Roadtrip - Provincetown, MA (Cape Code)
Posted Monday June 29th
I got the house mostly tidied up on Thursday. Or at least I cleared a path through the reenactor crap so that ravena_kade could reach the couch. Then I scooted off for my massage. My regular massage therapist is on vacation, so I had someone new. Which means a new routine, and oftentimes them finding new tense/ouchy places. She really beat me up, and I was sore the next morning. Which can be a good thing, it means she found places that my regular person has been missing. Still hurts though. =P
I zipped back to Lowell from the massage place, so that I could pick up Jennifer at the train station. We had dinner at Chili’s and got caught up on recent events. Then we headed back to Frogholm, where she had me in stitches with stories about going to the zoo to research the proper color to paint the testicles of an anatomically correct ceramic lion. *snorts*
I tried to tuck myself into bed at a reasonable hour (around 11:00 instead of our usual midnight). And we were up at a decent hour and on the road by 8:00. We stopped at Dunkies for breakfast, and my credit union to get cash, and made good time. It’s about a three hour drive all the way to the tip of the Cape. It started raining on the way down, heavy at times. I hadn’t checked the weather, but Jennifer had, and said it was supposed to clear up around noon. We arrived in P-town around 11:20, and it was just lightly sprinkling. When we got there, we found out it was the annual Portuguese festival and blessing of the fleet. Luckily it wasn’t too busy yet, we found a parking space in my favorite public lot (which is $1 an hour cheaper than the lot in the middle of town on Fisherman's Wharf).
Since it had been a long drive, I steered us towards the public restrooms in the middle of town. As we walked by the Post Office Café I thought I heard the hostess say they were still serving breakfast, so after we did our business, we started right in on prowling some of the antique shops. Can I just say, I love the antiques stores in P-Town. I don’t know if their owners all have crazy eclectic taste, or if they just try for as wide range of stuff as possible because you never know what might catch the eye of that wealthy gay couple with disposable income, or if I was just a gay man in a previous lifetime, but I love the shops in Provincetown. Just so much random, weird, cool stuff to look at.
Once it hit noontime we headed back to the Post Office Café for lunch. They’ve been there forever, and IIRC Bob took me there for lunch on my first trip to P-Town back when I was in college. I had the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and green beans) in garlic butter. It was a lunch plate, and as I was hoping, it was the perfect sized portion. Jennifer had an avocado burger, which looked good, but a bit sloppy.
After lunch it was back to shopping. One of the things I was looking for was another bear claw back scratcher. I bought one last time I was in P-town, and I use the darned thing all the time (it has a radio antenna arm, so you can collapse or expand it to reach those hard to reach itches). I found them in one of the first stores we went into, and I picked up a couple (one for the office, one for my purse, etc.) Of course, then I found them again later in the day for $1 less each. D’oh! Oh well, they’re well worth the price I paid for them.
We wandered up Commercial street and poked around in several import shops. There were several really lovely cotton shirts, dresses, or pants, and at very good prices. But “one size fits all” or even S/M/L from India or Tibet or China rarely fits me these days. All the perils of having a big bust and a fat arse.
We had a good chat with the milliner at Lisa Ventre Hats who was weaving scraps to prepare for sewing up some new hats. She works all in straw (which makes sense for a beach community) and has some really lovely work. The hat shop across the way was a disappointment, it was all mass produced hats, many of which I could have found at Target.
We wandered quite a few of the galleries too. There was a photography gallery with some really striking beach photos. I would have picked up some photo postcards, but the one or two that I really wanted were sold out in postcard size. Of course they were, they were the best shots. At another gallery I picked up a couple of vintage style beach postcards. The silver haired fox behind the counter told me that the “old guy” who owns the gallery is so old fashioned that he won’t let them computerize. They don’t even have a computerized inventory. How on earth do you run a business these days without computers?
A couple of the shops that I remembered from my last trip were still there, and I made a point of checking them out. I picked up a small statue of Venus de Milo for cheap monies. And since I had my hair up in a bun for the first time since I had it bobbed a year and a half ago for the wedding, I indulged in buying myself a new hair comb for buns.
We checked out the shoes at the big leather and shoe store in the center of town. They had the classic Birkenstocks in purple and green, but sadly didn’t have either color in my size. *sad face* I really would have loved a pair of purple Birkenstocks. I did pick up some silly socks though. I’ve decided that fun socks are going to be a thing for me this fall. And I needed some cursing (*&$*#^*@) socks like whoa for those days where I just can’t even…
Eventually we decided that it was Ice Cream o’clock. We were headed towards Ben and Jerry’s but turned into a local place that we spotted first. I ordered a chocolate milk shake, and apparently they were out of milk and had to send a guy out. But the girl didn’t tell me that, she just started waiting on people who were ordering pizza at the other end of the counter. When the other lady asked me if I’d been helped, I said I thought so, but I wasn’t sure what had happened to my server? That’s when I found out they had to run out for milk.
Once I finally had my shake, we headed for the beach, where we’d spotted a bench earlier in the day. Thankfully there were two benches, and one of them was free. We sat on one and watched the waves and the kids and a couple of dogs frolicking in the sand. Provincetown has this thing that I’ve never seen before (but Jennifer had), it’s a sort of mesh that was stapled into the sand, like a carpet leading most of the way down to the beach. Jenn says that it helps with the erosion. I’m thinking it would also help with that hot footed hopping you have to do as you walk across the hot, dry sand towards the waterfront.
When we were done with our ice cream we resumed our prowl down Commercial Street. I popped into the fudge shop that sells all the hard-to-find candies (Pop Rocks, Bottle Caps, candy cigarettes) and spent a little bit of money on sugary stuff. Jennifer saw a sign for a shell shop (that I’d never noticed before) and bought a couple of shells for her collection. When we walked by the Provincetown Town Hall there was some a pretty good sized crowd gathered around the front steps. I wasn’t sure if it was for the Portuguese festival or something else? Even though the speaker had a microphone I couldn’t quite hear what they were talking about. But people were waving flags and cheering a lot. There were a lot of equality flags, so I sort of assumed that the Supreme Court ruling must have just come down, since we were expecting one any day now for gay marriage.
Jennifer spotted a bookshop in a basement, and we ducked inside. Which meant that we missed the small (spontaneous ?) parade that marched up the street a few minutes later. I saw them go by out the window. I ended up picking up a book about Marie Antoinette’s hairdresser (who died twice, once during the Revolution and once in 1820. Fascinating!).
I made sure we popped into the Marine supply place, which is sort of like a Building 19 or a Ocean State Job Lots crossed with an Army/Navy Surplus store, in other words, lots of really random odd lots of stuff. I was hoping to find a collapsible mattock (or shovel) for digging fire pits, etc. at faire, but no luck. I instead I picked up a pair of very silly shorts that are just a wee bit too small. But they’re so awesome that I’m super motivated to lose the couple of pounds it will take me to get into them.
Then, because Jennifer complained that we hadn’t been in a sex toy shop yet, we went into Toys of Eros, which may have been a tactical mistake on my part. While looking at their wide array of dildos, the shop girl offered to show us their best strap-on harness. I tried to be polite and said thanks, but we weren’t in the market for a harness today. But she was really eager to demo the damned thing, and Jennifer was showing polite interest. And the next thing I know, our little pierced, tatttoed shop girl is climbing into the jockstrap style harness over her pants to show off how the thing is adjustable and where it sits on your pelvis. And she’s saying stuff that had never occurred to me before like, “This one doesn’t pull away from your body like some of the other ones do.” Um, thanks for that very vivid mental image of what I’d be doing if I was wearing that thing… *embarrassed* Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been to P-Town with a lady friend. I should have known that someone would assume we were two middle-aged lesbians. But did it have to happen in a sex toy shop? =P
We hit up a couple more T-shirt shops and antiques shops and almost made it to the other end of Commercial street. But my dogs were barking after being on my feet all day, and when I looked at my watch it was already 7:00. Wow, time flies when you’re having fun! We hiked back to the car and headed off for home.
We’d spotted a smoker on the way out, and BBQ sounded good for dinner, so we watched for it on the way back. Of course, I had no idea where it was, only that we’d passed it on the way out, but we managed to spot it (the smoker on the front lawn helped) and pulled in to Russ and Marie’s Marconi Beach BBQ and Seafood Restaurant for dinner. It turned out to be a good choice for eats. I had the pulled pork sandwich, BBW baked beans, slaw, and fries. Jennifer had the BBQ Brisket. When my sandwich arrived it was a Dagwood sandwich, stacked way too tall to fit in my mouth. I pulled some of the meat off (I had it for breakfast the next day) and settled in to eating. Yummmmm, BBQ.
I dropped Jennifer off in Quincy on the way, and I made it home by 11:00. It’s a bit of a drive, but I do enjoy getting down to P-Town every year or so. It’s such an interesting place to explore.
I got the house mostly tidied up on Thursday. Or at least I cleared a path through the reenactor crap so that ravena_kade could reach the couch. Then I scooted off for my massage. My regular massage therapist is on vacation, so I had someone new. Which means a new routine, and oftentimes them finding new tense/ouchy places. She really beat me up, and I was sore the next morning. Which can be a good thing, it means she found places that my regular person has been missing. Still hurts though. =P
I zipped back to Lowell from the massage place, so that I could pick up Jennifer at the train station. We had dinner at Chili’s and got caught up on recent events. Then we headed back to Frogholm, where she had me in stitches with stories about going to the zoo to research the proper color to paint the testicles of an anatomically correct ceramic lion. *snorts*
I tried to tuck myself into bed at a reasonable hour (around 11:00 instead of our usual midnight). And we were up at a decent hour and on the road by 8:00. We stopped at Dunkies for breakfast, and my credit union to get cash, and made good time. It’s about a three hour drive all the way to the tip of the Cape. It started raining on the way down, heavy at times. I hadn’t checked the weather, but Jennifer had, and said it was supposed to clear up around noon. We arrived in P-town around 11:20, and it was just lightly sprinkling. When we got there, we found out it was the annual Portuguese festival and blessing of the fleet. Luckily it wasn’t too busy yet, we found a parking space in my favorite public lot (which is $1 an hour cheaper than the lot in the middle of town on Fisherman's Wharf).
Since it had been a long drive, I steered us towards the public restrooms in the middle of town. As we walked by the Post Office Café I thought I heard the hostess say they were still serving breakfast, so after we did our business, we started right in on prowling some of the antique shops. Can I just say, I love the antiques stores in P-Town. I don’t know if their owners all have crazy eclectic taste, or if they just try for as wide range of stuff as possible because you never know what might catch the eye of that wealthy gay couple with disposable income, or if I was just a gay man in a previous lifetime, but I love the shops in Provincetown. Just so much random, weird, cool stuff to look at.
Once it hit noontime we headed back to the Post Office Café for lunch. They’ve been there forever, and IIRC Bob took me there for lunch on my first trip to P-Town back when I was in college. I had the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and green beans) in garlic butter. It was a lunch plate, and as I was hoping, it was the perfect sized portion. Jennifer had an avocado burger, which looked good, but a bit sloppy.
After lunch it was back to shopping. One of the things I was looking for was another bear claw back scratcher. I bought one last time I was in P-town, and I use the darned thing all the time (it has a radio antenna arm, so you can collapse or expand it to reach those hard to reach itches). I found them in one of the first stores we went into, and I picked up a couple (one for the office, one for my purse, etc.) Of course, then I found them again later in the day for $1 less each. D’oh! Oh well, they’re well worth the price I paid for them.
We wandered up Commercial street and poked around in several import shops. There were several really lovely cotton shirts, dresses, or pants, and at very good prices. But “one size fits all” or even S/M/L from India or Tibet or China rarely fits me these days. All the perils of having a big bust and a fat arse.
We had a good chat with the milliner at Lisa Ventre Hats who was weaving scraps to prepare for sewing up some new hats. She works all in straw (which makes sense for a beach community) and has some really lovely work. The hat shop across the way was a disappointment, it was all mass produced hats, many of which I could have found at Target.
We wandered quite a few of the galleries too. There was a photography gallery with some really striking beach photos. I would have picked up some photo postcards, but the one or two that I really wanted were sold out in postcard size. Of course they were, they were the best shots. At another gallery I picked up a couple of vintage style beach postcards. The silver haired fox behind the counter told me that the “old guy” who owns the gallery is so old fashioned that he won’t let them computerize. They don’t even have a computerized inventory. How on earth do you run a business these days without computers?
A couple of the shops that I remembered from my last trip were still there, and I made a point of checking them out. I picked up a small statue of Venus de Milo for cheap monies. And since I had my hair up in a bun for the first time since I had it bobbed a year and a half ago for the wedding, I indulged in buying myself a new hair comb for buns.
We checked out the shoes at the big leather and shoe store in the center of town. They had the classic Birkenstocks in purple and green, but sadly didn’t have either color in my size. *sad face* I really would have loved a pair of purple Birkenstocks. I did pick up some silly socks though. I’ve decided that fun socks are going to be a thing for me this fall. And I needed some cursing (*&$*#^*@) socks like whoa for those days where I just can’t even…
Eventually we decided that it was Ice Cream o’clock. We were headed towards Ben and Jerry’s but turned into a local place that we spotted first. I ordered a chocolate milk shake, and apparently they were out of milk and had to send a guy out. But the girl didn’t tell me that, she just started waiting on people who were ordering pizza at the other end of the counter. When the other lady asked me if I’d been helped, I said I thought so, but I wasn’t sure what had happened to my server? That’s when I found out they had to run out for milk.
Once I finally had my shake, we headed for the beach, where we’d spotted a bench earlier in the day. Thankfully there were two benches, and one of them was free. We sat on one and watched the waves and the kids and a couple of dogs frolicking in the sand. Provincetown has this thing that I’ve never seen before (but Jennifer had), it’s a sort of mesh that was stapled into the sand, like a carpet leading most of the way down to the beach. Jenn says that it helps with the erosion. I’m thinking it would also help with that hot footed hopping you have to do as you walk across the hot, dry sand towards the waterfront.
When we were done with our ice cream we resumed our prowl down Commercial Street. I popped into the fudge shop that sells all the hard-to-find candies (Pop Rocks, Bottle Caps, candy cigarettes) and spent a little bit of money on sugary stuff. Jennifer saw a sign for a shell shop (that I’d never noticed before) and bought a couple of shells for her collection. When we walked by the Provincetown Town Hall there was some a pretty good sized crowd gathered around the front steps. I wasn’t sure if it was for the Portuguese festival or something else? Even though the speaker had a microphone I couldn’t quite hear what they were talking about. But people were waving flags and cheering a lot. There were a lot of equality flags, so I sort of assumed that the Supreme Court ruling must have just come down, since we were expecting one any day now for gay marriage.
Jennifer spotted a bookshop in a basement, and we ducked inside. Which meant that we missed the small (spontaneous ?) parade that marched up the street a few minutes later. I saw them go by out the window. I ended up picking up a book about Marie Antoinette’s hairdresser (who died twice, once during the Revolution and once in 1820. Fascinating!).
I made sure we popped into the Marine supply place, which is sort of like a Building 19 or a Ocean State Job Lots crossed with an Army/Navy Surplus store, in other words, lots of really random odd lots of stuff. I was hoping to find a collapsible mattock (or shovel) for digging fire pits, etc. at faire, but no luck. I instead I picked up a pair of very silly shorts that are just a wee bit too small. But they’re so awesome that I’m super motivated to lose the couple of pounds it will take me to get into them.
Then, because Jennifer complained that we hadn’t been in a sex toy shop yet, we went into Toys of Eros, which may have been a tactical mistake on my part. While looking at their wide array of dildos, the shop girl offered to show us their best strap-on harness. I tried to be polite and said thanks, but we weren’t in the market for a harness today. But she was really eager to demo the damned thing, and Jennifer was showing polite interest. And the next thing I know, our little pierced, tatttoed shop girl is climbing into the jockstrap style harness over her pants to show off how the thing is adjustable and where it sits on your pelvis. And she’s saying stuff that had never occurred to me before like, “This one doesn’t pull away from your body like some of the other ones do.” Um, thanks for that very vivid mental image of what I’d be doing if I was wearing that thing… *embarrassed* Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been to P-Town with a lady friend. I should have known that someone would assume we were two middle-aged lesbians. But did it have to happen in a sex toy shop? =P
We hit up a couple more T-shirt shops and antiques shops and almost made it to the other end of Commercial street. But my dogs were barking after being on my feet all day, and when I looked at my watch it was already 7:00. Wow, time flies when you’re having fun! We hiked back to the car and headed off for home.
We’d spotted a smoker on the way out, and BBQ sounded good for dinner, so we watched for it on the way back. Of course, I had no idea where it was, only that we’d passed it on the way out, but we managed to spot it (the smoker on the front lawn helped) and pulled in to Russ and Marie’s Marconi Beach BBQ and Seafood Restaurant for dinner. It turned out to be a good choice for eats. I had the pulled pork sandwich, BBW baked beans, slaw, and fries. Jennifer had the BBQ Brisket. When my sandwich arrived it was a Dagwood sandwich, stacked way too tall to fit in my mouth. I pulled some of the meat off (I had it for breakfast the next day) and settled in to eating. Yummmmm, BBQ.
I dropped Jennifer off in Quincy on the way, and I made it home by 11:00. It’s a bit of a drive, but I do enjoy getting down to P-Town every year or so. It’s such an interesting place to explore.