What a fabulous weekend! I ran the Old Sandwich Half Marathon in Plymouth, MA yesterday. The town is about a 2.5 hours drive from our home. It is south of Boston and just north of Cape Cod. I try to use races as an opportunity to spend time with my family in a new place.

We arrived to Plymouth on Saturday around 11 am.  Since it was too early to check into our hotel we decided to visit Plimouth Plantation. Although I grew up in Massachusetts and have a Bachelor’s Degree in History I am ashamed to say that I have never visited the historical town of Plymouth.

Plimouth Plantation is an experiential learning center for visitors to explore the unique relationship between the English settlers and the Wampanoag People who called this land their home long before the colonists arrived.

Then we went to downtown Plymouth for lunch. We sat on the deck of the Waterfront Bar & Grill for a light lunch. I had the Waterfront Salad which was described as a bed of mixed greens topped with sliced strawberries, blueberries, red onion, toasted pine nuts and diced baby swiss cheese. It was just ok. They went very conservative on the berries and I should have asked for feta cheese instead of the swiss. I had mine with balsamic vinaigrette. The hot soft rolls that came with it were delicious though.

Then we set out for a long walk along the waterfront. We saw the Mayflower II and Plymouth Rock.

The Mayflower II is an actual replica of the original Mayflower which brought the Pilgrims to what is now Massachusetts in 1620.

Yup that’s it! The original Plymouth Rock has been moved, broken and chipped at numerous times. What remains is now on display at the waterfront in Plymouth not far from the Mayflower II.

It was a beautiful day, but we did need sweatshirts especially down near the water. After our walk we checked into the hotel. Carlos had been waiting patiently for the highlight of his weekend, the Pilgrim Cove Indoor Theme Pool with a water slide.

We had a blast. I think we did at least 60 runs down the slide. I felt like a kid again. We spent almost two hours in the pool. Needless to say I had worked up quite an appetite. After showers we went to dinner at the hotel restaurant. I was really craving greens. I ended up with almost the same salad I ate for lunch except this one was hearty, came with feta cheese and was loaded with berries. After dinner we went back to the waterfront for ice cream and then got silly with the camera.

We packed a lot into one day, but still made it to bed at a reasonable time. I felt well rested when Carlos woke me up around 6 am. The race had a start time of 10 am so I had some time to just relax and take my time getting ready. Stay tuned for a recap of the Old Sandwich Road Half Marathon.