The Cape Cod Experience

The last time I went to Cape Cod I was six or seven years old, my family who usually went to Maine every summer decided to try something different for some reason I'll never know. All I remember of Cape Cod is crying while some kid pounding me over the head with the edge of a clam shell. The next year my family resumed the annual trip to Maine. So when a friend called me two weeks ago asking me to go to Provincetown with him on a family matter all I could think about was that clamshell, still I agreed to go (after asking where is Provincetown? Who knew it's at the very tip of the Cape - I didn't).

What a surprise to discover how beautiful Cape Cod is. The first day dawned wet and cloudy but by afternoon the sun broke through. From our hotel room we could run right down the stairs onto the beach. Which we did, rolled up our jeans and splashed out into the freezing Atlantic. Only it wasn't cold! I'm guessing the low tide, and dark sand combined to give Provincetown harbor warm waters. for about an hour we waded around picking up shells and hermit crabs. I do know better than to keep the crabs as pets, but they sure are cute.

The next day the sun was shining bright and early. After stopping at the local Stop N Shop on Shank Painter road we set off to walk across the breakwater and miles of sand to Long Point Lighthouse. On the very tip of the cape, it's the sort of picturesque scene one imagines in a travel book of Cape Cod. The long walk across the sand does wonders for one's feet, legs and soul. Just sitting in the sandy shadow of the lighthouse watching the boats go by was so wonderfully peaceful I could have stayed a long time but it was a long walk back and we had places to be. That evening we watched the sun set over Race Point Beach, while the whales spouted in the distance. What could be more perfect?

What was more perfect was the next day. My friend, along with another kindred spirit we had met in Ptown, and I signed up for a rainy day whale watch. The tour boat started out early afternoon in a drizzle which turned much more biting as we sped out past the harbor into Cape Cod Bay. About 45 minutes out the rain stopped and whales were sighted. Then more whales, right by the boat. In bunches of twos and threes the magnificent creatures slapped their fins, brought out their tales, launched themselves into a breach. We saw eighteen whales that day, close to the boat. I've never seen anything like it and probably never will again.

All this and more in five short days. There is so much more that can be said about this trip - a tale of getting locked out of the hotel room, the Pilgrim Monument, the big ship in the library, Provincetown itself.... As wonderful as the sightseeing was it was a small part of the weekend. My friend's Aunt had died. The coming together of friends and family was amazing and filled with intense emotion. I never thought I'd cry at the funeral of someone I didn't even know, but I did a lot of crying those five days in Ptown. So now I have another memory of Cape Cod, and even though again there were tears, I must say it's much better than getting hit over the head with a clamshell.

See the Provincetown flickr set