Part 3 of our week vacation was to stop in Cape Cod MA. I wanted to end with the beach and although we didn’t spend much time on the beach, it was good to stay away from the crowds.

Thursday Aug 20 we headed to Provincetown for breakfast at Cafe Heaven. My breakfast was amazing with 2 eggs, arugula salad, toast and sausage. It was nice to load up on protein.

We then walked around town for a while to explore the shops and walk out to some of the beaches. Then Brian found a place to check out, The Provincetown Breakwater. At first after parking I thought it was just a pier to walk on, but it actually went all the way across and we later learned it is 1 mile long. On the other side, we hiked through the sand dunes to a beach area. I think we did about a 2 mile hike with the breakwater. Since we didn’t plan very well, we didn’t have much water and snacks with us and it was hot being the middle of the day. After a short break on the sand and I ran into the water this time, we packed up and decided to take the breakwater path back.

We definitely got our exercise for the day. We stopped at Far Land Provisions to grab a kale salad and sandwich to go. We split the food back at the hotel and enjoyed some down time.

Later in the evening, I wanted to head out for dinner for our last night. But since we didn’t make any reservations, everywhere we stopped at was full. Due to COVID, the restaurants also have less capacity. Brian then found The BeachComber in Wellfleet. We had to wait about 45 minutes still. Luckily we had quite a filling and late lunch so I wasn’t starving. We walked on the beach while we waited and watching the sunset since it was getting late after all the driving around.

We weren’t seated until about 8pm, which is a very late dinner for me. I usually don’t eat passed 8pm. The menu had lots of options and I decided to get a ceasar wrap which was perfectly light and delicious. Brian was pleased with his meal of oysters and a scallop salad. We really enjoyed the meal and then looking at the clear sky with lots of stars after. We even saw planet Jupiter.

That ended our 3 state week trip in the NorthEast. It was a much needed trip away and I was glad we were able to make it happen during COVID. We wore masks everywhere and took precautions. I’m not sure when or where my next vacation will be so it was nice to enjoy this time together. Hopefully next summer we can visit more places or stay longer in some. I know someday we will need to head back to New Hampshire and Maine for a longer visit.

The next stop on our trip was to Bar Harbor, Maine. We arrived in the evening to our hotel and we had enough time to drop off our bags and then drive up Cadillac Mountain for the sunset. It was a perfect clear night to watch the sunset and we knew rain was in the forecast for the next day, so I was glad we had the time to go up and check out the views.

Tuesday, the 18th, we woke up to rain as expected. We had a nice kitchenette in our room so I made breakfast #1 of oatmeal. Once Brian was up and ready, we headed into town to Sunrise Cafe for breakfast and coffee for Brian. He got a blueberry crepe and I saw the fresh blueberry muffins so I got one of those. The muffin was so light and fluffy. So good.

Due to the rainy morning, we took the morning to relax in the hotel room. We knew the rain should pass by lunch so it was nice to have some reading time. We then grabbed some lunch in town. I had some fish and chips and the platter was huge so we took some back to our room before heading out to Acadia National Park, Sand Beach. As the sun was coming out, it was nice to change into shorts, but it was still in the 60s so not really beach weather. Brian noticed a hike near the beach though and we decided to check that out. It was the perfect temperature for afternoon hiking.

We didn’t realize how much climbing we would be doing on the trail or how long it was. In fact, after a good amount of time, we looked up where we were on the trail map and decided where to cut over, only to miss that turn and make it a bit longer. Luckily, the end of the trail was flatter and easier, so it went much faster as we looped around and landed back on the beach in a slightly different spot, but we knew where we were.

              Brian was determined to jump into the water so he did. We later learned the water temp was 58 degrees. He is slightly crazy. I enjoyed taking selfies of my bridge moves on the beach.

              After that, we drove the Park loop around and headed to the Bar Island Trail as it was low tide and you can walk across to Bar Island.

After exploring that, we headed back into town then went into the Del Sol shop (the shop that sells items that change color in the sun). Brian noticed a bee or wasp in the shop and the lady took it outside. Then just moments later, I felt a sting on my neck and freaked out a bit, but tried to remain as calm as I could being in a public shop and a wasp stung my neck. This was my first wasp sting ever and on my neck no less!! It definitely felt like a zap to my neck. Luckily we were in town and we took a quick walk over to Walgreens and got an antihistamine spray.

Brian drove us back to the hotel and we had a salad mix for dinner and my leftover fish. A light dinner was perfect and then we had to check out the pirate mini golf across the street. We decided to walk over. There was a chance for rain, but it never came and we finished the 2 courses of mini golf which was fun. Brian won both times, but I was only a few points away in each game. I also got 2 holes in one in the first round!

Since we had an early and light dinner, we went to the ice cream place across from the mini golf. They had some soy based dairy free options so I got the mango peach to try. It was super sweet and I only ended up eating half of it but it was good. Brian had cookie butter ice cream and I tried a chunk of the cookie butter. That was amazing. It made me think about how Brian bought an ice cream maker we never use and maybe I should try making almond milk ice cream in there with cookie butter.

 The beauty of hotels and vacation now is the fact that hotels still have cable TV. This is such a treat now that we live off of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. We discovered Big Bang Theory on TV and watched for a bit and then it was time for bed.

Wednesday Aug 19

              We decided to grab breakfast at the Sunrise Café in town again. I got a blueberry scone which was amazing and fluffy. Brian got the lobster crepe. I decided his breakfast so I could try some lobster while in Maine. The crepe was packed full of lobster and it was pretty good. Not super fishy, just kind of an after fishy taste.

              We then headed back to the hotel to pack up the car and check out. We wanted to get on the road with an almost 7 hour driving day to Cape Cod. First stop though was about 2.5 hours in at the LL Bean Flagship Stores. I ended up getting some pj pants because I wanted a new pair of warm pj pants anyway. Brian got some shirts. He needed some new ones, but now we need to sort through his pile at home to get rid of the old.

From there, Brian drove and we stopped in Portland, Maine. Brian wanted to try some beer there, but we found out the one place wasn’t currently having tastings. He bought a couple bottles and we headed across the street to another place where he was able to try some beers.

              I will say the hardest part with traveling during COVID is that in some states, the inside dining is not open which means less bathroom opportunities. Usually you can stop at a Dunkin Donuts to use the bathroom, although I have noticed that sometimes McDonald’s is more reliable. In the beginning of our trip, especially, there were small towns we would drive through and you couldn’t even guarantee the gas station having a bathroom so it was challenging at times.

              During this trip, we had to find a gas station along the way and it said customers only for the bathroom. Wanting to follow rules and when you really need to pee, I will happily hand over a couple dollars just to pee. We bought peanut butter m&ms which basically became our dinner and Brian tried sugar free root beer. The random gas station buys.

              We arrived at our hotel around 7pm. It was quite a long day in the car with multiple stopping points. We were happy to just settle in and get to bed.

Next up Cape Cod, MA.

We finally got a week of vacation in this crazy 2020 year. This past week was my one week off from school until December holidays so we planned this week off back in January before we knew what the year would bring. While we had the time off, luckily we didn’t have anything booked and we put a plan together of places to stay just a week before. I’m not usually a last minute planner, but right now, you have to be to know where it is safe to travel.

Saturday, the 15th, we left the house between 9 and 10am. We had a long 7 hour drive ahead. We took a long lunch break in Troy, NY and arrived to our hotel in the evening. While driving, Brian booked tickets for the Cog Railway Mt Washington train for Sunday.

Sunday morning, we hoped to get breakfast, but we were not out the door soon enough and didn’t have time since we had a 9am train scheduled. Luckily I had made some protein bars for the trip so we ate those and some snacks in the car on the way.

We made it to the train on time which was the important thing. The train goes at 5mph up the mountain so it’s slow, but we had amazing views and learned some of the history of the train. It was designed just for tourists to get up to the top without needing to hike.

We dressed in layers and it was probably 50 degrees at the top and very windy. We couldn’t see a thing once at the top as we were in the clouds. However, the train ride was worth it for the amazing views up and some history.

After about an hour wandering around the top, we took the train back down. The average incline was 25% with the greatest being around 38% so it’s quite steep.

              By the time we got down, it was nearly noon and time to think about a decent meal. On our way to find lunch, we stopped at the Old man of the Mountain area for a walk.

We stopped for lunch in the Woodstock/Lincoln area. After getting in some food, I drove us on the Kancamagus Highway which is a scenic highway through the White Mountain National Park area. This took us into the town of Conway. We stopped for a salad mix from the grocery store for a light dinner and then went to REI. I noticed my Keens were starting to fall apart so it was time for some new ones and since we happened upon a large REI store, I was able to try them on and purchase them. I was so glad that I could try them on since a size 9 was definitely too large. You forget your size when you have had the same shoes for 10 years. The 8.5 seemed right and I compared them to my current pair and they seem the same, so that is good. Now I just have to break them in.

Once we got back to the room, I put together our salads. We added some meat we had in our mini fridge that we brought along. It was the perfect light dinner and much cheaper than buying a salad out. At night, we just relaxed in the room. I did some reading and then headed to bed.

Monday the 17th, we were heading to Maine, but since it was a shorter drive, we decided to take a drive to Willey House once we checked out.

Our last attraction in New Hampshire was riding the alpine slide at Attitash Mountain. They usually have many summer attractions, but due to COVID, they only had the alpine slide open. It took a while to get through the line and sign the waivers, but eventually we made it up. It was quite the slide and I would definitely do it again, but once we finished it was nearly noon and time to find lunch and then get on the road to Maine for our next stop.