Day 16 – Monday October 12th

The original plan for today (our last day on this holiday) was to visit Hyannis before heading back into Boston to see the State Capitol.

Unfortunately it’s Columbus Day, a National Holiday and so (as confirmed by a phone call last week) the State House is closed, as are many of the roads in Boston to allow the Columbus Day Parade to happen.

If we didn’t have a flight to catch today I would probably have voted for heading into the city anyway as seeing things like parades are not something one can do everyday. Unfortunately the risk of getting caught up in traffic and missing our flight are too great, so we needed a new plan for the latter half of the day…. Mum came through in fine style as revealed later.

There are no photos allowed at our first stop of day… the Cape Cod Chips factory produce hundreds of thousands of potato chips each year (I’ll note it here… this is a factory that produces an item called Chips in America, Crisps in the UK, it does not produce French Fries)
It’s basically a walk through the factory alongside the production line, sounds boring but is actually really interesting. It only takes 15 minutes and you get a free bag at the end!



Onward to the JFK museum in Hyannis… I had thought that this would be located in JFK’s house here but it’s actually in an old bank on Main Street… it’s good though and gives a real insight into JFK the man, the president and the family he came from. Marilyn Monroe is not mentioned!

Mum’s idea for the rest of the day now… last time we were in this area although we made it to Martha’s Vineyard, we both really wanted to see Cape Cod but were unable to do so… today, we’ve 7 hrs so it’s off we go.



Initially to the visitors centre at Provincelands, where the view is great. We soon grab a couple of flyers and head off to Provincetown itself for a visit to the Pilgrim Monument



This monument to the first landfall by the pilgrims in 1620, with its hundred plus stairs to the top is a great way of getting a stunning view of the Cape Cod Seashore, note that (much to the disgust of one lady present) there is no elevator to the top!





The views are definitely worth the climb though…. Wow

A hour long stroll on the beach to the water’s edge and along the high street to have an ice-cream completes our time here in Provincetown. We’re leaving a little early for the airport as Mum picked up a flyer for a Lighthouse earlier and we both want to go and climb it!



It may not look like much, but this lighthouse was built in 1797 and has stood here ever since, through every type of weather thrown at it.
For part of the year it is open to tours, which include the option to climb the steep steps and ladder all the way to the top whilst learning about how lighthouses work and their function from the very passionate docent.



Looking seaward from the top of the lighthouse there’s a small plate noting that England is 3150 miles away……

Sadly that’s where we’re headed now, back to Logan to return the car before checking in for our flight home. It’s been a shorter trip than either of us are used to and the bad weather at the start meant that we were unable to do several of the things we’d planned. All in all though it’s been a fun trip.

Only Alaska, Hawaii and Arkansas left for me to complete all 50.