Riddle--what comes right after the start of a long, well-earned vacation?

[DFW]

The END of that same well-earned vacation!

My wife and I got here to this secluded part of Truro, Massachusetts four weeks ago. We interrupted our time here to run down to New York City for our daughter's wedding, but otherwise, we've been here riding waves, taking in some culture, feeding ourselves (yum!) and feeding the mosquitoes (yecch!).

As every year, the day we arrived, I said, "this is going to go by SOOOOO fast." And so it did. Tomorrow, it's back to Boston. Then, on Sunday evening, my wife flies back to Germany, and I fly down to Washington, and then on to Dallas a couple of days later.

We listened to some traditional Mongolian music
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Enjoyed some of what Edward Hopper claimed was "Cape Cod light:"
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Watched the sun set from our window:
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Watched a part of SOME kind of parade down Commercial Street in Provincetown:
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Finally met a legend I had been hoping for years to meet: Edel Bordón, head of the Cuban Academy of Art, visiting from Havana (he said my Spanish was perfect, but that from a Cuban is like Jed Clampett telling you your English is perfect LOL!!):
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And had a last meal with my wife at a Provincetown restaurant near the Galeria Cubana, where Bordón was showing off some of his work:
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You KNOW what we'll be doing tomorrow: getting up at 5 in the morning to wash our last stuff, do the final packing, load the rent-a-car, and drive off back to Boston thinking, "what the HELL are we doing at our age, leaving a place like this?"

And the answer is, as every year, F*** if I know!

[CentralMass]

1. That is beautiful stretch of the cape. I miss it.

There was a now defunct 80 mile Cape Cod Relay race that i ran for quite a few years in my ute. It ran from Plymouth Rock to the tip of Provincetown it was held in the second or third week of October every year. I typically ran the second to the last leg that was 13.8 miles and went right though Truro and Wellfleet. It was a deceptively tough leg with some long gradual uphills and a head wind most of the time and it made it into the dunes for the hand off for the last leg. I have that beautiful stretch of road etched in my memory.

[DFW]

2. I know what you are saying. I know just about every rock at the side of Route 6

And STILL I come here and discover the place anew every year.

[CentralMass]

3. Yes. That race gave a unique opportunity to see 80 mile of the cape at a somewhat slower pace.

I'm in war story mode and there is no stopping me
We had 8 runners on the team and eventually 8 wives or girl friends. We stayed in Plymouth the night before and then the team followed along slowly in cars for each leg with ths first leg starting at Plymouth Rock. As the race got more popular there were hundres of teams and car traffic gridlock. The last year i had to get out of the car and run 7 miles and pass our runner to get to the hand off zone of my leg. I caught our runner just before the hand off and ended running 20.8 miles.

[DFW]

4. My hat goes off

I don't think I've run 20.8 miles cumulatively in the last 25 years.

[CentralMass]

6. That was around 20 years ago so same here.

[irisblue]

5. The light off Cape Cod is amazing

I took a sketchclass one year there, it certainly impacted me and how I 'see'

[DFW]

8. Some people thought Hopper was nuts

But even my wife, born and grew up (and, indeed still living) in Germany, notices that things do look different out here. It's hard to explain if you haven't seen it, but it's very real.

[Richard D]

7. I saw the Mongolian musicians...

... In Los Angeles. Fantastic!

[DFW]

9. Absolutely spellbinding!

The sounds they get from their (seemingly) simple instruments and their (seemingly) impossible vocal acrobatics are from another world. Their home, the Sakha autonomous region of Russian Siberia, would be the eighth largest country in the world in terms of square miles if it were independent.

[Brother Buzz]

12. Have you seen the film, Genghis Blues?

At once whimsical and profound, "Genghis Blues" chronicles the journey of blind blues legend Paul Pena as he discovers the ancient art of Tuvan throat singing and participates in the national competition. Belic's brand of freestyle filmmaking brings an infectious energy to this documentary, which is both a powerful, personal portrait of a musician and the story of a unique cultural exchange.

http://www.genghisblues.com/articles/reuters.html

[DFW]

13. Never heard of it

Sounds like it‘s worth checking out!

[Fla Dem]

10. Back in the late 60's and early 70's we'd vacation in the little cabins along Rt 6a in N. Truro.

Wake up in the morning and you'd be on the beach. Short ride into Provincetown or back up to Wellfleet, But right there on 6a we were pretty isolated. All built up around there now. Stopped going there when the owner of the little string of cabins was selling them for I think about $7,000 apiece. Still kicking myself for not buying one.



Glad you enjoyed your time in Massachusetts and Cape Cod. Safe journeys home to both you and your wife.

[DFW]

11. That must have been long ago!

Today, $7000 for beachfront property in Truro won’t even buy you a fistful of sand!

We just arrived back in Boston. It’s 3 PM and our foom isn’t ready. But as a gesture, we can keep the room until 4 PM tomorrow, which is amazing since we both have evening flights.