May 25-26                                        Sandwich, Massachusetts

Stephanie and Joe were awed by the beauty of this area.  Charming homes are surrounded by lush greenery and acres of stone walls, constructed by early settlers and now called “the ruins of New England.” I refer you to Robert Frost’s poem, Mending Wall, but I digress.  The rhododendrons, pink, white, scarlet, lilacs, irises and lupines are in bloom and they are truly magnificent.  With few exceptions, every home, large and small, is pristine.  People are friendly and helpful.  We shall hate to leave.

With a prediction of three days of good weather, we left early from Wickford Shipyard and entered the wide expanse of the West Passage across from Newport.  Soon we were cruising beneath the great Pell Bridge, out to the Sound and then to Buzzard’s Bay.  The wind was about 8 kts, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to begin our journey to Maine. 

The trip through the Cape Cod Canal is always interesting and one cannot keep from marveling at the expertise and laborious effort required to construct this great waterway to the Atlantic Ocean.  Bikers, boaters, fishermen and RVers were taking advantage of the scenery and weather.  Bridges to the Cape from the mainland were crowded with holiday traffic.

Sandwich Marina is located at the eastern end of the canal and is our preferred place to dock before heading up the coast to Maine.  The Bottom Line is too large for dockage at the small marinas at Plymouth and Quincy and we do not like to spend extra time going into the larger ones in Boston.  With an early start, we can leave Sandwich and make it to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  On the following day, we can leave early again and make it to Southwest Harbor, Maine.  All depends on the weather.  Our trip in September had been difficult because of wind and time constraints.  We did not want to repeat that experience.

Sandwich was crowded but we obtained a good docking position on the west side.  This gave us easy access to a beautiful restaurant, Fisherman’s View.  It was packed with a festive holiday crowd but the wait was worth it.  Fresh seafood and decadent desserts were rewards for a great day of cruising.

Unfortunately, weather forecasts had changed considerably and we were looking at winds exceeding 15 kts for the next two-three days.  We would stay in Sandwich another day and see if the weather improved. 

Sunday morning was sunny and warm but wind forecasts for the Atlantic area had not improved.  Time to make lemonade out of lemons!   We “Ubered” to Heritage Museums and Garden, the site of the Rhododendron Festival and the Lilly collection of antique and classic automobiles.  Nestled in a lovely neighborhood, the gardens featured acres of huge rhododendron bushes in varied hues singly and massed together in breathtaking displays.  Tall trees, many very old and huge, were part of the scene.  It was delightful to walk the meandering paths (or ride the little carts, if needed) from one gorgeous place to another.

The Lilly family (of pharmaceutical business fame) had donated their classic automobile collection to the Heritage Museums and housed it in a unique building copied from early Quaker barns.  With approximately 50 pristine models on display, the exhibit was awesome.  A pale yellow and aqua Duesenberg convertible, once owned by the actor Gary Cooper, had been restored to showroom new and was a flamboyant reminder of the Roaring Twenties era.

Once again, we dined at Fisherman’s View and were pleased with the excellent food and service.  With wind reports remaining unfavorable, we made a drastic change of plans.  We would not go to Maine until after our return from the scheduled Baltic Cruise with Stephanie and Joe from June 12 to July 3.  We would go instead to Nantucket for a few days and return to Wickford, leave the boat there while we were gone and have the opportunity to explore the Rhode Island/Boston area.  Voila!  Decision made.