What do 4 super-bored, claustrophobic, post-quarantine, over-fifties do when the 2020 Covid lockdown ends and they are free to wander outside their homes?
Well, I’ll tell ya what these over-fifties did! We went on our first little getaway! It was one year ago this month, July 16th to be exact, and that trip was our inaugural trip. It was the one that sparked our travel savings club. We had such a great time and traveled so well together (no one suffocated anyone in their sleep) that we decided we wanted to travel together more frequently.
So What Did We Do?
We went to the Cape for a “dinner train” excursion that left from Hyannis. It featured a 5-course meal during a 2-hour trip around Cape Cod. I’ve always loved the nostalgia and elegance of trains, so thought it would be fun. I pitched the idea to the girls, and they were totally all on board(see what I did there?! 🥴).
The dinner was on a Thursday night (girls’ night!), so we drove down early and checked into the Hyannis Harbor Hotel. The hotel was perfect – very reasonably priced, and the location couldn’t have been better. We enjoyed afternoon drinks in their outside cabana area and then went back to our room to dress for dinner.
You think 4 women with only 1 bathroom would find it a challenge to get ready for dinner – but we managed remarkably well – even arriving at the train station early. Outside the train, a jazz musician entertained the crowd and it wasn’t long before we were all aboard, seated at white tableclothed tables – cocktails in hand.
How Was It?
It was fun! And though not quite the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express excursion I had imagined in my head, it was an offbeat way to have dinner and enjoy a trip around the Cape. The food was great and the scenery was beautiful. We love doing different things and this was definitely unique! After dinner, we went to an outside verandah near our hotel to enjoy an evening drink. All in all, it was a great day, but we had more planned for Friday!
Thursday Night Train, Friday morning Ferry!
Friday morning, we were up early and caught the ferry to Nantucket. As much as I loved the dinner-train excursion, I loved Nantucket ten-times more. (Full disclosure: Nantucket is my favorite place in the whole wide world, and I am always happiest walking her cobblestoned streets or sunning myself on her beaches). We were only spending the day there, so we stuck with exploring the town on foot.
Now . . . I’ve been to Nantucket many times and when I arrive on the island I do one of two things – depending on the time of day I arrive. If it’s morning, then it’s breakfast at Black Eyed Susan’s – a small little eatery on India Street. The food is awesome and totally worth the wait if there is one. If I arrive in the afternoon, which is when we arrived that Friday, then it’s lunch at The Nantucket Tavern. It’s perfectly located and if you situate yourself outside at one of their red wrought iron tables, you have a perfect view to people-watch while enjoying their fabulous mudslides. They. Are. Yummy.
Exploring ACK
So, we had lunch, enjoyed our drinks, and watched people as they shopped. Once done, we roamed the streets, and popped in and out of Nantucket’s quaint little shops. It was overcast and gray (Hello! They don’t call Nantucket the Gray Lady for nothing!), but it was still beautiful. The hydrangeas were in full bloom and the gray-shingled homes lined the streets and sat atop the water – all perfectly coordinated in their color scheme. Nantucket has a strict building code that require all the homes be covered in unpainted shingles. They eventually weather to a soft gray once they have survived their first Nantucket winter. The unity of color adds so much charm to the island, that I can’t imagine it any other way.
We lingered so long on Nantucket, that we decided to take the fast ferry back to Hyannis – doing so enabled us to spend more time on the island and less time traveling over water. Even though we spent the day there, we saw a fraction of what the island has to offer. We vowed to stay longer the next time we go because we were definitely coming back.
So, there you have it – our first trip. The getaway that started our little travel fund. The getaway that made us realize we were excellent travel companions. We realized we were happy to explore places together and were equally open to suggestions with no quibbling over stupid things. No one complained about anything – not even my snoring . . . well . . . not to me anyway. 🤪
– Darlene
I learned so many things I didn’t know by reading this! May give some of this sight seeing activities a try!
You should! It was only one overnight but we squeezed in so much! Definitely tired driving back home, but it was worth it. 🙂