It was a sunny morning with bright blue skies. We made plans to take the scenic drive, Highway 6A, along the northern shore to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod and see all the places in-between. We left the campsite at 9:30 and made our way east. Our first stop was Barnstable Beach.
Most of the beaches in Cape Cod are private for the local residents. It costs $15 to park at most beaches and locals need a parking pass. We drove up and asked the “beach monitor” who was checking passes if we could just drive in to get a picture. She said we could stay for 5 minutes and told us exactly where to park. We were also instructed not to get out of the car or walk on the sand. WELL! Luckily, I was able to get a picture of the Sandy Neck Light from where we were.
Our next stop was at the Millway Marina in Barnstable. We could see those swordfish boats anchored there. (The ones with the large metal structures on the bows.)
We drove down to Chapin Memorial Public Beach to compare the public beach to the private beach. They have parking lots, but they fill up quickly, so people have to park much farther away and walk to the beach access area. Bob was able to drop me off at the beach access even though the signs warned about stopping to drop off people and that you could be fined if you did. I jumped out quickly (Bob hardly even stopped the truck) and walked up the short path to the beach. (Bob kept going on the road and found a place to turn around.)
The public beach had beautiful white sand, but it was only about as wide as a lane of traffic. I quickly snapped a few pictures and looked around.
Each side along the path was roped off with yellow line and had signs that said “Private Beach-No Trespassing”. The public was only allowed to enter through that narrow walkway and stay close to the water. It wasn’t very welcoming at all, but I guess the locals want their privacy.
The beach was busy non-the-less and it was a great beach day! I waited for Bob to come back and pick me up. As he drove up and I got ready to hop in, I noticed that there was a police car right behind him. Yikes! I thought for sure we would get a ticket or fine. Luckily, Bob had to stop because beach-goers were trying to cross the street in front of us and the policeman was more concerned about them, not us. We moved out quickly and went on our way.
We had done some research about the best places to get whole belly clams, so we were on a mission to find them. One of the places that we read about was on Sesuit Creek in Sesuit Harbor.
It was called Sesuit Harbor Cafe so we wanted to check it out. We were a little too early for lunch and they didn’t have whole belly clams on the menu anyway, but we still enjoyed walking on the pier and seeing the harbor.
Continuing on our way, we traveled through the town of Brewster. It was a busy, quaint little town.
We made the turn north up the Cape Cod National Seashore.
In Eastham, we were looking for Arnold’s Lobster and Clam Bar, another place recommended for whole belly clams.
That one we found easily and it was quite busy for lunch. We placed an order for whole belly clams which came with fries and cole slaw. We planned to share the order. They were delicious….and tasted a lot like fried clam strips, but larger pieces. They were lightly breaded and not at all greasy. I think we’ll have to try them again!
The town of Wellfleet was next on our driving tour. It was a very cute little town too, and busy with tourists.
Bob wanted to stop and look at the harbor which was busy with boats. It was one of the larger towns and had a beautiful harbor.
From the main pier we could look down the beach and see that the tide was out.
The Wellfleet Harbor was ringed by huge sand dunes.
Another one of the recommended restaurants for those whole belly clams was Mac’s Seafood right at the harbor. They looked pretty good, but our bellies were already full.
This cute display was on the roof of this restaurant in the town of Truro. (Same name as the town we visited in Nova Scotia.) It shows a lobster fisherman in his boat on the roof, holding on to his net, hauling in a huge lobster. Pretty cool!
Continuing up the Cape Cod National Seashore, I wanted to see the Highland Lighthouse, better known as the official Cape Cod Light.
We parked and walked to the lighthouse. You could pay to go up in it, but we didn’t. It did not have a fresnel lens in it.
We continued our walk out to the water…well, the bluff above the water. This lighthouse was actually moved farther away from the bluff because of the erosion taking place there. It was a perfectly calm day on the ocean and we could see people strolling along the sand below.
Closer to the “hook” of Cape Cod we began to see huge sand dunes along the highway.
The road even cut between the sand dunes aswe headed toward Provincetown.
Provincetown is an “artsy” beach town, much larger than we thought it would be.
This beautiful building on the hill was the center of Portuguese Square in town.
The side streets were marked “one way”. Thank goodness because they were very narrow.
The beach in town was very busy with sun worshipers.
Fisherman’s Wharf was filled with an assortment of boats. From the wharf, there were whale watching tours and the ferry to Plymouth left from the harbor.
In town, the square was busy. People were visiting the many shops and eateries.
This street in Provincetown was “crazy” with people walking and biking. It’s a wonder this car was able to get through at all. I think Provincetown would be a great place to stay with so much going on all the time.
We had seen this huge, ornate tower off in the distance as we approached Provincetown and we finally figured out what it was. It was the Pilgrim Monument marking the place where the Pilgrims first landed.
Looking more closely at the tower, we could see the gargoyles adorning the top and people standing on the balcony. I bet they had a great view from up there.
It was getting late in the day and Auggie had been alone too long, so we headed for home. We made one last stop before hopping on the highway back to Bourne and the campground. We took the road along the beach where we saw a row of multiple look-a-like cottages. From the road, there was beach access at Noon’s Landing and we could see the bluffs along the shoreline.
The beach was lined with your typical Cape Cod homes and filled with beachgoers enjoying the beautiful day.
We could also see the Long Point Lighthouse off in the distance. I love those lighthouses!
After that, we made no other stops and took the limited access highway back to Bourne. We got back in no time. In Bourne, we stopped at the Cape Cod Canal to get a look. The canal severs the peninsula of Cape Cod from the mainland.
The current was running swiftly in the canal. Bikers on the bike path that ran parallel to the canal were enjoying the day too. Once back in the campground, Auggie was happy to see us and we rewarded him with a visit to the dog park. Two little dogs were there when we arrived. Auggie enjoyed running free while the owners of the other dogs kept theirs on leash. They left shortly after we arrived, but Auggie didn’t mind because a cute little poodle mix came in. They enjoyed chasing each other around and sniffing everything in sight. After about 20 minutes, we decided it was time to head back to the trailer and give Auggie a chance to rest. He was breathing very hard and didn’t really want to walk back. It wasn’t far to go, so he made it back on his own. We all relaxed when we got back and did some research on taking the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. Bob’s stomach was a little upset when we got back so he rested and I worked on my blog. The sun set and reflected pink on the clouds in the sky. It was a great day!
