Wednesday gets its own blog

 Wednesday 7/20

Josh and Jen were up and out really early for their 6 am flight out of Boston (don’t think about it). We started out with a walk around Barclay and Schoolhouse ponds (schoolhouse had geese, which we’d never seen at goose pond). It’s a very pretty hike but unfortunately it was very, very buggy, even though we were slathered in bug off. The weather was now hot and humid as well, and would stay that way for the remainder of our vacation. We stopped in to see Bubby on the way home and bugs crawled off of us onto her table – it was pretty astonishing. We got home and made great use of the outdoor shower.

For lunch we visited a favorite from last year, the Seal Pub in Harwich. Dave had chicken nachos, and that would have been enough for both of us. But I also got stuffed quahogs (minced clams and stuffing, baked in a shell, needs cranberry sauce to be perfect) and some spring rolls, which were deep fried but still yummy, albeit unnecessary.

Our next stops were fun, we started at the RCA/Marconi Museum where we watched a 12 minute film narrated by Walter Cronkite about the history of the site, and then wandered around the displays where eager docents told us about them, sometimes adding new information that wasn’t in the movie. Dave liked it more than I did, and at one point he and a docent were happily geeking out about vacuum tubes. I did enjoy it, just not as much. Two facts I didn’t know: 1. The distress signal from the Titanic was sent/received from this installation and 2. RCA was formed specifically to buy out Marconi when a US general made the case that a US company should control US maritime wireless. Our levels of enjoyment were swapped at the next place, the Chatham Shark Center, where we admired a life sized model of the largest great white ever seen on Cape Cod (Curly - she’s HUGE) and learned about the increasing number of shark sightings and the reason for it (rebounding seal populations). We also learned that if the JAWS shark had been proportional to its mouth it would have been twice the size of Curly. I’m not sure the Center made me any more comfortable about sharing the ocean with sharks, but we are certainly more well-informed. 

When we got back Lynn met us at Bubby’s for pond time and helped us eat a delicious dinner of meatloaf and salad and corn relish. Having had a light dinner we obviously needed ice cream, so the four of us headed back to the ice cream café (it’s on Lynn’s way home) and this time I had the sundae too and it is perfect. Also I had NY cheesecake ice cream which was also perfect.

At Barclay Pond

Like a Monet, only buggier

"My Nachos are Enormous!"

Blowing up the floaty. This made Bubby laugh.

A little quiet time

The Days are Just Packed

 

Sunday 7/17

We started with a walk at Thompson’s Field, another hike with lots of intersecting trails. In Wellfleet very few trails are open to dogs, but we saw lots and lots on this hike. We also saw lots of people, which hadn’t happened on any of our other hikes. Some of the trails were wide and filled with people/dogs, while others were narrower and very quiet.

We got back and it was finally time to go to Bubby’s place on Goose Pond. When I told Betsy the landlady that we’d be spending time there she wrote back YOUR MOTHER HAS A HOUSE ON GOOSE POND!!!???. The house continues to have rusty water problems, so much so that later in the week Bubby will sport very fashionable orange nails and slightly less fashionable orange hair, but the pond is as perfect as ever. Dave and Josh got out the canoe and took the girls for a ride, and then they got in the kayaks and paddled around. Meanwhile Jen and I took the floaties (there was only 1 at the house, but Jen and Josh had stopped at the floatie store and she got another one just like it, only blue) and floated around in the pond. It was blissful. We got lunch from the Corner Store (burritos or burrito bowls) and Jen and I split one and had some of the gazpacho that Bubby brought. A note for the future: Corner store has kid size burrito bowls – perfect!

I love to go fast at sea!

Then it was time to go home and get cleaned up and head to Barnstable for whale watching. Usually you go to Provincetown, but that’s more like an hour and a half from Chatham, instead of ½ hour. The whales are just north of P’town at Stellwagon bank, but we thought it would be more fun to boat than drive – and we were right. The boat was big and crowded, but it had 5 jet engines and it could MOOOOVE. Lynn came with us, and we all managed to find places to stand on the front of the boat- in my case, right out in the very front. As we passed race point and got out into the ocean we could already see spouts, and then it just got crazy with so many whales bubble feeding that sometimes we had to choose which ones to watch. Then at one point a giant pod (300?) of Atlantic white sided dolphins came and swam with the boat. I had been hoping we’d see at least a couple of whales – we must have seen at least 20, and most of them we saw multiple times. It was a great trip.

On the way home we stopped at Finn’s in Hyannis where I had a hotdog with sauerkraut in a real butter toasted new England hotdog bun. It was delicious. And Dave got extra Alaska miles for eating there.

Jen took this crazy video of bubble feeding. We saw this many times on our trip. Amazing.

some bonus photos of people eating ice cream

Monday 7/18

The hits just kept coming! Dave and I started the morning with a short walk at the Pleasant Bay Woodlands, a hike maintained by the Harwich conservancy (and not on google maps or AllTrails). It’s about ¼ mile up the road from the house and goes by a cranberry bog – we even saw little unripe cranberries growing!

It was foggy most of the day, but still quite warm. Our next activity was more ponding. The ponding with the girls is so great this year – I played so hard with the girls that we broke the yellow floaty! I wish we had pictures of how much fun we had. After we go cleaned up from pond time we went for lunch at Mac’s where I had yummy steamer clams and figured out why they’re never served in broth or roasted – they’re too sandy! After lunch I did some major relaxing while Dave, Josh and Jen went up to Wellfleet for some excellent sailing with Lynn.

Why did they leave Jen in the bay????

Hannah and Jen enjoy some down time

Dinner was an extravaganza! My cousin Zach (on my mother’s side) and his wife Liz were staying with their daughter Allie and her husband Eric and their daughter Maya, who is just a little younger than Hannah. We all had fun figuring out the relationship between the girls (second cousins, once removed, if you’re curious) while Zach put together one of his legendary dinners. He and Dave had consulted on wine, and it was an excellent dinner and very fun to be with so many family members! The meal ended with delicious chocolate cupcakes – I got one frosted by Maya with minimal frosting which was excellent. There was good joke telling too. Sadly, no photos.

Tuesday 7/19

Tuesday was Josh and Jen’s last day with us, and we kept them busy! Dave and I started our day with a hike that took off from Long Pond Rd but didn’t actually go by any ponds. We spent pretty much the whole day either at the pond or relaxing in the big house. It was an exciting morning for me, because I swam all the way across Goose Pond and back, about 2/3 of a mile total. Dave was out kayaking so I flagged him down to place my lunch order, but it turned out Corner Store wasn’t open, so we got lunch from a taco place instead, not quite as good. After lunch Josh and Jen took Avery to miniature golf while Hannah napped. They also stopped at the floaty store for a new yellow floaty.

It was a good thing we rested up because dinner was another extravaganza – a family lobster feed featuring 6 1-lb lobsters (Ben and the girls had hamburgers), oysters both raw and grilled, fruit salad, roasted potatoes, and corn on the cob. We all worked as a team and made a great meal! Once we’d finished cleaning up the girls and Josh and Jen went to bed, and Ben and Joan and Dave and I went to the Ice Cream Café, where they have the best classic hot fudge sundaes that I’ve had in a very long time, although I had a Indian pudding ice cream cone dipped in chocolate. It was fun to be out just the four of us, and the long line moved very quickly.

Wellfleet into Chatham

July 14 (Thursday)

Our only full day as sole tenants started with, you guessed it, a walk. Since the tide was reasonably low we decided to do the Great Island hike, and boy was it fun. First of all there were countless fiddler crabs, holding their oversized claws over their heads and spreading the pinchers in a threatening manner – threatening to another crab, since they are mostly less than an inch wide. We’ve decided to use the raised-claw-spread-pincers move to show a crabby mood. The hike has dunes and salt marsh and woods, and even though it rained for a while when we were in the woods it was our favorite hike of the vacation. Dave figured out a way to make it into a loop, and really the only disappointment was that there was no tavern at the tavern site. 

One fun part about the woods is that the trail in many places was a little sunken and bordered by bright green moss, kind of like the exit lighting on a plane. We missed Uncle David on the hike, although it did have a lot of hills. We ended up walking about 4.5 miles. We didn’t see any sharks, even though there was a sign on the salt marsh telling us to be careful.

Our landlord Ted had suggested we try the Fox and Crow (or, as Dave calls it, Moose and Squirrel), so we went there for lunch and man was it yummy. It’s across the street from Richard’s restaurant of sainted memory, and we liked it so much that we made reservations to come back with Lynn and Katie for dinner that night. Dave dropped me off in town and did some major relaxing, and I had a nice time shopping in town (2 shirts) and discovering that the reason that all the things in ½ of the shop I call Salt are $150 more than in the other half is that they are two separate shops. Aha! Don’t walk through that doorway! I ended up walking home from town – it’s only about ¾ mile – and then joined Dave in that major relaxing. We had a delicious and enjoyable dinner at Moose and Squirrel with Lynn and Katie (inside, sadly, as it was raining while we ate) and then headed home to do more enjoying of the quiet.

Friday 7/15

Meanwhile everyone was in transit; Josh and Jen flew overnight to Boston and Ben & Joan et al flew in as well. B&J spent Friday night with her parents, but Josh and Jen rented a car and drove out to Wellfleet, arriving at the perfect time to pick up our order at BOX LUNCH before coming to the house. Meanwhile Dave and Lynn and I went back to the Long Pond parking lot (use that beach sticker!) and did a hike around Long Pond. Cape Cod is full of these kettle ponds, formed by glaciers, and they are generally small and deep. The deep part often extends up out of the water as a steep part, and we did lots of hills. After we dropped Lynn off we did the Uncle Tim’s Bridge walk, which I can’t remember if I’ve done before. We discovered a public lot near there which could come in handy.

After lunch there was a possibility of sailing or kayaking with Lynn and some extended family members, but that turned out not to work so instead we packed ourselves up and headed to Newcombe Hollow, the ocean beach of my childhood (beach sticker!). Jen and I had fun playing in the waves until a shark triggered one of the buoys, at which point they put up the shark flag and got everybody out of the water. We hung out for a while in case the shark showed up, then headed home to get cleaned up for dinner at, yes, Winslows, where the food was so good that after taking a bite of the miso roasted oysters Jen turned to Josh and said, “I’m glad I met you”.  We ended up having to wait at Winslows even though we got there at 5:30; apparently they take reservations on weekends. Jen and I walked around town a bit and then we found a public space where we could sit and wait. It was worth it.

Josh and Jen were wiped out from travelling but found the lure of the ping pong table irresistible. They played a little before dinner, and after dinner we played doubles, which was fun, if not high quality play. Eventually it disintegrated into trick shots and a lot of laughing.

Before we leave 25 Finn I do want to mention the outdoor shower, which was on the south side of the house and had a cherry plum tree planted next to it so the sun was always shining through the reddish-purple leaves.

 

Saturday 7/16

Moving day! Betsy the owner had the house cleaned on Friday, so we could get into the Chatham house whenever we wanted to. Dave and I started off with a farewell hike at the White Cedar swamp. We got back and got packed up and ready to go, waking Jen up shortly before we left. We managed to find all of the sheets, pillowcases, washcloths, hand towels and bath towels that we’d rented and returned them to the Furies on our way out. Traffic was heavy heading off the Cape, but we had a Plan. We stopped at Arnold’s and played a round of mini golf (Dave, Josh, Me, Jen), and by the time we were done they were open for lunch and I got my fried clam strips. Dave was sad to discover they no longer served fried oysters.

By the time we finished at Arnold’s traffic had cleared out and we got to Wellfleet with time to spare. We spent the afternoon unpacking and wrapping presents for Avery. Ben et al got to the house a little after we did, and eventually we were all unpacked and settled in and ready for Avery’s 7^th birthday party. Ben had sent out a text asking people to send in their orders for Mac’s in Chatham (they’re an empire!) and spent a long time putting it together and entering it into their ordering system, only to discover that they weren’t accepting online orders. It was decided to order pizza instead, saving them lots of money and also being just as good for most of the people there. 

And there were a lot of people there! In addition to our family, Joan’s parents, Bob and Judy were there, and her brother Mike and his wife Cathy and their sone Eirik and his friend Haley – 15 people total! The house handled it like a champ – we were able to use real plates and silverware and glasses for everything except the cake and ice cream at the end. There was even an extra bedroom for Josh and Jen!

The house was pretty much the same as last year except the outdoor shower had been upgraded to be bigger, with a dry area for hanging a towel, and also with the most amazing shower that came down from directly overhead, with the option of body level sprayers and a wand. Also they are in the process of putting in a play room with a full wet bar in the daylight basement, plus another bathroom and a pull-out couch.

Too much party!

Wellfleet with The Mother, The Uncle and The Aunt

 

July 11 (Monday)

When we originally made the plans for our vacation we’d though Tim and Alyssa might be coming with us, which is why we had the house of many bedrooms. When we found out they weren’t coming we’d invited my Uncle David ad Aunt Bobby to come stay with us and they had joyfully accepted. Since they weren’t arriving until afternoon, we had the morning and early afternoon free, which we used to put clean sheets on our bed, and sheets on the twin beds in the loft, and also move clothes and toiletries to their having-guests location.

Uncle David enjoyed the porch

Once we were done with all that, Dave and Lynn went out for a sail in a rented boat (hers has a leak) and Bubby and I stayed at home relaxing. When we had an ETA and plan from UD&AB we went to the market to get bread and cheese and things, and by the time they arrived at 2 Dave was back from his sail and all had a lunch/snack. Afterwards Dave and Bobby and I went to Long Pond (first use of our Beach sticker which Dave picked up after sailing) where they sat on the shore and talked while I ponded.

For dinner we did takeout from Mac’s Shack, which was relatively easy and very delicious. By the time we finished dinner it was time to sit around and talk, and then it was bedtime. It’s a short description of a good day.

July 12 (Tuesday)

You may have noticed there was no hike yesterday – one of two days where there was no hiking. While we were getting ready to go U. David asked if he could come along and we had a wonderful hike starting at the Long Pond parking lot (beach sticker!). His walking pace is the same as ours on the flat, slightly slower up hill, and he is great company. He was convinced that we found every hill on the Cape on this hike – it did go up and down a lot, in between several ponds.

Dave and I went to Flying Fish for lunch, which is ok-to-good food but lovely decks and breeze, while the old folks reprised yesterday’s lunch. Bubby and Bobby went for a shop in downtown.  In the afternoon there was also napping and sitting and talking, and for dinner we went to PJs and all had ice cream.

After dinner we got out the Pepper and had several fun rounds in which Dave won 2 and BUBBY won the last one, using a strategy of having no idea what she was doing. That’s also my pepper strategy but it doesn’t usually result in a win for me. Same color, higher number. After the mental exertion of pepper it was time for some Happy Salmon, where they learned to High Five, Pound It, Happy Salmon, and Switcheroo (modified to be a card trade rather than swapping seats) and I got to yell FINish both times. We had to be done after that because we were all laughing too hard to go on.

July 13 (Wednesday)

Once again I set out with my favorite pair o’ Dave’s for a morning hike, this back to the Marconi Beach area for the fresh brook hike. It’s a generally flatter hike, which met with UD’s approval. The hike is in the part of the National Seashore that is a fee area, which gave Dave a chance to buy his permanent parks pass. What an exciting moment for all of us! The weather has been getting steadily warmer, but it was still a very nice day. While we were gone Bubby packed up and took off for Boston where there was a potluck for her. 

Who is next in the bed?

When we got back to the house it was box lunch time AGAIN, and we sent UD&AB off happy and full of rollwiches. Once again we did some sheet swapping, putting our sheets back on our bed and washing Bubby’s sheets and putting them back on the other bed for our next guests.

When we had the house set up we picked Lynn up and Dave dropped the two of us off at Gull Pond for some Pond time (alone time for him – he likes that!). We talked and talked and also did some fun pond yoga in the shallows and then Dave came and got us; we went home and got cleaned up and then it was time for Winslows again. 

On the bench at the Wellfleeter with Lynn and Betsy

The view of the harbor from the bench

 

We had fun ordering lots of starters and a wonderful bottle of Aligote, the other white wine of Burgundy, sitting in a corner table under the big tree. We tried the roasted mussels and Lynn and I each got to try the miso ones, which were super yummy and made me feel bad that Dave didn’t get any. After dinner we enjoyed relaxing just the two of us.

This is the tension that runs through the whole vacation – we love spending time with friends and family, and we love spending time just the two of us. Fortunately with two weeks on the Cape we were able to do both.

Wellfleet - Sunday

 

July 10 (Sunday)

Our morning hike in Hyannis was so successful we decided to make it a tradition, so Sunday morning we headed out to the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp trail (extended) out by Marconi beach. I had been on the trail once as a surly teen and had no memory of it, but it’s a good hike, partially on a boardwalk. We did the extended version that goes out to a dune overlooking the ocean. The weather was absolutely perfect – perfect temperature, no humidity, crystal blue skies. We hadn’t started our hike until after 10, so by the time we were done it was time for BOX LUNCH. Dave and I each had a Humvee extra hum, which was too much – split one next time.

On the other hand what ended up happening is that I ate my whole one and Dave saved half and I ate it the next day and in many ways it was even better than a fresh one, except the bread was a little soggy on one side. Bubby’s guac hot lasted her for 3 meals. We mostly hung around the house in the early afternoon, except for a short lost wallet scare for Bubby and a trip to Flying Fish to get her coffee ground.

We headed over to Lynn’s around 3 to see the new property they just bought across the street from the Wellfleeter, and hung around there chatting with Lynn and her mom (Betsy) and daughter (Katie). Lynn’s brother Bob and her mom had gone out for shellfish that morning, so we sat on the bench at the Wellfleeter eating oysters overlooking the harbor and the beach where they’d been collected. We picked Bubby up for dinner and went with Lynn, Betsy, and Katie to the Bookstore, which is good food and a fantastic location overlooking the harbor.

After dinner it was back home for more relaxing.

Wellfleet - Arrival

 July 8 (Friday)

As we did last year we flew in on Friday and got a hotel mid-Cape to avoid traffic. Our hotel this year, the Cape Sands Inn, was a step up from last year’s Hyannis Host Inn but not quite a big enough step – the strong smell of disinfectant and poor air conditioning weren’t ideal. We had a delicious dinner at the Wendy’s next to the Hyannis Airport at 8:45 local time and both slept pretty well.

July 9 (Saturday)

We woke up very early – before 6 local time – which I thought was kind of a bummer, since we couldn’t get into our Wellfleet house until the afternoon. I’d picked up some brochures in the lobby and spent some time perusing them, and also looked for hikes. I found the Horse Pond Trail (thanks, AllTrails Pro) and the Cape Cod Railway, so after a yummy McDonald’s breakfast (don’t worry, the food gets better!) we headed out for our first Cape Cod hike – in long pants with bug spray, due to deer ticks. The hike was lovely, and we got back to the hotel in time to shower and get checked out and head to Hyannis for the train ride. I’d left a message on the train’s voice mail before we went on the hike because they don’t do same day reservations on the web, and they called while we were on the hike and we managed to have enough signal to get our reservations. The reservation person was very helpful in describing the different fares, and we ended up in “Premium class” – top floor of the domed car, at a table by ourselves. The journey was very fun and we learned a lot about Cape Cod, cranberry bogs, salt marshes and the Cape Cod Canal (which the train drives along from the Sagamore to the Bourne Bridge). We were fascinated to learn that differences in tides on the two sides of the canal means the current in the canal changes directions, and if you look at a Cape Cod Canal tide table you’ll see it not only gives tide info but also tells you which way the canal is flowing. We couldn’t order a sack lunch because you need to order a day in advance, but we shared a beer and some chips and crackers and a chocolate bar and did ok.

By the time we got off the train it was late enough to head to Wellfleet and pick up our linens at the Furies* and get into our house at 25 Finn Road, about a 3 minute drive from downtown. The house was very nice, on 3 levels with a screened in porch. The daylight basement had a couch, ping pong table and bathroom; the main level had 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room – the latter being one big room with a cathedral ceiling, separated by a fireplace. On the 3^rd floor was a loft with 2 twin beds. You might be wondering why we needed so many rooms for 2 people. Hold tight.

We got unloaded and unpacked and put sheets on the beds on the main floor. Bubby had been to a funeral in Wellfleet earlier in the day and arrived not long after we did to settle into the other bedroom. She was tired and not in the mood to go out, so she stayed home while Dave and I headed to Winslow’s for dinner. We ate there last year for lunch with Lynn and were excited to go back, and it did not disappoint. The food was wonderful, and the outdoor seating under the trees is beautiful. It was kind of chilly so I had a little too much to drink – but who knew that they would have not 1 or 2 but 4 kinds of Madeira with dessert?

We got takeout for Bubby and headed home. We were glad to get into bed and have our first night in the house.

* Pick up linens? For most vactioners, Cape Cod is a driving destination – folks come from the surrounding states, and a lot of them are from families who have been coming to the Cape for generations. Since providing linens is a hassle for the owners, many (most? I don’t know) rentals don’t come with linens (sheets & towels), so locals just toss their own in the car. For people who aren’t local, rentals places like The Furies in Wellfleet solve the problem. We rented deluxe linens for ourselves and standard linens for all our guests, and I must say the difference was obvious and worth it.