The Road Home- Colorado to Cape Ann

We left Grand Junction on August 31st, heading for home via the most direct routes, Rt 80 and Rt 90. Our drive was goal-oriented this time, as we wanted to spend Labor Day weekend on Cape Ann. We drove east through the Rockies, stopping for lunch in a cute former mining town near Leadville called Fresno. The old section of the town has wooden sidewalks and a nice museum on the history of the area. After leaving the Rockies behind, we found the eastern section of Colorado to be surprisingly flat.

We enjoyed the drive through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana through rolling farmland planted primarily with corn, wheat, and probably soy bean. After spending the night in Moline, Illinois we again crossed the Mississippi. The river is quite wide here, which surprised us this far north. The road took us through Ohio, into Pennsylvania and New York, than finally into Massachusetts.

Cape Ann is Massachusetts' "other cape", a peninsula that extends out into the Atlantic to form the northern boundary of Massachusetts Bay, with Cape Cod forming the southern boundary. Its shores are rocky, interspersed with beautiful white sand beaches. The interior of the peninsula (often referred to as an island by the locals, as the man-made Blynman Canal separates it from the "mainland") is uninhabited city-owned land. This area, known as Dogtown, has a very interesting history. The name supposedly comes from the days when Gloucester was a whaling town. The men would leave for months on end. The women and children, accompanied by multiple dogs for protection, left the shore and moved inland in fear of pirates.

Arriving at Cheryl's, our girl Ally turned inside out when she saw us, which made us feel good- we were wondering if she had decided to stay in New England forever! She had so much fun swimming and running in the woods- things that are limited, to say the least, in S.Carolina. She even lost weight.

The weather the next four days was spectacular- clear blue skies, low 80's- perfect for walks, sitting on the rocks by Ipswich Bay, and eating outside in the evening. Sunday was a perfect day for the Schooner Races, held every Labor Day weekend. We had an opportunity to see a few of the schooners up close, including the Blue Nose out of Nova Scotia.

Unfortunately, we were unable to see either Kyle or Mark (Dale's grandson and son), but did get to visit with Cheryl, Sheryl and Kara (daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter) and Gregg (Cheryl's SO)- and all the dogs! All of them- Smitty, Cooper, Jessie, Kona and Hula, and of course Ally- enjoyed the walks and the swims.

All good things come to an end. Tuesday September 8th, we headed South for the Lowcountry and home.