A Day in Hyannis

JFK Museum

I signed up for a winter birding boat trip out of Hyannis that was scheduled to go out today Nov 19. On the ship's itinerary was to leave at 7 am. I really didn't want to get up at 5 am, drive 90 minutes, take Dramamine, enjoy an eight hour boat trip, then drive home.

So I rented a hotel only a mile away from the port.  I went on Kayak.com. Happily, the motels down the Cape are pretty cheap this time of year. We stayed at the Yarmouth Resort. Although the rooms were a bit old (still had a box television) it was fine with me. There was an indoor pool and a hot tub, which sealed the deal on why I chose this motel.

Laurie would not have enjoyed the pelagic birding. However since I was going down anyway, I asked her if she'd like to go down the Cape on Friday. When we checked out, she could go home and I'd be on the boat. I didn't need to ask twice. She was more than happy to take a day out of work.

Bobby, Ted, Jack

I am not one to spend the day just sitting by the pool, so I looked up area attractions and off we went. Since I was going on the boat Saturday and Laurie home, we took two cars. We met at the Herring Run at the Cape Cod Canal. I got to the Big Ditch a half hour before her. I was hoping to run into a late season blitz. I tried fishing at the Maritime Academy and the Herring Run. I didn't have any luck. On the bright side, their were Common Eiders on the shoreline, the closest I have ever been to them.

Laurie walked down to the the water and got me then we drove to Hyannis. Our first fun destination was the JFK Museum. JFK is by far my favorite presidential hero. I couldn't wait to go into the museum. I knew their wasn't any memorabilia, just photographs and videos.

The downstairs to the museum is another museum, the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame. Since I go to a few games during the year of America's premier college summer league, I knew it would be interesting. Like the real Hall in Cooperstown, there are plaques. There was quite a bit of memorabilia such as signed bats and balls. Photos of various teams throughout the years. It is a bit of information overload. I only read the plaques of players I had heard of. A ten dollar admission will get you into both museums.

If you listen to sports radio you are
familiar with Angry Lou

After we got out of the museums, we went to Veterans Memorial Park. There is a monument dedicated to JFK and another for the Korean War Veterans. We stayed there for a few minutes.

We drove back to the municipal parking lot behind the JFK Museum where we left Laurie's car and parked mine. We got lunch at "the Little Sandwich Shop". We got a small burger and split a BBQ chicken quesadilla.  It was good. Then we walked up the street where Laurie got a coffee at a cupcake shop and we had a cupcake for desert. If there was one down side to Hyannis, apparently heroin is an epidemic. This was in the public bathroom behind the JFK Museum.

I am fairly certain diabetics are not shooting
insulin in the public bathroom

At this point it was 2 pm and we were running out of things to do. We drove over to the motel and asked it we could check in early. That wasn't a problem. After we brought in our bag of clothes we went for a swim. The pool was nice as was the hot tub. We killed as much time as we could until supper time.

At supper time we went to a restaurant Laurie had picked out called Longfellow Pub. The place is very small. Half of it is a bar while the other half of maybe eight tables is a dining area. I liked the small atmosphere. Supposedly they have the best prime rib on the Cape. The King cut with salad and rice was $17. which I think is reasonable for prime rib. That is what I ordered. It was very good. The best prime rib I have ever had was at the Lodge in Lincoln, RI, so if that was a 10, then this one was a close 9. I was full and it was flavorful. Laurie got steak tips that were cooked in a Teriyaki sauce.

There wasn't anyone in the pool either time
we went for a swim. A bonus of going during the
off season.

We went for another swim and went to bed. However we stayed up later than I originally planned. Why you ask? Because my pelagic boat trip got cancelled due to the high winds and big waves.Even the rain date of Sunday was cancelled. I'm glad I had a fun Friday because if I booked the motel and only just went down for the night, that would have sucked.

Korean War Memorial