Cape Cod Travel Log: P Town Pools and Wilderness Watering Holes

Caroline and this writer hanging with Peter in Coney Island.
Photo by Peter Shapiro

Cape Cod a week later.

We promise to leave you guys alone when we come, explained to Steve and Jean when they rented us a cabin in Cape Cod.  And for the most part, that was true, except for the afternoon trips to the beach and pool, evening dinners and drinks.  It turned out to be just what we all needed after a crazy summer.  The rental with friends in the woods became a two week blur of stories and fun, writing and romping up and down the Cape.

But just getting there was a crazy struggle.  We were supposed to leave town after our anniversary weekend in the city.   So the last weekend in July, we romped around Manhattan and Coney Island without kids, hanging out on the beach, eating at our favorite restaurant on Brighton Beach, enjoying the city pulse on the water.

There we talked about about cults and community groups.  Caroline said we were starting to sound like a cult as we discussed organizing, iconic personalities, and the fixations we have with our villains and heros.  We talked about my Dad and Dads, Anthony Weiner,  and the possible rehabilitation of New York.

Monday morning, we were supposed to pack of the remainder of our life in South Street Seaport, drive to our house meeting in Brooklyn to check out the progress of the gut renovation, leave to pick up the kids and leave town.   The best laid plans rarely work as planned.  A flat tire in Chinatown slowed us all down and we never quite caught up.

By Tuesday, we were on the road traveling up to Cape Cod, where we stayed at our friend’s guest house, the kids played in the tree house and we swam on the delicious beaches, watching the sun set.

Most days, we wrote and then hit the beaches.

Some days, we went to a pond in the woods.

Others we romped around Provincetown. 

Afternoon at P Town Pool.  It was family week.

I do love the Victorians in P Town.

Talked about non-violent communication, movements, stories, and lost friends.

Part of summer is just being alive and hopefully chilling a bit.

Watching kids grow.

Listening to them sing.

Eating and telling stories and enjoying being alive. 

Last summer, we were Dublin in August.  With its beaches and friends, Cape Cod was a fantastic substitute.
In the rain in Provincetown, it did not feel too different. 

Our last night, we played on the zipline, had lobster races and watched Annie Hall, laughing into the night.

Doctor in Brooklyn: Why are you depressed, Alvy?

Alvy's Mom: Tell Dr. Flicker.

[Young Alvy sits, his head down - his mother answers for him]

Alvy's Mom: It's something he read.

Doctor in Brooklyn: Something he read, huh?

Alvy at 9: [his head still down] The universe is expanding.

Doctor in Brooklyn: The universe is expanding?

Alvy at 9: Well, the universe is everything, and if it's expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything!

Alvy's Mom: What is that your business?

[she turns back to the doctor]

Alvy's Mom: He stopped doing his homework!

Alvy at 9: What's the point?

Alvy's Mom: What has the universe got to do with it? You're here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!

Doctor in Brooklyn: It won't be expanding for billions of years yet, Alvy. And we've gotta try to enjoy ourselves while we're here!

Finishing the movie, we passed out, driving back home, getting ever closer to mother Brooklyn, where the world really does seem to be expanding.  

We saw this sign in Connecticut in a rest stop.  It always reminds me of a former prof from my college, Pitzer,
who wrote a book called Tea Room Trade about the goings on at  rest stops.  

Thanks for the woods and stories Cape Cod.