Today was officially the best day of the entire trip...thanks to the visit to Factory Five!

Actually, I'm more or less kidding, but that's what my family would expect me to say. Today we made the trip up the coast to Cape Cod, Bourne to be exact, which is the Upper Cape. On the way, we stopped by Factory Five Racing (www.factoryfive.com), which is the home of the replica kit car I'm planning on building (the Cobra roadster). We were able to see completed cars, other types of cars, and the entire production process. It was pretty cool, and even Michelle and the girls seemed to like it.

A funny "small world" type of thing happened in the laundry. I met a couple that is not only doing a similar family trip (we've been to very similar places, almost at the same time), but they also happen to be LA firefighters, which Michelle's dad was for 20 years. In addition, they are from Thousand Oaks, CA, and actually know a family friend of ours, Rick Massey. How cool is that?

Thursday Update:

Today was a full day in Cape Cod, and it was a good day, we enjoyed the beauty of the area, and since it's the off season, without all of the extra people.

We started off in Woods Hole, which, like most towns here, sits right on the water. We visited a research facility, whose team is part of the team that explored the Titanic wreckage, and the girls also had an opportunity to see Alvin, one of the deep-sea submarines.

We also visited a local aquarium, which had some interesting sea creatures, including some blue lobsters. Evidently, if they don't eat enough shellfish, they turn blue. Some of the color variations were also due to some genetic deviation.

After Woods Hole, we headed up the Cape and stopped by a local diner for lunch, complete with some Chowdah...very good.

On up the Cape to Hiannis to visit the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory, which is really just a long hallway in which you can see the operation and read signs. Still worth the trip though, you get free chips, yummy...

Continuing on, we made the trek to visit one of Cape Cod's many lighthouses. As you can see in the video, there are sandbars just off the coast, which, without a much needed lighthouse, would cause some serious problems for ships and boats.

We finished the day back at the camper with dinner there, and just a little bit of downtime. We're heading up to Boston tomorrow, and will stop by Plymouth Rock to see that area.

Friday Update:

Today is a dual-destination day. We stopped by Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower II, and the Monument to the Forefathers. This is a very pretty area, and we were glad we made the diversion on our way to Boston.

The Mayflower II is a replica of the original Mayflower ship, and even made the original sea voyage back in 1957 when she was completed. It was an interesting ship.

Plymouth Rock itself was a bit underwhelming actually, but it's an interesting story. The original landing site was actually in Provincetown on the Cape, but in the 1800's at some point, they moved a portion of the original rock up to Plymouth, and over the years, the size has diminished due to weathering, vandalism, and souvenirs, and it's roughly 1/6th the original rock found on the Cape.

My personal favorite part of the area was the Monument to the Forefathers. This is an 81' statue that has the names of the passengers on the Mayflower. It is a really cool monument. The most striking thing to me was that Faith is found at the top of the monument, and there is an inscription talking about Jehovah. As we've taken this journey up the coast, I'm constantly reminded at the faith of the original founders of our country...what a contrast to the current movement in this great country to push God as far away from it as possible. I've found it quite striking.

We're in Boston now, and there are a plethora of things to do here to finish up our East Coast portion of the trip.

Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was cool. Cape Cod is basically an island. A bridge connects it to Massachusetts. Anyway, we went to the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory which I happen to be eating some right now. They are good, yummmmm. We also got to see one of the very many light houses that Cape Cod is famous for. And one of the many ones I’ve ever seen. Cape Cod was really cool.

Kenzie's blog:
We got to see a potato chip factory! It was cool! Also, we went to the American Oceanic Institute. They are the ones who discovered the one and only . . .Titanic. Last, but not least, we went to an aquarium type of place. We got to pet fish, a hermit crab, a lobster, lots of starfish and oysters. That was my favorite part!!!

Photos

Cape Cod, MA

Video:

The first video is of Cape Cod, the second is of Plymouth.