CAPE COD
Cape Cod was not a place we planned on going to while on our East Coast stretch, but thanks to Eric’s family, we were once again hosted in a most beautiful place. We were invited to visit with Elaina, Craig, and their daughter Olivia, along with Claire and Jill while they were vacationing at their house in North Truro and we used that invite to explore the infamous Northern Coast.
After our quick stop to see the Delaware Water Gap, we took a six hour (plus traffic) drive to Sandwich for two nights before staying with family. We pulled into our campsite at Shawme – Crowell State Forest around 5pm, and were welcomed to Massachusetts in the best way. One, the campground was better than expected. Two, our neighbors had just returned from a day fishing with two huge Striped Bass that they could not fit into their cooler, so they shared a cut of the beautiful, fresh, cleaned fillets with us for our dinner. Three, these awesome neighbors not only had fresh fish to offer, but the best Boston/Mass accents I could ever hope for. I have really enjoyed hearing the local accents of New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts all within the same time window so I can pick up on the minute differences; and crappily try to imitate them much to Eric’s dismay.
With our belly’s full of delicious buttery Bass and yellow zucchini, we slept for our fourth night in the trailer, still high on the delight of the luxury we will have for the rest of the foreseeable future. Camping will never be the same.
The next day we woke up early and caught the ferry to Nantucket to see what the hoopla was all about. The trip over was long, but enjoyable, as we read for two and a half hours inside the third deck with a view of the open ocean. Arriving on the island, we grabbed lunch and rented some bikes for the day. Since we don’t have a huge spending budget, going to restaurants, bars, shops, etc. are generally not our goal destinations. We decided to ride over to the more old school part of the island to see nothing in particular except a small town, a bunch of crazy rich homes, and a lighthouse. We both enjoyed this way more than expected. It had been quite some time since we had taken a long bike ride, and it was a blast. It helped that Nantucket has a bike path system for travel all over the island, so you don’t have to doge traffic if you don’t want to. On our 20 mile tour, we passed a lot of nature preserves, private homes, and sweeping estuaries that gave a since of what life would be like for a dream ‘Cape’ life. My favorite house summed up what a perfect retirement would look like for this area. It was a modest one story mansion of sorts in the cape style of ceder planked sides, with about a half acre garden, and six sheep on the edge of one of the nature preserves. A gentleman’s farm. Nothing to actually make money with, but it keeps a man busy through his 80’s. That paints the Nantucket picture for me. At least the calmer side of the island, we did not go to the bars and shops side, as we have no money to spend there.
We did however overhear some gems while walking through a beach side restaurant as a group of very well-to-do ladies brunched for a bachelorette weekend. I believe it went along the lines of “everyone thinks I am happy just because I am rich, but I would be just as happy if I had nothing. If you put happiness out into the universe, the universe gives it back, that’s all it is.” It reminded me just how privileged some people are, including myself, and to never take that for granted like this person. It is easy to be happy when all basic needs are met, but if you have never had to scrape pennies together for your next meal, or guess where you will be sleeping (not by choice), then I don’t think you can boil happiness down to such a generalization. It made me laugh about how living on this pristine island must make your world a very nice bubble.
The next day we headed downtown to Provincetown to watch the World Cup final between France and Croatia. We snagged two stools at the Old Colony bar, and enjoyed cheep beer and a crowd while watching the game. I myself am not a sports fanatic of any kind, but I have watched a fair amount of the World Cup games this time around, and it has been fun to share the excitement with Eric. Although we were cheering for Croatia, France won with a good game played. Provincetown was also neat, known for it’s eccentric shops and LGBT community, it was a lively and uniquely cheerful street to walk down.
Over the next few days we stayed with Elaina, Craig, Olivia, Jill and Claire enjoying good meals, beach days and family time. It was so great to get to know Eric’s cousins and Aunts a little better outside of the large family gatherings. We had beautiful weather for the beach, swam in the cold northern waters to our delight, and further explored the coast around the Cape Cod area. It was also nice to spend time around Olivia, and realized we actually like kids, just not strangers kids who ruin literally every serine place we have been to. Olivia was a blast to hang around, and we appreciated the insight from Elaina and Craig on what was good/bad about being a parent. We especially loved hanging out on Jill’s rooftop deck!
Thanks so much for inviting us to stay!
10/10 would camp and stay at free house again.
Song: Baby Shark