Dorothy Piotrowski’s blog

Karen had read in the paper that the Federated Church of Hyannis was having their weekly lobster roll luncheon.  We decided that we should check it out, since it was just around the corner from our hotel.  This luncheon has been happening for the last 50 years.  For $12 you get a lobster roll, potato chips, a drink and dessert (delicious chocolate cake!).  All of the food was made by the ladies of the church.  We were joined at our table by Nancy & Enzio who have been married for 51 years and used to live on The Cape, but now live near Boston.  They were very a entertaining couple.  There was a concert pianist playing during the lunch.  Lots of fun with the locals!

After lunch, we packed up the car and headed to Nauset Beach in Orleans, which is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore.  We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and relaxing.  The water here was a lot cooler than other beaches we had visited, but the waves were big enough for the surfers.  We had to check out the last of the Christmas Tree Shops on The Cape in Orleans.  We were in a bit of a panic … we didn’t have any dinner recommendations from Al & Terri.  We decided to drive to Rock Harbor and stumbled upon Cap’t Cass’ Rock Harbor Seafood.  This restaurant has been in business since 1958.  The menu is posted on cardboard on the wall.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner (fish & chips, crab roll).  Karen noticed a couple that ordered their dinner and then proceeded to pull out a couple of beers from their bag.  It’s that kind of casual place.

We headed over to Rock Harbor to watch the sunset.  We noticed a man with a couple of cameras and tripods, and knew we were in the right place.  There were lots of people enjoying the sunset, and a man playing a steel drum.  You can watch the boats returning from a day of fishing, and the scenery is stunning.  We took lots of photos and truly enjoyed our last evening on The Cape.

Karen contacted David Luria of Washington Photo Safari to ask if he knew of any photography workshops in Cape Cod.  He suggested Saba Alhadi of Photowalks in Boston.  She was kind enough to give us a private “Postcards of Boston” tour.  The drive from Cape Cod to downtown Boston was approximately 1-1/2 hours and thankfully we had “Jack” with us. We parked at the Boston Common and picked up a quick bite to eat at Au Bon Pain.

We met Saba at the George Washington monument in the Public Garden.  We spent the next 2 hours walking around the beautiful gardens and other fascinating parts of Boston.  Saba would give us some history of the area and then would suggest things to take photos of.  The awesome part was that she would show us exactly how to take the photo on her digital camera.  We walked through the Public Garden, Boston Common and Beacon Hill.  We even saw Senator John Kerry’s house in Lewisburg Square, where Louisa May Alcott had lived, and writer Robin Cook, and many other multi-millionaires live.  Saba gave us lots of great ideas and tips and hopefully we have a winning photo or two for the Paris Fair.

Saba suggested to visit the North End which is the Italian district of Boston.  We walked around (in the sweltering heat) and then had a small snack at Mike’s Pastry.  Now I can imagine what Italy must be like.  (I’m sure Tony Soprano hangs out here when he’s in Boston).  Paul Revere’s house was in this area, so lots of history was surrounding us.  We realized that there was a Maggiano’s Little Italy so we decided to have dinner there.  The food was great (as usual), and the portions were huge.

Before leaving home, we did a little bit of research and found that there was an L.L. Bean store in Burlington which was about 20 minutes from Boston.  We stopped there, and at the Burlington Mall.  On our drive home, we stopped at the Christmas Tree Shops in Pembroke.  Don’t ya just love a baaarrrgain!

We got up and decided that we would spend part of the day at the beach.  The question was which beach, since there are plenty to choose from on Cape Cod.  We asked Terri and she suggested Craigville Beach, which was only about 20 minutes away.  We loaded up the car with a couple of borrowed beach chairs, umbrella, beach blanket, towels, cooler, books and suntan lotion and got on our way.

We got to the beach and found ourselves a spot.  The beach was busy but because it’s so big, it didn’t seem crowded.  We spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming and reading Harry Potter.  The water wasn’t quite as cold as expected, and the waves were great.  Terri advised us that the best ice cream on the island was at the Four Seas which is in Centerville.  After a tiring day on the beach, we picked up some yummy ice cream before heading to the hotel.

After a little break, we decided that to visit the Barnstable County Fair.  Unfortunately it took us 1-1/2 hours to get there, due to traffic, when normally it would take 20 minutes.  The fair was like the Paris Fair but the number of people rivalled that of the CNE.  I swear there were 50,000 people at the demolition derby … I think everyone on The Cape was there.  We walked around, ate some junk food, tried to watch the demolition derby, and got lots of photos of the farm animals, who were quite vocal while waiting for their dinner.  It was a good fair, but far busier than we expected.

We decided to sleep in again today.  Once we got moving, we asked Terri for a lunch recommendation downtown.  She suggested the Common Ground Cafe.  The restaurant is designed so that you feel like you’re eating in a treehouse.  We had a great healthy lunch (served by hippie-types) and then walked over to the Hyannis Harbor to catch our 4 hour fishing trip with Hy-Line cruises.

We boarded the boat, were handed our rods and found us some seats.  The captain took us out about 45 minutes into the ocean and we then spent the next 2-1/2 hours fishing.  Karen nor I like to touch bait but we had to this time.  We just told ourselves that it was cooked chicken when in fact it actually was clams.  Later on we also fished with crabs and some other oily fishy bait.  The guy next to us caught a fish each time he put his rod in the water.  I quickly caught a fish, and then Karen caught 3 more.  We were catching porgies (AKA scup) which have to be 10.5 inches before you can keep them.  I would have caught more had I not gotten sea sick.  The boat was rocking really bad because of the huge waves pounding us from every direction.  Karen tells me that about half the people on the boat were looking pretty sick, and many of them were sitting inside with their heads down on the tables. The ride back was very quick, and we got soaked by the waves, but didn’t want to head inside with all the sickies.  We gave our fishes away to somebody on the boat, and I hope he had a good fish fry.

When we got back to the hotel, we asked Al for a dinner recommendation somewhere near Falmouth, since you can see the sunset over on that side of the island.  He suggested The Flying Bridge.  We enjoyed our delicious marinated steak tips on the waterfront, where all the beautiful people dock their magnificent boats and dine.  After dinner, we chased the sun to a private beach in Quissett and enjoyed a lovely sunset.  And how does one end an evening in Cape Cod … at a Christmas Tree Shops of course.

After a long day in the car yesterday, we decided to sleep in.  When we woke up this morning it had been raining, but luckily it stopped and was just overcast.  I went downstairs and grabbed us some breakfast while we decided where we would go shopping. 

We walked down to the Hyannis Harbor and signed up for a fishing trip on Tuesday, which our host Terri recommended.  We walked to downtown Hyannis to check out the various shops.  We went back to the hotel, picked up the car and started our shopping journey. 

Our shopping marathon started at the Cape Cod Mall at the Bath & Body Works.  Luckily for us nothing was on sale and therefore no money was spent there.  We saw that there was a Panera Bread across the street and decided to have lunch there.  We discovered Panera Bread in Washington, and would highly recommend it for a tasty and healthy lunch.  After lunch we headed to the Christmas Tree Shops in Hyannis.  This must be the largest of all six shops on The Cape.  After spending some bucks there, we then headed to a new store that we found, called Ocean State Job Lots.  It’s exactly like Big Lots, for all you fans of Big Lots!

We went back to the hotel to change into our shorts since it was starting to get sunny and warm.  We then went to the Cuffy’s factory outlet.  This place has the best quality clothing around.  We spent a lot of time and a lot of money here.  For $137 we walked out with 6 t-shirts, 5 sweatshirts and 3 canvas tote bags.  They have great deals like 12 t-shirts for $36!  You really need to buy in bulk there to get the most unbelievable prices.

This morning we had asked our hosts for the best place to see a sunset.  Terri recommended the Chapin Memorial Public Beach.  She also recommended the Sesuit Harbor Cafe in East Dennis which is nearby.  Once again we had an excellent meal.  Fabulous fish & chips, and scallops & chips, while sitting on picnic tables over-looking boats going in and out of the harbour.  I wonder where they’re going to send us tomorrow for dinner!

After dinner, we headed over to Chapin Memorial Beach in Dennis and unfortunately for us there was not going to be any sunset.  So what does one do if there is no sunset?  You go shopping.  We hit the Christmas Tree Shop and Cuffy’s in West Dennis.  We picked up ice cream at the Kream N’ Kone and hit one more Christmas Tree Shop in West Yarmouth.  After a long day of shopping, we headed back to the hotel for an early evening.