Lot to catch up on, starting with vacation

Wow, time has really flown. It's already a month and a half since my last post. So I'll start where I left off and see how far I get toward catching up.

The whole family spent a few days in Cape Cod. Our hotel was a disappointment, but the area was, near the tip of the peninsula, was great. Next time we'll have to stay in Provincetown, a cool little tourist town a lot like Key West. Free spirits, great restaurants/shopping and homosexuals holding hands in their underwear. We also rode our mountain bikes on some of the beach trails. But the highlight for the boys was definitely swimming in the surf. The water was a little colder than Naragansett, but not too bad.

All in all, it's a place we'd like to return to with better lodgings.

Then we drove up to Freeport, Maine to see what everyone was talking about. I enjoyed shopping at the discount shops surrounding L.L. Bean's flagship outlet store. I was able to find a few winter clothing items at huge discounts, but the rest of the family didn't do as well. Then we went on a ferry trip to an artists' haven. It was funny in that we expected scenery and seals and all we got was rural village with a lack of services. We found a trail and walk and eventually saw some seals from the roof of the ferry on the way home, but it was a waste of a day. We even tried a fresh lobster meal at the coastal town the ferry started from. It was fresh, but we got kinda grossed out trying to clean our freshly killed lobsters. Again, a cheap substitute for Dungeness crab.

I don't think that Becky or the kids are too interested in getting back to Maine anytime soon. It may be that coming from Seattle and the Northwest, Maine isn't anything special. It's basically a poor man's Puget Sound.

At least we got to spend some time together and relax. I brought some medical reading material but got through very little. Instead, I slept well and managed to get in some good exercise. And all in all, I did manage to find some tasty seafood. The scallops here are fantastic!