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!