Massachusetts to Maine

After Mystic, we got on US-1, heading east. The first place we came to was Waverly, RI. Winding around the crowded streets, we missed where US-1 turned (of course) and soon found ourselves driving out a long peninsula. As we went farther out, the houses got bigger and fancier. We finally spotted a huge, yellow building that was either a fancy hotel or an oddly-shaped apartment house. At that point, we turned around and went back to town looking for our road.

We finally got back on track, and proceeded to Massachusetts. We wanted to see Cape Cod, and managed to get a reservation at a campground at Sippewisset, sort of on the armpit of Cape Cod. That is not a comment on the area. It is pretty country, with interesting architecture and colorful houses. The roads where we were are narrow, and the small towns crowded. I guess that is what is meant by “quaint.” The campground was crowded, and it was difficult backing into our space; but once settled in we close the blinds and enjoy our little house.

Next day, Saturday, we drove in to Falmouth. They have a Tourist Information office there, but it is closed on weekends. Who closes a Tourist Information center when most of the tourists are there?

       From there we drove down to Woods Hole, almost by accident. The streets there were narrower and more crowded, so we immediately left again. Jean was most interested in finding a beach, so we headed east. We shifted our route to the northern side of the “arm” because she saw a beach on the map there.

New England has many quaint churches, but on the Cape we spotted an Anglican church that stood out.

 Cape Cod has many beaches, but you have to know where they are; there are no signs for them on the highway. We thought we might be in the right place, so we turned off the main road. There were a couple of men talking beside the road, so we stopped and asked them. They informed us that we had missed the beach we were looking for by a couple of miles, but there was a much better beach down at the end of the road.

We drove to the end and, sure enough, there was a nice, long beach with plenty of parking. We spent some time on the beach, collecting shells, and enjoying a beautiful fall day.

After Jean had her beach fix, we drove back to the campground, making the usual number of wrong turns in this unfamiliar territory.

Sunday we headed off the Cape.

Cape Cod Canal

It was time to do laundry, so we found a reasonable campground with a laundromat. We checked in and the girl gave us a map with the road to our site. The road was very rough, rocky, and partly washed out in places. This campground, like the last one, was on a hillside, and being New England there were lots of rocks. When we got to our site, we looked for the number, 36. Instead, we were at site 112. I got out and looked around and could make no sense of the situation. The map seemed to have little to do with the area. I finally flagged down one of the other campers and eventually determined that I was at the wrong end of the campground. I had entered the area in the usual way, driving past the office. Instead, I should have gone in the opposite direction, away from the office --- most unusual. When we finally found our site (on a better road) it was a little tricky backing in, but very nice once we were settled in. On the good side, there was a short path down the hill from the back of the site to the laundry. It had new machines, and they were free!

The washer had clothes in it, but after a little while, the person who they belonged to showed up, and we negotiated who would use the machine and in what order (we both had a couple of loads). She turned out to be an interesting woman, with a cute three-year old in tow, so it proved to be an interesting afternoon.

Monday dawned overcast, which eventually turned to fine rain. We took I-95 around Boston (not bad traffic). We decided to check out Salem. We probably picked the wrong way in. The streets were narrow and rough with lots of traffic. Interesting houses, though. About the time we would think about giving up, we’d see another sign that said Information Center ahead. This went on for quite a while. When we finally got to the Information Center, the only place we were able to park was a meter with a fifteen-minute limit. After talking with a ranger, we headed toward where we thought he said there would be more parking, but got confused in the old streets. We finally stopped for lunch at a Cafe99, and took to the phone to find a place to stay. We had had more than enough of Salem.

We scored a site on Cape Ann, with a nearby beach. This campground was also hilly (we are in New England, after all) but it was much easier to maneuver. Jean loved the flower garden in the front and wished she could ship it home.

We drove to Wingearsheek beach next morning. We were almost the only ones there on a cold, foggy Tuesday. The beach is very flat, with a fine, grey sand. There is a lighthouse across the inlet. I took some lighthouse pictures while Jean scored some shells on the beach.

It took us a while to find our way off Cape Ann. The maps we have can be very confusing. We finally found a Walmart on the GPS and set it as a destination. This got us back on the main road. We didn’t actually go to the Walmart. On the way (and when we knew where we were) We stopped for lunch. Then we continued up US-1.

We went through a corner of New Hampshire, and finally got into Maine. We got a campground in Wells. It is a pleasant campground next to a marsh. It is even mostly flat with level sites. The day was cold and rainy, rather dreary for travel. But with clam chowder for lunch, hot chocolate with rum when we settled in, and home-made chili for supper we considered the day a success.