Tuesday 30th September 2014- Mashpee, Cape Cod USA

Before leaving home dad and I had talked about catching some sports games while over here. Unfortunately we missed everything by like a day or two.

We had hoped to do a Red Sox game as they were actually at home the weekend we arrived in Cape, but typically it was their last home series of this season and it was a 'local' derby. Crazy tickets prices so we had to give it a miss. Dad did get us tickets for a Bruins Ice hockey preseaon match so Boston was the destination of the day!

The day was already getting drizzerly as we left Mashpee and headed for Plymouth. We braved the cold/wet weather and the winds to look at the Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrims are said to have first landed when they arrived in 1620. Though by all accounts it wasn't mentioned in early documents or at all until over 100 years later. Who knows, maybe it's actually nowhere near!

We then walked down to see the replica of the Mayflower before heading up the hill and checking out the statues lining the hill.

With the weather being what it was we made a few detours on our journey to Boston, stopping in Scituate for a walk along the main street. Apparently the location was of those used for the movie The Witches of Eastwick.

We also enjoyed our drive out to the Scituate Lighthouse- which actually was where you would expect a lighthouse to be!! It was extremely cold and wet with the waves crashing ferociously against the rocks here. And while the area had some really pretty and unusual houses, I'm pretty sure that there being on stilts said more about the coastline than the views over the seawalls!

We made our way to Boston via Quincy and making a random detour found just the right spot to see the city skyline. The bad news is with the rain, it was shrouded in a thick haze; the good news being that we could still see it :)

The approach to Boston was a lot easier than I had anticipated and it wasn't until we were right on the outskirts of the city than the roads got manic. It didn't help that many of the signs were ON the exits rather than the approach. Not too helpful if you actually needed them to know where you were going.

Despite not taking our first or second choice in roads we still made it into the city though we did get stuck on the one way system having taken a wrong turn.

But the silver lining is that after much frustration on dads part, we ended up in a manned event multi storey which despite only being slightly further away from the arena, was much cheaper than the one we had planned to use.

Once we got sorted we picked our tickets up and aimlessly wandering the streets ending up at Quincys Market. As we walked through here I have to say I fell a little in love :) It was made up of dozens of different eateries including drink stations, candy stalls, foreign cuisine stands... Lots of choice with a bustling atmosphere. If I hadn't already eaten I would have loved to try pizza bagels! They looked awesome.

On leaving the food market we wandered some of the gift stalls alongside before walking one more block and stopping for a starbucks before making our way back to the arena. At this point it had more or less stopped raining but it was still pretty cold so needless to say dad was not too impressed when he realised what his Frappuccino was! Still I'm proud- two weeks ago he wouldn't even hold MY starbucks, now he was willing to get one for himself..though it may have been his first and last :)

Arriving at TD Gardens we found the main entrance but had to ask where we were to go next because it was extremely confusing! But once you know, you know.

Settling into our seats in the Balcony I have to say I was much more impressed with this place than the 02 when I first visited that. This place looked bright and spacious from the get go. This would be fun!

Now im not great with the rules when it comes to ice hockey but I know enough to understand the basics of the game- and it's much simpler than baseball to grasp.

The first thing that struck me was that if I were a referee I would want better padding because while the players have layers of protective gear, the refs necks are completely exposed. Have you seen these pucks fly?!

The game started well for the Bruins with Patrice Bergeron putting them ahead in the first period after collecting his own rebound after his initial wraparound shot was blocked by the Islanders keeper.

But by the end of the second period the Islanders were leading 3-1 and had for this period at least, taken control.

But it's not over till it's over and the Bruins Bartkowski and Marchard scored to tie it at 3-3, giving Boston a foothold back in the game.

But despite regaining control towards the end of the third, it just wasn't meant to be for the home team with the Islanders scoring twice more - the last of which was a empty net goal- to win the game 5-3.

It was a good game to watch with plenty of goals, penalties, breaking of sticks and scuffles between the teams. I have to say I think I like watching Ice Hockey more than Baseball. This could be my aggressive nature talking though :)

Leaving the arena we walked to where we had parked the car and made a quick trip across the road to take a few pictures of the bridges all lit up at night. It is Boston afterall.

The drive home was pretty smooth despite again getting on the wrong road. We made quick progress and walked into the unit just before midnight. Great time for a cuppa tea methinks!

Wednesday 1st October 2014- Mashpee, Cape Cod USA

Today we woke up to rain. Lots and lots of rain. So much rain that by the end of the day there were flood warnings in place across the Cape...

Oh, yay!

We didn't really have any plans for today as we knew we would be back late the night before and with neither of us having slept well, we had a lazy morning.

Once midday came around we were both more than ready to get out for awhile. We decided to head towards Bourne via the coast and then make our way up to Sandwich.

And if you think that's a weird name you haven't heard anything! I keep wishing they wouldn't reuse names like Jerusalem and Moscow. Not to mention I know this is 'New England' and all but seriously are there any English place names they've not used? Exeter, Tiverton, Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, even Hull for gods sake! And these names aren't just used for towns but as road names, area names and in every other way you can think to recycle them, they have been.

But of course then I see 'original' names like 'Stub toe road' and I think maybe it's best that they don't try and get creative :) It just gets too weird even by my standards!

We drove all up the coast (or as much as possible with much of it being Private property) by Pocasset which I have to say is a beautiful place with huge houses never far from the beach. Probably my favourite residential area we've seen.

Arriving in Sandwich we could see how pretty it would be on a nice day but this was not that so we continued on up to the northern end of the Canal, getting good views of the bridges along the way.

Heading back to Mashpee we stopped at the shopping Centre briefly before heading home. Once there I read awhile before going to the gym where I caught the beginning of the new Criminal Minds episode as it aired.

Thursday 2nd October 2014- Mashpee, Cape Cod USA

So for our last day in Cape we planned to head across to Martha's Vineyard for the day. This Island is well known through the world with one of its biggest claims to fame being that flim Jaws was filmed here.

Again we woke to rain but we stuck with our plans though we missed the first sailing we had originally planned for.

Catching the next one we wandered the ferry while it made the 7 mile journey from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. There was a cold wind that lasted all day but at least it wasn't pouring down as it had the day before.

On arriving in Vineyard Haven, we spent about an hour wandering the shops before heading to the bus stop. For a days bus ticket it only cost $7 each so we grabbed that and headed to Edgartown.

This is the town that made up 'Amity' in Jaws. We walked down to the harbour, which had some beautiful houses along it. All impressive, some with traditional porches, but almost all with amazing gardens.

We then made our way down to the Lighthouse and then back up again passing tiny private docks.

Back in the town we continued exploring the shopping district before once again getting on the busn, this time heading for Oaks Bluff.

As soon as you arrive here you have a great view of the colourful houses the towns known for. We walked aways up the main street before taking a wrong turn. But alls well as we came out by the fountain and park near where we'd gotten off the bus and now had a chance to take some pictures.

One thing I did want to do while here was look at the proper Gingerbread Cottages so we quickly made our way to them before rushing back for the bus.

Back in Vineyard Haven we boarded the ferry and about a couple of hours later arrived home.

One last work out, finished reading my current book and then it was time to pack up ready to get an early start in the morning back to Canada.

Friday 3rd October 2014- Mashpee, Cape Cod USA to Burlington, Ontario Canada

So today we knew we would have a very long drive ahead of us back up to my Uncle Terry's. We planned to go back via New York state so we could visit the American side of Niagara Falls- something I have never done despite maybe 4 visits to the Falls in the past.

We also decided to take a detour first thing across to Rhode Island and Connecticut so we could see if it differed much. We only made a stop at a State Park in each state to take a quick picture but between
this and a missed junction
a little later on, we were a little behind in our long journey.

The next few hours I
a little doze and then took over driving on the highway for awhile.

In the space of 3 hours we managed to tour a whole lot of Europe! No I've not gone completely mad. I'm just being sarcastic as usual about the Americans reusing well known names. In this case, Amsterdam, Rome, Poland, Geneva and Lyons :)

Not to mention earlier in the day we passed through Taunton, Somerset... yep it gets to the point of being ridiculous!

We had all kinds of weather before reaching Buffalo. Dry but cold, windy, warm sunshine, torrential rain. All of it. But once we arrived we somehow got lucky and it was fairly warm and stayed dry for the hour or so that we were there.

I've been to the falls both during the daytime and at night. Both in the summer and the winter but this was the first time I'd visited the American side and I've got to say I prefer it.

We got lucky that the sun was just going down as we arrived and cast some lovely light onto the falls and there are many different viewpoints to check out too.

Once it was dark and we'd seen all we could we crossed back into Canada and made for Uncle Terry's. Shortly after, the Giroux arrived along with my cousin Gill who they had picked up along the way.