A Cape Cod tour

Thursday, October 18
Everyone has heard of Cape Cod and it brings to mind a quaint, relaxed, slow pace. Well, let's see!

With a long walk under our belt in Boston yesterday we treated (??) ourselves to a drive today. 'Treated' is not exactly the right term. 'Endured' is more accurate. The tip of Cape Cod and the town on Provincetown is about a two hour drive according to Google. Well it might be in theory but with road construction and traffic it's a bit (lot) more that that. I can't imagine what the traffic would be like in the middle of summer or on a nice spring or fall weekend. It is bumper to bumper everywhere.

The Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal

Sagamore Bridge in the distance. This is the second of two bridges that cross the Cape Cod Canal.

The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately seven-mile-long (11 km) canal traverses the narrow neck of land joining Cape Cod to the state's mainland. Most of its length follows tidal rivers widened to 480 feet (150 m) and deepened to 32 feet (9.8 m) at mean low water, shaving 135 miles (217 km) off the journey around the Cape for its approximately 14,000 annual users.^{[2] (from Wikipedia. For more click here )}

We finally made our way to the Cape Cod peninsula using the Mid-Cape Highway 6. We stopped at the Cape Cod National Seashore Visitor Center for some maps and information. we then headed out Doane Road to Coast Guard Beach.

The Atlantic Ocean and Coast Guard Beach

The beautiful Atlantic. A bit breezy though. You might be able to spot the spray on the tops of the waves.

Coast Guard Beach

The Ocean View Drive toward the Nauset Lighthouse.

The grassy sand dunes.

The beach at Nauset Lighthouse.

Nauset Lighthouse

The typical Cape Cod house design on the shore of Cape Cod Bay by Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.

Beach houses near Provincetown.

Pilgrim Monument. Sun was behind it and no way to get a good picture from the other side. :-(

The sand dunes by the shore near Provincetown.

Race Point Ranger Station

Great dunes here.

A sand mat made walking to the beach at Race Point quite easy.

We slowly made our way on the secondary highway 28 toward the south end of Cape Cod.

The shore near Chatham.

The Chatham Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station.

Two red flags. pretty windy today!

Chatham Beach

This caught our attention. A 200 year old jewelry store. Still in the same family. 

The pretty down of Dennis.

Falmouth Beach

The island of Martha's Vineyard on the horizon.

We spent the full day on Cape Cod and time to head home. We thought we'd be home before dark, but it was well after sunset before we made it to the campground.

Just a note to anyone thinking of going to Cape Cod in October.......pack a lunch! All the restaurants are closed, except for a few that are crazy busy. As well, leave yourself plenty of time to drive anywhere. Traffic is slow and congested. And it's not just the Parks. We drove down toward Falmouth on the southern coast. What should have taken a couple of hours took nearly four! Yikes!

Don't get me wrong, Cape Cod is a beautiful area. We saw some great areas and pretty sea and landscapes, but have patience and plenty of time.

.....and that was Our View From Here!