Trip to Cape Cod
Mom came walking up to me at supper time and said she had a surprise for us boys. Well she exclaimed that we (Tim, Charlie, and I) were going to Cape Cod with our Uncle Bill and his family to stay at their summer house for 4 days. They are all Christians. I knew we were going to have a blast! I was so excited I couldn't wait!
*The Beginning of an Adventure*
We drove over to my uncle's house at about 9:00 pm. The rest of their family was already up at the Cape, so we were the last brigade. I went with Uncle Bill and Stevie in their VW bus (it is really old) and Tim and Charlie drove up in our Honda Civic. The adventure begins! We took the lead and Tim and Charlie tagged along behind us. Charlie stayed with Tim to keep him awake, it's like a 6 hour long drive. Before we hopped on the highway we got some gas and grabbed a couple of Coffee Collates at Dunkin' Donuts.
WARNING!
IF YOU HAVE A BLADDER PROBLEM OR SOME OTHER DISABILITY LIKE THAT, YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE A RIDE WITH MY UNCLE! BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR ABDOMINALS GOOD AND STRONG...GO RIGHT AHEAD!
My uncle is the kind of guy that should have his own comedy show on T.V. He can't stop cracking jokes! He is so enjoyable to be around. It was about 10:00pm, so I decided to try to take a nap, I COULDN'T! I just kept laughing at him! Stevie is a little more subdued, but he still has his Dad's genes.
When we stopped for a bathroom brake, Stevie and I couldn't stop laughing at Uncle Bill, because he kept playing the same song over and over. We would recite the lines jokingly and then all laugh at them.
I somehow fell asleep, and it supposedly, was a long time before I was awakened by the voices of Stevie and my Uncle saying things like,
Stevie: "Let's get off the next exit."
Uncle Bill: "Yeah, there's smoke coming out of our muffler."
Stevie: "I wonder what the problem is?"
I sat up and said something like, "What's going on?" Stevie told me I had missed an exciting time. They explained to me what was happening as Billy took a right off the highway and pulled into some sort of rest stop. Uncle Bill turned the car off and hopped out to inspect the injury.
My Uncle collects old cars and then gives them a makeover. So we were with the right guy. Tim pulled up next to us and said that there was a cloud of smoke coming out the muffler. "We know," was our response. Stevie decided to go long boarding while his Dad fixed the car. While Stevie amused himself, Uncle Bill was busy looking at the engine. Oh, by the way, on the back of the car, there are two bumper stickers, one says:
Yup, its got a Hemi, and the other, Honk if anything falls off.
When Weet Woow (a nickname for Uncle Bill) exclaimed that he thought he had solved the problem, we all came over and got back in. He turned the key and...nothing happened. "Time for a push," said Uncle Bill. We got out again and went to the back of the car. We put all our weight against the car and pushed. We got her rolling, by the time she had gone about 30 feet...FFFrrruummm! She kicked in! We jumped back into the bus and speed off. Uncle Bill told us,"If we stop, we'll stall, so basically, WE CAN'T STOP!"
We maneuvered out of the rest stop and then said a prayer for the car. When we got on the exit ramp (it was like a 15 mile an hour zone), an old, slow car, chugged in front of us at about 15mph, and here we come from behind going about 25mph! We all were screaming, "Go! Go! Go! Come on speed up!" Our car was lurching like crazy! It kept cutting out then starting up again. We managed to get on the highway without stalling, but the game wasn't over. Stevie suddenly said, "The bridge! If we stall on that, we won't be able to pull over to the side since there is a 5 foot high cement wall right against both lanes!" There was a bridge ahead that was probably 800 yards long! So if we stalled...CERTAIN DOOM! There was no turning back! We were going about 60mph as we hit the bridge.
"Please Lord, let us get over this bridge," we begged. This was the moment of truth! It continued to sputter, but at least we weren't stalling. 600 yards left! Sputter, sputter. 400 yards left! Ffrrrumm, ffrrumm.
"Come on, come on," I said excitedly. 200 yards left, almost there! Uncle Bill started to encourage her on.
"Come on baby you can do it!" 150, 125, 100! I pressed my fists against my face in nervousness. I was relieved to see that the last hundred yards were fine. We made it! Yes! We all celebrated and gave each other high fives. The cement wall disappeared and there was enough room to pull over on the side. We pressed on, lurches and all. The bus slowly got worse as we neared the Cape. A couple more stutters and a few more lurches.
At 1:00 am., when we were about half an hour away from the house, we hopped off the highway and got on the main road that led us straight to town. Normally when you go through town there might be a couple stop signs or stop lights. So that means you have to obey the law and stop,right? No, of course not! You just go straight through them! Easy as that. Now obviously we would stop any other day, but this wasn't your average day. Since we couldn't stop the car without it stalling, we weren't going to stop for the signs or lights! I remember Uncle Bill asking Stevie,"Do I have clearance? Can I go through?" Stevie would reply with a yes and on we went. Another thing Uncle Bill would say is,
"Sam, are there any Po-pos (police)?" I answered with nope every time. The funniest thing about this whole episode, is that every time I looked back Tim was right behind us, cruising through every red light we went through, as if it was normal.
We went through a few more intersections but then finally pulled into the driveway, at about 1:30 am., and as Uncle Bill put the car to a STOP Tim rolled up behind us. We climbed out of the half dead bus and were greeted by the sweet smell of salt water. We gave each other high fives; we had made it to the Cape.
I hauled my sleeping bag, pillows, and gym bag out of the Honda and headed for the house. Stevie lead the way. We walked silently through the hallway, and then climbed some stairs at the end of the hall. Stevie asked us if we wanted to sleep in the "Crows Nest" or in one of the normal bedrooms. We thought the crows nest sounded pretty cool, so we turned a corner and Stevie began to climb up one of the steepest staircases I've ever seen. Here's a picture of the Crown's Nest.
The old wooden floor boards creaked as we made our way up. It was a rather small space, but it had 4 cots, 2 windows, and a skylight. Plenty enough for me. I sat down on my cot and sighed, it was almost 2:00,a.m I was tired, and so was everyone else. I set up my sleeping bag and crawled in, it wasn't long until I was sound asleep.
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*The First Day*
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I woke up to the sound of noisy sea gulls and commotion downstairs. I got dressed and headed for the first floor. I saw Aunt Kerry out on the porch and sleepily walked over to give her a hug. We talked about the crazy ride up and how exciting it was. After that she told me that they had planned to go out on her Dad's boat and go to some island that had a really nice beach. Sounded cool to me. Next she informed me that the girls, my cousin Chelsea and her friend Leah (Leah is a Christian too), had walked into town and that they'd be back soon. My 13 year old cousin, Randy, came out of the house and after a hug asked me if I wanted to play Ping Pong. "Sure", I replied, so we made our way over to a little barn next to the parked cars. Inside the barn was a Ping Pong table, a couple chairs, and a coffee table. There were tons of things covering the walls, like surfboards, skateboards, roller blades, hockey sticks, golf clubs, and even a huge Shell gasoline station sign. Randy grabbed a ball and and we started playing.
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WARNING!
PING PONG IS A VERY ADDICTING GAME! IF YOU PLAY IT ONCE OR MORE YOU WILL RECEIVE THE "PING PONG VIRUS"!
THIS VIRUS CAN GLUE YOU TO THE TABLE!
IF YOU DON'T WANT THE "PING PONG VIRUS", THEN DON'T PLAY!
Turns out, I got the virus, bad! I couldn't stop playing! It is the most addicting game I've ever played. As a matter a fact, we all got the virus! We lived in the barn and just played Ping Pong tournaments. Not to be prideful, but I must say that I got really good over the time up there! When the girls came back, Chelsea declared that she wanted to play me, so we each grabbed a paddle and started to play.
Let me give you some background here. A month earlier we had gone over to their house to celebrate my Grandpa's birthday. While we were there, Chelsea and I played a game of Ping Pong in their basement. I was so bad I couldn't even hit the ball! I'd swing, and miss, she killed me in that game. But for some odd reason I was playing like a pro up at the Cape. So Chelsea started playing me, she was playing easy to see if I could even return her shots. Once she saw that I could return them, she started playing tougher. All the guys were watching, they couldn't believe it, I was "schooling" Chelly Bell (nickname for Chelsea)! The whole Stratton family is good at Ping Pong, especially Randy and Stevie, and the weird thing was, I was beating them! It was really queer.
"We are ready to go to take the first clan to the beach guys, so whoever wants to go first, put the game on hold and go get your swimming clothes on," said Uncle Bill as he walked into the barn. We scrambled upstairs and got ready. Since we couldn't fit everyone on the boat at once we had to separate it into two trips. The first people to go to the beach were: Charlie, Chelsea, Leah, Randy, Jamie and me.
Mr. Dell (my Aunt's Dad) steered the boat like an expert as we sped across the water. In about 30 minutes, we were pulling up next to the island. We jumped out, once it was shallow enough, and pulled the boat towards the shore. Mr. Dell handed us all the stuff we had brought, like: lawn chairs, towels, shoes, beach bags, boogyboard, and lots of other stuff. We thanked Mr. Dell and waved goodbye as he turned the boat away from the beach and headed back to pick up the rest of the clan. We immediately started exploring. We found 20 foot tall dunes that you could run and jump off of. I know it sounds dangerous, but it really wasn't, because you would land on the down slope in light sand. So if your thinking we were jumping off 20 foot high dunes and landing on flat hard ground, your wrong, but we did get a little crazy later.
An hour later the second raid came, Steve, Tim, Uncle Bill, Aunt Kerry, and Mr. Dell. We headed back over to the dunes with Stevie and Tim, we brought the boogyboard along. Stevie, being the dare devil that he is, said he was going to attempt going down the slope on the boogyboard.
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WARNING!
BOOGYBOARDS ARE NOT MEANT TO BE RIDDEN DOWN SAND DUNES! THE BOARD WILL STOP AND YOU WILL GO FLYING FORWARDS!
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He grabbed the board and ran up to the top of the sand hill, and hopped on."Here I go!" he yelled. He shuffled over to the edge and, just as expected, fell. He made all of us want to do it. Charlie tried many times but only fell flat on his face. I decided to give it a shot. We were trying to slide down on our stomachs this time, so I got a running start and jumped. AHHHHH!!!!! The board stopped and I kept going! My legs went passed my head! I felt a twang in my back and just laid there yelling in pain. All the guys came over and asked me if I was OK. It was really painful, but then after I sat up, I felt perfectly fine! It was the weirdest thing ever! I thanked God for keeping me safe. I had learned my lesson, and didn't try it again (I'm such a wimp).
We headed back to the area where everyone else was and had lunch. Hot dogs were passed around and we were offered soda, chips, and most of all cherries. Stevie and Charlie started pegging me with the pits as I was laying on the beach! It was a mine field. It wasn't long before all the cherries were gone.
After lunch we went swimming off the boat. There was a 3 foot high railing that you had to jump over in order to land in the water, this railing limited us to only simple jumps (thank goodness). Although Stevie did jump off once and came up saying he had gotten poked in the rear by a sharp rock. After hearing that we decided to call it quits. The first barrage left and returned in a hour or so, but in the mean time Jamie and I were making a Sand Castle, or more like a Sand Pit. We grabbed a couple leafs and acted as if they were castles, then we would dig under them and see how long they would last before crumbling. Sounds lame but it actually was fun.
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*Noon*
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Aunt Kerry announced that she had reserved a couple tennis courts at the little tennis club down by the beach (this was a different beach, this one was like right next to the house). We grabbed some white tennis wear and rackets, and headed for the courts. The courts were packed but it was OK. I played Randy for a little bit but then we decided to play King of the Hill with everyone. Basically, you play till you lose, then the person who beats you gets to be the King. Pretty self explanatory. We were all rather rusty. Leah was having a hard time, just a little. I started joking around with her and told her things like:
"You should start teaching Andy Rodick (a very famous tennis player) how to play."
"You'll be a pro in no time." She couldn't stop laughing. After realizing we weren't getting any better, we headed back for the house.
When we got back we played football in the yard and Ping Pong tournaments and walked to the park to play "Manhunt" but by the time we got there we decided we weren't going to play, haha. On the way back me, Leah and Chelly Bell went down a short road that lead us to (what Chelsea thought was) a private beach. Since we weren't sure we decided to stay quiet. We weren't quiet for long. For some reason Chelsea and Leah wanted to swim really bad, and yet it was midnight or later already. I didn't want to swim at all, and besides I wasn't in a swimsuit, instead I was in Khaki shorts! But then again, the girls weren't in bathing suits either, so I guess that just makes me a wimp :( . Anyway, the girls decided it was way too crazy to swim so instead they got on their knees and let the waves hit them. Leah, who was totally enjoying herself (why I don't know), pleaded for me to do it. I gave in and got on my knees. Oh, by the way, the girls had been getting these tiny waves that just got high enough to get their pants wet. Well, it was a different story when I did it. Right when I kneel down a huge wave came and absolutely drenched us! We all jumped up and looked at ourselves. The wave had been so big it crashed into my stomach! WE WERE SOKED! We ran back to the house to show the guys; they all lost it. We were a sad sight.
The Next Day-
Tim, Charlie, Jamie, and I scanned the crowded street. We were trying to find the girls and Stevie. They had walked into town before we had. We walked a block without seeing them but then we spotted them at Dunkin'. The girls were sucking down their Ice Lattes while Randy was ordering a Coffee Collata. We joined up with them and also grabbed Collates. We walked outside to the sidewalk and sat down on some steps. Suddenly it looked really familiar. Then it clicked! About eleven years ago I had sat in the very same spot! I remembered because we had our trip to the Cape on home video back at home.
Dad and Mom had brought us up to the Cape a long time ago with Uncle Bill and his clan. On the home video it shows Uncle Bill pushing us through town in one of those little, red wagons, then we stopped at the Ice Cream Shop (they tore that down and put a Dunkin'). I laughed, remembering our faces after we had our ice cream.
The only people that really wanted to shop were the girls. We tried to stay close so we wouldn't lose eachother again. We met up w ith my uncle and aunt at a store and planned to head back to the car.
I think its time to show some pictures of my crazy cousins.
But GREAT!
That afternoon Aunt Kerry told us that we were going out for dinner at Westward Ho golf course. We put on on some apropriate apparel and prepaired to stuff our stomachs.
I sat down next to Randy and placed my napkin in my lap. It wasn't very busy, as a matter a fact, there were only four tables being used! So it was nice and quiet...until we walked in. A waitress guided us to a table in the far corner. Don't you wonder why she put us in a far corner? While we were scanning the menu, we chatted and shared stories. Kat, our waitress, came over and took our order. It took a long time for our meals to be prepared, but it was just fine because we were enjoying ourselfs throughly. When Kat returned with our drinks, Uncle Bill told her that she reminded him of Julia Roberts (a very famous actress), this comment led to the funniest line of the night. Somehow she started talking about how she and her boy friend were begining to look alike. Uncle Bill suddenly blurted out,
"Well thats bad news for him!" He didn't try to say it like that, but he did. Trust me, my uncle would never make fun of someone like that. Kat looked at him with wide eyes and replied back jokingly,
"Don't expect to get you're meal tonight." We all laughed. We didn't realize that everyone was looking over at us. We tried to quiet down but it was too hard. It was one of those moments when you had to be there for it to be funny.
When the food arrived we couldn't believe how big the platters were! They must have been 2 feet wide and 2 feet long! I said kidingly to Kat,
"Looks like you're feeding a pack of wolfs!" I was handed a plate with a huge slab of meat on it with onion rings on the side. We asked a blessing and then dug in. It was delicous! We were all very thankful for the meal. Aunt Kerry suggested that us kids should head down and explore the dock that was past the 18th green. We piled out of the restuarant and walk across the soft green grass to the dock. Tim, Charlie and Stevie had stayed behind looking at the golf green. After the girls had a photo shoot on the dock we walked back towards the 18th. Little did we know that the guys were right around the corner waiting to scare us. Leah was the closest to their hiding spot so she was their target. BOOOOOO!! That noise was followed with a scream. I didn't jump at all, honestly, but Leah was so scared she sprited 10 yards to the opposite side of the trail. We all cracked up. Seeing that it was getting darker by the second, we decided to go back to the car and head for the house.
When we got back we got back we (once again) played a huge Ping Pong tournament (very unusual), and then after we watched a movie we decided to go down to the beach (oh by the way, its 1:00am right now). We strolled down the sidewalk for about a 1/4 mile until we reached a light house, its beem of light streaked across the beach, it served as a good flashlight. We crossed the road and walked down a stairway that led down to the beach. Once we reached the shore we started writing things in the sand, such as: "I LOVE MY COUSINS" and "SAM KERR WAS HERE!". I know, I'm such a vandal, ha. After we litered the shore with sayings like those I just listed, we had a contest to see who could dig the deepest hole in the sand. We dug holes so deep that the sand was up to our shoulders! Thats pretty deep when you think about it! By the time my hole was done (in other words, it was so deep I couldn't keep digging), I dared Leah to put her foot in it, and then, after we burried it, see if she could get back out. Being the fearless girl that she was, she stuck her foot in and just as I was about to slip the sand back into the hole I heared the weirdest noise ever off in the distance. RARHOOORARWHHOOORARARHOOO!The creepy sound sent a chill up my spine. What was that noise? I turned to the guys and said,
"Sounds like a bunch of kids are heading this way." I shook it off and pushed the sand back into the hole. RARHOOOOOOOOO! I whirled around and starred off into the darkness, it was same noise, but much, much closer. We all were thinking the same thing...COYOTES! I jumped up and sprinted for the stairs! Luckily for Leah I hadn't totally buried her feet! If she had been fully buried, she probably would have been stuck there! They continued to howl. I must admit...it was pretty freaky when the coyotes howled. Once we all got up to the road I was totally fine, but man they scary!
Now you're probably wondering why coyotes were down on the beach. Well we aren't sure if the howling came from coyotes or foxes. There was a slight argument wheather they were foxes or coyotes, but after a while we all decided that they must have been coyotes. Because foxes don't howl, they yip.
I have to say that that was the highlight of the trip. It was action packed, fun, and scary.
Once we reached the house we were still pretty pumped up so we didnt go to bed until something like 2:30. LATE NIGHT! Lets just say this...I slept well that night, or should I that morning.
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The Last Day-
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I woke up at a rediculous hour that morning and jumped out of bed. It was something like 11:00! I'm used to waking up at 7:30 or so, but then again I'm also used to going to bed at 9:00 instead of 2:30. I felt like I had slept half the day away, that's the concequence for going to bed that late. The girls were out and about but us guys were still recovering. I got up and walked around outside. I decided to stroll down to the beach to see if the Chelsea and Leah were there. I scaned the beach, they weren't there but a sea lion was (I'm not sure if it was a sea lion or a different kind of seal). A large crowd was watching a sea lion (or whatever it was) swim around not far from the shore. I watched it for a little bit but I began to get bored and right as I began to head back to the house the seal plunged under the water and disappeared. All the guys were awake when I returned and they all wanted to play tennis. The girls and Tim wanted to go to the beach but the guys and I all shipped off to the tennis courts.
When we got to the tennis courts we were shocked to find the courts soaking wet! Apparently, it had rained that morning so all the courts were really wet and gross. Here's a picture of the lovely conditions we got to play in.
You can't really tell how gross it was but right where Randy is standing it was literally slush. Oh, and I thought I'd mention that Randy is poddie trained that's just the rain water in the background.
But not to worry, my gang and I didn't care, and still played through the slush. It was fun, wet. We played a game were the object of the game was to hit your opponent with the tennis ball while they were standing still, but you still had to be on your side of the net...that my friends, is my kinda game. I'm brutal...no I'm not! Well anyway, we all got hit at least once, a least. It was Jamie, Randy and I against Charlie and Stevie. I have no idea who won. Whoever walked away with their head won (that means I didn't win, haha, just kidding). It was a ton of fun.
I carried my racket back to the house with all the guys and then we all just hung out until the girls, Tim, Aunt Kerry and Uncle Bill came back, then we started to get ready to leave.
The saddest part of the trip was when I tossed my sleeping bag into the cars trunk, the same place where I had pulled it out only a couple of days before.
Since it was such a fun trip it made it that much harder to leave the Cape. But, i had no option, the train was leaving, I had to go too, and besides it wouldn't have been fun without everyone else.
Hugs were exchanged and then off we went, back to our homes.
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All in all, I had more fun than I'd ever had in my whole life, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves! It was a ball. I had no idea it would be that much fun when Mom told me about the trip back at home, days before.
Labels: Trip to Cape Cod
Far left, Chelsea. Left, Leah (not my cousin). Center, Stevie. Far right, Randy.
Look at the camera!
Getting comfortable.
