A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about a three-day trip I took with my daughters to western Mass. It was our first time there, and together we had a fantastic experience exploring the westernmost parts of our fair state. So, it was fitting that we chose Cape Cod for our next adventure. Now, my daughters have a panoramic view of their home state in the USA.
I have been to Cape Cod many times over the decades. Most recently I was there around 20 years ago, when I accompanied my parents on a trip to Nantucket. I have many fond memories of summertime excursions to the Cape going back to early childhood. When my step-father joined our family circa 1980, we participated in a few automobile rallies that took us there in search of clues, and we still own a prize in the form of a cranberry-picker. My dad took me on a cycling trip there in high school that ended with a tour Martha’s Vinyard—and the unforgettable experience (for a 14-year old) of stumbling upon a nude beach. With all those memories stretching back to my own childhood, I was eager to share the Cape Cod experience with my daughters.
Normally, we spend part of the summer here in Acton, but the girls always attend summer camp and we don’t have time for big road trips. So now I’m taking the opportunity to take them places we haven’t been to before. Too bad my wife and their mother, who waits for our return in Shanghai, can’t join us this year. Hopefully in the future we will do this again.
Coastline and beach near Nobska Lighthouse
For our Cape Cod adventure, I mapped out a three-night-four-day journey that would take us to different parts of the Cape, minus the islands, since I was concerned about the ferry rides (though I’m sure they’re okay).
A harbor or inlet in Falmouth
After crossing the Bourne Bridge in time for lunch at a 1950s era diner in East Falmouth, we spent the first day and night in Falmouth, giving us time to explore the southern coastline. We visited the picturesque Nobska Lighthouse near Woods Hole. That evening, we watched the sunset on the western coastline on Wood Neck Beach.
Enjoying the sunset over Buzzards Bay from Wood Neck Beach
The following morning, we headed to the neighboring town of Mashpee and spent the morning at the South Cape Beach State Park. We walked a looping trail through pine forest and wetlands, braving the mosquitos (luckily, I had bug spray in my backpack), and then spent an hour on the beach, bathing for a spell in the cool blue water. I found a bench on the dune overlooking a pond and watched as a pair of swans with four young’uns in tow chased away a couple of swan invaders, puffing themselves up as they pursued them around the pond, until the invaders finally gave up and flew elsewhere.
A restaurant on Shore Drive in Chatham
We then drove to Chatham, where we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach. Lobster rolls and fish and chips, fresh from the ocean. The girls remarked on the “whiteness” of the crowd (a common observation from my girls, who are used to living in Asia) and I taught them a new term: WASP.
A boat arrives at the Wellfleet Town Pier
Following our lunch, we took the scenic route up the arm of the Cape to Wellfleet, where we checked in at a boutique hotel. We spent some time at the Wellfleet Town Pier, and then met up with a student of mine from DKU who lives on the Cape for a brief stroll on Le Count Hollow Beach. While I was catching up with my student, the girls cavorted in the water. As soon as they emerged, we saw some seals swimming along the shoreline. Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be any sharks pursuing them. On the other hand, a woman we passed on the beach told us there were some whale sightings. I scanned the ocean with my binoculars, but I could see no sign of them. We bid farewell to my student and headed back to the hotel for a rest. That evening, we had dinner on the back deck of the Pearl, a restaurant near the Pier. While it was busy, the restaurant seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the tables of customers far apart.
On the Great Island Trail
The next morning, we awoke early and headed to the trail head of the Great Island Trail. I was informed by the guidebooks that this was one of the best trails on the Cape and indeed in Mass., and I have to agree. We wandered past marshy wetlands and into a hilly pine forest. We emerged out of the pitch pine forest, and we followed the shoreline back to the trail head. All in all, we did a 5-mile walk. I was impressed by my daughters’ stamina. They especially seemed to enjoy the walk on the beach, where we were the only humans for most of it.
Great Island shoreline walk
After checking out of the hotel around noon, we drove north to our final destination, Provincetown. We parked in the lot under the Pilgrim Monument and took a stroll on Commercial Street, braving the crowds. Everyone seemed to be wearing masks, so we weren’t too worried. But I was glad to get off that busy street and walk around on some of the quieter streets before we headed back to our car.
Commercial Street in Provincetown
After taking a rest in our hotel on the PTown coastline, we walked back onto a quieter part of Commercial Street and had dinner at a restaurant. Since we didn’t reserve a table, we weren’t able to sit outside, but we were given a fabulous spot with a corner view looking out at the coastline to the Pilgrim Monument and beyond. The restaurant had separated the tables and, like all the others on the Cape, had put plastic barriers between the booths and tables, so I wasn’t too concerned about being inside. That night, I checked my watch and found that we’d walked 9 miles in total, and around 20,000 steps (probably far more for my younger daughter).
On the trails at the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
The next morning, we slept in a bit later and had a leisurely breakfast at an outdoor café in Truro. We then visited the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, braving the noontime sun and the biting flies to take in some more wildlife and coastal micro-environments before heading back home that afternoon. On the way home via the northern route 6A, we stopped at the home of a friend in Yarmouth Port and had a brief social-distancing visit on his back porch, and then made our way through Sandwich, across the Sagamore Bridge and back to Acton.
After we returned home, I asked my daughters what they enjoyed most about the trip and they both replied: the seafood! They seemed to like the Great Island Trail best, despite its length (it was a good thing we did that hike early in the morning). I myself was most taken by the Wellfleet area, although I enjoyed the entire tour. Hopefully, our Cape Cod adventure will be another fond memory for my daughters, who are enduring a much longer visit in Massachusetts than we had ever intended, but these are the times in which we now live.