October 17, 2011

Constant Change

What a beautiful fall day to explore Cape Cod.  Provincetown, where we camped last night, was charming, and much more peaceful than it is in season. 

We set out to visit the Cape Cod National Seashore, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.  The theme of Cape Cod seems to be constant change.  We heard that phrase repeated over and over.  The phrase describes the ever-evolving landscape that is formed and reformed by sand, wind and water.  We learned more about the “sands of time” in the National Park Service orientation film, which explains how deposits from glaciers laid the basis for the Cape’s landscape, as well as the processes that create changes today.

We explored the marshes around Salt Pond, which is a kettle pond.  Kettle ponds are depressions in the earth that were created after scattered chunks of glacial ice melted.  We also had to see the beaches.  Few people were about, and the ocean was calm, despite the high winds.  The Cape Cod National Seashore also preserves several historic buildings, and we saw the Nauset Light, which is still in operation today.

Salt Pond

Cape Cod National Seashore

Tim On Cape Cod

Sarah On Cape Cod

Nauset Light

Bayberry Quilters of Cape Cod - 30th Anniversary Quilt Show,
A Part of the 2011 Challenge To Celebrate the 50th Anniversary
of Cape Cod National Seashore
In order to see historic Cape Cod, we drove along a long stretch of the Old King’s Highway, also known as Scenic Route 6A.  Here small, quaint towns such as Brewster, Dennis and Yarmouth preserve scores of houses built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  This is where I could experience much of the charm that Cape Cod is known for.

Since we had not had the time to visit the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on our way to Cape Cod, we decided to end the day there.  Our last hour on the road was a wild goose chase looking for a campground near New Bedford.  The first campground on our list apparently had disappeared, the second one had already closed for the season and the third simply did not exist.  We had talked ourselves into staying at a Wal-Mart parking lot, but even that didn’t work out.  The Wal-Mart on our list of “camping-friendly” locations no longer permitted overnight parking.  We finally gave up and found a hotel.  We’ll visit the national park in the morning.

1 comment:

  1. Hey guys, I am enjoying your blog and your pictures. Glad you are having such a wonderful trip. LaVonne

    ReplyDelete