For Once, A VACAYSHUN, Not a Staycation

Late last night, hubby and I returned from five days in Sunny Cape Cod. We had visited 23 years ago, and loved it enough to try it again. What we really wanted to do was take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

Oh, yeah... and eat some seafood.

And some more.

Oh, and lobster.

Most of our treks were impromptu. Our constant search for lighthouses resulted in accidental forays to anything but lighthouses. Apparently, lighthouses involve a lot of walking and/or an uncanny sense of direction in a labyrinth of private roadways and/or paying an exorbitant fee to gain access to the area. Or you have to be a lighthouse keeper... whatever.

Anyway, we stumbled on places we weren't looking for, like this marine laboratory in Woods Hole, which featured a couple of seals that couldn't be released. And a fish that looked like it really wanted to tell us a story.

I touched a sea urchin, which was a less traumatic experience than the time I stepped on one in 1974, but that's another story. These trout reminded me of the John Ratzenburger fish in Finding Nemo...

We went whale watching out of Provincetown, which is a Happenin' Place at the end of the Cape. Apparently, we stumbled on Carnival Week, with a Las Vegas theme. After lurking through tiny one-way streets and dodging a thousand pedestrians, we finally found a parking spot and walked back to the port along Commercial Street, where we got a sneak peek of the upcoming festivities during the evening hours.

The whale watching excursion was a success. Mark worked the starboard side while I scanned the port side. A minke whale poked around a smaller boat just before a humpback gave us a show right beside our vessel.

When we'd slaked our thirst for whales, our boat headed back to P-Town, during which a lovely sun set on one side, while a Blue Moon rose on the other.

We slipped back into the slip under a twilight sky.

Then we walked back to our car through a throng of revelers.

We shopped and gawked and listened to street performers, and took one last look at the moon between a couple of buildings.

After that, we discovered villages, docks, marshes, sand dunes, cannonballs, crabs, fishing boats, crusty old fishermen, and rustic carvings...

Okay, I'll stop now. But the memories of this trip will live on in my mind. I'll still smell the briny scent of the seaside, and the blisters on my feet as we trekked through villages and dunes, and the sticky feeling as the wind drove salty moisture into my skin.