Cape Cod and the Great Kite Chase 2014
This weekend for my birthday, Kristen and I headed out for a quick trip to Cape Cod. It sounds fancy, I know, but I wanted to get up to Provincetown, which is a mythical gay mecca. Like, I would say one of the top ten gay meccas of the United States (others? Stonewall, the Castro, Fire Island, Northampton, the Village...what else? Vassar?). At any rate, I had never been there before, and with Erin and my cousin Robin both in Boston, we thought it would be a fun birthday trip. And we got to stop and see Plymouth Rock on the way up, a thing that is much older than me.
We also stopped at the Edward Gorey museum, which was fantastically weird. The guy running it was funny and creepy in the same way that Edward Gorey is funny and creepy. They had various dolls in death poses from The Gashlycrumb Tinies throughout the house, and had a scavenger hunt sheet where you could mark off ones that you found. After that, we hit a lavendar farm that was really just someone's back yard. And we also stopped at the French Cable Museum (free!) where we learned all about the undersea telegraph cable between France and the United States.
On Saturday, as we were strolling through town, we came across a place called The Kite Store. As it was my birthday weekend, Erin and I immediately felt like nothing could be better than purchasing two kites and flying them on the beach right away. We put this plan into action, while Kristen watched and Robin went off to get herself a hot chocolate. (Robin spent much of the weekend looking for hot beverages, due to an unfortunate packing choice of bringing only shorts, and no long pants.)
Erin and I launched the kites, and mine was great looking, but a little tricky. It dive bombed twice, almost hitting Kristen. Once I got it up, and started walking along the beach, everything seemed fine, although it was hard to judge exactly the distance of the line that I was running out. I was moving in a direction away from people and power lines, when suddenly the kite dropped right down onto some powerlines. Very bad! And it got tangled in an over/under pattern that was impossible to fly off! A tragic incident in the inaugural flying of a birthday kite.
I did not want to just leave it in the powerlines. The best course of action seemed to be to get some scissors (obtained from the lady working in the kite store, who clearly had a don't ask, don't tell policy about what had happens to the kites after they leave her shop, as she asked no questions) and cut the line. As we were all barefoot on the beach sand, I put my shoes back on, and stationed myself underneath the kite. Kristen stood on the sand probably 30 feet away with the scissors to cut the line. I had some hopes that the kite would lift itself off the powerlines and then fall out of the sky right away so that I could catch it right there. This did not happen.
The kite drifted off the powerlines, and caught a gust of wind that lifted it over towards the bustling center of town. I ran after it, and, as we approached the courtyard of the wharf restrooms where there were many people and children, and where I could see the kite starting to fall, I began shouting "Kite! Kite! Lookout! Kite!" in an attempt to warn anyone that the kite might be about to fall on. I mean, it seemed better to at least give people enough time to look up and shield their heads. But doing so, given the fact that I was running, and the kite was moving at a good clip, kind of meant that by the time people understood what I was saying and looked up, the kite would be out of sight and I would just seem like a lunatic.
Meanwhile, unknown to me - as I was intensely focused on chasing the kite - Kristen heard me shouting but could not hear what I was saying. Fearing that I was shouting for help, or had sustained some kind of injury, or was, perhaps, in a kite-based altercation, Kristen started to run after me.
Robin, returning from getting her hot chocolate, observes barefoot Kristen running gingerly over a path made of shells with scissors in her hand, and realizes that something must have happened, although she does not know what. She runs after Kristen.
By this time, I have traced the kite to the area around the building with the marine animal mural on it, and am running in a circle around the building to see if I can find the kite. I run up a set of wooden stairs near the Portugese bakery, and sadly spy the kite stuck on the roof of the marine animal mural building, decidedly out of reach. Suddenly, barefoot with scissors Kristen and breathless hot chocolate carrying Robin run up.
Kristen: Are you okay?
Me: (Pointing) My poor kite!
Robin: Wait, why were we running?
Joanna: Well, it was still important to chase it, and try to warn people if it was going to fall on them. Like, what if it hit a baby in the soft spot of its head? I didn't want to be guilty of accidental kite murder.
After brainstorming possible solutions to get the kite off the roof (a fifty foot stick? a cat who we could train in kite rescue techniques? a bunch of yardsticks taped together?) we are forced to give it up as a lost cause and head back to the beach where Erin is still flying her kite without incident. She is totally unmoved by the tale of our madcap chase, as she - from her position on the beach - exactly where the kite went down.
We left the kite, then went out to North Point Lighthouse, then came back to discover the kite was no longer on that roof. A thorough search of the area revealed the kite had blown off of the roof and gotten stuck behind a giant rubber pizza statue. I don't know if statue is the right word for the pizza thing. It was outside a pizza place, clearly meant to draw people in. Instead, it drew in a fallen kite, and we were able to reclaim it, after pulling a bunch of string down from the roof, to the point that we looked like we were basically in a cartoon.
Birthday win!
We also stopped at the Edward Gorey museum, which was fantastically weird. The guy running it was funny and creepy in the same way that Edward Gorey is funny and creepy. They had various dolls in death poses from The Gashlycrumb Tinies throughout the house, and had a scavenger hunt sheet where you could mark off ones that you found. After that, we hit a lavendar farm that was really just someone's back yard. And we also stopped at the French Cable Museum (free!) where we learned all about the undersea telegraph cable between France and the United States.
On Saturday, as we were strolling through town, we came across a place called The Kite Store. As it was my birthday weekend, Erin and I immediately felt like nothing could be better than purchasing two kites and flying them on the beach right away. We put this plan into action, while Kristen watched and Robin went off to get herself a hot chocolate. (Robin spent much of the weekend looking for hot beverages, due to an unfortunate packing choice of bringing only shorts, and no long pants.)
Erin and I launched the kites, and mine was great looking, but a little tricky. It dive bombed twice, almost hitting Kristen. Once I got it up, and started walking along the beach, everything seemed fine, although it was hard to judge exactly the distance of the line that I was running out. I was moving in a direction away from people and power lines, when suddenly the kite dropped right down onto some powerlines. Very bad! And it got tangled in an over/under pattern that was impossible to fly off! A tragic incident in the inaugural flying of a birthday kite.
I did not want to just leave it in the powerlines. The best course of action seemed to be to get some scissors (obtained from the lady working in the kite store, who clearly had a don't ask, don't tell policy about what had happens to the kites after they leave her shop, as she asked no questions) and cut the line. As we were all barefoot on the beach sand, I put my shoes back on, and stationed myself underneath the kite. Kristen stood on the sand probably 30 feet away with the scissors to cut the line. I had some hopes that the kite would lift itself off the powerlines and then fall out of the sky right away so that I could catch it right there. This did not happen.
The kite drifted off the powerlines, and caught a gust of wind that lifted it over towards the bustling center of town. I ran after it, and, as we approached the courtyard of the wharf restrooms where there were many people and children, and where I could see the kite starting to fall, I began shouting "Kite! Kite! Lookout! Kite!" in an attempt to warn anyone that the kite might be about to fall on. I mean, it seemed better to at least give people enough time to look up and shield their heads. But doing so, given the fact that I was running, and the kite was moving at a good clip, kind of meant that by the time people understood what I was saying and looked up, the kite would be out of sight and I would just seem like a lunatic.
Meanwhile, unknown to me - as I was intensely focused on chasing the kite - Kristen heard me shouting but could not hear what I was saying. Fearing that I was shouting for help, or had sustained some kind of injury, or was, perhaps, in a kite-based altercation, Kristen started to run after me.
Robin, returning from getting her hot chocolate, observes barefoot Kristen running gingerly over a path made of shells with scissors in her hand, and realizes that something must have happened, although she does not know what. She runs after Kristen.
By this time, I have traced the kite to the area around the building with the marine animal mural on it, and am running in a circle around the building to see if I can find the kite. I run up a set of wooden stairs near the Portugese bakery, and sadly spy the kite stuck on the roof of the marine animal mural building, decidedly out of reach. Suddenly, barefoot with scissors Kristen and breathless hot chocolate carrying Robin run up.
Kristen: Are you okay?
Me: (Pointing) My poor kite!
Robin: Wait, why were we running?
Joanna: Well, it was still important to chase it, and try to warn people if it was going to fall on them. Like, what if it hit a baby in the soft spot of its head? I didn't want to be guilty of accidental kite murder.
After brainstorming possible solutions to get the kite off the roof (a fifty foot stick? a cat who we could train in kite rescue techniques? a bunch of yardsticks taped together?) we are forced to give it up as a lost cause and head back to the beach where Erin is still flying her kite without incident. She is totally unmoved by the tale of our madcap chase, as she - from her position on the beach - exactly where the kite went down.
We left the kite, then went out to North Point Lighthouse, then came back to discover the kite was no longer on that roof. A thorough search of the area revealed the kite had blown off of the roof and gotten stuck behind a giant rubber pizza statue. I don't know if statue is the right word for the pizza thing. It was outside a pizza place, clearly meant to draw people in. Instead, it drew in a fallen kite, and we were able to reclaim it, after pulling a bunch of string down from the roof, to the point that we looked like we were basically in a cartoon.
Birthday win!