Cape Cod in the Fall

Mike and I recently returned from a week long trip to celebrate the wedding of two of our friends and to also celebrate our first wedding anniversary.  We started our trip in St. Louis where our friends, Brent and Jill, were married. It was a beautiful setting for a wedding with all of the leaves changing and the weather a perfect, sunny, crisp fall day.  The wedding was held in a nearby church followed by a reception at Union Station. It was a lovely wedding and a fun venue with great food (we even had lemon sorbet between courses to cleanse our palate!!), a live band, and lots of dancing. I was able to reconnect with an old high school friend, too, who was also attending the wedding which made the night even better.

A few pictures of fall in St. Louis.

 

A view of St. Louis from our hotel room.




Enjoying lunch before the wedding.

The happy bride and groom.



One of the many local gifts included in a gift bag given to out-of-town guests from the bride and groom; such a thoughtful gesture.

Photographed in the car before the wedding; one of many self-portraits on this trip.

We left St. Louis the next morning bright and early to catch a flight to Boston.  We had a seafood lunch in Boston followed by some exploration of the nearby areas including MIT and Harvard campuses.

 

A statue of a grumpy-looking John Harvard; I made sure to rub his foot for good luck like all of the locals.



Random chairs scattered throughout a grassy area on Harvard's campus.



Interesting building design on MIT's campus.

We enjoyed fish 'n chips and a seafood casserole for lunch here.

Had to sample the PB Oreo ice cream here during our walk; I wasn't disappointed.

On Monday (our wedding anniversary) we enjoyed a leisurely day exploring the area near the condo where we were staying.  We drove to Provincetown, an idyllic seaside community, where we enjoyed shopping and lunch.  We finished the day by exchanging gifts at a fun tapas restaurant.

 



Admiring the changing leaves on our drive into Provincetown.



On the pier at Provincetown, MA.





The hubs cooperatively smiling for another picture.

Pretty little lone green boat on shore.



I forget the name of this monument. We had plans to climb to the top of it until we found out it cost $10/ person; paying $10 to climb a million stairs doesn't make much sense in my mind.



Happy anniversary to us! Anniversary gift for year one is "paper". I gave Mike a professional photograph of the Cape Cod area that I thought we could frame later to remember our trip. He gave me lots of chocolate wrapped in paper (the man knows me well) along with a board game and a silly princess word search game (inside joke).

On Tuesday we headed to Nantucket Island by ferry.  The island is full of huge, historic homes, brick paved streets, quaint boutiques, and a charming lighthouse. While waiting for the ferry we took a tour of the "Cape Cod Potato Chip" factory; can't beat a free tour and free chips!

 

 

Gotta love free tours!



And free potato chips!



On the ferry to Nantucket.

A view of Nantucket from the beach.

This picture captures the peacefulness and slow pace of the small island.

Lighthouse on Nantucket

 

Wednesday we headed to Salem, MA; it was a perfect time to visit with Halloween so close.

 



We learned all about the Salem witch trials here.

 



Creepy picture outside the Salem witch museum.



Posing with Samantha from "Bewitched".



We found this scary clown playing a saxophone on the streets in Salem.





Enjoying a few festive drinks with lunch, a candy corn martini (including candy corn at the bottom of the drink!) and a fall flavored beer with a caramel and cinnamon-sugared rim. Yum!



Our boat for the "Haunted harbor cruise"





Aboard the boat sipping a hot cider while enjoying the views and creepy ghost stories.



View of a metal framed lighthouse during the boat ride.



The sunset made for a very picturesque scene on the water that night. This picture doesn't do it justice.

We finished our trip on Thursday. Mike woke up early to capture the sunrise (he videotaped it and then let me watch it in bed later that morning :-) )  and then we took a morning walk to enjoy the last of the cool fall weather and to find a hole-in-the-wall breakfast place where we could savor our last morning there.  We headed back to Boston for a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery after that before heading to the airport.





Outside view of the condo/ resort where we stayed.

The beach was only a few steps away.

My love.



Early morning sunrise.





Taste testing at the Sam Adams Brewery



Getting ready for a 6 hour flight back to California.