Be warned, this post could be over the top with positivity and as such, extremely annoying. Plus, there are pictures. Vacation pictures. Everybody loves those, right? Aunt Flo’s slides of the road trip to Phoenix? Come on!
I left Indy Friday morning and drove to Binghamton, New York. I dreaded this drive so, because I had planned to take I-70 through Pennsylvania, it being the shortest route between Point A and B. I hate highways. The trucks, the mini-vans, the people in the left lane who should be in a parking lot or an institution – highways are where idiots go to collaborate and travel in impassable packs. And this highway, this I-70 in particular, is from the devil. If the Universe wants to punish me, he or she could just sentence me to an afterlife driving an endless loop of I-70. But luckily, a conversation about I-86, the Southern tier expressway across New York state, was had at the last minute Thursday at work and given the stamp of perfect solution. A few more miles but a road less traveled, reminiscent of Highway 36 out to Colorado last year.
This trek is the extent of my experience with the actual state part of New York, but I highly recommend it. Just beautiful. Low clouds hang on the mountains and valleys of lush farmland (though I never could tell what exactly was being farmed). I can’t find any information online about what this area is called, but I sure hope it’s called something. It deserves to be official!
Saturday, I got up early to head to my next stop of Providence, Rhode Island, because I wanted to see the Athenaeum and it closed at 1pm for the weekend. It was most definitely worth the 6am alarm. I could have spent weeks in there, but after some tours and walking Benefit Street and downtown, I checked into the 1920s-era renovated Marriott Renaissance Hotel. Ridiculous! The longest hall from door to bed in my hotel history made for a peaceful sleep. And red satin striped wallpaper in the bathroom? Shut the front door. (I found out later that this hotel has some bad publicity online about housekeeper relations, but I can’t be bothered, right? I’m just a guest.) Went for clam cakes/doughboys (dear lord, these things could kill a person) at Aunt Carrie’s in Narragansett, then to Waterfire, a downtown display. I think the entire population of Providence attended. Slow night? I have no idea why this thing was so fascinating, but it seemed good for the town, so I’m all for that. And Providence is a beautiful city at night.
Sunday. Newport, Rhode Island. Good. God. Almighty. If I could wait tables without looking for ways to poison customers, I’d send for my things. The view driving over the Jamestown Bridge, then the Newport Bridge. Then, the shops, the homes, the harbors. Oh, my! The Cliff Walk! The beaches, though, not so much. I don’t understand the joy in packing into a little stretch of land like sardines, but it’s not my place to understand anyway. They all seemed happy, and that’s all that counts. (See? Positivity!)
Late that afternoon, I made a stop at Shaw’s Supermarket for supplies and headed to Wellfleet, my Cape Cod destination for the week. Lovely drive. I was at the cottage for about an hour before the older couple next door packed up and left. I think they were the owners doing a little pre-season weekend work. The other cottages around me are vacant, too! There’s no need for air-conditioning or heat, so all I hear are the birds, the hum of the refrigerator sometimes, and the occasional car drive by.
I have been here 24 hours and I’ve found THE beach for me in Maguire Landing 2.3 miles from the cottage. I’ve shopped in P-town, I’ve eaten a lobster roll, crab cake, and a kiddie chocolate ice cream cone, I’ve walked around Wellfleet Center and Harbor and walked the Salt Pond Trail recommended in my Cape Cod Day Hikes book, and I even took a shower outside, if you can believe that. Don’t Google map street view the area anytime soon if you don’t want your eyes to bleed.
Tomorrow, I'll have breakfast at The Wicked Oyster, head to Maguire Landing Beach to read and listen for a bit, then to Chatham Harbor and maybe Hyannis. I vow not to eat as much as I did today. I need to leave some food for the natives. I’m going to smile at maybe three or four Massachusetts strangers. Hell, I may strike up a conversation. They LOVE that, let me tell you!! I don’t know that I’ll venture on the ship from Hyannis to Nantucket, though I want to. I worry about seasickness. I’m not prepared mentally or physically for that.
Wednesday, rain is predicted, so I’m planning to write about PSM all day. This post is a step in that direction, as it’s the first thing I’ve written unrelated to an IT audit control in months.
And now, set a spell with Aunt Karen and watch her vacation slides (Remember it’s just the first day! You’ll want to stop back by for more, I’m sure!). Click on the picture to the left to start the show. Did I mention there’s no television at the cottage???
I may reserve this week at this cottage for the rest of my days. No kids, no crowds, no beach permits, no lines, no bugs, 70-degree days, 60-degree nights. It's been a very nice day, for which I am so grateful.