Day 6: Leaving Boston for Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The day before was spent exploring Downtown Boston, so on Day 6 we drove down to Harvard Square, the commercial area near Harvard University.
Walked for about 15 minutes around Harvard Square deciding what to eat for lunch and we were pleasantly surprised to find IHOP (International House of Pancakes) tucked away on a quiet street. Where else would you go for an all-American breakfast! And it doesn't hurt that I'm a fan of pancakes.
Excitement built up as we scanned the list of all the tempting options! Always wanted to try IHOP and having been to the States twice before, I never had the chance, until now!
There's even 4 kinds of maple syrup to go with your pancakes. (Old Fashioned for me please!)
Food is here! We each ordered a set that comes with the usual suspects of any american breakfast, and a side of pancakes. My pancakes were red velvet pancakes! (: But what I loved about the breakfast was the rosti!
Can't wait to dig in! :P
Overall, I felt that the food was not bad, just a tad too oily for my liking. Did it live up to my expectations? Probably not. But I won't immediately take it off my list of "must-eats", instead, it's more of a "must-try". And of course the portion was too huge for me! I was negotiating with Joel to not finish my food but being the anti-food waster that he was, I was forced to finish everything. I was so stuffed! But in a good way. (:
Harvard Square was busier than this! I especially liked the many cafes where you could sit and people-watch. We ended up at Starbucks though, haha, only to use the wifi!
Ventured into the Harvard University Campus and I immediately took a liking to the green pastures where everyone was just hanging out. For a moment it felt good to imagine an alternate universe where a super-smart me could study there (: But then I remember that I'm only an NTU graduate and super average. *depressed*
Not superstitious but should touch John Harvard's golden boot anyway. Hehe. At least I graduated!
On the way back to the car we stopped by to buy Harvard tees for all my siblings. We are the (pseudo) Harvard family! lol
Drove about 1 hour plus to our next destination - Wrentham Village Premium Outlets!
As usual, when there's shopping, picture-taking is kept to a minimal! Anyway the outlet was like a ghost town, probably because Memorial Day was about a week away and there would be crazier sales then. Even so, we went ahead to buy what we want cos the stuff were already discounted heavily!
Controlled myself and bought only one Juicy Couture bracelet and a Kate Spade iPhone cover. Inside the Kate Spade paper bag was a bag I so kindly helped a best friend to lug back! (: Was also in the watch shop cos I bought two watches - one DKNY and one MBMJ, cos it was buy one get one 50% off. What a steal!
The MBMJ cos I always wanted a black watch, and the DKNY for work!
My other spoils for the day. (: Juicy bracelet at 30% off the outlet price, and the iPhone cover at 40% + 10% off. Awesome deals!
Day 7: Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The quaint motel we stayed in at Yarmouth (:
Wanted a picture with the Dodge Avenger we rented as well as the beautiful flowering tree that was just outside our room!
Drove to Provincetown and along the way we saw gorgeous blue bodies of water!
First stop, the Whale Watch Center to buy tickets for our whale watching cruise. We chose Dolphin Fleet, one of the main companies (if not the only company) that brings people on a 3-hour cruise to see whales! We chose the 12.30pm one cos obviously we couldn't wake up in time for the 9.30am hehe.
With some time to spare we walked up Commercial Street to look for lunch. (Why all the roads names so unoriginal! There is a Commercial Street everywhere we go. lol)
Love how the buildings are so colorful! Makes the whole street look vibrant and cool.
Realised that Joel was in a very cute nautical-themed shirt that day! Especially with the red camera bag.
Stopped by a Taffy shop to grab some homemade salt water taffies! So many flavors, I had a hard time choosing!
YUMMEH. And the bright colors make me happy!
Fat kitty!
Was happy to stumble upon MBMJ! Wanted to see if my bag was in stock, but unfortunately they didn't have it.
Nearing to our cruise timing, we headed back to the jetty and decided to queue for this - The Red Shack. (Singaporean mentality: long queue means good right?) But we decided that we were gonna miss our cruise if we did! So we went for the competitor opposite which had no queue:
Immediately can order and pick-up within 5 minutes! But in the end the food wasn't so bad but I guess the one with the queue was better. :/
While waiting, take pictures. Featuring Joel's new Oakley sunglasses!
Rushed to the boat and Phew! Made it on time! But we were practically the last to board. Lol.
On the way out to the open sea we passed by some seals basking on the beach.
Learning more about whales. (:
So for about half an hour while traveling to deeper waters, the guide was explaining to us on how to spot whales from afar. There are several first signs - large crowds of birds flying just above the surface of the water or the spray of water coming from the blowhole that can go up to several meters into the air.
While stoning at the horizon, I suddenly saw a small spray of water and exclaimed, "THERE!!!!!!" and Joel was like, "Where got, don't bluff!" and as if on cue, the guide said over the PA system that we have spotted the whales feeding! Woohoo! I have sharp eyes. (:
First shot I took when we got closer! Seeing the fin made me so damn excited.
And then this guy decided to swim closer to the boat and I was like WTFFFF!!!! The experience was incredible and out-of-body! Everyone was like snapping away and squealing! The whale first opens it mouth to swallow up a school of fish, flips over and sticks its snout out of the surface to drain out the water from its mouth.
There were so many whales surrounding the boat that I kept running back and forth between both sides just to capture good shots. And at this one point in time I reached one side just as a whale came up RIGHT BESIDE. Not kidding. It even blew water out from its blowhole and EVERYONE INCLUDING ME WAS BLESSED BY WHALE SALIVA. Happened so quickly I didn't get a chance to take any pictures. But omg it was amazing and it really rocked the boat. Everyone was super stunned but laughing and squealing with joy.
Anyway, according to what I was told, whales don't have a sense of the nature of the boat (like whether to avoid or not) that's why they ignore us and continue feeding. It is why a lot of them are hurt by boat propellers or hit by passing boats. And also why when the boats have malicious intent (like hunting and killing whales) the whales swim straight to their doom )':
Damn amazing!!!
Check out my retarded face, but yes, that is all true emotion! I took like 427347 pictures of the whales but I will post only some cos I don't wanna bore anyone. But yeah, no picture or video will ever capture the real surrealism of this encounter. I love whales forever!
Cruise ended and we had to say goodbye to the whales ): But check out the amazing blue sea (: Looks real sunny out but it was so cold (below 20 deg) and the wind was freezing me up!
Left Provincetown and drove to Chatham to grab some awesome grub! Picturesque backdrop along the way (:
We reached the Chatham Pier Fish Market! According to many travel forums, this is a MUST whenever you're in Cape Cod, cos the seafood is absolutely to-die-for!
Apparently, if you come during the afternoon when the fishing boats return, you'll be able to see seals begging for fishes that the fishermen caught! But since we had morning activities, we reached at about 5pm and missed the unique sight. :/
Saw a lone seal swimming happily though (:
Back to the food! So after taking pictures of the pier we proceeded to order.
While waiting for the food....
And finally! Lobster Roll! The huge chunks of fresh lobster meat and sweet mayo was just a foodgasm explosion in the mouth! Together with the paprika powder that gave it the extra punch - I could have seriously devoured another on my own! Best I have ever eaten.
Fisherman's Basket - Clams, Prawn, Scallop, Fish. Don't be fooled by the lack of color variation just cos everything's fried. I've never tasted fresher seafood in my life I swear. The meat of the prawns and scallops were just so juicy and texture just perfect, and the scallops were damn huge. Salivating just thinking about it!
We sat on a bench overlooking the pier. Perfect view with a perfect meal! (: After we were done devouring the food, it was shopping time!
Drove to Cape Cod Mall and spent the rest of the night just snapping up some good deals.
Hollister shorts for only 14 USD each! What a steal, cos I saw these going for full price at another outlet in another state.
Forever 21 loots! I hardly left any F21 store empty handed except towards the end in NYC. But Joel scored even better deals than me. $9 USD for a pair of Gap pants? Call him the bargain king!
Next up: Back to Connecticut, and on to Florida! (:
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