Onset, Mass.

Onset was beauuuutiful. The aunts stayed in the house on the beach, and all the cousins and their families (that's us) commuted from nearby hotels each day.

The house was fabulous and the weather was perfect most of the time. One huge storm came through, which was actually rather awesome. Tina and I were driving out to their ranch to feed the horses at the time, and I aaaaalmost got the perfect photo of lightning over a picturesque hotel in town. We drove around the block twice to catch it again, but by then the rain was pelting the windshield so hard that we couldn't see a thing.

Nope. Nothing.

Horses!

Rodeo and Sunny-Boy

A big group of us went to watch the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge move up and down one afternoon. It only lowers about twice a day, and we were told a train goes through every weekday at 4 p.m.

As it turns out, the train doesn't have a schedule, so we weren't able to see the bridge move.

Pretty though!

From YouTube, where I see a lot of other people had the same problem trying to catch the action, here's the bridge going up and down---



Very cool.

Quote from a local with the BEST Boston accent we heard all week, a guy we met fishing near the bridge-- "You're from the South, where people are friendly and nice. You know they why they put the M in Mass.? To be polite." He chatted with us for a long time about the railroad bridge and its history, along with several other places to go and see in the area. So nice! I could have listened to him talk all afternoon, but his little boy was getting bored out of his mind, so he had to leave.

There was also a local couple there who happened to "know a guy," who actually called their friend to see if he could give them an estimated time the train would be coming that day. Again- so nice! Come on, New Englanders. More cold and brusk, less friendly. You've got a rep to protect. ;)

Jeff found a teensy-weensy crab. It's in the upper left corner of the shell.

I know. It's like looking at a sonogram. See the legs and tiny claws?
It's facing the upper left. That's Jeff's thumb on the left side. Teeny!

Not to be outdone, Luke found a horseshoe crab, one of the world's scariest creatures.

Eww.

Lots of food. Lots of games and hanging out. Great times! Would love to spend a month there. Especially now in the summer.

On the way home, we were the second-ever commercial flight of one of Southwest's brand new 737-800s. ("We worked out the kinks on the way here from Phoenix," the flight attendant joked.) The plane was very nice, particularly the way the overhead compartments work. Your bag sits inside the door, and then the door folds up into the ceiling, creating far more space in the cabin.

Oooh. Spaceshippy.