FROM THE DESK OF SENATOR DAVID LONG
I’ve written in the past about our family’s summer vacations. Melissa and I decided some years ago that we wanted our sons to experience the type of vacations that we had known as kids. Each of our parents had stuffed the families into the station wagon and driven all over the country, visiting national parks, great cities, and a variety of different states, and in the process, creating unforgettable memories that we still cherish. We wanted our boys to have similar opportunities, and so we mapped out a game plan of the states and regions we wanted to visit before our oldest, Adam, headed off to college. He has now entered his junior year, so we have two trips to go.
We’ve traveled extensively in the West, taking the kids to California on several trips; the southwest on another; the Pacific Northwest three years ago, and last year, Wyoming, Colorado, and South Dakota. But we’ve also visited Gettysburg, New York City, and Cooperstown on one trip; Niagara Falls and Toronto on another; and, two years ago, Washington D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina. Our boys now have a genuine appreciation for this great country of ours, and they’ve also loved the trips in and of themselves. They already talk about how they’ll take their own families on similar trips when they’re older.
One of our final planned tours was New England, and we embarked on that trip in late July of this year. We left on a Thursday morning, with the goal of getting east of New York City by that evening. We traveled east on US 30, eventually hooking up with Interstate 80 southeast of Cleveland, and took I-80 all the way to New York City. We avoided NYC traffic by turning north just before crossing into Manhattan, and were therefore able to avoid New York’s awful traffic. We ended up on the Connecticut coast tired, but in good shape for the trip to come.
The itinerary from this point was as follows: head to Cape Cod, Massachusetts for two days, stopping in Newport, Rhode Island along the way. Then on to Boston for two days, with a side trip to Plymouth. Then on to Cape Ann, Massachusetts, with a side trip to Salem, Massachusetts. From there, we would travel to Camden, Maine, then to Bar Harbor, Maine, to visit Acadia National Park. We would then head back west through central Maine to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and from there, to Burlington, Vermont. The next day, we planned to drive back to Fort Wayne, traveling south through upstate New York and Lake Champlain in the process. It was an ambitious plan, but very do-able, and proved to be one of our favorite vacations so far.
Newport, Rhode Island is known as the sailing capitol of the U.S., and the number of sailboats out on a sunny Friday afternoon was amazing. However, the real reason to visit Newport is to view the incredible mansions constructed by America’s wealthiest families back in the late 1800s—the coal barons, railroad magnates, and powerful merchants who constructed these opulent “summer homes” along the Rhode Island sound. These “cottages”, as they called them, must be seen to be believed (and they can be, since many of them are now preserved as museums). The Astors and Vanderbilts competed with each other to see who could outdo the other when it came to these palaces. They can best be viewed from afar by strolling along the Cliff Walk, which straddles the shoreline, and runs adjacent to many of the mansions. The Walk can be accessed at a number of sites along its three-mile course, and is worth the effort. If you only have time for one tour, the home to see is The Breakers, constructed by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895. It has 70 rooms, and is the most opulent of all the mansions (and that’s saying a lot!). It was modeled after several European palaces, and is a tribute to the ridiculous excesses of the super wealthy of that day, who lived at a time when there were no Federal or State income taxes!
From Newport, it was a short jaunt on to Cape Cod. The Cape is at the bottom of Massachusetts, and is shaped like an arm that is bent 90 degrees at the elbow. Among the most famous areas on the Cape is Hyannis, where the Kennedy family compound is still located today. But the road to this town is often choked with people and automobiles in the summer, so we heeded the advice of our guidebooks, and stayed further down the Cape, at the point where the “elbow” would be located. The town we stayed in is Chatham, and is absolutely wonderful. It has charm and beauty oozing from every corner, which is why it is probably one of the most expensive places to stay on the Cape. But we found a great place to stay that was perfect for us, less expensive than most, and couldn’t have been better located (The Dolphin of Chatham). Chatham has the Cape’s most famous lighthouse, a great beach, the best shopping on the Cape, and a multitude of excellent restaurants. And on Friday nights, they even have a community band concert in the village green.
No trip to the Cape is complete without a visit to Provincetown, which is at the very furthest point on Cape Cod. It is also one of the oldest settlements in Massachusetts. In fact, before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, they first landed at the site of Provincetown, where they spent five weeks prior to making their more famous landfall. Provincetown is extremely quaint, with narrow streets and multitudes of shops. It has a great seaport, where numerous Portuguese fishermen still empty their daily Atlantic catch. But it is today most famous for being a destination for gay people from all over the East coast. The visitors are probably 50% straight and 50% gay, and it can be quite an eyeful. Our kids took it all in stride, and so do most visitors to this historic town. On the way back to Chatham, we stopped for a full afternoon at one of the many great beaches along the Atlantic side of the Cape. While crowded, the beaches are first rate. The water this far north is very cold, however, and there are enough small rocks mixed with the sand to make some water shoes highly recommended.
> Read More Information About Us
> More Articles Written By Our Staff
- Celebrating 20 Years Of Community At The Stand - April 12, 2024
- First Positive Case Of Chronic Wasting Disease In Indiana - April 12, 2024
- Southwest Allen County Schools Embark On Major Tree Plantings - April 12, 2024