24 August 2009
03 August 2009
A Vacation to Remember
For our first anniversary, Warren and I decided to plan a trip instead of exchanging gifts. We thought it would be cooler to experience something we would remember forever than just to buy material things. We chose Chatham, Cape Cod as a destination, and WOW, it turned out to be incredible! We found our inn in the Select Registry that we got on our honeymoon and it did not disappoint. It was beautiful, peaceful and had every amenity we could want. They had some of the gorgeous blue hydrangeas that grow so abundantly all over the Cape and I couldn't help taking a million pictures of them. Our room was beautiful and we enjoyed resting there at night watching a DVD from the inn's library. It was a great way to get back our energy after all our day's activities. They had a lovely pool where we sat and read our books, and a huge lawn where we sat to drink our evening tea. Chatham is a lovely and quiet town...I'll have to thank Lloyd for recommending it.
Two of our most momentous experiences included a 4 hour guided kayak tour and a whale watch. The kayak tour was led by an awesome guy by the name of Dick Hilmer, who we regarded as a sort of Indiana Jones of the ocean. :) He was incredibly knowledgeable about the sandbars and the wildlife, not to mention his considerable kayaking skills. He's an ecologist and in addition to his kayaking he teaches 7th grade Earth Science and works with local watermen to help them to be environmentally responsible. He knew the location and time of day/tide to find some seals, and we were thrilled by repeated sightings of them popping their whiskery faces up to look at us. At one point we watched a group of around 10 adults gamboling in the water. I would have been happy at that, but then to top it off, a baby broke away from the group and followed us determinedly for 10-20 minutes, coming right up to us and even trying to climb up onto one of the kayaks, allowing us to get a fantastic look at him! It was a priceless experience. We stopped a few times throughout the journey to explore islands or go swimming or just take a rest. It was a major workout but a glorious way to exercise and get to know the beautiful nature of the area.
The whale watch left out of Provincetown, so we drove up that morning and walked around the town a bit first. It took us about 45 minutes to get out to a part of the ocean where we first spotted some humpback whales, and it was incredible to see their flippers and tails and glimpses of their colossal backs. But then we got REALLY lucky and found about 6-8 whales feeding. They were diving down, blowing their bubble nets and coming up in groups to take huge mouthfuls of water filled with krill. It was easy to spot where they would surface because the bubbles were a lighter color than the rest of the water, and HUGE crowds of birds would zoom over to the spot in hopes of catching some fish for themselves. They even tried to grab them out of the whales' mouths. We got such a thrilling, close view of the whales' heads and looked right into their mouths. To come so close to these incredible wild animals is a life-changing experience that you never forget. I have possibly never felt so in awe of this Earth as I was for those hours. It was just amazing.
Here are just a couple of the many photos we took on the trip. More can be found on our Flickr page, as well as some whale videos.
.JPG)
Two of our most momentous experiences included a 4 hour guided kayak tour and a whale watch. The kayak tour was led by an awesome guy by the name of Dick Hilmer, who we regarded as a sort of Indiana Jones of the ocean. :) He was incredibly knowledgeable about the sandbars and the wildlife, not to mention his considerable kayaking skills. He's an ecologist and in addition to his kayaking he teaches 7th grade Earth Science and works with local watermen to help them to be environmentally responsible. He knew the location and time of day/tide to find some seals, and we were thrilled by repeated sightings of them popping their whiskery faces up to look at us. At one point we watched a group of around 10 adults gamboling in the water. I would have been happy at that, but then to top it off, a baby broke away from the group and followed us determinedly for 10-20 minutes, coming right up to us and even trying to climb up onto one of the kayaks, allowing us to get a fantastic look at him! It was a priceless experience. We stopped a few times throughout the journey to explore islands or go swimming or just take a rest. It was a major workout but a glorious way to exercise and get to know the beautiful nature of the area.
The whale watch left out of Provincetown, so we drove up that morning and walked around the town a bit first. It took us about 45 minutes to get out to a part of the ocean where we first spotted some humpback whales, and it was incredible to see their flippers and tails and glimpses of their colossal backs. But then we got REALLY lucky and found about 6-8 whales feeding. They were diving down, blowing their bubble nets and coming up in groups to take huge mouthfuls of water filled with krill. It was easy to spot where they would surface because the bubbles were a lighter color than the rest of the water, and HUGE crowds of birds would zoom over to the spot in hopes of catching some fish for themselves. They even tried to grab them out of the whales' mouths. We got such a thrilling, close view of the whales' heads and looked right into their mouths. To come so close to these incredible wild animals is a life-changing experience that you never forget. I have possibly never felt so in awe of this Earth as I was for those hours. It was just amazing.
Here are just a couple of the many photos we took on the trip. More can be found on our Flickr page, as well as some whale videos.
.JPG)
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