Cape Cod Trip - Part 1.

 It's time for the annual vacation post.  We started our yearly trek to Cape Cod on Thursday, August 3rd.  We left around 8:30 AM and arrived in Newburg, NY around 7:15 PM.  We had dinner at Longhorn and then hit the bed early.  After a delicious (well, free anyway) breakfast at Hampton Inn, we were on the road on Friday morning by 9:00 AM and were at the house on the Cape by 3:00.

Our first day there consists of turning the water on, opening the windows (no A/C at the Cape house), unpacking, getting groceries, etc.  After doing all the boring things, we went to the beach briefly and then we always order pizza our first night on the Cape.  It's  tradition after all! After dinner we went to the Cape Cod Creamery for ice cream because we get ice cream every night after dinner when we are on the Cape.  That's also tradition!

On Saturday, the weather was nice.  Dan and I had a couple of household errands to do while the kids slept in and then Sarah and I went to the beach.  We came back for lunch and then headed back to the beach. Dan and Peter went for a drive and then joined us.  They aren't as into sitting on the beach and relaxing as much as Sarah and I are.

We then went to Mass at 4:00 PM and then ran to TJ Maxx looking for cheap Red Sox gear.  We came home and I prepared delicious burrito bowls.  We went to Gray's Beach to see the sunset.  We almost didn't make it before the sun totally set but I'm glad we did as this has become another tradition - at least one night we try to make it their to see the gorgeous sunset.

And then we headed to Ice Cream Smuggler for...you guessed it!  Ice Cream!

We were up and out the door early on Sunday morning  headed to Newport, RI. If you will recall, last year we visited Newport for the first time and had a really great day. But this year, we were doing something special - Eric (Dan's sister Cathy's partner) is now a member of the New York Yacht Club and he invited us to join them for lunch at their Newport location!  We were so excited! (Eric and Cathy had just finished competing in a race which is why they were in Newport.  The race ended the day before.)

We got to Newport early and took a trolly tour around town.  It was very informative.  Even though we were there last year and toured around ourselves, we saw a lot on the tour that we didn't even know was there and learned a lot about the area too.  After the tour (which was supposed to be only 90 minutes but ended up lasting a little over 2 hours) we headed straight to the yacht club and were only a few minutes late for the reservation. We were late because the driver stopped along the beach for photos:

We sat outside at the yacht club and enjoyed an absolutely beautiful view of the harbor. Sadly, there are no pictures because you aren't allowed to take any pictures while you are on the grounds of the club. Click here to see what the outside of the club looks like.  We had lunch under the green and white awning. After a delicious lunch, Eric toured us around the grounds and then we all headed to the Breakers.

The Breakers is a mansion in Newport that was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1893.  Cornelius is the brother to George Vanderbilt who built the Biltmore House in North Carolina.  (Trying saying all that 5 times fast. That's a lot of bilts and builts.)

The Breakers was gorgeous.  It was so ornate and the view was breathtaking.  It's a lot smaller than the Biltmore House but in all of our opinions, much more beautiful.  

 

My pictures aren't very good and certainly don't do it justice.  Here are some shots from the balcony or piazza or terrace  - can't remember the exact word they used for it... (it's the back porch if you are a redneck from the south).

Then we went outside and walked along part of the Cliff Walk.  The Cliff Walk is a three and half mile walk around the cliffs and outside of some of the mansions in Newport. We had some great views of the ocean on our walk.

We said our goodbyes to Cathy and Eric and then headed back to the Cape. On our way back, we stopped in Fairhaven to visit Colleen's Ice Cream Cottage.  Check out my post here!

Monday turned out to be a cloudy day so we decided to head to Captain Parker's for lunch.  We got our traditional clam chowder and then afterwards headed to Hyannis to do a little shopping. There was a cool record store with lots of posters and the kids spent a lot of time there.  There are apartment walls to be decorated you know! 

 

 

Then we headed to a Cape Cod Baseball League baseball game.   The Cape League is the nation's premiere summer college baseball league.  It was officially founded in 1923 but has roots dating back to 1885. Players from all over the country are recruited to play in the 10 team league.  Currently there are over 350 MLB players playing right now that were part of the Cape league.  (Aaron Judge for one.)

We saw the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox play the Orleans Firebirds.  It was a great game and we enjoyed ourselves even though the Yarmouth team lost.  There was an obnoxious fan from the other team who was really getting on our nerves. We later learned that this guy was the other team's mascot (out of costume because he was not at his home field). He just yelled constantly and was so loud and annoying. Peter can do a great impression of this guy yelling.

We came home from the game and enjoyed hot dogs and then got ice cream from Katie's in Hyannis for dessert.  After ice cream, we walked around Hyannis Harbour for a little while.

  Even though it was cloudy all day, it turned out to be such a nice day spent with my little family.