Martha's Vineyard

We spent one of our vacation days on Martha's Vineyard, which was fantastic. We were able to score coupons for buy-one-get-one ferry tickets and left from the marina in Hyannis. The ferry was about an hour and some change and was a really beautiful ride. Claire liked it for the very short amount of time that she was awake. 

The first thing we did on the island was visit the Flying Horses Carousel. It's the oldest working carousel in the country, and incidentally, was Bearsy's first one! Brad and I rode with her on one of the bench-type seats (as opposed to one of the horses). We think she liked it. There weren't too many indications one way or another. Maybe she was confused...or maybe her ride on the ferry eclipsed her carousel ride. Who knows?

Look how happy they look while waiting in line!

And when it's my turn, there are too many distractions...

 Not sure what captured her attention here. There was a lot going on.

We spent some time walking around and looking at the sights and shops of Oak Bluffs (which is the town where our ferry docked and where we spent our day). We particularly enjoyed hanging out in Ocean Park. It was a GORGEOUS day, and the park is right on the water (hence, the name). It was beautiful.

The gazebo put me in a very Gilmore Girls mindset. 

We ate lunch a Linda Jean's, where I actually ordered fish (what??). It was fried and on a sandwich, but it counts, right? And, it was good. I got a side of sweet potato fries to go with it, and those were excellent. 

After lunch, we toured the Gingerbread Houses. That's what I really wanted to do. There are over 300 of these A.Dor.Able cottages surrounding the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle. In the 1800's, the Tabernacle was constructed to host Methodist camp meetings. Folks would come and set up temporary shelters for a few weeks of camp meetings. The meetings became extremely popular, and over time, these little cottages were constructed, to take the place of the temporary shelters. They look like gingerbread houses and were thusly named. Can you believe that my camera battery died at the carousel? I snapped all of these on my phone, but I hope you can see the extreme cuteness of the gingerbreads. 

After looking at about two-thirds of the gingerbreads, we found this little shop called Laughing Bear, so obviously, we needed a picture of our Bear with her shop.

We had a great day on Martha's Vineyard. We didn't do all of the available options (we didn't venture outside of Oak Bluffs), but we loved what we did. Claire was a good little Bear throughout the whole trip. Here's a little snap of her on the ferry back to Cape Cod:

We had a wonderful time on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. It was a great, New England trip that meant a lot to us. Thank you, Gran and Grandpa, for the adventure! We love the memories.

Southerners on Cape Cod: The Sights

While we were on Cape Cod, we tried to take in as much of the Cape Cod culture as we could. We did two beach days, which were fun, albeit quite different than what we were used to. The water was really cold, the beaches were very crowded, and there wasn't a vast expanse of sand. That being said, it was the beach, and that is a good thing.

I researched quite a few things to do on the Cape, like the Zooquarium and going to Cape Cod Baseball League games. The Zooquarium just didn't end up happening, and unfortunately for us, the baseball league's season ended 3 days before we arrived. Drat. Also, we have a baby, so plans necessarily get a little curtailed here and there. 

However, we did do quite a few other "must do's" on the list, like make the much-lauded drive up to the tippy top of the Cape. (After a pool day and our first beach day.)

Pool day with Grandpa.

LOVING her float in the pool (Thanks, Nana!!)

I had read far and wide about how this was something Cape visitors must do. The sights are beautiful. It's so relaxing. Such a unique experience. Etcetera. Now, please don't hear me being elitist or negative or hard-to-please, but I have to say: I was not overwhelmed with the awesomeness of the drive. 

Here's what we did:
We drove from West Yarmouth to Chatham, because the lighthouse at Chatham was open for visitors that particular day. We stopped at the Dog House for hot dogs along the way. We didn't end up trekking to the top of the lighthouse, as there were a lot of people in line, but we did grab some pictures. The view of the ocean was lovely, and the drive through Chatham was quintessential New England beach town. Such cute houses and shops. Loved that drive.

Chatham Lighthouse.

Beach across from the lighthouse.

After the Chatham lighthouse, we started our journey north, expecting great things from the drive.

And...

...it looked basically like driving through Tennessee or Alabama on small back roads. There were trees.

Occasionally houses. Every now and then, a burst of small townishness (restaurants, stores, banks). We kept waiting for something magical to happen, but it never did. 

We did, however, make an unplanned stop at another lighthouse, which was a bit more secluded and picturesque than the Chatham lighthouse (Cape Cod Lighthouse). It was really gorgeous and a nice little find and very much what I'd imagined Cape Cod to look like.

After the lighthouse, we drove on up to Provincetown, which looked different than the rest of the Cape. There were wide open spaces of sand dunes and more of what my head had classified as "Cape Cod." It was really neat (but I should note that it was a VERY small portion of the drive, so I don't imagine it's what people were referring to what blogging about the amazing drive north). Provincetown itself is really cute and quaint, but also VERY squished together. If cars could suck in to squeeze past things (you know, like when people have to squeeze past chairs that are close together), our car would have been doing that. Also, it was Pride Week in Provincetown, so it was really crowded and not exactly what we were looking to do that day.

After driving to the tip and taking in the views, we drove about 15 minutes south, back to Wellfleet, where we ate at Mac's on the pier and watched the beginning of the weekly square dancing. We didn't end up square dancing because we wanted to get over to the Wellfleet drive-in movie theater.

The drive-in shows double features of first-run movies for $9 a person. Is that a steal or what? Granted, we only stayed for the first one (Planes), but we had a great time, nonetheless. Claire stayed awake for about 10 minutes, but I was fine with that; she'd been nap striking all day and NEEDED some sleep. 

There were a few other things that were on our list of potential to-do's, but with a baby, we just didn't get around to everything. We did, however, spend one of our days on Martha's Vineyard, which was fantastic! Obviously, that is a post unto itself. The goal is to get it up soon...but you know how that goes. ;)

Southerners on Cape Cod: The Eats

I did an inordinate amount of research about food before our trip. This was partially because I like research and partially because we knew we'd be limited in what food we could prepare in our hotel. In the city of West Yarmouth (and perhaps other cities on the Cape...I didn't look into that), visitors aren't allowed to cook (as in, using an oven or a stove) in hotel units. This definitely limited our options for lower-key (read: cheap) meals, but we did what we could with what we had to work with. We ate cereal and granola bars in our room for breakfast (thank you, mini-fridge). We took sandwich lunches with us on our beach days, and we actually made BLT's in the room a couple of times, microwaving the bacon. We make it work, y'all.

But, for meals that we ate out, I wanted to know where the best places were so that we got the biggest bang for our buck and time. I took a few minutes to check out this page of Cape Cod "Top Tens," and boy, was that a great idea! We found many of our restaurants that way, and we ate really well. In Yarmouth, we loved The Skipper, Captain Parker's, and Taki's. We loved LOVED The Keltic Kitchen.

Every one of us really liked what we had at The Skipper's, and we had quite a smattering: baked stuffed sole, fried clams, lobster bisque, clam chowder, and French onion soup (that one was me). We had to wait for about 40 minutes, but it wasn't too bad. And, if Claire had been older, there was a playground right across the street that we totally would have utilized!

Bear was really excited about the restaurant!

I'm not a seafood fan, generally speaking (i.e. I pretty much never eat it ever), but I even tried the clam chowder at Captain Parker's, and it was goooood. Brad got a huge thing of shrimp that I couldn't look at (still not over my pregnancy-induced shrimp aversion), and I don't remember what my in-laws got...Claire got fussy, and I ended up eating quickly and taking her out. Bless us. We waited about 45 minutes for a table (which seemed to be pretty average for the 5:30/6:00 eating hour around Yarmouth. It was really busy and noisy, but the food was great. And, there was a family bathroom with a changing table. Winner.

We actually got Taki's pizza twice. A) It was quite good (we got the veggie both times) and B) we needed something take out on two occasions. Decent prices, quick, and yummy.

The Keltic Kitchen was a dream. It was literally across the street from our hotel, and we went for brunch the day we left. I could have eaten there every day! They had awesome French toast, Irish bacon, sausage, eggs, scones...de-lightful! We waited about 20 minutes at peak brunch time, which I thought was quite reasonable. Our waitress was fantastic. Can't say enough good things about it. If you're on Cape Cod: you MUST eat there!

Look how happy Bear looks about Keltic Kitchen!

We also ate at a place in Hyannis (town over from West Yarmouth) called Cooke's, which seems to be a Cape Cod chain. It was sort of like short-order seafood. It was pretty good and quick. Kid-friendly and not too crowded.

My in-laws tried a restaurant called Salty's that they were underwhelmed with, so no recommendations for Salty's from us.

The Cape Cod Creamery was, without a doubt, one of the best things we did on our trip. It's in Yarmouth, and it's seriously some of the best ice cream of my life! It was PACKED (at 8:00 pm!), and it was full of both tourists and locals, which we saw as a great sign. Each of the flavors is named after a Cape Cod town. We got the Chatham Chocolate and Craigville Caramel Crunch. Wowzers. DE-LISH. Highly recommend! If you're on Cape Cod, go right now!

On our trip up the length of the Cape, we ate at The Doghouse in Dennis. It's a laid back hot dog stand that was well worth the stop. Brad and I both got the Junkyard Dog and did not regret it. When I looked up "hot dogs" on the Top Ten list, this was the only place even listed. For good reason.

At The Doghouse.

We liked it a lot.

The Junkyard Dog.

In Wellfleet, we ate dinner at Mac's on the Pier, which was hoppin'! It's on a pier, but not a pier like we think of in the South. The tables are outside, and the view is nice, but it's not exactly on the water...like "on the pier" suggests. The menu was vast, and it was definitely child/baby-friendly. Also, in the summer, there is free square dancing on Wednesday nights! We stayed and watched for a few minutes, and it looked like fun for the whole family! (Did that sound like a commercial or what??)

At Mac's on the Pier.

We also stopped for ice cream at Arnold's in Eastham. Quite good! Definitely worth a stop on your drive up the Cape.

We're Brassart-Boswells, and we really really enjoy our food. I probably should have taken more pictures...but I was way more into what was on my plate, folks. With the exception of Salty's, every out-to-eat venture we undertook was a winner for us. Look what a little neurotic pre-trip research will get ya!

Southerners on Cape Cod: The Beach

In my head, I had built up a sort of mythical place called Cape Cod. Maybe this shows my ignorance, but I envisioned a large strip of land with beach houses everywhere, sand and coastline visible in all directions, and everything quaint and New England-y as quaint and New England could be.

With the exception of Provincetown, I was very wrong. 

First of all, Cape Cod is much bigger than in my head. There are many towns and regions that make up the Cape. They have school systems and police jurisdictions and highways, which is very different than the "beach town" that my imagination created. I guess I was projecting my concept of the beach (Orange Beach, Destin, Panama City) onto the Cape and expecting it to be a self-contained area. Not so. The Cape is divided into four main regions: Upper, Middle, Lower, and Outer. Here's a map (from here):

(The purple island is Martha's Vineyard and the blue is Nantucket.) Interesting thing to note about the layout of the Cape: the regions are not necessarily labeled intuitively. The orange region is actually the Upper Cape, green is Middle (that one makes sense), dark purple is Lower, and yellow is Outer. The four regions are fairly distinct in what they have to offer, which is good to know when planning a trip.

We stayed in West Yarmouth at the Holly Tree Hotel, which is in the green part of the map, although we did things all over the Cape. It's about 45 minutes from West Yarmouth to the tip of the Outer Cape (Provincetown); we made that trek easily. 

For any Southerners (or non-Southerners, I guess) who are used to going to the beach in the Southeast, you should know that doing the beach in New England is a very different ballgame. Very different. My personal experience with the beach has been centered around staying in condos or hotels (usually condos with kitchen facilities) that are beachfront. Beaching in the Southeast, we would make a lot of meals in the condo, spend entire days on the beach with breaks to go inside and come back out at will, and we would play in both the sand and the water. Planning for a New England beach trip took a bit of a mental overhaul.

There are not very many beachfront condos/hotels in West Yarmouth (I didn't notice a lot of them in other towns either...again, with the exception of Provincetown. But y'all, even those were not the same as what I grew up with.). The bulk of visitors stay in hotels or cottages that are usually a few miles from the beach. There are a few beachfront places for rent, but that is not the norm. And I will also mention that most of the accommodations are older, unlike what you typically come across along the Gulf or lower Atlantic beaches. When it comes to the beaches, not all beaches are public; quite a few are reserved for residents only. I can understand that; if you live on Cape Cod, you probably don't want to have to jostle with all the tourists to enjoy the beach. I wouldn't. Well, maybe sometimes, just to keep things interesting. But probably not regularly.

It's wise to know a few things before you head off to the beach. Things like how much is parking (you will pay, oh yes you will)? is there a good amount of parking or will you be competing for a spot? are there bathroom facilities (never had to think about this one growing up)? I found this site that was incredibly helpful. It allows you to choose which city and then presents all of the available beaches with information about amenities (parking, bathrooms, food, lifeguards). That helped us narrow down our search considerably: we wanted one with parking and bathrooms. In many cases, it will also give insight into how much parking is available and how much it will cost. We picked out a few that we were interested in, and then narrowed it down, based on the fact that our hotel had discount parking passes for a few on our list! Woooo! On top of that, Brad's parents found a little stretch of beach that had about 15 free parking spots! We spent one of our beach days hanging out there. The other day, we went to Parker's River Beach, which had lots of parking (we used our hotel discount pass), bathrooms, a food stand, and a playground area. We liked it a lot!

If you don't have your own beach gear, like chairs and umbrellas, you'll either need to buy them or rent them from this place. There aren't options to rent right there on the beach, so we were really thankful to have stuff to take with us. We took two beach chairs, a huge, sand-resistant blanket (thanks, Breanne!!), a big umbrella, and a baby cabana. We had a great set-up! We also loaded up our cooler with lunch and snacks. The sand was pretty and soft, and the water was calm. The only this is...this water is cold. Even in August. Claire, who has proven to be a water-lover, cried when we dipped her toes in. It was sad. But, we had a great time hanging out together, soaking up sun (Claire didn't do that part, obviously), reading, snacking, and watching the passing parade. Definitely days well-spent.

What we've been up to.

I had great intentions of blogging well last week, but...

We were actually at Cape Cod! Technically, we had internet at our hotel, but in actuality, it didn't work very well. The upside to this situation is that I have some good blogs in the making for this week.

Brad's parents came and made this whole quintessential New England vacation happen. Thanks so much, Gran and Grandpa! Claire has been so blessed this summer with opportunities to see her extended family, and we are so grateful.

I don't know how many of y'all will ever be planning a Cape Cod adventure, but just in case you do, I thought I'd include things that we found helpful to know (some of which were definitely a hindsight kind of helpful).

This was the first vacation of my life where I did the chunk of the research and planning, which was overwhelming but also really fun and informative (I rather like research. Mock me, if you must.). I did sort of crack myself up when we actually got there: we kept passing restaurants and places of interest, and I would point and say things like, "Oh yeah...that was on the Top 10 list for putt putt places and that one was rated highly for breakfasts. Hm...didn't read anything about that place. It must not be very good, y'all." Oh yes...I was delightful to have in the car.

I spent many an hour reading about places of interest, restaurants, deals, and everyone's take on everything. The more research I did, the more I realized that I had apparently created a Cape Cod in my head that doesn't actually exist. I'm not sure when I sat and thought about Cape Cod, but as I learned more about it, I found myself thinking, "Huh...that's not what I thought it was."

Anyway, I'll break it down for y'all over the next few days. Unless, of course, I continue having days like today where basically nothing gets done. Oi.