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Where I Catch You Back Up with the Current Day
The whale watch. I had been prepared for something kinda lame, given Mary Beth's recounting of the expedition she went on in her childhood. I was prepared to be soaked and cold and miserable and not see any whales. This was pretty much the exact opposite of what we experienced last week. The boat was comfortable, I didn't get a drop of water on me (save a very fine mist twice: once from a whale splashing and once from a whale's spout), and we saw a ton of whales almost nonstop once they got going. We left the harbor and went out to sea. We got to see Race Point and Long Point lighthouses from out there (and one in between them, not sure of its name). We slowed down after riding out a bit. They said a whale had been seen in the area, but we hadn't seen it yet. Just a couple of minutes after slowing down the first whale popped up right in front of where we were sitting on the side of the boat. It was a fin whale. This is the second largest whale next to a blue whale and they're a pretty rare spot and not much is known about 'em. By the way, our tour guide on the loudspeaker was an incredible marine biologist or whatever she was. Well, she was an excellent guide. Listening to her was fascinating on its own. This whale didn't stay up much. He'd come up a bit and sink down. They have somewhat erratic diving patterns and they're fast which add to their being difficult to spot. We hung around this guy a little bit until he disappeared and then headed over to a different section. The rest of the whales we saw were humpbacks. We soon were albe to get spots up at the prow (not the very tip, but pretty close). The first pair of humpbacks we saw were a mother and her calf. The calf was splashing up a fucking storm. It was a pretty big calf, three years old or so. I wouldn't've known it wasn't full grown if it wasn't for our guide. It just kept splashing its tail on the surface. I guess it was playing. That was really awesome. Then we drove around and saw a bunch more whales. Sometimes several at a time in all directions. They tended to hang out in pairs. Sometimes there'd be bigger groups, but mostly they seemed to be simulatenous paris or a pair and another one. We'd see whales and they'd disappear and we'd see other whales and then the same whales again. They had names, one I remember is Pele. I think our guide said we saw a total of seven different individual humpback whales plus the one fin whale. A couple times we saw a whale leap and flip over. Once the whales disappeared and then resurfaced almost right under us. We were so close we could see the rest of its body that was undernearth the surface. When we headed back the prow emptied and we were able to catch the breeze from the tip as we sped back to shore. Ah! That was an incredible experience. Maybe there are details I'm missing. I'll definitely catch you up later if I did miss something. I wish I could convey how awesome that all was.
Okay, back in Provincetown. We continued along the rest that we didn't see on Tuesday. There were more art galleries spattered about. More really good art. We had a peek in the sex toy store. They had a little museum thingie in front with a collection of historical vibrators. Jeanine had complained about how in-your face Provincetown was, but I didn't see it at all. There was just the one shop and one leather shop. It actually seemed relatively family-friendly. Not like the suburbanness of much of the rest of the cape, but not Fistdudetown or anything like that. I had a stuffed clam at a place by the sea. The last thing we did was go up into the Pilgrim Monument. It's this giant tower (the largest granite structure or tallest granite structure in the...world?) and it looms on a hill over all of Provincetown. It just happened to be "free fun Friday" so we didn't have to pay $10 each. It was a trek to the top, but not as bad as I thought it might be. It was mostly ramps and not a lot of stairs. The view from the top was incredible, of course. I enjoy stuff like that. Okay, back to the house. This was Mary Beth's birthday, by the way. The whale watch made it about as perfect as a birthday could get, I think. Jr. and Bailey made us cute little birthday cards that were truly very sweet.
Saturday was my birthday and it was a day of nothing but driving. Got back up early again and headed off. We made great fucking time. We made the best decision ever to completely avoid the fuck out of NYC. Took a detour up to the Tappan Zee Bridge. A little out of the way, not much. It was something like 7 more minutes in google maps time (considering the near two-hour delay through Manhatthan coming up, I think we came out ahead). Crossing that bridge over the Hudson River, the traffic did get congested and backed up but nowhere nearly as bad as before. That was maybe a 30 minute delay. We definitely came out ahead. Oh, and that doesn't even take into consideration the $12 toll we missed just having to cross the Washington Bridge. Aside from that driving was great. The roads were relatively clear. Weather was great. The drive was pleasant. It makes me happy just thinking about it. We made excellent time. Drove all fucking day, like I said. Fourteen and a half hours or so. Made it to Tennessee that night. Had a little detour on a weird dirt road. Stopped at a time-warp motel to sleep. Got up nice and early again for like six more hours of driving. We did stop off in Nashville to track down Jeni's ice cream. It was a bit of a hunt to find, but we were making such good time that we could afford that hour and fifteen minutes. The ice cream was good. We got back in town about 2:45 or so. I had initially expected to be driving two full days and back home late Sunday night. But we saved us what feels like a whole damn day.
Trudy was super-affectionate. She's so sweet. Horace was standoffish at first, but came around pretty quick. I found him behind the chair when we got in and he wouldn't budge, but by the time I finished loading stuff in or whatever he was so affectionate. And he's stayed very affectionate. It's very sweet. I had a cd waiting for me in the mail: John Carpenter: Assault on Precint 13 / Dark Star (the Alan Howarth re-recording that just came out, autographed by Alan too, I'd like the original recordings, but beggars can't be choosers, and his re-recording of The Thing sounded really good so I'm sure this is worth it). After unpacking and unwinding and shit and all yesterday Jacques came over and we ate at Abyssinia. Woke up vigorous and refreshed. This morning Mary Beth and I did some errands and I had a smoothie at The Cosmic Coconut. The smoothie was good, but not as good as it felt like it should have been. The place was really hippieish (it's vegan) and the fact that Nirvana was playing on the overhead felt very apt. We then had dinner at Hog & Hominy and it was excellent. The poutine killed me, but the fried head cheese with watermelon was outstanding as well. What else? Is there anything else to report since we've gotten back? Don't think so. I'll probably go get completely coated in Horace fur some more right now.
Okay, back in Provincetown. We continued along the rest that we didn't see on Tuesday. There were more art galleries spattered about. More really good art. We had a peek in the sex toy store. They had a little museum thingie in front with a collection of historical vibrators. Jeanine had complained about how in-your face Provincetown was, but I didn't see it at all. There was just the one shop and one leather shop. It actually seemed relatively family-friendly. Not like the suburbanness of much of the rest of the cape, but not Fistdudetown or anything like that. I had a stuffed clam at a place by the sea. The last thing we did was go up into the Pilgrim Monument. It's this giant tower (the largest granite structure or tallest granite structure in the...world?) and it looms on a hill over all of Provincetown. It just happened to be "free fun Friday" so we didn't have to pay $10 each. It was a trek to the top, but not as bad as I thought it might be. It was mostly ramps and not a lot of stairs. The view from the top was incredible, of course. I enjoy stuff like that. Okay, back to the house. This was Mary Beth's birthday, by the way. The whale watch made it about as perfect as a birthday could get, I think. Jr. and Bailey made us cute little birthday cards that were truly very sweet.
Saturday was my birthday and it was a day of nothing but driving. Got back up early again and headed off. We made great fucking time. We made the best decision ever to completely avoid the fuck out of NYC. Took a detour up to the Tappan Zee Bridge. A little out of the way, not much. It was something like 7 more minutes in google maps time (considering the near two-hour delay through Manhatthan coming up, I think we came out ahead). Crossing that bridge over the Hudson River, the traffic did get congested and backed up but nowhere nearly as bad as before. That was maybe a 30 minute delay. We definitely came out ahead. Oh, and that doesn't even take into consideration the $12 toll we missed just having to cross the Washington Bridge. Aside from that driving was great. The roads were relatively clear. Weather was great. The drive was pleasant. It makes me happy just thinking about it. We made excellent time. Drove all fucking day, like I said. Fourteen and a half hours or so. Made it to Tennessee that night. Had a little detour on a weird dirt road. Stopped at a time-warp motel to sleep. Got up nice and early again for like six more hours of driving. We did stop off in Nashville to track down Jeni's ice cream. It was a bit of a hunt to find, but we were making such good time that we could afford that hour and fifteen minutes. The ice cream was good. We got back in town about 2:45 or so. I had initially expected to be driving two full days and back home late Sunday night. But we saved us what feels like a whole damn day.
Trudy was super-affectionate. She's so sweet. Horace was standoffish at first, but came around pretty quick. I found him behind the chair when we got in and he wouldn't budge, but by the time I finished loading stuff in or whatever he was so affectionate. And he's stayed very affectionate. It's very sweet. I had a cd waiting for me in the mail: John Carpenter: Assault on Precint 13 / Dark Star (the Alan Howarth re-recording that just came out, autographed by Alan too, I'd like the original recordings, but beggars can't be choosers, and his re-recording of The Thing sounded really good so I'm sure this is worth it). After unpacking and unwinding and shit and all yesterday Jacques came over and we ate at Abyssinia. Woke up vigorous and refreshed. This morning Mary Beth and I did some errands and I had a smoothie at The Cosmic Coconut. The smoothie was good, but not as good as it felt like it should have been. The place was really hippieish (it's vegan) and the fact that Nirvana was playing on the overhead felt very apt. We then had dinner at Hog & Hominy and it was excellent. The poutine killed me, but the fried head cheese with watermelon was outstanding as well. What else? Is there anything else to report since we've gotten back? Don't think so. I'll probably go get completely coated in Horace fur some more right now.