Part 4: The Road Home

So, time for the trip home. That Saturday, after the shopping on Main Street, we attempted to leave Cape Cod. And 2 hours later, we were successful. Yeah, traffic out of Cape Cod was way worse that the traffic we had in NC last year, and we had next to none on the way in. After driving for a while, we found our favorite exit and stopped for Pizzeria Uno's and Coldstone, totally not on WW's plan, but after traffic like that... and we were still on vacation. Anyway, I had been hoping to make my pilgrimage to knitting Mecca - aka WEBS, and was worried that the traffic had put us far enough behind that it would be closed, but miraculously we got there with 30 minutes to shop.
So not enough time, but power shopping can be fun. I hope to go back someday, if only just to wander a bit more slowly, you know, savor and enjoy the experience, at least as much as the back warehouse can really be savored and enjoyed, it's a bit overwhelming.
The acquisitions - at least most of them. Some are being knit into something that I can't show you right now, but you'll see eventually. So, that's a skein of Sheep Shop Sheep #3, like the stuff I knit into my Serpentine Mitts. The red stuff in the plastic is a sweater's worth of the WEBS brand, Valley Yarns Williamstown (fun tweed!). And a skein of Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock. It's 75/25 superwash/nylon, with long color repeats like Noro, but so much softer, and superwash so no felting! Close up of the colors, which are not well represented, but what can I do?
Yeah, probably should have photographed in natural daylight, but I wanted to post now. Hopefully the colors will be better when I get around to knitting and photographing. So, we left WEBS, and continued on into NY. Stopped at the Albany exit where we stayed on the trip in, so to visit the Christmas Tree Store, Ellie is hoping they will progress westward to Ohio soon. Stayed at a round hotel in Syracuse, yet again swanky.
Sunday morning we headed out, hoping to find a Dunkin Donuts or like place for breakfast. Didn't manage to have much luck, had a long drive off the highway to find one in the Finger Lakes district, but DD is always worth it. The weather was a bit funky, but we were hoping to stop in Niagara Falls. And by the time we got close, it was clear blue skies so we headed north.
My first view of the water of Niagara.
Working my way up to the falls.
Look, it's Canada, eh! Where can I rent one of those barrels?
Lots of self portraits were taken that day, this one with Toronto in the background.
That one shows just how windy it was, we let curls fly, no restraints whatsoever!
And just the majesty of the Falls themselves. This was my first visit, and it was so gorgeous. Next time we'll do the Maid of the Mist and hang out in Canada, maybe do the wine tour... Guess that means I need to get my passport. But there's some great yarn shops in Toronto...

So, we set off again. Hoping to find a Wegman's for dinner - we'd been thinking about it since the trip going the other way. And even though no one was around to help us find one via the internet, we found one. And the chicken finger sub is still so good. So good that I couldn't eat a cookie because I was so full (don't worry, I had one later).

After Wegman's we were really on our way, no more stops. Had the camera ready for the Indian though:
And in PA, we had this rainbow chasing us for a while.
All in all, a really good vacation. Now that two-a-days are over, I think I need another one!

Part 3: More Rain and Twilit Beaches

I apologize for the long silence, but it's August, and I am an athletic trainer. Football practice from 8a-6p does not make for coherent blog posts. Not to mention I spent more than a week dog sitting, and had no access to the vacation photos. And why blog if there are no photos?

Picking up where we left off...

It rained, alot, Thursday night. Bad storms. Rain/drizzle/mist continued on Friday. The Jersey folk were off to... somewhere I can't remember the name of right now. It had a carousel, and they met up with some of Rachel's family. Ellie and I headed off in a random direction to sight-see and maybe shop a little. We ended up driving in the direction of Sandwich, and happened upon a yarn shop! Out of nowhere, had no previous knowledge of it's existence. So we stopped. And shopped. This is what I walked out with:
Some Cascade Heritage handpainted sock yarn, and some fantastic Plymouth Mushishi, a yarn that I had never seen before. Yay fun vacation yarn!

Anyway, we continued driving and driving and driving. Crossed the bridge to Cape Cod a couple of times and decided to stop and eat. Found the cutest little place, The Bee Hive Tavern. It was so the quaint little inn that I pictured New England to have, with the low beamed ceilings and cutesy decorative touches. I could totally see George Washington stopping there for some ale, although I did not notice a sign saying that he had. Then we stopped at the cute shops we had seen when originally working our way into Sandwich. Found a quirky little shop that had some really cool glow in the dark hand-blown glass ornaments, but we didn't buy any. Eventually we made our way back to the house.

It being Friday, it was Date Night. And so the children were left in the hands of the Aunts. We opted to go say good-bye to the beach, in order to get more beach pictures, as you've seen we hadn't had many to that point. So we went to the beach that saw our first night, but didn't visit because of the sign posted about a "Residents Only" sticker thingy. Psht. It was after prime beach hours, who was going to care? (You'd think that was foreshadowing wouldn't you? But it's not, we only got a snobby look from the teen aged guy on his cell in the car next to us when we parked)

This beach had some great views (photos taken by Ellie, on my camera):And we managed to get a couple of okay shots with people in them before we had to leave.
Not because the we weren't allowed to be there, but because the smell was so icky. And there was about 8 ft of seaweed washed up along the water line from the bad storms the night before. My nephew was unimpressed, and none of us really care for seaweed, so we opted to go back to our beach.

There was still plenty of seaweed at our beach, but with a bigger beach to begin with, there wasn't as much, and it didn't have the smell of dead fish - always a bonus when near the ocean. So we tried t0 get some good shots of the kids, and did, kinda.
C4 seems to think he needs to hold onto his sister for every picture. Not sure why - probably has something to do with her being quick to run off, or that he had to do it so often when she was more of a baby and immobile. Anyway, they're still cute as all get out. But C4 didn't really want a photo shoot, he was more interested in tag, so we didn't have long, and the light was fading fast. So we squeezed in the obligatory photo "Feet in Sand".
Sarah isn't quite old enough to understand the concept yet but I think that makes me love that picture more. Then C4 got some tag, while Sarah dragged the writing stick around.
And then we shot some more photos, not all of which were exciting enough to make the blog, so here's one of the good ones.
And then I climbed up onto the life guard chair (kids, please don't try this at home, or without adult supervision).
And then we took my most favorite picture of the whole trip.
Seriously, could it get any better than that? We then said bye-bye to the beach, and headed into town for some ice cream. Where we promptly crashed Date Night (of all the ice cream joints, they decided to go to that one at the same time we did!). The kids were then unwilling to leave with the Aunts, (why would they when Mom and Dad are right there?) so we really ruined Date Night, and from there all headed home.

Saturday dawned early for packing. The Jersey folks were on the road early. Ellie and I were a little bit later, doing the last of the cleaning and laundry. And wouldn't you know it, but it was a most perfect beach day! Sunny and 80. And we were leaving town. Boo. But first we went back to Main Street for a last little souvenir shopping. Picture frames, t-shirts, car decals, and some seriously good pb cups. Sadly the coffee shop that we had been wanting to go to all week was closed. It was just that kind of vacation.

So we climbed into the car and headed west. And I think that's enough for tonight. One more vacation post to go. And then a really big catch-up-on-EVERYTHING-else-that-has-happened-since-so-I-had-better-hurry-up-and-post-it-so-that-it-doesn't-get-too-long-and-I-fall-behind. Again.

Part 2. Rainy Days and Pirate Ships.

Okay, picking up the story where we left off would put us at Tuesday. Tuesday we were supposed to go on a Pirate Cruise, but it rained instead. So, what happens when the troops get restless?Fun with stickers! Aunt Ellen had quite a few on her person as well.That evening, we ventured out to the Arcade that was on Main Street. Yay for ski ball!And the carousel was outside. Pics didn't come out so well, but you can get the idea.
So that puts us to Wednesday. The sun was out so the Pirate Cruise was back on. Shiver me timbers! My nephew is a very scurvy pirate!That was our sea-worthy vessel, the Sea Gypsy. The pirate adventure commenced. A message in a bottle was found while following the map to the treasure. The terrible pirate, Slash, was found and soundly defeated.Look at that aim! Sarah steered the boat, quite well considering that she's too small to see where she's going.And the treasure was found! Booty was claimed:
And the Jolly Roger was brought down.

So we returned to land, and got our legs back while enjoying some ice cream.

That night we attempted to continue with the Pirate theme, but the Pirate Putt-putt was ridiculously crowded, so we went to the Animal Kingdom Putt-putt. Sadly, I forgot the battery to my camera in the charger and have no photos. Hopefully, Ellie will get around to posting some soon.

So, onto Thursday. It rained. Again. Boo. The Jerseyians went off to Plimouth Plantation. Ellie, Sue and I went out to lunch. When we cruised back to the house, we picked up C4 and went bowling. Not regular bowling, funny bowling. Candlestick bowling. I was absolutely horrible. C4, as always, took it very seriously. I think that's about it for this post. Except that I think there needs to be some knitting content. So here are my finished Beachy Socks. I finished up the second one two exits before Ellie's house. So they are officially vacation socks. Love them - can't wait for the weather to get chilly enough to wear.

A post in parts. Part 1

Okay, to get caught up, because I am once again woefully behind, I will be posting in parts. A bit of vacation here, a bit there, yarn here, finished knits there. You know, break it up to make it a bit less overwhelming. So onto vacation. I'll go chronologically to keep it a bit easier.

Friday the 17th, Ellie and I set out. That night we spent in a great hotel in Albany - at a very wonderful exit that had a Christmas Tree Store (we stopped there on the way home, but I'm getting ahead of myself).Very swanky - and good shampoo to boot. Can't ask for much more. So Saturday was spent on the NY Thruway and the Massachusetts Turnpike (love that the Pike signs have Pilgrim's hats on them, I am still easily amused). And then we arrived at the beach house, in lovely Hyannis. Just so I don't keep you in suspense, I am not engaged or married to a Kennedy, they were surprisingly elusive. Saturday night, we checked out our first beach, adjacent to the JFK Memorial.Sunday it was off to the beach. A gorgeous beach day - not too hot, very sunny. Funny thing about Cape Cod - there's almost no surf, which makes for boring beach photos, and bad boogie boarding. Oh well. The kids enjoyed making a sand castle, with an extra large moat.Miss Sarah is definitely a beach girl - couldn't get enough of the beach. That last picture? If you zoom in, you'll be able to see the Kennedy Compound.

Monday brought another gorgeous day, slightly cloudier than Sunday. And even though I got sunburnt on Sunday, I returned to the beach. Good thing too, it was the last beach day we got. Very depressing.That night we all packed up and went to a Cape Cod league baseball game. The Hyannis Mets vs. the Cotuit somethings. I can't remember what their mascot was, it was something funny, and I'm sure if you check the comments in the next couple of days, my brother will be able to tell you, you know, just in case you really really wanted to know and were unwilling to Google.
The game was fun. The mascot for Hyannis was an osprey - not an eagle. And he was very photogenic.All that was right in front of me, after I had asked him to strike a pose. However, all this was most distressing to Sarah, who, as many 2 year olds tend to be, was freaked out by the giant fuzzy bird. Everyone had a good time though, even if I don't know if Hyannis eeked out a win or not - we left during the 8th due to bed times and bugs.Alright, I think that's long enough for this post. Tune in later this week for the exciting continuation, and some knitting related content.