DAY 3 - RELEASING THE INNER GEEK

Date : 7th Nov 2008
From : Cape Cod (MA)
To : Outskirts of Boston (MA)
Via : Plymouth (MA)
Total Miles Travelled : 224
Additional Miles Driven Solely to Cater For Princess Molly : 90
Miles Driven by Grant in Specified Lanes : 144
Miles Driven by Kate Veering off to the Right, Forgetting that the Car Has A Right Hand Side : 80 (terrifying)

Good news - this blog will get more interesting tomorrow. Not because someone else will be writing it but because we'll have loads more photos having finally worked out how flickr and our camera works. Not today though - today you're going to have to make do with a photo of a rock from my phone...fascinating.

Back on the move again today as we bid a sad goodbye to Daisie Mae and the closed gay mecca of P-Town and headed North. The final destination was Boston (or rather an industrial park on the outskirts of Boston...it's where the cheaper hotels are located and it's easier for Catholic Kate to score drugs) but not before putting in some serious Tourist Time in Plymouth Plantation and on the Mayflower II. No dogs allowed in the touristy stuff so Molly spent the afternoon in some outdoor kennels. If you have a dog phobia then I don't suggest visiting Nightingale Dog Boarding on the outskirts of Plymouth which seems to solely cater for German Shepherds, Rottweillers and that three headed dog from Harry Potter. Molly's teeth were literally chattering before entering and she was seriously pleased to see us some 4 hours later.

Now if you know your history ("it's enough to make your heart go woooooaaaa" - I assume about 3 people got that gag), the Brits landed in Plymouth in 1620 and claimed it in the name of King James (ignoring the incumbent Native Indian inhabitants). The Plymouth Plantation tourist site is about as cheesy as it gets with a replica Native Indian village and also a replica English Settlement Village. Yeah, yeah...all sounds dull as dishwater, but throw in a gaggle of reinactment players / actors who stroll around the site with mock English accents answering every question you can come up with from a ye olde worlde perspective and I'm happy to report it was one of the most amusing afternoons I have spent in recent times. Yes, I'm a geek and yes, Kate was thoroughly embarrassed at the number of questions I was asking but at $28 a ticket, I wanted to know everything from their favourite yoghurt flavour to which kabadi team they support. I stopped short of trying to sell them the horse racing results for the next 388 years though. It's a shame we didn't get a photo but the most amusing and saddening information sign was the one 100 metres from the Native Indian Village which had instructions for visitors not to "war whoop", use racial slurs, call the reinactment players chief or sqaw or ask them "are you a real indian?". Seriously, a highly recommended day out.

Part two of the Plymouth experience is a visit to the Mayflower II, a complete recreation of the boat that brought the original 102 pilgrims across from England in 1620. This particular version sailed across in 1957, taking just under two months and it's surprisingly small. That's about all I've got to say about that. Oh, and it's right next to Plymouth Rock which is a magical rock that grants wishes. Actually it's just a rock with 1620 scratched into it, as the attached picture shows.

A fairly uneventful night as we found our hotel, unpacked Bridget, caught up on some chores then found a local boozer for some grub and sleeping juice. Off witch hunting in Salem tomorrow before meeting up with a couple of pals for a booze-up in Boston. Lovely...