Jay BellFinding new ways to keep things fresh. Often, when you think of Cape Cod, you think of sandy beaches, vibrant restaurants, and other fun attractions, often filled with enthusiastic vacationers. While these are a lot of fun, they often come at a price that can add up, from $20 or more just to park at the beach, to admission to museums, to a pricy meal at a romantic restaurant or for a family. But that doesn’t have to be the case. As fun as those activities are, we recently challenged ourselves with a goal of an inexpensive day trip on the Cape. The rules were simple: we each start with $25. Gas doesn’t count, nor do groceries, since we’d consume those even if sitting on our couch. Everything else comes out of that piggy bank. With only minimal research, we quickly found far more activities than we could squeeze into an action-packed day.
After leaving the other customers to continue admiring the display cases, we headed on to the Coast Guard Station in Eastham, one of the areas at the Cape Cod National Seashore. With an ever-rotating series of events, today celebrated Guglielmo Marconi, a Nobel-prize-winning inventor renowned for his work on wireless radio, including his transmission to Europe a century ago. On this International Marconi Day, wireless operators from around the world seek to establish as many connections with each other as possible. Coast Guard Station’s original transmission back in 1901 and the scarcity of people transmitting from this spot on the international grid makes this location highly sought after. I’d worried that this might be boring, but discovered a niche activity with a passionate crowd and a long history. In this age of iPhones and amazing technology, it provided an interesting contrast to see how much more dependable this century-old system is. Instead of listening to a tedious presentation, we found ourselves enjoying the activity and spontaneously helping keep track of contacts from all corners of the globe. All this was at a cost of… nothing. $0 parking, $0 admission. Total cost so far: $1.
We decided to spend with reckless abandon, stopping at Orleans’ Hog Island Brewery, near the elbow of the Cape. This family-friendly brewery features indoor and outdoor games and seating, with cornhole sets outside, and ping pong tables, foosball, and other games inside. Hog Island also features guest beers in addition to its own creations, and offers a menu, which not all breweries do. We each grabbed a cold, craft beer and a gourmet hot dog to enjoy, as we processed our day’s events and watched families and friends playing all around us. After an hour, we settled up, which came to a whopping $12 after tax and tip, leaving us at $19 total. Since we still had daylight left on a fantastic spring day, and with so many seasonal places reopening, we added one last stop where our day started: Dennis village. A couple buildings down from the Underground Bakery is Smuggler’s Ice Cream, offering delicious homemade ice cream. Indoor and outdoor seating makes it easy to linger, and to either cool off in the air conditioning or take in the atmosphere if outside. Either way, you’ll find yourself surrounded by smiling customers of all ages. After tip, this $5 treat brought our day to an end at $24. Sadly, our day was done. But as we returned home, we realized this was an eye-opener. This challenge forced us to try new things. In doing so, we found so much more going on, from the passionate people to the varied activities. This was despite running out of time for some things we’d earmarked: whale sighting and education at another point on the National Seashore; a guided nature walk; and an earth day event featuring local artists and writers, just to name a few.
Oftentimes, we think of our community as a single, common group of neighbors. As this day showed, we live amidst a series of communities, all layered on top of each other. This creates an extremely vibrant and ever-evolving region that offers boundless opportunities to discover – and rediscover – ways to make the most of our days here… regardless of the budget you may have. Extremely Helpful Links: Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce: https://www.capecodchamber.org/events Cape Cod Online: http://capecodonline.com/things-to-do/
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Jay BellPurveyor of Road Trips Every year Nantucket bursts into life on the last weekend in April. The annual Daffodil Festival celebrates the arrival of Spring and awakening of an island largely dormant for the prior six months. With a wide array of activities, the biggest challenge is probably deciding what to do. A fast ferry rounds the daffodil-wreathed Brant Point Lighthouse at Nantucket’s harbor entrance. We’ve now been several times: with and without kids, and as day trips and a weekend-long stay, and all have been great experiences. Ferry tickets can book up, so we’ve made a point of reserving early. We also find the fast ferry to be a great option, especially for the return trip, since it isn’t very expensive and reduces the trip to less than half the time of the slow ferry. The one mandate is to wear yellow! Saturday is the focal point of the festival, with a parade of antique cars decked out with daffodils and some people picking their own unique theme. The procession is lined up in the cobblestone downtown beforehand, where onlookers can inspect cars up close, chat with the parade participants, and capture some entertaining photographs. But that parade is by no means the only event of note. Other theme-oriented processions and events center around dogs, hats, and storefront windows, all of which are decked out appropriately. All can be fun to join or just to check out. But these events are just scratching the surface of this weekend-long celebration that starts on Friday. A variety of tours are available to choose from, including historical walks around the downtown area, to van tours of the island for island newbies and photographers, to ghost walks. Options also include nature areas, lighthouses, and spectacular sunsets. Some of the walks can be brisk, and others require reservations, so some planning is important. There are also other types of events: flower and photography classes; historical society special events around whaling, founding families, and the Nantucket Whaling Museum’s interesting mix of exhibits and artifacts. For families with younger children, the family beach picnic is a great choice after the parade. Wine tastings can be fun for grown-ups. Artistic movies, live music, and other events can also be fun to check out. Many of the restaurants open at least briefly, as a way to dust off the cobwebs before May begins to see the uptick in tourists in advance of Memorial Weekend. Many stores also reopen, offering sales and a great mix of merchandise to browse. Cisco Brewers, on the far side of the island, also offers a familyfriendly atmosphere along with its beers, wine, and spirits, and live music in a great location; the shuttle running from downtown makes this easy and inexpensive to get to.
We found that staying over for the weekend allowed an opportunity to really immerse ourselves in the experience. One day can be a blast, and also exhausting by the time we’re on the return ferry. Staying near downtown provided easier access to many events, and allowed us to briefly return to our room when desired. While Nantucket can be expensive, we found reasonably priced rooms to choose from. Choosing one with a small kitchen further defrayed our costs while giving us more food options. Aside of the official events, we also enjoyed simply strolling around downtown in the early morning fog, going for a run, sitting at a small park with an afternoon coffee as we watched a unicyclist successfully navigate the cobblestone street, and meandering through historic sites such as a cemetery where many of the island’s founding fathers are buried. The whole island is celebratory, and after a winter of seclusion, fate seems to typically want to reward it with surprisingly good weather. However, it’s not as busy as it becomes a month later, so this is often a good time to visit without having to fight the masses to get a table for dinner. We’ve not needed a car, which can be a real challenge anyways, opting for taxis for the limited times they’re needed. Nantucket’s rich history, easily navigated island, and mix of events have given us some of our favorite memories each of the last few years. Its online event listing is updated up until right before the event, which also helps us map out the key activities we want to enjoy. This, along with the great vibe, make Nantucket’s Daffodil Festival a must-do springtime event to check out! |
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