Day 5 at Cape Cod near Mashpee,MA ( Friday 9-22-23)
No light coming in the windows, let me know that it is dark out at 6:40 PM. Mainly because we are surrounded by a forest of trees but also because the sunset here is about one hour earlier then in Grand Rapids Michigan and points West. Michigan being on the far Western edge of the eastern time zone. The Internet is up, and working, but it's quite slow, I may place the photos in the blog in the morning when it's not so busy. I did put one picture on the previous day's blog, so there is a photo for each entry. It was a real treat to be able to get up when we wanted, and not worry about hitching up the trailer and moving on down the road. That was more tiresome than I realized. So we will enjoy these days in one place for a week. So let's get started with the day.
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| At the beach on the south Coast of Cape Cod. That is Martha's Vineyard across the water. |
We did see 5 species of birds here including , Little Gull, California Gull, Ring Billed Gull, Cormorant, and some Sanderlings, running swiftly along the beach.
We had one main objective today and accomplished that much faster than we had anticipated. That was to explore the Mashpee NWR (National Wildlife Refuge), which is just a few minutes down the road . We found it easily and realized that it is a unique NWR as it has only trails, so no auto drives that we like to do. We did enter the parking lots to see what we could see a number of times, but not only found no birds, but some of the gates were closed and access was not possible. We tried three of the parking lots, but again no birds. This refuge is unique in that it has been brought back from private lands which surround it and it is parceled in many pieces. Hence getting around in it is difficult. (Rather 'piecemeal' arranged)
We had plenty of time left, so decided to start doing the lighthouses of which there are 14 in Massachusetts just on Cape Cod. The one we chose is at the southernmost Point of the Cape and has the name Nobska lighthouse. Driving these roads through places like Falmouth, on any day is a slow in winding process. (The roads are two lane, no shoulder, and the turns have no additional room for straying off the road. EVER! So we did take our time then saw the sights along the way. (Cemetaries,a "DQ", churches, statues, and great, huge, houses.)
The drive does take us along the edge of the water as we reached the place where the lighthouse and the keepers quarters are located. It is a beautiful light and hopefully the photos will show (See next day) what that really means. There actually is a handicapped separate entrance with parking for them only, which avoids about 25 steps up to the lighthouse grounds. I did not see until after we had finished. The lighthouse was refurbished after a campaign of $5 million to put it in tip top shape. Then we headed for a WMA (Wildlife Management Area) donated by a woman by the name of Barnes, some years ago. It abuts up to The Joint Air Force Base here where fighter jets are based. We ended up at the guard station entering the base, where we realized that was not the wildlife area we were seeking. Fortunately the experienced guard at the entry station knew exactly where the Barnes WMA was located. We retreated and backtracked until we found the entrance.
The road leading into it, passes by a very traditional native habitat, as the Quashnet Tribes had lived here for thousands of years but like many of the natives had been driven out by treaties and settlers in the 1800s. After many years of trying to use the land around it, it is now finally in the hands of those who will attempt to restore to its original shape. We are talking about the River called Quashnet, which is now a very small stream. Good luck on the re-doing of that River! (See photos next day)
That was the end of today on the road and we got back to the trailer a little early, had some stretch time and sorting of photos and events. Supper was simple, with one of those frozen dinners that we packed in our freezer. Let me tell you what Ruth did? The dinners are packed in Hard plastic containers in our home freezer, then she took them them out and put them in saran wrap and aluminum foil, so they would not take as much room in the freezer and that increased the amount of food space, by about 30%.
A walk around the park after supper helped me stretch my legs. My sniffles and a cold seem to be subsiding and I feel much better and stronger. (Vick's vapo and menthol lozenges helped.) . Hopefully some photos will be in this message when you see it as I will load in the morning when the traffic on the Internet is much less. More lighthouses tomorrow!!!--Jim and Ruth
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