Not One but Two Surprises!!

So-----we were minding our business at Cape Cod, North of Highland Campground.  Sean and Scott had prepared a great seafood dinner.  And then Scott made an announcement.

He mentioned that since it was our anniversary, 50th to be exact, all of our children had gotten together to give us a special present.

Scott had found a car renter on Cape Cod who just happened to have a special car that they had rented for us to enjoy the next day--our anniversary.

They even printed a possible itinerary.

That included cruising some back roads of Cape Cod and having lunch at the Bookstore Restaurant in Wellfleet.

What a special four children!

Thanks so much!

Oh--did we mention that Scott had found a gentleman who rented antique cars?  How about a 1958 MGA, 4 speed .

Wow!!!

A little orientation at the Wellfleet Harbor dock and away we go.

The first stop is PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet.

Website for PB Boulangerie

The owners are chefs from France and it is an experience just to walk in to this bakery/restaurant.  Note we found some French coffee, croissant, a baguette, and a blueberry patisserie.

  Some pictures from the bakery

Our route took us from Wellfleet Harbor to Route 6 , then off on a back road to the Orleans rotary. A very picturesque route--thankful for a sunny day for this ride--following Route 6A to the Sandwich Marina and canal.  Then back on Route 6 this time--only so many daylight hours--and off to Chatham for a stop , and then back to the Marconi Beach parking lot to exchange once more for Lady Blue.

At the Sandwich side of the Cape Cod Canal, we make a stop at The Drunken Seal.  What fun it was to have people stop and say "Great Car". To which we would answer "Thank you very much!  We love it"

Website for The Drunken Seal

A light lunch.  

The shrimp were delicious.

Time for a selfie on the porch.

Cape Cod Bay in the background.

Driving back on Route 6, is Bruce having too much fun?

Two hands, Bruce. Remember the clutch and 4 speeds.

Off Route 6 and another pretty road to Chatham.

Getting close to 4pm--the time for our wedding--

and we stop at the Impudent Oyster.

Jan worked a summer in Chatham, the year before we were married. 

So we made a short stop at the bar for a celebratory glass of wine 
at 4pm.
Website for Impudent Oyster

A wonderful spot for our celebratory glass of wine.
Then we head towards Orleans on Route 28 , and eventually Marconi Beach to trade for Lady Blue .

To top off the day, Scott and Rachel took us out to
dinner at the Bookstore Restaurant in Wellfleet.
Of course it included oysters.

Definitely a happy crew!!

Click below to see part of the menu
Bookstore menu Wellfleet

That was about the end of our stay on Cape Cod.
We headed west to Hammonassett State Park in Madison, Connecticut.  We meet up with Jan's sister Marsha.

She and husband , Mark, take us for a pleasant leisurely tour of Essex, Connecticut--a beautiful historic coastal town.

The homes are well landscaped.

A good selection of sailboats in the harbor.
We were treated to dinner at the historic Griswold Inn
 Website for Griswold Inn
A great meal and lots of fun checking all the historic pictures and mementos of sailing ships and more. 
The inn dates from 1776.

Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, Connecticut
Website for Gillette Castle

Mark and Marsha had taken us out to dinner and also Marsha had a few special gifts. Some beautiful yellow roses, a purple violet, and a special commemorative 50th wine stopper.  We had forgotten , but Marsha found out that Mateus sparkling rose wine was a common wine we were friends with at that time.

Gary and Linda were not able to come to the Cape this summer, but they had such a great dinner with scalloped oysters and halibut, and then this beautiful fruit dessert. 

So----- we had some fantastic celebrations of our anniversary. Then we headed up to Maine to touch base with Alison and Keith. They were set to take us out to a great restaurant recommended by friends.  The restaurant was in Ogunquit. Great. A restaurant we knew of but had not visited. Great. Little did we know that a group was meeting in secret in Ogunquit.

So we travel with Alison to this new restaurant and on the way we point out that this restaurant used to be a popular ice cream smorgasbord that my mother loved.
Well , we walked in and were led into a room for our dinner with Alison and SURPRISE!!!!!!

Wait a minute, we already had our anniversary. And their first question was "Were you surprised?" 
We had absolutely no clue. Well played Alison and everyone.

What a nice gathering.  Rachel is taking the picture. Gary, Emilie, and Linda had also planned to attend and reserved a hotel room. But an emergency came up and they had to reluctantly cancel.
Also realized that friends Nancy and Dave could not be here because they were---in Scotland!!
The restaurant was Bintliff's
Website for Bintliff's
The menu was superb, including some great wine. Mussels, baked brie, and some great entrees like baked haddock, scallops, and prime rib . Thanks again to Scott for the fine details and probably some of the headaches in coordinating.

We have included two pictures of Madison and Auntie Ali. They see each other so seldom.

They both are similar in loving to laugh!

AWWWW!
50 years!!!
Thanks everyone!!!

Winslow Park, Freeport, Maine and Schoodic Peninsula,Acadia National Park, Maine

Well----once again there is a long space between postings---since July 15!!! So, Jan and I decided to post some current pictures today and then we will post pictures from August and early September in the next few weeks.  No excuses, we have just been having a jolly old good time!!!  The picture above is from a favorite campground, Winslow Park, in Freeport , Maine; taken from our campsite.

The campground is beautiful and is part of a public park in Freeport looking out on Casco Bay.  It is not listed in the printed literature you might pick up in Freeport, but it does show up on the camping apps.  Sites are dry camping, no electric or water hookups.

A view from the end of the park towards South Freeport Marina and Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster. All of this is basically south of LL Bean store off Route 1.

Every time we see a beautiful boat on  a mooring, we always wonder-----how often does it get used?

In our quest to offer info on campers we see here and there, this is an Alto made by Safari Condo.  The black area retracts for travel after the rear wall is folded in.

Safari Condo website

Not totally sure, but we believe that the two flat panels on the roof are solar panels. Or maybe just vents? You will note on the website how much light there is inside with the added windows in the slideup.

Interesting sign on the way out of Winslow.  Not "Drive Safely" etc. , but "Drive Leisurely"  Maine has a different way of looking at things.

Heading up Route 1, always a beautiful sight coming to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge near Bucksport, Maine.

The support tower on the left is also an observatory that gives a great view. And no, we have not gone up inside yet.

For this trip, we head first north of Ellsworth , following Route 1 to the Schoodic Peninsula section of Acadia. Views along the way include Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island in the Bar Harbor section of Acadia National Park.

We should have realized that the new campground , Schoodic Woods--just 3 years old that we visited back in June, would be very popular.  We do not make reservations and sure enough, they were full.  But we discovered this campground above. Used to be called Mountain View, but under new ownership is now Acadia Seashore Campground. And , even better, water view sites.

The view across Flanders Bay and Frenchman Bay is to Mount Desert Island and Dorr Mountain and Cadillac Mountain.

Acadia Seashore Website

The campground is number 17 on the map in East Sullivan.

One of the great things to do here is to bike ride from the visitors center--at the top of this map -Schoodic Woods. The ride takes you down to Schoodic Point and then up to a gravel road back to the visitors center

A little fire by the waterside , waiting for sunset.

A nice ending to a great day!

It is a very few miles to the main section of the Schoodic .

A screen shot from Strava of our 10.2 mile bike ride from the Schoodic Woods National Park campground . The Schoodic Loop Road is one way after the campground and not for RVs. Schoodic Point is at the very end of the peninsula.

The surf is very active with huge waves breaking over the rocks.

And, of course, one more sunset.