Vacation Pix & Video = Mammoth Post (sorry)

I got a bit carried away posting pictures of my holiday, sorry. I had a great time and loved the area so wanted to share a few things. If you've been to Massachusetts before then mosey along to the next blog and come back in a few days.


Skybus airline went bust so we had to drive. 14 hours. 14 LONG grueling hours. We took both cars and swapped between riding with teenage boys and riding with a toddler. Believe it or not, there was reason in there somewhere. So here we are - Craig's mum & dad, his nephew Luke and friend Sean and our Jack. One good thing about driving was that we did Niagara Falls on the way over.

The motley crew, in front of our house on Manomet Beach

View from the house. I fell asleep each night listening to the waves lapping onto the shore (and Craig snoring but you can't have it all can you)

Luke & Sean try their hand at boogie boarding. They had an amazing daily diet of power bars and Red Bull.

Ready for mischief

And so on to some sightseeing pix - first stop is Plymouth where the British pilgrims landed in 1620, met the native Americans who helped at least some of them survive, and there began the "Thanksgiving" celebration. This is the Mayflower 2, built exactly the same as the original and sailed from Britain to the US after WW2 as a sign of friendship.

The native American that befriended the pilgrims and helped them plant corn & other crops. In hindsight that may not have been a great idea for the future of his people. Interestingly "Thanksgiving" is an official day of mourning for native American people.

The pilgrims stepped off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock. Here we are, sat on it.

Okay, the real Plymouth Rock is encased in plywood underneath the Portico

Plymouth cemetary. I wanted to try and find some graves from the 1600's but the guide chewed my ear off until I stopped listening and then Jack was a little, erm, disrespectful.

Plymouth Plantation is a recreated 1627 village with both pilgrims and native people. The pilgrims act like it's 1627, which is cool at first but then a bit silly. I must admit though that at one point I found myself talking to a pilgrim lady about brewing beer and she was telling me how hard to was to grow barley and I was thinking "it must be really hard living here", when I should have been thinking "she's probably called Britney and lives in a posh beach house next to ours".

While I was soaking up the history, Jack was chasing hens.

A view of the plantation

The native people were dressed traditionally but spoke like it was 2008. I always feel really guilty and ignorant around them, knowing they must just hate the English. I feel like saying "I'm really sorry you know, for what my ancestors did" but they'd probably tell me to bugger off.

Cape Cod was FAB. With scenery and gorgeous little towns that I could mooch about in for days.

Craig did some fishing. He didn't catch anything but that didn't dampen his spirits. Personally, if I didn't catch a fish after 30 seconds of standing in freezing cold water up to my nads I'd give it up as a bad job and go shopping.

Our boy mucks about in the sand

Plymouth Harbour

Martha's Vineyard. Somewhere we all wanted to go but it was 102 degrees that day and by mid afternoon we hated the place and couldn't wait to get the ferry back to the air-conditioned cars. Then both the bus driver & car park attendant were rude pigs, which ruined my day. So, Martha's vineyard is probably stuningly beautiful but I'll always remember it as stinking hot and full of obnoxious people. And I didn't see one bloody vineyard. Or Martha.

Fabulous Boston, where we did the 3-mile "Freedom Trail" and learned all about the beginning of the revolutionary war. Personally I think they over-reacted. If they didn't like our tea they didn't need to tip it into the harbour & start a war.

You have to really don't you?

Luke (left) & Sean had no idea what "Cheers" was. I was amazed until they told me they were only 4 when the last episode aired in 1993. And they did know Frasier.

Another old graveyard, this time in Boston. It had very cool pirate graves.

Whale watching trip

Look - a whale! We must have seen 20 at least that day.
I took some short video of them. When they are close you can see this very light blue/aqua marine haze through the water. Sorry my camera skills aren't too good but I was too excited at seeing them to act professional.