Canal Centennial, Continued

The Centennial celebration continued through the end of July.  I hadn't planned on taking a walk on one of the days because it was just so humid outside, but I went out anyway.  My feet took me back to the MMA campus.  As I turned around to return home, I was surprised to see this headed my way! I knew another tall ship was going to be at MMA for tours but had no idea it would be on the move the exact day and hour I was down there!

Total happy accident!

I assume this was one of the ships that was down in Sandwich over the weekend for their SeaFest event.

What a difference a day makes!  We woke up to a gorgeous, clear, dry day!  I was down in Provincetown in the morning and early afternoon but made it home in time to walk into town for the tug boat parade and events in the park.

My friend Sheila was down on the MMA campus with her son & grandson so I walked down to hook up with them and take pics of the tugs.  Saw this old car waiting in traffic.  And traffic was completely gridlocked in town too.  I am so lucky to live within walking distance.

This was the first tug.

Lookit the wee tug! SQUEEE!

We were somewhat surprised that only 7 tugs participated.  So I'm not sure that 7 constitutes a 'parade', but oh well.

Sheila, the boys & I walked back over to the park to check out the tents and old cars and stuff.

Mobile Mermaid Boutique

The park was mobbed.  Bridge was down for the trash train which was quite..erm...'fragrant'...as it passed by (there are no more landfills on Cape Cod...all the trash is removed by train).

Pretty ladies with pretty parasols.

The town had the big fireworks display on the night of the 29th, at the train bridge. I didn't return to town for it, although I could probably have seen it from my street, because my poor dogs really hate fireworks!  It lasted for about a half hour and the grand finale had me wondering if the bridge was still standing.  The pics I saw online were pretty and I wish I could have seen it, but Pepper and Sagan needed their mama at home.

So overall, the tall ships and the park stuff was really good.  I was pleased to see how many people were in the local businesses.  I thought the celebration fell very short on what they could have done with the 'boat parades'.  But I guess they are only as good as the people who commit to participate and actually show up at parade time.

The Canal Turns 100!!

Our beloved Canal is celebrating it's 100th birthday this summer with a week's worth of events. 

On Saturday, July 26th, I walked over to Mass Maritime to check out the 2 tall ships that were in port. I thought this was really cute, and a cement dog is the only kind that should ever be chained up outside!!!

An artist was painting the ship, the Charles W. Morgan, which was on loan from Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.

"They who go down to the sea in ships....."

The Coast Guard tall ship Eagle was enormous.

I had a hard time getting the whole thing in my frame.

Even back here I had a hard time!

The Morgan and T.S. Kennedy had very long lines of people waiting to tour the ships.  There was no way I was doing that!  This is the end of the line for the Morgan.  I bet I was already home, showered and had lunch by the time these people got on board!

The Kennedy line was shorter and moved faster because the ship is ginormous.

This wobbly inflatable sperm whale is called Spouter and I think was also on loan from Mystic Seaport.

On the walk back to town

Local eatery Lindsey's has had this banner plane flying around the area all summer.

There are events going on through this week and I hope to see a few more.  There was a lighted boat parade on Saturday night but it was so mobbed in town that I opted to come home before it started.  As it turns out, from the pictures I saw on Facebook, I didn't miss much.  I had it way more built up in my mind of what it would be!