after the first inning, but the Phillies came back and at least make it interesting. Next time we’re in Philly we’ll have to check out some of the other things to do.
Headed further north to Niatic, CT, had a reservation at a KOA campground as most places along the East Coast were booked full for the holiday weekend. The campground itself is in need of a little TLC, but the staff was very helpful and super friendly.
Sometimes the most unlikely of stops turn out to be something special, this was one of those times. While driving to the Cape of Massachusetts, we saw a sign for a historic drawbridge in Mystic, CT. The two words historic and drawbridge bring on images of castles and moats. While we knew the castle was highly unlikely, we did think the drawbridge had to be wooden. Well, that was not the case, but it still was an interesting bridge because of the huge stone weights are clearly visible and hanging over your head. To get to the bridge we kept passing signs for the Mystic Seaport Museum. After consulting with an expert, Google, we decided to check it out. At $29/each it’s not an inexpensive stop, but well worth it. They are restoring the Mayflower II, given to the US by the British in the 1950’s. It’s a reproduction of the original Mayflower. After restoration, she will be sailed back to Plymouth for the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing. They also have the last wooden whaling ship. There’s a little village with various shops that would have been in a fishing village in the late 1800’s. One of the exhibits that we wanted to see was the Vinland Map. Said to be a map that proves the Vikings were in North America about 500 years before Columbus. After the exhibit, Will and I both believed the map itself was a fake, but that yes the Vikings were probably the first Europeans to “find” North America. We ended up spending the entire day at the museum and still there was a lot more that we could have spent time on.
Next up, Nickerson State Park in Brewster, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. I can see why Massachusetts has the nickname “Taxachusetts”. Since we were out of staters, we paid $40/night for our campsite. Massachusetts residents pay $22 for same spot. I’m fine with being charged more, but just seemed excessive. Other than that, it was a nice park with unlimited hot water for showers, although I had to duck to wash my hair. Something to take note of for you tall folks. The weather was cold and misty when we arrived, so we got the tent set up cooked our dinner and crawled into the tent for the night. Since, I have some movies downloaded on the IPad, we were just watching those. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.
Again woke up to cloudy and rainy weather. Of course, we decided “let’s go to the beach”. Well, we kinda went to the beach. We started at the visitor’s center for the national seashore on the cape. Watched a couple of films and checked out their museum. The ranger gave us a couple of ideas on what to see. We went to the Coast Guard Beach where the Atlantic was pounding the shoreline. It was interesting to learn that the cape is changing constantly and looses about 3 feet every year. That sand ends up being deposited further south on an island. We made it to the Nauset light house that has been moved a few times as the Atlantic took the 3 original lighthouses.
We also drove up to Race Point near Provincetown. They have a former Life Saving station there that was open for tours. These Life Saving Stations were the precursor to the US Coast Guard and would patrol the cape area during the stormy winter season. After, since it was still quite cold we went to the movies before heading back to our tent site. We learned that the best time to go to the cape is late summer and early fall. The ocean warms up to a balmy 65 or so. But that warmer water temperature also warms the wind coming across the water providing the Cape with some beautiful fall weather.
Woke up to beautiful sunny weather (of course, because we were leaving). On the way out we swung by the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory. It’s a free quick self-guided tour and you get a small snack bag of chips at the end. They turn out about 350,000 bags of chips a year.
We were also driving right by Plymouth, so a slight detour and we went to see the rock. You know the one that the Pilgrims landed on. And the Mayflower II is not there right now either as it’s being restored, but it still was a nice stop. We got to the park along the water front and one of the park rangers was going to be giving a free walking tour. He gave us some stories about various people that never make the history books. It was quite interesting.
Got back on the road, going through Boston so we took a tour of the Harpoon Brewery. We’d been to Boston years before and toured the better known Sam Adams Brewery, but we had been talking to a local who had encouraged us to check out Harpoon. Well we finally had an opportunity, so we made a stop. They had cider for me on the tour. Nice!
