Trip to Cape Cod...

So, my trip to Cape Cod started not-so-well. On Friday night, there was a thunderstorm going on, and at about 10.30pm, I heard a crashing noise, so, I went to the window of my room (on the second floor) to check out where did that noise come from. And to my surprise, I saw two kids with baseball bats beating the shit out of a truck. The wind-shield, the side-windows, the doors... It scared the crap out of me. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I was charging my batteries for the trip, and also, I couldn't really take a picture of them without letting them know about it because it was dark and I definitely needed the flash to take that picture. So, I just watched from my room, hiding, while fearing that they were high on something, and will go to the next car (mine or someone else's) when they were done on the first one. But, fortunately, they targeted that truck and ran away after they were satisfied. I took a picture of the truck the next morning, at 7.05am, just before I hit the road for the Cape.

I started my journey at 7am because the traffic to the cape is normally really bad on weekends, unless you leave early. I had no problem following the driving directions I printed from Mapquest(R) and reached Provincetown, MA at 10.15am (~160 miles). I was way too early for my 12.45pm whale watching trip. At first, I wanted to try my luck, asking if I could join the 10.30am tour instead, but unfortunately, that trip got canceled. So, I walked around Provincetown downtown and had a decent lunch before the trip.

Provincetown, link, is known for its reputation as a gay resort. So, if you are not comfortable with gay couples, it might not be a good idea to visit here.

The whale watching trip was amazing, and I was burned by the sun, (I left my sunscreen in the car, so, didn't re-apply while I was baking under the hot sun for 3.5 hours). Other than the videos below, I took many pictures of whales of different behaviors. It was definitely a must-do activity. It's like watching national geographic/discovery channel's documentary live. Two out of the more than 200 photos I took on the whale-watching trip.
The humpback whale was lobtailing in this one.Flippering in this one (the whale was actually on its back, and was flapping both of its flipper. Imagine lying on your back, and raise your hands... that's the position the whale was in).
After that trip, the heat started to get to me. (I'm not good with too much sun, and that's why I only run indoors in the Summer, or else, I will spend the entire day 'in heat'... where I can feel my body 10 degrees warmer than it should be...) I decided to push my plan of visiting the Highland Light House to the next day. So, I drove to Truro, link, about 10 miles away from Provincetown, for the hostel to rest and called it a day. (yeah right, I went for a short trail after a quick frozen dinner, but missed the sunset). It was Hostelling International (HI) again, (the same hostel chain that I stayed in about 3 years ago when I first visited New York city during my 2004 Winter break trip).
A google-map, which I added the red line and the blue dot. The blue dot was the place where we spent the night. And that's the Atlantic Ocean...
View of HI-Truro from the beach with 1X magnification.
View of HI-Truro with 12X magnification.
HI-Truro is a mansion, 5-minute walk from a private beach, in the Cape Cod National Sea Shore Park... amazingly quiet and perfect for a great-escape vacation. Serene, tranquil...
After a short trail, up the hill, but missing the sunset. But, the view from above was really breathtaking.

One thing to expect if you are traveling alone and staying in a youth hostel is to meet people. (you gotta be alone, or maybe a couple, if you are in a group, it's hard for you to meet other people in the hostel). People from all over the world, well, at least from other parts of the country. And, I think all my staying in hostel experience had been great, and maybe I'm lucky thus far? Can't believe that I met a guy, an attorney, who went to University of Michigan, class of 86, and he was traveling with his son, and we struck up a conversation easily, and got well-acquainted. No way! And then, I met with other people, an air-stewardess/court-reporter, 2 ladies from Ireland, another from Germany and a guy from England. 7 of us spent the night at the beach, just chatting, and enjoying the sight, sound and the feel of the ocean. Also, the sky was clear, and I could see more than a thousand starts just with my naked eyes. Not to mention the milky way could be seen clearly too. And shooting stars(I did make a wish), and I got to see the moon-rise. And yes, it was amazing. But, all these amazing sights were not captured because I left my camera in the hostel. And another bad thing from the night was, I got bitten by bugs pretty badly, I counted more than 10 marks the next morning. Oh wait, did I mention the 7 of us finished 6 bottles of wine... It was a great night. It was just plain relaxing, and relaxing.

The next morning, damn body clock, I woke up at 6 again. But, I decided to go back to bed (just to wake up at 7 again, and gave up). Another thing to expect while staying in a youth-hostel is, not-youth-male (in the 60s) snoring!!! The most ironic thing was, the snorer (he was the only one that snored loudly) was wearing earplugs.

So, I had oatmeal (breakfast provided by the hostel), and after packing up and all, I went to the beach to get some color. :P. It's morning sun, and I can handle it better. I strolled down the long beach, and the weather was perfect.
Cooling sea breeze, with perfect morning sunshine. Couldn't get any better than that... and it's the Atlantic Ocean...

After that, I checked out from the hostel at about 9.45am, and drove to the Highland Lighthouse aka Cape Cod Light. This lighthouse was famous not only because it is one of the brightest, but because it was moved back 90ft from it's original position in 1996 because of the sliding cliff.
The lighthouse current position, and the previous position (marked by the rock).

The view from the lighthouse was wonderful, and the wind up there was really strong.
The wind carries dust/sand and was constantly blowing at me during my entire 1.5 hours there. (I was there for quite a long time because my next destination was the Truro Vineyard, but it only opened at 12 noon on Sunday.) I went to the Vineyard, couldn't participate in the wine-tasting because of pressing time, and I needed to drive for 3-hours back later. I just stopped by, took pictures of the vineyard, and bought 2 bottles of wine, 1 for my keeping, another as a gift (didn't take the picture of the bottle, but the vineyard is famous for its lighthouse-shaped bottle).

The scenic highway...just a quick pit-stop...

The drive back to Worcester, MA was pretty uneventful. Forgot to mention that on my way to Cape Cod, a tiny pebble stone chipped my wind-shield. And there's a tiny crack on my window now...The crack...

In all, the trip to Cape Cod was really an amazing one. Being able to appreciate nature, and also, to meet up with a fellow wolverine and meet people from other countries and all... not to mention the thoughts that went-through my mine from my conversations with the fellow Wolverine were well, left me with a lot more to think about.