You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod

[rosarugosa]

I've lived in Massachusetts for my entire life, but I've only been to the Cape twice, and not since I was about 10 years old. We live north of Boston, so points south involve going through the city, which is an appalling prospect for people who spent so many years commuting in & out of Boston. We just tend to go north for our seaside visits (and we only live a couple of miles away from the ocean).
Anyway, last weekend we did a one-night overnight to visit a friend in Hyannis. She was housesitting and dogsitting at a wonderful waterfront home with so many charming features - garden, pergola, art studio, etc. We had amazing weather in the seventies and did some lovely beach walking, then had a great seafood dinner at the Black Cat Tavern. DH and I spent the night at the Holiday Inn in Falmouth using a free reward night that was going to expire at the end of the year. We were very strategic in our travel times, heading to the Cape on Sunday about 11:00 AM, and returning Monday at 11:30 AM, so traffic was not bad. I think we will probably go again sometime and explore the area a bit more (definitely during the off-season).
DH really likes that old Patti Page song, so I've gotten to hear it plenty in the past week, and it's kind of stuck in my head.

[Tybee]

I have only been to Cape Cod once, 40 years ago. It sounds wonderful, and Id be yearning to retire there if I lived in Massachusetts.

[catherine]

I was there once before I was married, and in 1980 we spent two weeks in Nantucket, which was really beautiful. It definitely is a special place. I don't know the Patti Page song, though..

[rosarugosa]

I was there once before I was married, and in 1980 we spent two weeks in Nantucket, which was really beautiful. It definitely is a special place. I don't know the Patti Page song, though..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVsQeWho5hU

[rosarugosa]

I have only been to Cape Cod once, 40 years ago. It sounds wonderful, and Id be yearning to retire there if I lived in Massachusetts.

That's interesting to me since you live in Maine. I figure coastal Maine has everything Cape Cod has, and for that matter, I can find pretty much find everything in my general area north of Boston. I'm more drawn to Maine than Cape Cod myself, but I'm sure that's largely because I have so many happy Maine vacation memories.
Official inventory:
Sand dunes - check
Salty air - check
Quaint little villages - check
Lobster stew - check
Ocean view - check
Winding roads - check
Miles of green - check
Skies of blue - check
Church bells - check
Moonlight over Cape Cod Bay - OK, this one is certainly a Cape Cod exclusive, but moonlight over a bay, check. :)

[rosarugosa]

Here's a silly one DH just brought to my attention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rXaIQZU9bI

[iris lilies]

I know I would like living in all these places, Maine, Cape Cod, etc. ‘ cept for those winters.

[herbgeek]

I'll only go to the Cape off season. With only 2 ways on and off (bridges), traffic is horrendous. I'll take Maine any day.

[Tybee]

I'll only go to the Cape off season. With only 2 ways on and off (bridges), traffic is horrendous. I'll take Maine any day.

What I meant was emphasis on "if I lived in Mass" which I don't.

I haven't seen any Maine beaches that appeal to me like the Cape Cod beaches. My first marriage, honeymoon was on Martha's Vineyard--I forgot that until Catherine mentioned Nantucket!

I like sandy beaches, like the ones I grew up with back home in Georgia and South Carolina. Would prefer to go back South to have my beaches back.

We laugh up here because they define "oceanside" as anything located near a bay miles and miles from the ocean.

My brother just scattered my dad's ashes in the ocean on the island where he lives in Maine and all they could do was scatter him on the rocks and wait for the tide to come in.

Not appealing to me.

[rosarugosa]

Tybee: Oh, gotcha. Crescent Beach State Park is a wonderful sandy beach, although I should add that we are beach walkers, not swimmers or sunbathers. We stayed at Inn by the Sea back in 2007 when it was merely very expensive rather than totally out of reach for us, and we enjoyed walking Crescent Beach every day while we were there. There are also a couple of nice sandy beaches on Prout's Neck (we had stayed at the Black Point Inn in 2004 and enjoyed beach walking there as well).

[Tybee]

Tybee: Oh, gotcha. Crescent Beach State Park is a wonderful sandy beach, although I should add that we are beach walkers, not swimmers or sunbathers. We stayed at Inn by the Sea back in 2007 when it was merely very expensive rather than totally out of reach for us, and we enjoyed walking Crescent Beach every day while we were there. There are also a couple of nice sandy beaches on Prout's Neck (we had stayed at the Black Point Inn in 2004 and enjoyed beach walking there as well).

So funny, I was just going back to edit out my negativity and see your post--we actually have had zero time to go to the beach since we got here, so busy working and dealing with parent stuff. There are probably very nice beaches here, but we have not seen them yet. I had wanted to move to the coast, and not where we moved, in the mountains, but we had to buy something at a distance, and prices had gotten too high where we wanted to move, so we bought sight unseen, closer to my parents assisted living, well hour and 45 minutes. Prices had gotten completely out of site anything closer to them. So we bought nearest affordable house that had space for the dogs and a barn for my husband to work in. Affected by Covid lockdowns, could not travel into the state, although I guess we probably could have, in retrospect, but the parents were not visitable in the assisted living, as that was locked down, along with the state itself.

Now the towns we did like on the coast are stratospheric--prices 4 times what they were when we started looking 5 years ago.

[rosarugosa]

Tybee: Yes, especially the southern coast; prices have escalated dramatically. I occasionally entertain fantasies of Bath, ME, which is still somewhat affordable, at least relative to where I currently live.

[Tybee]

Come on up, Rosa, I don't think the weather is any worse than where you are, maybe a little better! Bath is pretty. We like Belfast best, but it is farther, and if you moved to Bath you could get the train to Boston in Brunswick.

[iris lilies]

There is a Bath, Maine? Oh I looked it up on realtor.com. There’s a beautiful blue house from 1853 this has modernizing done in a streamlined but I think largely sensitive way. Other than the hideous barn doors, it is handsome.

[Tybee]

Not seeing the house, IL?

[iris lilies]

Not seeing the house, IL?
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/10-Pine-St_Bath_ME_04530_M39604-69172

[Tybee]

Dang. Three years ago that would have been no more than 150-175, tops. 6 years ago, 55k. It is not in the fancy part of town by any means. Very middle class neighborhood, not ritzy at all.

[iris lilies]

Not seeing the house, IL?
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/10-Pine-St_Bath_ME_04530_M39604-69172


It does have some unfortunate choices for flooring,
I think..

[Teacher Terry]

That’s a pretty house. Except for kitchen and baths the floors should match on each level.

[rosarugosa]

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/10-Pine-St_Bath_ME_04530_M39604-69172


It does have some unfortunate choices for flooring,
I think..

I am not a fan of the ubiquitous LVT flooring.

[catherine]

Very cute, but I really feel it's been HGTV white-washed. And I agree with you about the barn doors. I know it's hard to modernize something while still staying true to its architectural heritage, but I give this house a C in that regard. Too many gimmicks.

I like the pine/tile entryway the best, frankly. When I saw all the white ,I wondered what the wood was like underneath. Not that I'm a fan of 70s dark wood, but I do like an element of natural warmth.

I wonder what George Walker thinks.

ETA: The back yard is really cool

[early morning]

Timely post, lol. We just got back from 3 days on the Cape, and a quick three days in Vermont, NH, Maine. I love Cape Cod, at least when we go, which is March/April or late Oct/November. Hotels are cheap, nothing is crowded, it's lovely. Ditto with Ogunquit, which is the only Maine place I really have spent any time in. If I had any money, I'd live in New England!! I am really envious of those of you who do live there!

[rosarugosa]

I hope you enjoyed your vacation, Early! Where did you stay on the Cape? I don't know Ogunquit too well, other than passing through route 1 on the way to Portland.

[early morning]

We stayed in West Yarmouth this time. We have some extended family in Yarmouth Port, and love that whole area of the Cape. Ok, we like ALL the Cape, but the further from the canal, the better, IMHO. We always try to have breakfast at Chatham airport at least once per trip (go early, the waits can be crazy all year!)- they have amazing food, and - airport!! :D Drove out to P-town, diverting off to the shore when possible. Were able to score some Eastham turnips at a farm stand. I think we'll make a turnip pie with part of them for Thanksgiving dinner, since we're in charge of desserts.

[catherine]

We stayed in West Yarmouth this time. We have some extended family in Yarmouth Port, and love that whole area of the Cape. Ok, we like ALL the Cape, but the further from the canal, the better, IMHO. We always try to have breakfast at Chatham airport at least once per trip (go early, the waits can be crazy all year!)- they have amazing food, and - airport!! :D Drove out to P-town, diverting off to the shore when possible. Were able to score some Eastham turnips at a farm stand. I think we'll make a turnip pie with part of them for Thanksgiving dinner, since we're in charge of desserts.

And where did you go in VT?

[early morning]

LOVE Vermont! Started our "official" trip (what we do after we actually arrive in a place, lol) in the Berkshires in Lenox, Mass, then drove up thru Vermont, around/up/down/around mountains looking at covered bridges. My dsis is a aficionado, lol. We were lucky in that it stayed dry and the skinny back roads were quite passable in a van w/o 4wheel drive. I would not have attempted them in any sort of foul weather! But I think we managed to see 18 - 20 in lower and mid-state. Beautiful country. Spent the night in Quechee at The Quechee Inn at Marshland Farm. I really like historic properties and stay in them when we can afford it, which is like almost never, lol. I was amazed at the price, which included a wonderful breakfast buffet the next morning. I think we hit the perfect off-season time - leaves gone, but too warm for skiing, and before trout season if you don't catch-release. Dsis wanted to visit The Vermont Country Store. It was fine, but not my cuppa... not much to distinguish it from any other store of that ilk. They no longer have my favorite candy (moth balls), which was sad. We ended up buying cheese, which was really good. What I really enjoyed in Vermont and NH was the lack of Dollar Generals, fast food chains, big box stores. BUT - I have to wonder how the lack of such impacts those who live there. For two days, driving through small towns, we saw no groceries, and no pharmacies, though quite a few general stores. Now, I get that it's a little state and larger towns are close by definition, but in the winter, how long does it take to stock up on groceries and other necessities? I did see some stressed-looking amazon drivers trying to make 8 point turns on a couple back roads - is that the answer? Amazon Fresh? Just curious.....

[catherine]

Quechee/Woodstock area is beautiful! And yes, just meandering through the state is fun. We don't really miss the lack of chains and retail, even though there are none on our island, but there are certainly some in the Burlington area. You also see them in places like Rutland and White River Junction, but they are few and far between for sure.

We shop off-island maybe once every couple of weeks. We have found we have 80% of what we need in the local mom and pop stores.

[early morning]

Well, lack of visual commercial clutter adds to the charm of visiting Vermont. It's great you still have small mom & pop stores. Wish we did. We don't shop at large chains unless there is no choice (and there's always a choice, lol). Still chains, but Aldi and Trader Joe's get about 95% of our food dollars, with the rest to independent producers (farm shops, local people under the radar of the Grocery Police...)

I could happily live "up East"! Well, except for the expense. Ohio is pretty cheap to live in!

[rosarugosa]

Woodstock and Burlington are both places I would like to visit someday. DH and I have spent a little bit of time in Bennington while staying in the Berkshires, and it is a really nice area. I only had one childhood family vacation that included a night or two in VT, so I don't really know the state very well. We stayed in a really crummy motel cabin, and I think that colored my view. I was an avid rock collector, so we visited a quarry and gravestone factory, and I took all these pictures of gravestones, lol. They weren't even anything special, it wasn't like taking pictures at the Hope Cemetery or Mt Auburn. The appeal of the headstones was the GRANITE! I came home with a bunch of granite fragments for souvenirs. I was a strange little girl.

[early morning]

Sounds like a great childhood, rr! I would have probably loved the crummy cabin, as we almost always stayed in the back of our pickup truck that had a camper shell - not a real camper- over it. Sleeping bags and all that. And seldom in camp grounds - who needs a shower or a *ahem* bathroom? All our family vacations when I was a kid were either fishing - which we all enjoyed- or scoping out good sites for bear hunting in Canada. You know where bears like to hang out? Garbage dumps. My vacations were visits to garbage dumps in Canada, lol. Made for some interesting "what I did on vacation" essays! And we saw lots of eagles and seagulls, and I got pretty good at looking for bear signs. Of course the country between dump sites was pretty! Cool about your early rock collecting, rosa. I'm not a rock "collector" and know very little about rocks, but I am a "picker-upper" of things that talk to me, and I generally have several small rocks, shells, seed pods, pretty leaves, or whatever, in my pocket. I have to be very careful in protected areas to NOT just pick up the pretties! I think the Berkshires are lovely. We stay at the Black Swan hotel -not swanky but nice (IMHO), reasonably priced, and you can request a room with a tiny lakeside balcony - and we have breakfast/brunch at the Chocolate Springs Café. We always try to make that a stop on our up-East trips - sometimes we manage to stop both coming and going:|(.

[rosarugosa]

Sounds like a great childhood, rr! I would have probably loved the crummy cabin, as we almost always stayed in the back of our pickup truck that had a camper shell - not a real camper- over it. Sleeping bags and all that. And seldom in camp grounds - who needs a shower or a *ahem* bathroom? All our family vacations when I was a kid were either fishing - which we all enjoyed- or scoping out good sites for bear hunting in Canada. You know where bears like to hang out? Garbage dumps. My vacations were visits to garbage dumps in Canada, lol. Made for some interesting "what I did on vacation" essays! And we saw lots of eagles and seagulls, and I got pretty good at looking for bear signs. Of course the country between dump sites was pretty! Cool about your early rock collecting, rosa. I'm not a rock "collector" and know very little about rocks, but I am a "picker-upper" of things that talk to me, and I generally have several small rocks, shells, seed pods, pretty leaves, or whatever, in my pocket. I have to be very careful in protected areas to NOT just pick up the pretties! I think the Berkshires are lovely. We stay at the Black Swan hotel -not swanky but nice (IMHO), reasonably priced, and you can request a room with a tiny lakeside balcony - and we have breakfast/brunch at the Chocolate Springs Café. We always try to make that a stop on our up-East trips - sometimes we manage to stop both coming and going:|(.

The Black Swan is our favorite place to stay in the Berkshires! Small world, isn't it? The last time we went (2021), we were disappointed that hotel guests were no longer allowed to walk over the causeway to Sandy Beach, which had always been our morning walk while staying there. I'm not sure if that's a permanent change or if it was Covid related, but the inn is not in a very walkable area otherwise. We do love looking at Laurel Lake from the porch though, and their restaurant is very good if you like Indian food, which we do.
I made myself kind of sick one time when I had the bright idea of "let's just skip dinner and go to Chocolate Springs instead, and eat lots of chocolate and drink cocoa and maybe some cognac!" It was not one of my better ideas, lol.
The other place we often stay is the Holiday Inn in North Adams, not fancy by any means, but we have a deep affection for NA. It's a very walkable little city, and we get a kick out of the trains and MA MOCA. We can manage a pretty frugal stay there with IHG points.
I want to stay at The Guest House at Field Farm sometime: https://fieldfarm.org/. We are members of The Trustees, so that would give us a bit of savings, but it still is a bit pricey. We were pretty extravagant this year, so next year I should strive for a more frugal vacation.

[rosarugosa]

Early: That is hilarious about the bear hunting and the dump sites! I probably would have been fascinated by the dumps themselves and the wildlife, but I would have strongly disapproved of the lack of indoor plumbing. You certainly get better stories to share from vacations like that! We did middle-class motels, often in the White Mountains with their many family attractions: The Flume, tramway cars up the mountains, alpine slide, etc. We also often vacationed in the Bangor area because we have relatives there.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay----I was drawn to this thread simply because the caption sounded like a wonderful old Brill Building song from the late-40's or 50's that I had not had the chance to hear, yet. But no, it was about something else. But, irt COULD be the lyrical basis of one. Just have to find a starving-artist-musician in NYC to write you a catchy melody, and you'll have a top 40 hit in a jiffy. Yup. Hope that helps you some. Thankk Mee.

[rosarugosa]

DH bumped into this online recently and we thought it was hilarious, so I had to share:

https://youtu.be/FnILnuqOXII

[iris lilies]

DH bumped into this online recently and we thought it was hilarious, so I had to share:

https://youtu.be/FnILnuqOXIINice try, but I wont be trying Cape Code during the winter!

[early morning]

Actually the Cape usually has milder winters than we do here in west central Ohio. DH's 97 yr old aunt did the Polar Plunge on the Cape yesterday. It was 50 degrees and the water, according to her, was "lovely". I'm a big fan of "off season" lol. Except in the South. You won't find me in the south in the summer. Or any time at all, at least by choice, come to think of it....:~)

[rosarugosa]

Actually the Cape usually has milder winters than we do here in west central Ohio. DH's 97 yr old aunt did the Polar Plunge on the Cape yesterday. It was 50 degrees and the water, according to her, was "lovely". I'm a big fan of "off season" lol. Except in the South. You won't find me in the south in the summer. Or any time at all, at least by choice, come to think of it....:~)

Wow, I am impressed by your DH's aunt! We too tend to prefer the off-season, or the shoulder seasons. As far as the South goes, that's Rhode Island, right? I like Rhode Island. :laff:

[nswef]

We were in Maine in Sept. several years ago. It was a warm day and I went into the water-quickly. I stopped breathing by the time I was in to my thighs. The cold water was shocking! In September!!! Later that week we saw a lady with a cane, went down the steps to York Beach, went right in the water....She must have been 80. They make them tough up there. I don't like hot water for swimming but neither do I like frigid.

[Tybee]

They may make them tough, but it seems like many Mainers die each year when they are getting their boats in the water and they fall in and succumb to hypothermia. That happened to the fire chief in a town near us but they rescued him before he died. I believe it was in May?

They also die falling through the thin ice. Someone died this week doing that, even though they warned everyone to stay off the ice on January 1, as it's been too warm. I saw a man and his son out on the ice near us and thought later maybe I should have called child protective services. There were big patches of water visible. If you want to kill yourself, that is one thing, but you shouldn't kill your kid.

I told my husband I could never have a lake house because I would not want to have to rescue someone falling through the ice. And they do it all the time.

[nswef]

Oh my, Tybee. People often have too much trust in themselves or fate!