New England 'Marmite' Flydrive - Day9 - Cliff Walks

[roonlou]

Day 8 - The Village and Seafood

Sunday 23rd August 2009, Day 9
Wequassett Resort and Golf Club, Chatham MA
Distance 87 miles
Cliff Walks and Cold Stones

Much better nights sleep, Roo had set the air-con to an icy setting, so we snuggled all night long. Normal morning routine, I sat in bed typing up the last day’s events, whilst Roo sorted stuff out – I'm very lucky that he helps out like this when I'm in trip report mode. He even headed out to get some complementary coffees for us.

Up and out we met the folks at the hotel restaurant for our morning’s food treats, it's a very fine chintzy old hotel, but the rooms are nice and modern and so are the facilities, and there was also the suggestion of haunting or two. We were seated at a small table in a very quiet dining room, and our orders taken by the waiter. Pa had cranberry waffles, Roo and Ma had the continental, choice of cereal, fruit and a muffin, while I had the banana nut oatmeal with raisins. It looked very good, and tasted even better.





We returned to our room to gather our belongings, then back downstairs to check out and put our bags into storage for the morning. We headed out into the warm and humid morning and off down to the famous cliff walk, today was supposed to be a special day for the surf. Hurricane Bill had been working its way up north for a few days, and today would be passing the Rhode Island area, and as higher waves and swirls were expected, higher amounts of surfers were also expected.



It was very warm, and there was no cooling breeze even when we finally passed through the town to the coastal route. The views however, were outstanding. There were lots of people out enjoying the weekend’s weather, running, jogging and walking along. When we passed round the first peninsular a few brave surfers out at sea came into view, the further along the route, the more surfers we saw. And so many many people out to spectate and photograph. We had fantastic views of the surfers and the Atlantic on one side, and magnificent mansions on the other.





We then noticed some very wet people, and presumed, incorrectly, that they'd been down by the water. No, due to the big waves, the sea was crashing into the cliffs and washing up and over the coastal path. We timed it correctly and ran, and survived with minor damage, however the folks got their timing wrong and got soaked all the way through! Then the nice paved walkway stopped to be replaced with a large rocky type path before we finally passed inland and out of danger.



As we passed down Bellvue Avenue the amazing sight of horse drawn carriages came into site, one of the biggest mansions in town was holding a display. There must have been ten different carriages with beautiful horses all matching, four brown, four white, four black and so on, pulling old carriages loaded with people in historical clothing or general fineries. I tried to get some nice photos but most came out blurry.

[roonlou]

Next sight on our wandering past all the mansions was of around 70 guys warming up for a game of football, it was very hot, and we were impressed how happy they seemed to be racing about in full kit. We followed the road along, and spotted a parade of shops with a Cold Stone Creamery, it wasn't open till mid day, but we noted it for our journey out of town later.



Back to the hotel, and we waited while the folks dug some dry clothes from their cases to change into, before getting our car returned by the valet. Pa's turn behind the wheel again, so we loaded up and headed out – Tom Tom said the journey would take just under 2 hours, so plenty of time for an ice-cream treat. The little streets were very busy again now, so it took longer to drive to Cold Stone than it had walking. Another first for the folks, so they took a while studying the extensive menu, we all had the smallest size – I like it. I had “That's how I Roll”, which had cake batter ice-cream, sponge cake, cinnamon and Pecans. Roo had “Mud Pie Mojo”, a mixture of coffee ice-cream, Oreo's, peanut butter and fudge. “Coffee Lovers only” for Pa, coffee ice-cream, roasted almonds, heath bar and caramel. And finally “Founders Favourite” for Ma, sweet cream ice-cream, brownie, pecans, fudge and caramel. I think everyone enjoyed the experience even if we did all feel a bit sick after.



The journey to Cape Cod was very smooth, and everyone but the driver, hopefully, enjoyed a ten minute sugar induced sleep. We eventually arrived at Waquassett Resort just before 3pm, and rolled up to the pretty landscaped entrance and down to the little reception to check in. Our rooms were ready, and so we were introduced to Lloyd, the 80 odd year old bell boy with the big hand shake, and guided to our lodgings. Waquassett is made up of lots of little buildings spread across the complex, it has Pleasant Bay on one side, and Circle bay on the other, so it's pretty much water all round.





We followed Lloyd in his golf cart approximately 20 yards, as our block was next to reception; he helped us load all our many bags onto his cart, and showed us to our rooms, numbers 70 and 71. Very pretty rooms, decorated in a light summery style, two Queen beds, garden views, large bathroom with Molton Brown products, and even a couple of dressing gowns. Lloyd reappeared laboriously carrying our bags, our entire luggage is on wheels, but the old man carried them anyway. Lloyd then showed us the very flash coffee machine, and explained the mini-bar was at cost, so very cheap, to make it an option for people to use, rather than avoid – it was very well stocked – for now!





Pa then appeared pointing out that we'd only had ice-cream for lunch, so we requested 15 minutes to unpack and then reconvened to go off site for a late light lunch. Tom Tom said there was a Subways nearby, but we were unable to spot it, so went into the local supermarket instead. It was a great choice; the folks sorted themselves out some delights from the salad bar, while Roo and I had a $3 cup of hot and tasty Chicken Noodle soup. We then sat in the Starbucks enjoying our cheap eats! On the way back, as for the first time with no cases in the car, we took the opportunity to drop the middle sits, and raise the ones at the back to give it more of a limo feel!

Back to the resort and a little more time to sort our belongings out, we'd been living out of cases for over a week, and we needed to reassemble our stuff. But with the calling of exploring this pretty hotel, we soon were banging on the folks door to drag them out. We wandered down to the tennis courts, pass the kids play area and investigated the lap pool for adults only. We then wandered into one of the buildings that homes two of the restaurants Twenty Eight Atlantic, smart dress only and a little on the pricey side, and Thoreau's, a bar that serves food too.






We then passed through the pavilion and down through the garden to the walking path that wraps around the resort next to pleasant bay. We took the opportunity to sit on the wooden steps leading to the beach, currently in high tide situation and quietly took in the beautiful scenery. The lapping tide was so calming, and even though a busy resort, very quiet and secluded, and even Pa managed to unwind a little bit in the peace and beauty of the place, which is not his normal nature. There was a live band playing at the other nearby outdoor restaurant, and it was lovely to hear the soft jazz - always jazz music on this trip! - wafting over.



With Pa getting restless, we headed to the main pool area, a lovely circular pool, with big comfy lounges round the edge, framed by the amazing Pleasant Bay; it was very busy with lots of folks enjoying themselves. Here was the bar LiBAYtion, and the indoor/outdoor restaurant Outer Bar & Grill, and this was where the band were playing. There was also a big fire pit, with padded seats circling the outside, so feeling very mellow we sat down and Roo kindly got some cold Sam Adams from the bar. Pa was still not quiet into relaxing, and insisted we moved to the higher and turned out much quieter platform with the cabanas for photograph opportunities. But as we sat to pose on these were the extremely comfortable lounges, he soon had no choice but to relax!



With time passing much too quickly we headed back to our pretty rooms to shower and change for dinner, we had a 7:30pm sunset reservation at the Outer Bar, with seats on upper deck and views out towards the bay. We met with the folks and wandered up to the restaurant, and as our table was ready, we soon were seated, as promised, on the upper deck with outstanding views. It was right above the jetty leading to the boat launch, which was lit with tiny lights, and we could still hear the band playing mellow tunes. Roo and I shared Tuna sashimi, served on an ice block, and very fresh with the hottest wasabi we'd ever tasted. The folks shared calamari which must have been good as they didn't offer a tasting. Main courses were maple glazed salmon for Roo with Miso marinated veggies, Boneless Pork rib and smashed potatoes and a wedge of corn bread that would make an ideal door stop for Ma. Pa and I both had fried Belly clams with fries and coleslaw, which I enjoyed for a while, then was a bit unsure of due to a strange texture to the clams.









No room for deserts again, but not too bad as we’d already had Cold Stone under our belts, so time for a little wander into the dark night. The resort was lit beautifully and even had gas lamps dotted around, the boys tried to take good photos, but you couldn't capture the true atmosphere. Feeling drowsy and full, we wished the folks a good night, and returned to our rooms to find there had been a turn down service. We'd had beds turned down, starfish chocolates, two bottles of water, and they'd even tidied the bathroom. I was grateful that we hadn't left the room in a complete mess before leaving, but not far off! So, we climbed into our comfy bed and enjoyed a night cap from the cheap mini-bar and a spot of Food Network TV.



Day 10 - Hail The Whale

[DisneyMadAng]

I don't know how you do it but it looks like you've found another gem of hotel. Gorgeous. I love the colours in the 'blue' photo.

[Mickeyetta]

Poor old Ma and Pa getting soaked

And you must edmacate me in the way of the coldstone in Jan

H

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[Strommie]

You are certainly staying at some beautiful hotels on your trip.

[ethanjosh]

I'm starting to regret booking Florida now after reading this

[orlandosgr8]

Another wonderful hotel

[DIBBadmin]

This thread has been automatically closed as it has not been posted on in 365 days.