I was up by 0600 but Katie and John slept until almost 0830. Meanwhile, I got breakfast and played around with my new Duolingo app. Ella and Johnnie came back from their friends' homes to say goodbye to me and I was on the road by 0900. It was misty and cool so I decided to try to cross the Cape Cod Canal before any possible mad rush of tourists. The drive to the Cape (in MA-3) was OK and I got across the Sagamore Bridge quickly. I used US-6 to reach South Yarmouth, where I hoped to try to finish the Cape Cod Rail Trail Extension. Parked at a lot on Flax Pond (just after 1000) and walked all the way to the western end at Higgins-Crowell Road. It felt good to escaping the heat had arrived up north... One highlight of the walk was crossing the Bayberry Hills golf course. Mollie called to tell me about her Israel trip - that was a nice surprise. It got much warmer (70s) while I was walking so I was glad to make it back to my car (1215). Looking forward to coming back whenever they tack on some new miles to the CCRT! After I was finished, I got back on US-6 and drove back to Sandwich. I arrived at my dad's house by 1245 and we went to get lunch at the Sandwich Pizza House (1305). After that, we went back to the house to get some metal trash that my dad wanted to take to the Town Dump. This was one of my first visits to any public landfill in a long time. Before returning to his home, my dad drove me around for a while to show me some new things in town. We first visited the renovated library and then crossed over the Sagamore Bridge to visit Sagamore Beach. It was very foggy and cool there (pleasant) and we walked on the beach (zero visibility) to look for seals (no luck). During this time, I played phone tag with Brenna. My dad then took me down Phillips Road (southeast) and, for the first time, I learned that there was an isolated part of Sandwich on the west side of the Canal! We drove until a dead end (100 yards from the parking area for Scusset Beach) and then backtracked towards my dad's house. My dad was going to show me more things but Beth texted to say that she needed to car. So, we went to the house and spent some time talking and enjoying the company of the dogs. By about 1630, my dad started cooking - he ultimately had to redo the meal because one of the dogs ate some of the food! We sat down to eat (Beth had returned) by 1730 and had a nice meal with great conversation. Afterwards, we got in the car and drove across the Bourne Bridge to get ice cream at Betty Ann's Dairy Freeze. I enjoyed a delicious (soft serve) twirl of coconut and lemon. We then drove over to visit Onset Beach and took our time going back (via US-6 on the west side of the Canal) to the Sagamore Bridge. My dad wanted to do some more driving but Beth wanted to go home. At the house, my dad insisted that we watch the first VCR tape of his collection of the 1970s TV Miniseries of "Centennial" so we sat down to watch that until about 2200. It was 147 minutes long and I didn't wait see the end. Instead, I went to bed (2230). Nice day!
