Plymouth vacation questions (Boston, Sandwich, Carver: 2009, hotels, houses)

[RTTNFAM]

I am trying to plan my family vacation for the summer of 2009, and I have some questions about the area. We are going to visit much of the New England states area, but our "base camp" so to speak will be in Plymouth. We plan to be there the 3rd week in July, and I was wondering what the weather is like during that time? Are we pushing it as far as hurricane season goes? Should we come earlier to avoid the possiblilty of storms? We picked July because we have been told that the flies are absolutely horrible in June, and we also want to escape the heat of July in Arkansas. I have also found tons of activities, but was wanting to get some ideas for family friendly fun from people who know most about it, locals! My son will be 9 years old when we visit, and I want him to have a great time! I also wanted to get opinions on hotels. I have reserved a room at the Hampton Inn in Plymouth, which looks great online! But is it in a good part of town, safe? Thanks in advance!

[txbaker27]

My family and i live in TX and have visited Plymouth on both of past trips, Once in October of last year ( temperature wise it was a little chilly sweatshirt and pants type weather) and then this past July. Our most recent trip we decided to bring my husbands parents along too. We were in Plymouth the last week in July and the weather was great. Temperatures were in the low 80's with a nice ocean breeze. My son is also 9 and this area tends to be his favorite. There are so many things to do and you must schedule a nightly lantern tour while there it is fun for the whole family just bring comfy shoes!! I can not remember the name of the ice cream place by the water but while there make sure to get some ice cream and sit on the large rocks by the ocean this made for a memorable time watching the boats and the local fisherman.

Hotels- The past 2 times we have visited MA we have stayed at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis. They also have a property in Plymouth called the John Carver Inn. Both of these are great family friendly hotel and you might check to see if the John Carver might be something you guys would enjoy. Both have indoor theme pools for kids, a great restaurant, spa and gift shop.

Have you ever visited MA before? Also, while there make sure to schedule a Whale Watch. You will be there at the right time, it is a must see!!! What other areas will you be visiting?

[RTTNFAM]

Originally Posted by txbaker27

My family and i live in TX and have visited Plymouth on both of past trips, Once in October of last year ( temperature wise it was a little chilly sweatshirt and pants type weather) and then this past July. Our most recent trip we decided to bring my husbands parents along too. We were in Plymouth the last week in July and the weather was great. Temperatures were in the low 80's with a nice ocean breeze. My son is also 9 and this area tends to be his favorite. There are so many things to do and you must schedule a nightly lantern tour while there it is fun for the whole family just bring comfy shoes!! I can not remember the name of the ice cream place by the water but while there make sure to get some ice cream and sit on the large rocks by the ocean this made for a memorable time watching the boats and the local fisherman.

Hotels- The past 2 times we have visited MA we have stayed at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis. They also have a property in Plymouth called the John Carver Inn. Both of these are great family friendly hotel and you might check to see if the John Carver might be something you guys would enjoy. Both have indoor theme pools for kids, a great restaurant, spa and gift shop.

Have you ever visited MA before? Also, while there make sure to schedule a Whale Watch. You will be there at the right time, it is a must see!!! What other areas will you be visiting?

Oh WOW! Thanks so much for the reply! I will have to check out the things you have mentioned for sure! I have never been to MA...as a matter of fact I have never been any further east of here than Memphis, so this will be a whole new experience for my family. We always go west for our vacations.

I will check into the John Carver Inn, and we already had Whale watching on our list...but where can I get info on that Lantern Tour?

We are going to be there for a week and plan to visit Boston of course, Providence, RH; Waterford, CT; Cape Elizabeth, ME; Portsmouth, NH; Nantucket; and Martha's Vineyard. We have a while to plan, so the list may grow or get smaller. Lots of driving, but we love to check things out!

Are the beaches around Plymouth nice and family friendly?

[CaseyB]

Plymouth is perfectly safe for your family, don't worry about that. You might want to look on the picture thread - the harbor is beautiful. If you like history, you might want to visit Plimouth Plantation, a reproduction of how the Pilgrims lived. Otherwise, just walk around the town and enjoy it.

Sometimes we get a stretch of really high humidity, but July is too early for hurricanes here.

[twiggy]

Originally Posted by RTTNFAM

Oh WOW! Thanks so much for the reply! I will have to check out the things you have mentioned for sure! I have never been to MA...as a matter of fact I have never been any further east of here than Memphis, so this will be a whole new experience for my family. We always go west for our vacations.

I will check into the John Carver Inn, and we already had Whale watching on our list...but where can I get info on that Lantern Tour?

We are going to be there for a week and plan to visit Boston of course, Providence, RH; Waterford, CT; Cape Elizabeth, ME; Portsmouth, NH; Nantucket; and Martha's Vineyard. We have a while to plan, so the list may grow or get smaller. Lots of driving, but we love to check things out!

Are the beaches around Plymouth nice and family friendly?

Oh wow! You are going to love it!!!!
Then you'll be on here like me trying to move here. lol

[RTTNFAM]

Originally Posted by twiggy

Oh wow! You are going to love it!!!!
Then you'll be on here like me trying to move here. lol

I don't know about that! Though I dislike the high humidty 100 degree summers in Arkansas, I really enjoy the mild winters we have compared to some. I don't think I could handle much snow at all, or I would be living in Colorado by now! I was thinking today though that I am going to fall in love with Massachusetts and have to visit all the time!

[RTTNFAM]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Plymouth is perfectly safe for your family, don't worry about that. You might want to look on the picture thread - the harbor is beautiful. If you like history, you might want to visit Plimouth Plantation, a reproduction of how the Pilgrims lived. Otherwise, just walk around the town and enjoy it.

Sometimes we get a stretch of really high humidity, but July is too early for hurricanes here.

Thanks for the weather info! The photo thread is great and just makes me want to be there sooner.

[txbaker27]

We did our whale watch out of Provincetown really made for a beautiful drive also and well worth it!!! Several people on the forum recommended to take the watch out of this area and I am glad we did the boat got really close to the whales while we noticed the other boats kept a good distance.
It was really neat though because when we first got on the boat it was extremely foggy being that we took the early trip so this is all that we could tell of Provincetown:

Once we returned we could see the beauty of the town

Here is a link for the tour we went through Lantern Tours, Historic Tours, Ghost Tours - Colonial Lantern Tours of Plymouth I believe they do a ghost tour also but they advised that it is best to do the historic tour first so you will get more of a background to the areas that they will be taking you through. The Plymouth Plantation is fun also we did this both times as well. You can go at your own pace and take your time again wear comfortable shoes. Also if you go to this you can buy the combo ticket that will get you onto the Mayflower as well. Take your camera because they dress and talk the way the area was originally, it is like stepping back into time. We did not go to any of the beaches in the Plymouth area we stayed down in the downtown area the majority of the time, come to think of it we never even made it to wear the beaches are in Plymouth, hhhmmm guess I will have to plan a trip back again. We spent our beach time in Hyannis, the beaches there were really nice. This area is the JFK area great museum and lots of history as well. We also did a Harbor cruise that took you around the area. The boat we were on had a great guide and we were able to see the Kennedy Compound which was the highlite of the trip for the in laws
While in Rhode Island you should check out seeing a couple of the Newport Mansions along with the scenic Cliff Walk or even the famous Ocean Drive. The mansions are amazing. We bought the ticket where you can choose from 5 mansions. They take a while to go through so we were only able to go through 3 but the good thing is the tickets do not expire so we held on to the other 2 until another time. Trust me even when you do have stuff planned you will find more stuff to do while there!! Take side roads also we found lots of neat towns by doing this. You will also notice how clean the New England areas are compared to down South. One thing we noticed is they build within the trees instead of clearing out acres of land to build businesses houses, etc. So you have this amazing greenery and flowers around which gives more of a charm than what is already there!!! They also have the most beautiful Hydrangeas you will ever see.You guys are going to have a blast, Massachusetts is by far the prettiest state I have ever seen and the people there are so nice. They were friendly, helpful and overall real down to earth people
I feel Twiggy's pain of wanting to find a way to move up there, each time we step off the plane when we arrived I felt I was more at home than I ever had in all my years in TX.

[RTTNFAM]

Well thank you again txbaker27! You have been so helpful, and I am sure I will be back here frequently with more questions!

[twiggy]

Glass blowing in Sandwich is fun, also, do they still have that salt water taffy shop? If you have the time get a Lobster picnic from one of the local eateries. Take it down to the beach for the sunset! Awesome. Little corn, chowda, Lobster claw and the surf at sunset. Nothin like it!