Arrival

Emily and I flew into Boston on Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend which is usually a tough time for non-rev travel on airlines, but we made it with no problems. We got our rental car early in the morning and headed toward "The Cape." The "Big Dig" in Boston was still in full swing, but when driving through there early on a Saturday, it is fairly painless.

A couple of hours after we began our drive, we rolled into Hyannis, MA and checked in to the Radisson. It strangely resembled two old motor lodges that had been joined together in the middle by a nice lobby and then renovated. The place was nice, but not outstanding and completely devoid of any atmosphere that all of the roadside motor lodges had. It didn't really matter that much, I guess, since we didn't spend all that much time in the room anyway.

Exploring the Town

After checking in, we went into Hyannis to explore the town and grab some lunch. After some outstanding clam chowder and a couple of fish sandwiches, Emily set off on our quest to find the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. We didn't have much trouble finding it, because it was surrounded by "Do not Enter" signs on all of the roads leading into it. It wasn't, however, gated or guarded so if you really got the inkling to just ignore the signs, you could just drive right in. I would assume that the police would soon be called, but it would be a good story. From the road, you couldn't tell much about it, so we drove over to the port and bought our tickets for a boat tour of the area.

From the water, you could see the Kennedy compound as you always could on the news. They couldn't get all that close, but it was completely unmistakable that it was the compound. We believe that Ted was there at the time we were, but without binoculars, it was impossible to tell.

Dinner the first night was at the Lobster Boat, a cheesy little family seafood restaurant that none of the locals probably would set foot inside, but tourists make it a popular spot every night. The food was decent but nothing to write home about. I did get to have some fried clams, so I was a pretty happy camper.

Nantucket

The next day, we got up early to catch a boat that would take us to Nantucket Island. Really, Nantucket isn't that far from the mainland, but when you are on a boat that only goes about 4 miles per hour, it takes a pretty long time. Two hours, in fact. The trip seemed like it took forever, and it didn't help that it was freezing outside.

We eventually made it over to the island, and the first item on Emily's agenda was to get on a bus tour of the area. We ran after the bus that was departing right when we got there, but missed it. In the time before the next bus, we were able to make a quick lap of a couple of blocks and see a few of the cute little shops that were there. Did I just say "cute little shops?"

The bus tour was interesting. The driver was a very nice woman who knew the island like the back of her hand. It was amazing to see the isolation of much of the island and some of the exclusive houses that dot the area. I, of course, had to check out the nice golf course that was on the island.

After the bus dropped us off, we had some time to roam around town. We went into a few shops to see if we could find any souvenirs that we wanted to take home. I found a sweatshirt which seemed like a really good purchase since the ride back on the boat was going to be really cold. Emily got a sweatshirt too before we walked over to a restaurant for a late lunch. We both got some clam chowder which was excellent (what do you expect in the middle of New England?). The boat ride back to the cape was really long (again) and really cold (again).

Back at the Ranch

After the full day in Nantucket, we were really tired so we took a quick drive down the cape to see if we could see any lighthouses (we did) and drive through some of the old towns (we did) and then decided to head back to the Radisson. Pizza was on the menu for the night so I drove across the street to pick one up from a little local place. When I got back, Emily was watching a show about the WTC attacks and she was bawling. What a great way to end a trip.

The next morning, we got up and headed back to Boston to catch our flight back to DC. The trip was fun and if we ever make it back up that direction, I would really like to spend more time in Boston and maybe go over to Martha's Vineyard for a day. And have more clam chowder.