Day trips on the South Shore

A Hull of a beach day – Claim your $7 parking spot in the public lot along Nantasket Avenue early, before it fills up, then amble back to the cozy breakfast bistro Toast (121 Nantasket Avenue, 781-925-5221, toasthull.com), where the creme brulee French toast is well worth the wait. Stock up on sunscreen and umbrellas at Carousels & Ships (187 Nantasket Avenue, 781-925-4975, hullstuff.com), and stake your place on Nantasket Beach. Take a barefoot stroll down to where the surfers brave the waves and colorful kites dot the sky. Forgot yours? Pick one up at Sea Side Kites for as little as $12 (293 Nantasket Avenue, 781-925-3277, seasidekites.com). 

Body wetted and appetite whetted, head back to Hull’s Kitchen (19 Hull Shore Drive, 781-925-0225, hullskitchen.com), where you can grab a fish taco or pulled pork sandwich inside and eat it right on the front porch — or even have it delivered beach side. One perk: The place loans boogie boards for the day. If you have kids in tow, the siren call of the Paragon Carousel — and a frappe from its adjacent creamery — will have grown impossible to resist. The 84-year-old ride’s period charm has been restored over the past several years, helped along by a $100,000 grant in 2009 from the Partners for Preservation (205 Nantasket Avenue, 781-925-0472, paragoncarousel.com).

For a more vigorous kind of ride, call in advance to rent a pair of 21-speed bikes from Nantasket Beach Bike Rentals (9 C Street, 339-236-1624, hullonwheels.com) and head out toward Windmill Point at the tip of the peninsula. Top off your visit with a serene bay-side paddle on the Weir River Estuary, renting kayaks from Nantasket Kayaks (Steamboat Wharf Marina, 781-962-4899, nantasketkayaks.com). Restore both body and soul with cocktails and the expansive ocean view from the roof deck of The Red Parrot (1 Hull Shore Drive, 781-925-1115, theredparrot.com).

Living history in Quincy and Plymouth

You’ve hoofed it along the Freedom Trail, climbed Bunker Hill, sucked out all the marrow of life at Walden Pond. Now it’s time to round out your degree in American history by heading south. Begin in downtown Quincy at the Adams National Historic Park, operated by the National Park Service (1250 Hancock Street, 617-770-1175, nps.gov/adam). Even if you missed David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book and subsequent HBO miniseries, the engaging tour and American treasures inside — such as an original oil painting of George Washington that Adams bought for $46 — are sure to pique your interest.

From there, head down Route 3 toward Plymouth, stopping for a platter of fried cod at the no-frills haunt Wood’s Seafood (15 Town Pier, 508-746-0261, woodsseafoods.com), a harbor institution for more than five decades.

Your previous visits to “America’s Hometown’’ have probably covered the obligatory “Rock’’ and “Plantation,’’ so this time, sign up for a $10 walking tour through Jenney Grist Mill Tours (48 Summer Street, 508-747-4544, jenneygristmill.org, reservations required).

Alternatively, plunk down $18 per person in booty and let your kids’ imagination travel back in time on Plymouth Cruises’ swashbuckling Pirate Cruise (9 Town Wharf, 508-746-5342, plymouthcruises.com), where buccaneers-to-be will shoot water cannons and recover a treasure chest from a villainous foe.

At this point, the less hardy might consider checking in for a night at the White Swan (146 Manomet Point Road, 508-224-3759, whiteswan.com, from $135), a modest 1820 farmhouse near White Horse Beach that has served as a B & B for more than a century.

But the energetic day-tripper can top off a journey to yesteryear by braving the Dead of Night Ghost Tours, which sets the tone for the evening with the choice of rendezvous spot: a parked hearse (70 Water Street, 508-866-5111, deadofnightghosttours.com). Guided by lantern light, “professional’’ paranormal investigators lead visitors through the Burial Hill cemetery, which claims to be the nation’s oldest burial spot, followed by a visit inside two haunted houses.