A $25 Day on Cape Cod

Jay Bell

Finding new ways to keep things fresh.

Let's see how far we can stretch $25 on Cape Cod!

​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.

We downed a quick breakfast at home before heading out, but brought coffee mugs with us. Our first stop was at the Underground Bakery in Dennis village. This fantastic place is routinely written up. Since we’d already eaten breakfast, we passed on the mouth-watering homemade donuts and muffins (about $3) and just refilled our large coffee mugs with gourmet coffee at a cost of only $1.

Huge refill of great coffee is only $1!

The National Seashore offered interesting history and activities to celebrate Marconi's wireless transmission ($0).

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.

Transmissions with wireless operators around the world were being logged.

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.

Truro's Pamet Trails were free, but with million-dollar views and miles of trails to explore!

One leg of Trurp's Pamet Trails revealed an abandoned cranberry bog house!

Our next destination took us near the end of Cape Cod, to the Pamet Trails in Truro. These trails wind through surprisingly varied terrain. Our route covered roughly two miles, journeying past scrub pines and black oaks, a deserted cranberry bog house, and a high bluff overlooking both Cape Cod Bay and the open Atlantic. With miles of trails and gorgeous views, it’s definitely a place worth visiting more than once. Again, with no charge for parking or trail use, we hit 1p.m. having only spent $1.

Truro's Highland Lighthouse had a staircase that was intimidating to some, but worth the $6 climb!

Being this far down-Cape, we drove a few short minutes to Highland Light. This is the country’s oldest lighthouse, commissioned by George Washington, and the highest lighthouse on Cape Cod. On this cloudless spring day, we ascended to the top of the lighthouse and found a view seemingly stretching on forever. The tour guides offered interesting history and pointed out some landmarks, and the scenery was amazing. The lighthouse rises up from the edge of a golf course. This provided for a quiet and beautiful backdrop as we pulled a snack from the car and plotted our next stop. This tour lasted about an hour and cost $6 per person, bringing total expenses to $7.

Highland Light has stunning views of the open Atlantic and Cape Cod Bay!

A picnic table outside Highland Light provides great views if you bring a lunch.

Wellfleet hosted a nonprofit fair with so many passionate people staffing great organizations!

Our mid-afternoon leg began our return drive, returning as far as Wellfleet. At Preservation Hall, a beautifully restored building and community hub, a nonprofit fair was winding down. It was a chance to not just enjoy the area, but better appreciate and understand the local community. Nonprofits ranged from those supporting local theatres and radio, to those providing social and health services, to animal rescue efforts, to environmental preservation. Everyone was enthusiastic and friendly, eagerly sharing their missions. While somewhat of a unique activity, it was interesting and provoked a lot of conversation as we drove to our next pit stop with $18 still to spend.

Orleans' Hog Island Brewery offers great indoor and outdoor atmosphere.

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.

Hog Island Brewery's gourmet hot dogs and craft beers hit the spot after a busy but fun day!

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.

Ice Cream Smuggler is an awesome finish to any day!

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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