We see Allie in Boston then all head to Cape Cod and Nantucket for the week.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
We had a 2:05pm Southwest flight from BWI to Boston, which proved to be a very civilized time. Barb had aerobics in the morning and we still had plenty of time to get to the airport. The flight itself was fine, even a bit ahead of schedule. We got our bags and grabbed a taxi to the hotel, the Harborside Inn, where we stayed our previous time in Boston. This time we got a slightly cheaper room facing the interior atrium and found that it was acceptable but not as good as before, with poor light. But we figured we could make it work for two nights.
Allie and Dan arrived around 5pm. It was a pleasant early summer day so we walked to the aquarium to see the seals, then strolled to the harbor for a bit. We got a sidewalk table at Tia’s Waterfront restaurant for a drink (don’t get Narragansett shandy again) and fresh fried clams, which was a nice little snack.
We walked to the Beacon Hill area to see Allie’s new studio apartment building where she will move in September. After looking for a while at the wrong building, Allie figured out the correct one. It seems to be very conveniently located even if it is three flights up. Allie’s very excited to move there and be on her own, as she should be.
We had 8:30 dinner reservations at Ma Maison just a block or so away, and happily they let us in early. I was eager to test out this small, well-rated (#4 in Boston) French bistro to see if it could become a neighborhood choice for us. It passed the test. We tried escargot, steak frites (Barb liked the steak, not the frites), several fish dishes and chicken for Dan. Good food all around and a nice time. After a quick shopping trip at CVS, we Ubered back to the hotel for the night.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Allie met us in the morning at the hotel, then we Ubered over to AMC Commons theater to see Late Night, Mindy Kaling’s movie with Emma Thompson as a talk show host. Not a great movie, but the popcorn was good.
Since it was a bit rainy, we ventured just down the block to have lunch at the Explorateur Cafe. We had eaten there two years before with Allie’s roommates. The food was decent, again, and they let us linger for a long while watching the Red Sox beat the O’s and the final day of the US Open at Pebble Beach get underway. The rain persisted, putting a damper on any ideas of walking around, so we eventually Ubered back to the hotel for afternoon naps, reading and more of the US Open. For Father’s Day dinner, we headed to Santarpio’s, the noted pizza place in East Boston. The pizza was decent but not earth-shatteringly good. The atmosphere of a friendly local dive was the best part. We probably should have tried the lamb or sausage skewers, if we ever go back. In all, it made for a low-key but very enjoyable Father’s Day.
Monday, June 17, 2019
We checked out of the hotel by 9:30 and caught a cab to the airport rental car place. Chatting with the cab driver about Cape Cod and Provincetown, Barb learns that Ptown is a gay capital. “People are holding hands there that shouldn’t be,” said the cabbie. This is news to Barb.
I rented car at Budget, via Costco, expecting a midsize sedan like I reserved. The counter person tried to get me to take a pickup, but I declined. Then he foisted an SUV on me that appeared to cost double what I’d reserved, but the agent said don’t worry and the price turned out to be 20% lower than my reservation. After all these years I still don’t understand the car rental business. We found ourselves in a Ford Flex, a monster of a vehicle that felt like a Hummer but ended up being pretty comfortable for our trip.
It took us 15 minutes to navigate out of Logan Airport to get to Allie’s place. Barb dropped off one bag…and realized it was likely last time we would see this little Eastie apartment (other than the following Saturday, as it turned out). We were finally on our way, with Allie in navigator seat so she could guide me and figure out car’s electronics as we go.
We drove about 90 minutes to Donna Eden’s house in Wareham, on the South Shore just before Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal. Donna’s place is gorgeous, newly rehabbed/rebuilt. It’s to be summer home away from home for Donna’s extended family. Four bedrooms plus cottage, lovely great room and screened sunroom. There are views mostly of woods but with glimpses of the cove and Buzzard’s Bay beyond. Very lovely.
Donna gave us a tour of the house then served a gracious lunch of chowders, cheese, bread and fruit. We greatly admire someone who knows how to entertain; we watched and helped a little as Donna casually dispensed the meal and drinks.
We elected to hang out at Donna’s after lunch, with Barb doing some work and the rest of us reading and napping. Later, we walked down to the water and Donna’s family dock on a cove (her sister has a house nearby). We see lots of oyster beds and a seabird swooping on fish. It’s a very pretty place, and no doubt tons of fun for little grandkids.
We took Donna out to dinner at local place of her choice, Lindsey’s Family Restaurant. Good seafood, reasonable price and quality. We saw two wild turkeys on the road back to Donna’s before getting lost while Donna and Barb talk murder mysteries.
We had originally intended to stay with Donna for a night or two, but there had been enough question about the timing that I’d gone ahead and made hotel reservations in Falmouth. By the time schedules solidified and Donna confirmed her offer, I found that I couldn’t cancel our hotel reservations — we would be paying for two nights regardless. So we elected to use the hotel and take a rain check on Donna’s offer. I think it ended up working out for the best.
Bidding farewell to Donna, we drove to Falmouth and the Beach Breeze Inn, arriving at 8pm, just in time to catch the innkeeper (who called us to say she was leaving for the evening) and sunset. Barb cornered the innkeeper and asked questions about what we should see in the area.
We dumped stuff in our room and headed over to the nearby beach for sunset, first seeing an osprey land on the Inn’s rooftop and then immediately get dive bombed by a smaller bird. A few moments later, we saw a coyote trotting down the street toward the beach. We confirmed with a couple of other sunset watchers that it was indeed a coyote. Slightly shaken (but not as much as a guy with a small dog…coyote bait), we admire the sunset for a bit before deciding to take an exploratory drive around the area before it’s completely dark.
Barb was curious about the “Rubberwood” town mentioned by innkeeper – it took us a minute to figure out she meant Woods Hole. We drove a short distance down the coast to the little town, spying two grey fox along the way. It’s become quite the day for wildlife. We wandered back toward Falmouth and scoped out Main Street for restaurants and shops.
Back at the Inn, I saw a bunny when I went to get ice, and a beautiful full moon rising, capping off our nature and wildlife sightings for the day. Our room at Inn was very sweet but had poor ventilation without a breeze, even though the outside temperature was in the low 60’s. I sweated for an hour or so before Barb turned on the A/C window unit. This cooled me down and we got a decent night’s sleep, though I felt guilty using the A/C and turned it off after an hour or so.
I woke up early (5am) with dual minor epiphanies and tried not to wake up Barb or Allie. One was that I should start using my laptop as a tablet to show people like Donna and Allie (and Barb) my work in progress. It’s time to show it and get some feedback. I can also use it to show Google photo albums and AI features. Donna may have liked to see pictures of Gerard’s wedding and various OGC events with Henry and old buddies. I missed an excellent quiet afternoon opportunity to show things off and get input.
My second epiphany was that I (and we) could do a much better job of having an informed and efficient vacation by using Google. I plugged in search “What should I see in Cape Cod” and quickly find a good article of 14 highlights. It’s similar to asking Alexa or Siri but I don’t like talking to them or listening to answers. I prefer scanning Google results and using my own intelligence to filter the most useful information. Google results are often more efficient than TripAdvisor or Yelp for finding things to do. They’re also more efficient and reliable than Barb asking random people what to see – though that often yields interesting results, as well. A mix is good.
This epiphany partly comes from my experience of writing these posts and figuring out what kind of things are important to me in hindsight. I’m glad to start to see added value from the exercise of writing these summaries. I know we can’t see everything but I like hitting main things and regret missing stuff I should have know about.
This drives the next several days itinerary, which had been wide open. I figure out that this day we should first see Cape Cod National Seashore, starting with Visitors Center, maybe White Cedar Swamp, Provincetown visitor center and lighthouse, Provincetown Pilgrim memorial and maybe museum, maybe Chatham and Marconi sites on drive back. The next day we can hit the Kennedy museum in Hyannis before our ferry. Maybe also the harbor restaurant where I ate with Jenny and buddies during our FIRST conference a few years before. In Nantucket we can aim to do the Whaling Museum and also find a walking tour. I had a general idea of these targets from earlier research but asking more focused questions yields more specific results. Call it an augmented vacation. We should have done same last night to learn more about Woods Hole and Falmouth while we were touring them. I vow to try to use this method over the next few days without being obnoxious, and to try to see if Allie can help.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Following my epiphanies, Barb woke up early and checks email for a while until we roused Allie. We got on the road by 9am. Our first stop after almost an hour was the Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitor Center. We got ourselves oriented, talked to the ranger for a bit, watch the introductory movie, saw the gift shop and still nearly missed the little museum tucked in the back. We spent another half-hour in the museum, learning about the Cape’s history, geology, whaling, fishing and more. It was one of the more informative half-hours we had on the trip.
We pushed on to Provincetown, arriving about 11:30am and getting hungry. Allie picked the famous old Lobster Pot restaurant for lunch. We get right in and order too much food: lobster bisque, clams casino and a trio of lobster sandwiches — roll, Reuben and grilled cheese. Also Bloody Marys. The food was actually not that good but there’s more than enough of it.
We rolled out of the restaurant and wandered up and down Commercial Street in Ptown. We were told by the waitress to check out the library. We did and found the ship replica on the second floor. It’s pretty neat, more of an art installation than anything practical, but it’s fun. From there, we head back to City Hall where it’s Election Day. Close out shopping for some sweets at candy stores. All in all, Ptown is very touristy and more tacky than I’d expected, sort of a New England version of Key West. I don’t really understand the attraction, especially as it no doubt gets more crowded in the summer.
We drive a few short miles to the National Park’s second visitor center, Province Lands, but it started raining. We spent a few minutes on the observation deck but there’s not a lot to observe. There’s no way we were going out on the dunes or anything, not that that was much of a threat anyway.
We drove down the coast to a lighthouse in the Highland area, hoping the weather might be better. It was not. Allie and I walked out to the lighthouse and an observation deck near the dunes but can’t quite see the shoreline. It was a disappointment, but the wildflowers were pretty so we snapped some artsy shots with the lighthouse. With Barb in the car and our interest flagging, we forego the little museum and its admission fee.
We were getting tired in mid-afternoon and the weather was not cooperating, so we skipped the Marconi exhibit and White Cedar Swamp walk. We drove on toward Chatham, which Donna had also mentioned as a scenic little town. We saw the lighthouse and beach but it was still raining, so there was not much incentive to explore.
Needing a little caffeine, we stopped at a bar in Chatham for a Diet Coke while Barb went window shopping. We found her a bit later in an oil and vinegar gift shop listening to an a capella trio doing a little promotional video. It turned out they were part of The Hyannis Sound, quite the local institution. For the rest of our trip we noticed many signs for their performances all over the Cape.
Suitably fortified, we drove the hour-plus back to Falmouth, getting back around 7pm. It was a long day. We didn’t do everything I had hoped, but it was plenty and I’m not sure we really could have accomplished much more. That said, I’m not sure what on the Cape I’d really want to make an effort to return to. I can see that it’s a fine weekend destination for New Englanders and probably a fun place to spend summer weeks for families, but not more so than the mid-Atlantic or Carolina coasts.
Looking for something relatively light for dinner, we chose an Italian place, La Cucina Sul Mare. The meal is good, a veal Francese variant for Barb, a huge Vongole of fresh local clams for me, and a Caprese salad and pasta for Allie. All very tasty but once again more than enough. Time to get back to the Inn to bed. The Innkeeper has kindly provided a fan and some lamps to make our second night a bit more pleasant.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Allie voted for bagels for breakfast, so we found a local place, the aptly named Cape Cod Bagel Cafe, to head to once we checked out after a leisurely morning. The bagels were tasty and sufficed for lunch.
We drove to Hyannis to check in for our 2:30 ferry, unload and park. I had pre-purchased parking near the ferry dock but wasn’t real sure of the whole unloading and ticketing process. It turned out to be easy, though we didn’t properly identify which ferry we were on. Our luggage ended up going to Nantucket before we did, but we didn’t know.
We parked and walked over to the John F. Kennedy museum. It turned out to be a small museum mostly consisting of large gorgeous photos and a few videos and artifacts. It further romanticized JFK, Jackie and the family, as if they needed more hagiography. There was a very impressive family tree from Joe Sr. to present, including dozens and dozens of the current generation of grandchildren and more. A tour bus arrived while we were in the museum and nearly overwhelmed it. The museum was barely worth the $15 admission, but effectively killed an hour or so waiting for the ferry.
The Hy-Line ferry ride to Nantucket was fast and pleasant. Allie and I sat on the back deck with a beer, picking out the Kennedy compound as we pulled out of Hyannis. The one-hour ride was just long enough. It was enjoyable being out on the water, going very fast, and I loved seeing the 360-degree horizon once again.
We pulled into Nantucket harbor, admiring the array of boats and rim of low, gray houses.
After a quick moment of confusion, we found our luggage that came on the earlier ferry. We trudged the 10 minutes or so to the Brass Lantern Inn, rattling our wheelie luggage over the cobblestone sidewalks, then hauled our bags up the back flight of steps as our innkeeper brusquely led us to our room. Not very glamorous, but at least it wasn’t raining. Our room, the Sconset Rose, was quite nice. I was pleased to find it air conditioned.
We started exploring the town of Nantucket and found it to be a cute mix of Annapolis, Newport, etc. with lots of shops and restaurants in a core touristy area. We did a little souvenir hunting and scouting out restaurants.
We picked out a likely restaurant, The Nautilus, and stopped by just as it opened at 5:30. They told us it was fully booked for evening but there were openings at the bar so we settled in for a drink and snack. We shared a scallion pancake, pork buns and grilled mushrooms, all excellent, especially the mushrooms. The drinks were expensive and Barb intimidated Allie out of ordering a $17 cocktail. Instead, she got a wine and I got a beer, and we had fun watching the bartenders make fancy drinks for others. Allie was fascinated by a Yahtzee-like dice game played for a $1 or $5 pot. She was especially impressed that the bartenders remembered who last won each pot; she liked the idea of regulars hanging out at the bar.
We wandered out to the docks and goggled at the big yachts, especially a fleet of Gallant Lady boats, four of the eight in the fleet, evidently. A Google search yielded an unexpected amount of information on the main yacht and its owner, the family of car dealer billionaire Jim Moran (I think maybe he sold Dad a car in Florida). Who knew there were multiple websites given over to big yacht porn? I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was.
We lingered for a while to watch an archetypal set of yachties (balding older white guys and younger, blonder wives) having cocktails on board before they get in one of the smaller Gallant Lady launches for a cruise around the harbor.
It was only about 7:30pm and we thought about hanging around for another hour for sunset and dinner but decided to get some Cokes and head back to room for a bit. Once settled, Barb stayed in the room, while Allie and I ventured back out. We scoped out a few more restaurants for the next couple of days.
We headed to a different set of docks for sunset, this time seeing the ShadowL, which turned out to be the smaller utility yacht of the (political scumbags and Trump facilitators) Mercer family. We tried not to let this rankle us too much, but it did. What are they doing here? More to the point, what are we doing here? Do I really want to be in the same neighborhood as them? Am I better off for being able to nose around and figure out who owns what yacht? It’s enough to ruin one’s vacation day.
Pushing these negative thoughts aside, we turned our attention to the sunset and got a few nice pictures of Allie.
A boat passed by and we noticed a trio of ladies posing in the rear. “Make us look young,” the ladies teased to the teenage boy taking the photo. This seemed a perfect encapsulation of Nantucket.
With dusk falling and a chill in the air, Allie and I found a little sushi place, Bar Yoshi, offering “industry specials” after 8pm. We ordered a light meal of ceviche and some spicy edamame. The hostess had to explain some elaborate rules for sitting outside (we must order inside, she can only serve us in takeout containers, etc.). In the end, she brings food to us after all. We enjoyed our evening snack and discount drinks, and brought back some shumai for Barb.
As we headed back to the room, we walked by Lola 41, the home branch of the restaurant Kristen worked at in Boston. Allie texted Kristen and later we FaceTimed with her, Betsy and Joe in Australia. They were at a nature park with some koalas. It’s a miracle how easy it is to videochat to the other side of the world — I wasn’t even on wifi at the time. Why do I always think it’s difficult to arrange? We finally wished Kristen a proper happy birthday.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
The continental breakfast at the inn was nice. With a little practice, I could get used to having a bagel with a schmear and a bowl of yogurt with fruit and granola. Too bad I can’t get in that habit at home.
We headed over to the Whaling Museum, which promised to be the highlight of our time in Nantucket. It was. The museum has several floors of exhibits, covering the mechanics of whaling, the history of Nantucket, scrimshaw and other whale products, candle-making (since the museum building was once the candle factory), and more. I found the most interesting items to be two films (a general one about Nantucket and one focused on the 1998 sperm whale that washed up on shore, the bones of which are now in the main hall) and two docent-led talks (one about the Essex (see also Smithsonian story) and one about a typical whaling voyage). We spent a good three hours or so there, and Barb ended up plunging back in to clear up a couple of questions after we thought we were finished.
I appreciated getting a handle on the extent of whaling over the 18th-20th centuries, the focus on sperm whales, and the eclipse of Nantucket by New Bedford after the Civil War due to multi-whammy of the harbor silting up, the economics of larger ships making longer voyages, New Bedford’s easier access to railways and transportation, a fire in the harbor, and loss of Nantucket’s ships impressed during the Civil War. See this interesting Smithsonian article for more details and background.
We had a good lunch around the corner at Queequegs – clam chowder, mussels, lobster roll, fish tacos (beer battered, nicely fried, yum).
We went back to the hotel for a break, Barb checked her email while Allie and I rested and read. Once we were ready to venture out again, rather than try to take a bus ride around the island, we decided to take it easier with an afternoon walk. It meant that we never really got out of the town of Nantucket, but that seemed OK. Besides, the cool, gray day was not very inviting for a longer journey.
We headed first to Jetties beach and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Photo op!
We walked from there to Brant Point lighthouse. As it happened, we were there in time to see several ferries pull into the harbor, and a sculptural seagull on the rooftop.
As we were leaving, a seagull flew by dangling a live, wriggling crab. The gull dropped the crab onto the road, stunning it, then proceeded to make a meal of it. Nature is red in beak and claw.
After the walk, I headed back to the room, but the girls partook of ice cream at Nantucket’s famous Juice Bar. They said it was great. They also secured a dinner reservation for that evening.
After a further rest, dinner at the Club Car was tasty as well. We shared shrimp a la plancha, smashed gigante beans, roasted oysters, tuna-stuffed piccillo peppers, and mushroom toast. The waitress talked us into a cheesecake with a Spanish dessert wine that was also quite nice. We had no complaints with the food we found on Nantucket, though again we were glad the town was not as busy as it clearly would be a few weeks later in the summer.
We adjourned back to the hotel for an evening of many Big Bang Theory episodes while Barb continued to wrestle with emails.
Friday, June 21, 2019
We had one last breakfast at the hotel, then Allie and I lounged in the room as Barb did a conference call in the hallway. It was a rainy morning anyway so there weren’t a whole lot of appealing alternatives. We checked out at 11 and Barb and Allie did some last minute souvenir shopping until it was time for our ferry at 12:30.
The ferry ride back was uneventful, other than meeting the Nantucket’s self-proclaimed coffee roaster in the line. He was heading back to New York, avoiding the weekend crowds as he evidently does all summer. Not a great advertisement for Nantucket on the weekends.
We grabbed serviceable sandwiches in Hyannis at the Ocean Street Cafe, then commenced our drive back to Boston. Traffic was fine going our direction until we hit Boston, particularly the Williams tunnel. We finally made it through, dropped Allie off, returned the car a little after 6pm, and caught a taxi back to the Harborside Inn. We’ve been upgraded this time to a city view room with better light. I felt good about it until finding out we also were charged more for it…I thought it was a free upgrade.
After a quick rest, we had dinner with Allie in the North End at Benevento’s. It was a decent meal of mushroom pizza, fusilli pasta with pesto, caprese salad and a good shrimp marnier appetizer. It’s another in a long line of nice but unremarkable meals at Italian places in the North End. You would think after a number of years we would find a place we’d actually like to return to, but we haven’t yet. At least Benevento’s was on a different street (Salem Street) which seems to offer some new alternatives for the future.
We went back to the hotel and as the hour got late and Allie decided against Ubering home, she ended up staying on the couch at the hotel. I was glad we had the option for her. I guess the extra charge for the room worked out, in the end.
Saturday, June 22, 2019
We checked out at 11am and stored luggage at the hotel, then went with Allie to see Toy Story 4. Afterwards, we walked back to hotel to retrieve leftovers from the night before and Ubered to Allie’s for a bit. Allie set us up on her couch with the big TV and we watched the first episode of Good Omens on Amazon, which we don’t have at home. We were impressed with the series which is getting a lot of good buzz. I will probably succumb and end up getting Amazon Prime after all.
Dan arrived and we walked over to Reelhouse for 2:30 brunch. This is a nice new restaurant in Eastie with a grand view of the Boston harbor and skyline. I think Allie wanted us to sit on the deck outside, but it was crowded and Barb and I preferred indoors anyway. It turned out to be a good decision when a rain squall blew through about an hour later. I had a steak and eggs dish that lasts me all day. Barb gets benedicts, Allie went for a salad, I think and Dan had eggs. We had a good long, lingering brunch.
A couple of hours later, we said bye to Dan and Allie who are going to a concert (Arizona…I never heard of them but kept thinking of the Mark Lindsay song) that evening. Barb and I took the T one stop (under the harbor) back to our hotel, did a little window shopping in the area, hung out in the hotel lobby and then headed to the airport for our 8:40pm flight. The flight was fine and we were home by 11pm to see Manny.
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