By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle... Psalm 33:6-7
I didn't post anything last week because Kevin and I were on vacation. Yes, we actually took a vacation! And, yes, it was necessary.
The last vacation Kevin and I took was to Hawaii nearly two years ago. Last summer, Kevin had his first of two hip replacement surgeries (the second was in December). We'd had quite the year of surgery and recovery and care-taking, not to mention work and school on top of that. It was, to say the least, exhausting.
I get a certain number of vacation days at my job, and every five years I get an extra five days of vacation as a bonus. This was the year for me, and I wanted to take full advantage of it. I wanted to see the ocean and put my toes in the sand. I wanted to go far away from normal, everyday drudgery. I wanted to see and experience something new. So, before Kevin retired, we began planning our vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
We decided to drive rather than fly. This, perhaps, wasn't the best plan. Google maps said it would take us 13 hours and 35 minutes. It took us 18 hours! 18! Google lied. We did get a little lost once we got to the Cape. We were beat, it was dark, and nothing was familiar. I never wanted to be out of the car so much in my life! When we finally made it to the hotel, we poured ourselves into the lumpy, squeaky, bouncy canopy bed and slept it off.
The rest of the week wasn't so grueling. We got to do a lot of things. First things first, we went to the beach. Much of the Cape is National Seashore. We visited several different areas, all unique and equally beautiful. The air temperature was about 75 degrees. The water temperature was about 60 degrees. A little too chilly for this Southern girl to take a dip. I need 90 degrees and bathwater.
We stayed in a little town called Sandwich, which is famous for making glass. They have a museum there where you can watch someone blow glass, and see hundreds of years of various glass items. They also have the Greer Briar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen, which preserves the heritages of both Thornton Burgess (children's book author) and Ida Putnam (who began the jam kitchen in 1903).
We heard beautiful music from the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra at the First Congregational Church in Chatham.
We took a little trip on the Cape Cod Dinner Train, where we met Ernie and Dottie, our table mates for the journey. They were celebrating 48 years of marriage and told us much about their adventures together during the 3-hour dinner.
We visited the Church of the Transfiguration in Rock Harbor. This church is known for its incredible mosaic tile work.
We drove up to Plymouth. Yes, we saw the rock. We also got on board the Mayflower II, visited the First Parish Church and Burial Hill Cemetery, and saw some Pilgrim artifacts at the Pilgrim Hall Museum.
We ate some (okay, too much) wonderful food, which included the token lobster roll and clam chowder, sandwiches (twice) at a little joint in Sandwich, the elegant 5-course meal on the dinner train, and a yummy lunch at a corner cafe in Plymouth.
Our motel was small and quaint, like so many on the Cape. It had a lovely little back yard with a pond and ducks, which was great for times we just needed to take a break.
The trip home only took 16 hours (much less traffic on a Saturday than a Monday). We took Sunday to recuperate from the travel--a day I absolutely refused to get in a car.
So, you may ask how we afforded such a trip on a limited budget. First of all, as I mentioned at the start. This trip was absolutely necessary. This was one of those times that, come hell or high water, we were going to make this happen. Life is way too short to not allow some opportunity to live a little. That being said, we didn't just blow every red cent we have.
1) Food. When I did the grocery shopping last month, I also bought snacks and drinks for the trip. We took a cooler full of sodas and juice, as well as a dozen zucchini bread muffins i had baked, a large container of trail mix I made (buying it pre-made is more expensive), individual containers of applesauce, a bag of chips, crackers, and peanut butter. This was more than enough snacks to get us through the week.
2) Parking. We could have spent a small fortune on parking. At each beach parking costs $15 a day. At the visitors center for the National Seashore you can get a one day pass for all the protected beaches. We also found out there that Kevin, because of his hips, could get a pass for disability, which was free. The pass is good for a lifetime.
3) Military Discount. If you are current or retired military and have an ID, always, always, always ask if there is a military discount. We did save a few dollars with Kevin's ID.
4) FREE activities. We balanced the paid activities with those that had little or no cost. While everything we did wasn't free, quite a lot was, including: our visits to the Church of the Transfiguration, First Parish Church and Burial Hill Cemetery, and Plymouth Rock; people-watching in Chatham and walking around the town of Plymouth; the Green Briar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen only asked for a small donation; and, the drive up to the point of the Cape only cost us gas for the car.
More than anything, I cherish the time Kevin and I got to spend together. That is priceless. If we never choose to do these kinds of things, then these memories never get made. This was money I do not regret we spent. If it means we eat a few more PB&J sandwiches or a few more bowls of cereal this month. I'm okay with that.
I didn't post anything last week because Kevin and I were on vacation. Yes, we actually took a vacation! And, yes, it was necessary.
The last vacation Kevin and I took was to Hawaii nearly two years ago. Last summer, Kevin had his first of two hip replacement surgeries (the second was in December). We'd had quite the year of surgery and recovery and care-taking, not to mention work and school on top of that. It was, to say the least, exhausting.
I get a certain number of vacation days at my job, and every five years I get an extra five days of vacation as a bonus. This was the year for me, and I wanted to take full advantage of it. I wanted to see the ocean and put my toes in the sand. I wanted to go far away from normal, everyday drudgery. I wanted to see and experience something new. So, before Kevin retired, we began planning our vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
We decided to drive rather than fly. This, perhaps, wasn't the best plan. Google maps said it would take us 13 hours and 35 minutes. It took us 18 hours! 18! Google lied. We did get a little lost once we got to the Cape. We were beat, it was dark, and nothing was familiar. I never wanted to be out of the car so much in my life! When we finally made it to the hotel, we poured ourselves into the lumpy, squeaky, bouncy canopy bed and slept it off.
The rest of the week wasn't so grueling. We got to do a lot of things. First things first, we went to the beach. Much of the Cape is National Seashore. We visited several different areas, all unique and equally beautiful. The air temperature was about 75 degrees. The water temperature was about 60 degrees. A little too chilly for this Southern girl to take a dip. I need 90 degrees and bathwater.
We stayed in a little town called Sandwich, which is famous for making glass. They have a museum there where you can watch someone blow glass, and see hundreds of years of various glass items. They also have the Greer Briar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen, which preserves the heritages of both Thornton Burgess (children's book author) and Ida Putnam (who began the jam kitchen in 1903).
We heard beautiful music from the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra at the First Congregational Church in Chatham.
We took a little trip on the Cape Cod Dinner Train, where we met Ernie and Dottie, our table mates for the journey. They were celebrating 48 years of marriage and told us much about their adventures together during the 3-hour dinner.
We visited the Church of the Transfiguration in Rock Harbor. This church is known for its incredible mosaic tile work.
We drove up to Plymouth. Yes, we saw the rock. We also got on board the Mayflower II, visited the First Parish Church and Burial Hill Cemetery, and saw some Pilgrim artifacts at the Pilgrim Hall Museum.
We ate some (okay, too much) wonderful food, which included the token lobster roll and clam chowder, sandwiches (twice) at a little joint in Sandwich, the elegant 5-course meal on the dinner train, and a yummy lunch at a corner cafe in Plymouth.
Our motel was small and quaint, like so many on the Cape. It had a lovely little back yard with a pond and ducks, which was great for times we just needed to take a break.
The trip home only took 16 hours (much less traffic on a Saturday than a Monday). We took Sunday to recuperate from the travel--a day I absolutely refused to get in a car.
So, you may ask how we afforded such a trip on a limited budget. First of all, as I mentioned at the start. This trip was absolutely necessary. This was one of those times that, come hell or high water, we were going to make this happen. Life is way too short to not allow some opportunity to live a little. That being said, we didn't just blow every red cent we have.
1) Food. When I did the grocery shopping last month, I also bought snacks and drinks for the trip. We took a cooler full of sodas and juice, as well as a dozen zucchini bread muffins i had baked, a large container of trail mix I made (buying it pre-made is more expensive), individual containers of applesauce, a bag of chips, crackers, and peanut butter. This was more than enough snacks to get us through the week.
2) Parking. We could have spent a small fortune on parking. At each beach parking costs $15 a day. At the visitors center for the National Seashore you can get a one day pass for all the protected beaches. We also found out there that Kevin, because of his hips, could get a pass for disability, which was free. The pass is good for a lifetime.
3) Military Discount. If you are current or retired military and have an ID, always, always, always ask if there is a military discount. We did save a few dollars with Kevin's ID.
4) FREE activities. We balanced the paid activities with those that had little or no cost. While everything we did wasn't free, quite a lot was, including: our visits to the Church of the Transfiguration, First Parish Church and Burial Hill Cemetery, and Plymouth Rock; people-watching in Chatham and walking around the town of Plymouth; the Green Briar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen only asked for a small donation; and, the drive up to the point of the Cape only cost us gas for the car.
More than anything, I cherish the time Kevin and I got to spend together. That is priceless. If we never choose to do these kinds of things, then these memories never get made. This was money I do not regret we spent. If it means we eat a few more PB&J sandwiches or a few more bowls of cereal this month. I'm okay with that.