I promised you I’d be back with the second part of the Cape Cod recap, so here I am. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back next week with house updates (the kitchen cannot be called “finished” quite yet…still workin’ on it).
You can read about Part I of our Cape Cod trip here. We left off with this sassy lady.
She didn’t end up popping on those wayfarers, but isn’t she a good sport for trying them on for me? We stayed with my Nana for a couple of nights, and on Sunday morning, headed seven miles further East. En route to our Bed & Breakfast in Harwich Port, we stopped at one tourist trap along the way - a little antique store on Route 28.
We didn’t walk out with anything, but Matt thought this sign was funny. Boys will be boys.
A few miles later, we arrived at our destination, the Bed & Breakfast, to see if we could use the beach even though we were a bit early for check-in. Upon arrival, I was enamored. The sign was covered with cascading plants, and there were hydrangeas everywhere. Be still my heart.
This was the front yard and the direct view to the ocean.
Here’s a better shot of the walk to the beach from a different day, while standing in front of the inn.
We had about an hour to kill before we could bring our bags up to the room, so we walked around downtown Harwich Port, which was a 3-minute walk from the inn. The location was amazing. Really, it was so perfect. A 3-minute walk to town and a 3-minute walk to the beach puts me right where I want to be.
There were lots of darling shops and restaurants, but I went right for the fro-yo, which, for the record, was terrible.
Why I opted for fro-yo instead of ice cream I’ll never quite know. I was on vacation, after all. Should have totally splurged on a giant, classic chocolate milkshake.
We wandered aimlessly, hitting up a candy store, a home decor boutique, a women’s clothing boutique, (where I fell in love with about 8 different dresses) the community center, restaurant landings, (to read the menus) and even a toy store (we’re big kids at heart). I passed on my favorite dress and we headed back to check into the room and head to the beach. On the way, Matt pointed out a “Schoolhouse Road” sign and told me to pose. It made me self-conscious that perhaps this site should be “Schoolhouse Rehab” instead of the current “School House Rehab.” Whatever, I like the 3 distinct words.
Matt wanted a re-do since it looked like I was pointing at the girl instead of the sign.
Take two wasn’t successful, either.
Third was a charm, I suppose. My eyebrow is totally hanging out the top of my sunglasses, in exasperation, clearly.
Back at the room, we switched into suits, strapped our swanky new beach chairs (Costco, obviously) onto our backs, and headed to the water. Matt was pretty proud of the beach chairs he found at the last minute, so I had him pose with it, naturally. Although the pose is not so natural. That’s the front of the inn behind Matt! Darling, right?
My attempt at natural wasn’t much better.
We loved checking out the houses that lined this beachfront street. Each time we’d pass one, we’d each pick out things we’d love to have on our dream home one day.
We spent a couple hours on the beach, and tried to plan our night around the impending rain storm that was heading our way. We thought about seeing a movie, or just hanging at the local pub. Luckily, the rain never came through, so we were able to go to a Chatham Anglers (Cape Cod Baseball League) game one town over. We had a great time. The “stadium” food definitely left something to be desired, but the experience was perfect. It was a perfect summer night spent under the stars watching America’s pastime.
The next morning we had breakfast at the inn, which we decided is not our thing. Even though it’s a Bed & Breakfast, we really only care about the bed. Harwich Port, MA doesn’t exactly have chain hotels. The forced conversation over juice and waffles (although delicious!) just isn’t something we look forward to. We vowed to eat out the following day. After breakfast, we walked the beach extensively and lounged on the blanket for hours.
After ample relaxation, we headed out to Chatham to have lunch at The Squire, a longtime staple in town. We spent the next couple hours shopping Chatham’s extensive downtown area. We picked up a few early Christmas presents and stopped at yet another candy store for some munchies. I found a few things I liked for myself, but I didn’t like anything as much as the dress I loved at the boutique back in Harwich Port, so I passed on anything for me.
On the way back to the inn to change for dinner, Matt stopped in at the dress store and bought me the dress I loved. What. A. Guy. I know.
I changed into the new dress for dinner at The Cape Sea Grille, located… you guessed it… 3 minutes from our inn. Our friends had given us a gift card to the restaurant, so we were anxious to try it out. It was delicious. Matt had filet mignon and I opted for the local, line-caught sea bass. We ordered carb-loaded sides and ate to our hearts content. It was amazing.
We tried to walk off some of the meal on the beach after dinner. It was really dark and really windy, but I insisted on getting a shot of us on our “fancy night out.” Since it was pitch black, we decided not to approach a stranger to ask them to take the photo. Stranger danger totally exists in my book. Instead, I told Matt to hold the camera and shoot away, and we were pretty much blinded. Out of 15 attempts, one came out decent. Our eyes totally have the “deer in headlights” look, but I’ll forever remember how dark the night was, and how inconceivably bright that damn flash was. Oh, and how pretty I felt in my new frock. Sigh. Memories.
The following morning was our check-out day. We snuck in breakfast at Harwich Port’s Bonatt’s Bakery & Restaurant (sampling their famed “Meltaway” while we were there) and another walk on the beach. Sensing a theme? This time, I wasn’t shy about asking a stranger to take it for us, and I’m happy with the result.
Harwich Port, thanks for an amazing three days. We can’t wait to come back!