“Wicked” cool weather in Chatham and Truro

I started the day writing out several postcards to friends and it took everything in me to resist talking mostly about the weather. What is it about weather that makes it such easy conversation for small talk? Well if there was a time to talk about weather it was today.

The morning started off beautiful, only slightly overcast. By noon, the clouds were building up a bit but with only two full days left of the Cape Cod trip, there would be no time wasted due to threatening rain.

A few of us went down to the Southeast most region of the Cape to the sizable town: Chatham. The town was noticeably different in several ways from other areas we’ve been visiting in the North. I found the locals a bit more unapproachable and a general air of elitism compared to the warm and welcoming attitude in Wellfleet, Truro and most especially Provincetown. Nonetheless it was a nice trip, with a long stroll down the main street which is filled with some interesting shops, galleries and restaurants. We were on edge most of the trip though as thunderstorms approached for what was literally a 30-40 minute period of threatening clouds and low-tone rumbles. By the time the downpours started we were practically back at our car where we witnessed the most amusing dance between a mother and son wearing beach buckets on their heads—both soaked from the rain. (sorry no pictures of that one)

We continued on to the underwhelming lighthouse (definitely the smallest lighthouse I’ve ever seen) but still beautiful, and watched the clouds shift over the Nantucket sound as all the fishing boats came in from sea.

Back up North in Truro, the weather had not settled at all. The sun peeked out at various times making for some fantastic cloud formations and beautiful lighting and then rain, rain and more rain. Finally the day ended with a brilliant sunset and the faintest hint of a rainbow.

Stretching the Limits of Acceptibility

Yesterday was my first trip to Provincetown. If my expectations were high for Cape Cod in general, they were through the roof for Provincetown. For years, friends have been touting the incredible open-mindedness of the town and its general fabulousness.

Provincetown may well be a utopian setting in many ways. Homosexual and heterosexual couples walk hand in hand. People of mixed races mingle on benches on streets, restaurants and cafes. All this is set in a pedestrian-friendly oasis on the sea. It has a vibrant art scene, with diverse galleries, craftsmen and hundreds of shops to choose from.

I couldn’t help but think of some basic questions…Why isn’t everytown like this? What makes Provincetown stretch the limits of acceptibility and inclusion? It was all so surreal and on some level uncomfortably strange. This is not the world that many of us our used to living in, even when we know it is much closer to the world we’d dream of living in.

To my pleasant surprise, we happened to land in town on the weekend that the Provincetown film festival was playing. My sister and I quickly snatched a few film guides, which were impressively robust with listings for such a small town, and bought tickets to Allan Ball’s film directorial debut, Towelhead. Alan Ball has been one of my favorite visionaries ever since getting hooked on Six Feet Under. Imagine our thrill, moments before the movie started, when the M.C. introduced Alan Ball from the audience, as well as the star of the movie, Summer Bishil, and the books author, Alicia Erian.

The film was a perfect fit for everything I experienced as the life-blood of Provincetown. Pushing the edge and asking the big questions of what is acceptable in life. Not for the easily offended, the film, devours issues of sexuality, nationalism, racism and sexism. After the film we were treated to a lengthy Q&A with Alan, Summer and Alicia which is a moment I will treasure for the rest of my life.

The festival was the perfect way to end a day of my first visit to this storied town. A place where I understood anything is possible—and it was, and glimmers of hope for a more enlightened society were everywhere.

Wellfleet

Today we ventured a few miles south of Truro into Wellfleet.  It is small and charming village, with a number of great shops and interesting galleries.  We spent a few hours walking up and down the main street and looking at some artwork.  My favorite place, was quite possibly the coolest stationary store I’ve been too ever.

The store, located in an old victorian home and slightly unkempt on the outside, was jam packed on the inside with every type of card, journal, stationary and paper imaginable.  I was thrilled to have found several racks of oversized paper, and quickly selected a few sheets to add to my stock for bookbinding.  One of the things I love about bookbinding is exploring little shops like this for unique papers—this is something that can only be done in person, the internet paper sites will never replace the in-person experience of touching and seeing a beautiful hand made sheet of paper.  The owner of the shop was very friendly and only too pleased to share with us several long-winded stories about how he ordered all his stationary and paper, even though he is colorblind.  I assured him his paper stock was quite well selected even considering his “handicap”

The afternoon was topped off with a refreshing lunch on a lawn of a victorian home converted to restaurant.  The fare was classic with fresh drinks and summery salads.  A light breeze was blowing, flowers were blooming and the food was delicious…it really was perfect.

Cape Cod…We’re here!

The family cape cod adventure began yesterday. The 8 hour ride up was so uneventful that we didn’t even notice until we were almost in Albany, New York that we should had been on 95 about 2 hours earlier. We went a bit out of our way, going farther north than anticipated on I-87, but our timing ended up being perfect.

I had quite high anticipations for Cape Cod. Everyone I talked to that had been here before had only rave reviews touting the beauty of the location. I have to admit, as we were driving up route 6, the main connector road from the Outer and Lower Cape, I was a bit underwhelmed. But as soon as we went off the main road, weaving our way to our rental home, I realized there is something truly special about the scenery here.

Our house is situated on a hill overlooking the bay, with breathtaking views. To the west the dunes collapse down sharply to a small beach situated on the bay, and to the east is a valley with another hillside spotted with classic New England beach homes. It reminds me of some of the rolling hills in Tuscany mixed with the beauty of the more undeveloped beaches like, Long Beach Island, and North Carolina’s Outer banks.

There was not too much adventuring today as we were all pretty wiped out from the drive. We did however take a late afternoon bike ride from the bay to the ocean. Its so great being in a location where you can see so much scenery in just a short 5 mile drive. I’m sure they’ll be more of these throughout the week. The area is ripe with bike trails and scenery for that matter. I hope to have the opportunity to explore as much as possible and of course, take lots of pictures.

A Weekend in the District

Over the Memorial Day weekend I had a wonderful trip to Washington D.C. and Baltimore.  I enjoyed the company of great friends, family and some great culture.

I always have mixed feelings when visiting D.C.  I am very much a big skyline person and I always want there to be more skyline in the city.  But skyline aside, I do love D.C. more and more each time I visit.  A friend at work told me to check out the National Museum of the American Indian, which we had about a half hour to spend in enroute to the International Spy Museum where we immersed ourselves in the Spy Adventure of our lives. Both were great experiences in their own way.

The architecture in the National Musuem of the American Indian was stunning, appropriate, bold and beautiful.  I couldn’t get enough of the lines and curves reflecting the beautiful landscape that the Native Americans have called home for so many years.  We also spent a bit of time looking at some of the exquisite dresses and ceremonial clothing with their detailed beading that must have taken hours upon hours to complete.  The International Spy museum was quite a change of pace, and loads of fun.  Who hasn’t dreamed of being in some sort of spy movie, we were hoping for a cross behind Breach and Mission Impossible and we were not dissapointed.  Operation Spy, had us riding creaky freight elevators, sifting through secret documents in a suspects vacant office, and dismantling surveilance cameras.  It was great fun and definitely tested the limits of what you could make a group of fairly sane adults do with a little bit of coaxing.

Oh, but the adventure didn’t stop there, we ended with a tasty meal of non-other than grasshopper tacos, and other more edible authentic mexican goodies.  Yes, I ate grasshoppers for the fun of it without throwing up and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Thankfully I also got a dose of skyline with a brief excursion around the harbor and aquarium in Baltimore.  I always have such fond childhood memories of Baltimore everytime I visit the downtown.  As kids my siblings and I always looked forward to summer visits with Grandmom and Grandpop, that often included a trip to all the best places downtown.  Yesterday took me back—it was great.

I’ve posted a few of my favorite shots from the past few days.