We finally left Boston and headed for Cape Cod and Provincetown.  After six weeks, Boston really felt like home and we were sorry to leave but we are on to the next adventure.

P-town is at the very tip of Cape Cod and was the original landing site of the Pilgrim's, who spent five days here before going on to Plymouth.  You can learn more about P-town at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provincetown,_Massachusetts

We arrived on Sunday, September 28 and it was a balmy 86 degrees (hard to believe it's only two more days until October).  Although we will only be here for four nights, we love it already.  Here is Karol having a glass of wine on our porch/deck.

 

 Here is what she is looking at and why she is smiling.  It's almost like having our own private beach.

Of course, I had to relax after driving all the way down the Cape.

On Sunday, we walked in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  This was the fourth year we walked and the first since my friend Axel lost his battle with cancer.  Given about six months to live when he was first diagnosed, Axel survived for more than 3 1/2 years, largely through the efforts of Dana Farber.

David "Axel" Foley is an old friend from the Navy who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer when he was 46.  He never smoked.  His father was diagnosed about a month later and passed away shortly after that.  Hence, our team was named Fighting for Foleys, in their honor.   Karol designed and produced our logo and sign, which has appeared in newspaper photos and on TV - mostly because  it stands out in the crowd at the start.  I have been the team captain each year.

 

This year, we had 19 walkers and raised more than $9000.  Here's out team.

Here we are walking down Boylston Street in Boston.  The Walk follows the same course as the Boston Marathon and finishes in the same spot.  Walkers can follow the whole 26.2 miles or join the route at 10 or 3 miles.  We do 3 miles to accommodate the sick, lame, lazy and children among us.  I won't say where I fit in.

Here we are with Jennifer, Axel's wife...

and his girls, Taylor, age 11, and Rose, who just turned 7.

Here I am with Axel when we went to dinner in the North End before the first walk. That's Paul Revere and the Old North Church in the background.  (BTW, I just found out there is also an Old South Church but it is not as famous.)

You can learn more about the Jimmy Fund and Dana Farber - and donate to our team - at the link below.

http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1086390&lis=1&kntae1086390=B4A875EB8E984183997BC77FF3D45967&team=6111880

Today, I walked over to Fenway Park today and took the tour.  Although I have been to Fenway many times,  I never knew they had a tour until last week when we met some tourists from Germany who told us all about it.  It was actually pretty interesting.  We got to go to the visiting team locker room, the top of the green monster and the press box. 

Fenway Park is the oldest professional sports venue in the U.S.  It opened in 1912 (more than 100 years ago) and beat Wrigley field by two years. By the way,  Fenway is a ballpark, not a stadium although I can't remember the difference - but out guide was adamant about it.

The locker room was much smaller than expected - there are 47 lockers, even though the team can only have 25 players on it.  I guess the rest are for coaches and bat boys / bat girls. 

The seats on the Green Monster are the most desirable in the ballpark and are sold through a lottery.  This week, the dreaded Yankees are in town and it's the last time that Derek Jeeter will ever play in Boston.  As a result of an event pricing strategy, the Monster seats are going for $4000.00.

Here's the view from on top of the wall looking down the third base foul line (that's the foul pole on the right).

The Fenway press box is the second largest in MLB with 101 seats.  Yankee Stadium has 102!!  Although there is room for a lot of people, space for each reporter/broadcaster is pretty small.

Here are some views from the press box.

Lastly, we went out to the bleachers in right field to see where the longest homerun was ever hit in Fenway when Ted Williams hit a 502 foot blast and conked a guy on the head.  The fact that he hit a guy and ruined his straw hat is how they are sure exactly where the ball landed.

For those of you who missed it - Friday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day!  So a hearty Arrrrgh to ye matey!!

However, as my son in law pointed out after shopping at Staaaar Market and having lunch at Maaaarkeys, Pirates in this neck of the Seven Seas say Aaaaaagh matey.  I know a lot of peopledon't believe in TLAPD so you can learn all about it here:

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html 

Been keeping busy sailing, kayaking and seeing family. 

We went to dinner with our kids and Karol's sister and her kids, grand kids and GREAT grandkids -

We took Laura out to brunch for her birthday at the Top of the Hub on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Center.  What an incredible view.

On Sunday, we walked the Freedom Trail, and of course started with the USS Constitution - Old Ironsides.  The Constitution is the oldest US Navy ship still in commission.  No trip to Boston can be complete without going aboard the Constitution.

Here's the gang amidships.

Son of a gun.  I'm quite a BIG SHOT around here!

We also visited Paul Revere's house.  It was build in 1680 and hasn't succumbed to urban redevelopment yet.

We also saw the Old North Church where they hung the lanterns that got Paul started on his famous ride.  One if by land, two if by sea.  Which was it???

Here's Paul out front showing how he did it.  Unfortunately, the sun was right behind him and the church got washed out.  But if you find any tourist brochure for Boston, it will probably have this shot in a better light.

Here's the steeple from the angle that probably Paul probably saw.

 

On the way back, we stopped to see some of the street performers in Quincy Market, right next to Faneuil Hall.  Here's Wacky Chad riding his big wheel and small wheels.

Our kids are visiting this week and we are going to celebrate Laura's birthday at a brunch at the top of the Pru.  Meanwhile, we revisited places we used to go when they were younger and we would visit my father.  First, we went up to Hampton Beach, NH to my father's (now my brother's) cottage.  It still looks the same after all these years, except for the tree in front, which my brother "trimmed."

That's Peter on the left and Laura and Chris (sitting).

We also stopped to have a lobsta roll at Maaaarkey's.  They used to have a canvas awning in back where you could sit.  Laura loved scaring the seagulls that landed on it by whacking the canvas and chasing them away.  

 

We've been staying busy doing all sorts of things ... like relaxing along the river - with a good book.

Or taking in a Red Sox game.  It's hard to believe that the World Series champs can be in last place the following year - but they are playing dreadfully.

I learned an interesting lesson about taking selfies yesterday.  We were at Faneuil Market and I decided to get a picture with me and Red Auerbach (for those of you who don't know, Red won nine NBA championships in ten years as coach of the Boston Celtics.) 

When I took the picture, I found out that it's not easy to take a selfie if you have short arms...

But if you sit there long enough and look pathetic, someone will always stop and ask if you would like them to take a picture - so I made it with Red.