Our big kid has been at the Cape for the past week at "grandma and grandpa summer camp". We all spent last weekend at the Cape when we drove down to drop him off, so this weekend we arranged to meet my parents just over the Sagamore Bridge in Sandwich, which saved us another 40 minutes of driving out to the outer Cape.
Freshly refueled, we now had plenty of time to pop into the big, round, stone barn to see the race car exhibit. Yet again, it was incredibly kid friendly. There was an Indy race car that the kids could suit up and climb into, a Model T to climb into and drive, and a race track where the kids could build their own cars and race them down. We had to pry my son free when it was time to leave.
I've wanted to check out the Heritage Museum and Gardens with the kids for ages, but we hadn't had a chance until today. Even on a drizzly day it was so much fun! We spent about 4 hours and we'll definitely be back again to explore some more!
Just inside the entrance, our kids were immediately intrigued by the sounds of a waterfall and ran to explore the aqueduct emptying into a lilypad pond. We let the kids lead the way from there and followed the paths to explore a glen full of hydrangeas, a maze framed by cobblestones in the shade of pine trees, a pile of oversized alphabet blocks, megaphones to yell across the lawn and trees to climb. So many little kid-friendly treasures to discover!
We popped into the Special Exhibition Gallery, a big barn-like building in the middle of the gardens. The kids were noisy and full of energy, so I was thinking we'd have to take a quick peek and then get them back outdoors before they disturbed anything, but even the gallery was welcoming for the kids. The exhibit was beautiful- paintings by children's book illustrator Wendall Minor. Just as I was chasing the kids around a corner and preparing to urge them not to touch anything, we discovered a corner with a kids' table beckoning them to create some artwork of their own, and staff who were smiling and encouraging. So much fun!
Back outside, we followed signs that promised a tree house ("Like Jack and Annie's tree house, mommy?" my 3-year-old asked me). Through the trees and then down a steep path the Hidden Hollow came into view. Oh my gosh, we could have spent an entire afternoon there. A grand treehouse, musical instruments to play, another art corner, a waterfall with cascading pools of water and buckets to play with, a sandbox, a stage,
The drizzle suddenly turned into heavy rain, so we put our hoods up and headed further along the path, following signs to the indoor carousel. When we pushed the door open, there were no other families inside, and the carousel stood silent and still. My son asked "Is it closed? Is it just for looking at?" but the lady attending the carousel welcomed us all (adults included, despite our muddy wet shoes) to climb up and turned it on. On the first ride, we had the whole carousel to ourselves. Plenty of other families came inside to shelter from the rain too, and our kids rode three more times.
We were getting hungry so we decided it was time to head back toward the entrance. We were debating which lunch restaurant nearby we should go to, but as we passed the museum cafe with attractive outdoor seating under a canopy, the sandwiches and salads looked just fine and we decided to eat there. After the kids finished their grilled cheeses, they ran off to chase the roaming turkeys and climb another tree while the adults enjoyed finishing our lunch (with beer! and sangria!).
We definitely could have spent a couple more hours exploring the nature trails too. I'm sure we will be back again! I hear they have a fabulous winter lights display...
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