It is a cool damp Saturday morning. Kim and Fiona have headed off in to Provincetown, and I am having a little quite time by myself at the campsite. We’ve had a great time and I haven’t taken time to do much writing or even reading. However, this seems like a good opportunity.

The Trip Up

We came up last Sunday and avoided much of the standard Saturday traffic to the Cape. There was no traffic to speak of as we crossed the Bourne Bridge, and before we knew it we were visiting with friends in Poccasset. After a pleasant lunch and a good time to catch up with some old friends we continued our trip out to North Truro.

During much of the trip, we listened to Anne of Green Gables off of CDs that I had burned from Librivox recordings. It took Fiona a little while to get into the story, but she soon became immersed. It was enjoyable for Kim and I to listen again to these stories.

This year, we’ve rented a trailer in a campground. I like to camp in tents, but Kim was concerned about how well she would stand up to two weeks of camping given her health issues. The trailer we are staying in as about thirty feet long. In many ways it reminds us of staying on a boat, with drawers that latch, a gas stove, a water holding tank and lights that are set up for both 12 volts and 120 volts.

The Clam Shacks – Moby Dicks

After unpacking and settling in, we headed off to find a bite to eat. Kim and checked out the different restaurants on various websites. I’m a big fan of clam shacks, and the three most recommended were Moby Dick’s, Arnold’s and The Fisherman’s Friend. We have often eaten at The Fisherman’s Friend, and I believe it was there where Fiona first started eating steamers and clam chowder, and it has been a favorite of ours for years. We’ve always looked at Moby Dick’s and it looked more like a tourist trap and a good clam shack, but the reviews said otherwise. It was the closest to our campsite, so we stopped there for our first evening.

We arrived early and didn’t have to wait in line. About half the tables were empty and we wondered if it was a sign of the slow economy, but as we ate, a long line formed outside. For a change of pace, I had broiled scallops, instead of my usual fried scallops. Kim had fried clam bellies, and Fiona went with a cheeseburger. The scallops and clams were good. Fiona loved her cheeseburger. The coleslaw was surprisingly good, but the fries were a little disappointing. It fit well within my bounds of acceptable clam shacks.

Beach Day

Monday was a beach day. We headed over to Race Point on the National Seashore. When we camp on the Outer Cape, we spend much of our time at Race Point. The water was a brisk 59 degrees, but we got used to the cold water and swam a fair amount.

In the evening, we grilled steaks for Kim and I, and I prepared a cheeseburger for Fiona. Afterwards, we had a fire in a fire pit. The fire pits are large metal drums standing on metal legs. The have holes cut in the sides to allow the air in and a screen to keep the sparks from escaping. Our pit had holes the shapes of stars and moons. I spent a little bit of time playing the harmonica around the fire and helped Fiona a little bit as she worked on learning to play the recorder. We finished the evening off with marshmallows and smores.

Dreams and Blockages

We slept well in the trailer, and both Kim and I remembered parts of our dreams the next morning. Kim had dreamt about dancing with a heavenly angel, but being assured that everything was alright. I dreamt about getting stuck in traffic coming out to the Cape and spent time in a half asleep, half wakeful state thinking about things that block us from enjoying our lives and living up to our fullest potential. On the simplest level, there are things like traffic blocking us. Then, there are the daily routines we find ourselves into. This can even include the daily routine of writing, or the daily routine of reading the news, the blogs, and other bits of information that shape our days.

Tuesday morning was also Bastille Day, and my thoughts wondered to the barricades of the French revolution. Yet before I could get a chance to write, Fiona was up and I spent time with her, including a bit of time reading aloud. For reading aloud, I’ve been reading her one of the Junie B. Jones books. This, together with a Ramona book is providing a triumvirate of young girls for Fiona to wrap her mind around.

The Clam Shacks – Arnold’s

Tuesday was another great day at the beach. Like Monday, we saw seals coming by on patrol, presumably in search of food. For dinner, we went to Arnold’s. Kim and I had been there a few years ago with Kim’s father, but I hadn’t associated the name with the memory. The fried clam bellies and fried scallops were probably better than we had had at Moby Dicks. The French Fries were also better, but the cole slaw left a bit to be desired. We had some clams and oysters from the raw bar that were very good. Unfortunately, the soda machine wasn’t working all that well. The Dr. Pepper was out, and the Sprite just didn’t taste all that good. In terms of ambiance, it was probably on a par with Moby Dicks.

I believe it was Tuesday night that Kim had another strange dream. In this one, her familiar, a lion, had died, but with the help of people from Common Cause, the spirit of the familiar was transferred to another creature.

Wednesday on the Beach

Wednesday started off very similar to Monday and Tuesday; another beautiful day on the beach at Race Point. This day we spent with some of our friends who had driven up from Poccassett. I believe it was also this day that we watched a whale repeatedly breaching off in the distance. You could see it from the shore, and with our binoculars it was spectacular.

In the evening, we got together with Kim’s brother and his family at Wellfleet Harbor. We started off with a picnic on a picnic table overlooking the harbor. Kim’s brother brought some cheese and crackers which were supplemented with fried clam bellies and fried scallops from Mac’s. Kim felt that the fried seafood from Mac’s was better than what we had had at Arnold’s, but I’m not sure. Clearly, the ambiance was the best, but Arnold’s was probably the best value so far.

As we sat on the beach, we watched people doing some sort of windsurfing with huge sail kites. It looked like great fun, but also very tiring. Kim’s brother mentioned that the Wellfleet harbor is a great place to rent sailboats, and we might add that to one of our future trips.

The Square Dance

The reason we had gathered at Wellfleet Harbor was that each Wednesday night, there is a ‘square dance’. To those of us well versed in various forms of folk dancing, we would not have called it a square dance. None of the dances were squares. The closest they came was the Virginia Reel. However, there were many of more popular modern line dances and everyone had a great time.

It turns out that the Square Dance was run by the Wellfeet Recreation Department, and the caller spends Monday and Tuesday evenings performing Shakespeare at Wellfleet harbor.

The Public Option

All of this provided a good framework to think about ‘the public option’. This is a big discussion right now in healthcare legislation. Should other members of the public, beside members of Congress, people on Medicare, and in other government programs have an option to get health care from the government, a public option? The insurance companies are lobbying very hard to make sure that we are most American’s are not permitted that choice. People scream about socialism.

Personally, Kim was disappointed when preparing for the trip that our local public options for borrowing books, the public libraries, were closed on Saturday before we left. We were glad to take advantage of a public option for the roads and bridges we took on the way up, including some that were most likely part of public works projects during the 1930s.

Likewise, the public options for recreation, such as we found on the Wellfleet pier or that Fiona takes advantage of back in Woodbridge also are a valuable public service as are the public educational options, at least as they exist in our town.

The Whale Watch

Thursday there was a chance of thunderstorms and we thought that would be the best day to go out on a whale watch. The threatening weather might keep the boats less crowded, might provide for better viewing and seemed like a better way to pass a stormy day than other options.

After seeing whales from Race Point beach, hearing good stories about whale watching this year, and having had good experiences with The Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown last year, we set off with high expectations for a great whale watch.

While we spent almost all of the time watching just two whales, Nile and her calf, the whale watch far exceeded all of our expectations. It seemed that Nile was either just having a fun play date with her calf or was teaching her calf every possible breaching, fin waving, and tail slapping move. Whatever it was, it was a most spectacular show and we had a great view.

It was mentioned that the exact reason whales breach is unknown and several theories were discussed. As I reflected on this later that evening, I remember a story I had read years ago entitled something like ‘Digging the Weans’ which about an architectural dig years hence, looking back at twentieth century America.

It struck me that a similar story of extra terrestrial biologists studying the human species trying to describe our national past time might be another fascinating story.

Napi’s

Thursday evening we went to Napi’s restaurant in Provincetown. Kim and I stayed with our standards; she had clams and I had scallops. Yet this was different. It was in fine sauces over pasta. Fiona tried a little bit of everything but nothing especially appealed to her. Instead, she went down and visited with the old orange cat that runs the place. The food was more expensive than the clams I prefer to visit, but it was worth every cent.

My guess is that as we try to stay on a budget, we will keep Napi’s for special dinners, but will try to make sure we can arrange a special dinner there each time we come out to the Cape.

Kettle Ponds

While most people come to swim on either the ocean or bay side of the Cape, we like to add in a third option, the kettle ponds. There are two wonderful small kettle ponds in Truro that we like to visit. These are small fresh water ponds formed by the glaciers years ago. They provide a pleasant change of pace. One pond has two large snapping turtles in it that love hot dogs. Some call the little beach, Turtle Beach. We walked down the short trail to the pond and picked and ate blueberries along the way. It is a small beach and various people came and went while we same there, including a family with a Newfoundland Retrieve who was great fun in the pond.

We never did see the turtles during this visit, but we did see some tadpoles that had almost completed their transformation into frogs. I also found a nice quiet place to sit amongst the water lilies and reeds. As Fiona and I sat there, inquisitive little fish came up to visit us, check us out, and nibble on whatever they could get off of our legs and feet.

Kielbasa and Fireworks

For dinner Friday evening, we grilled Kielbasa and Linguica. Linguica is a Portuguese sausage that is a bit spicier than Kielbasa. Kim noted that it was much easier to find Linguica in the stores of Provincetown than it was to find Kielbasa.

Truro is celebrating its three hundredth birthday this year and Friday night there were fireworks over the bay. Kim was very tired from swimming in the kettle pond, so Fiona and I went off to watch the fireworks. It was pleasant fireworks which ended around 9:30. On the way home, we noted the sky continuing to light up and heard additional rumbling in the sky. A thunderstorm was passing through.

We got home before the storm and hunkered down. I went outside to enjoy a little bit of the storm and the fresh rain water.

Saturday

This takes me up to this morning. It was cool and damp when I started to write this. Kim and Fiona have headed off to go shopping in Provincetown. Apparently there are some very good sales this year. I’m not a big fan of shopping, so I have chosen to stay here and do a little bit of writing. While I wrote this, some folks came around to do a few repairs on the trailer. They have replaced the regulator, so hopefully the pilot light for the hot water heater won’t keep cutting out. They also removed a spider’s nest from one of the burners in the gas stove so the stove should be fully functional at this point.

I had another strange dream last night. In my dreaming, I was attending a funeral, it seemed like a mashup of a Mardi Gras festival and a quiet political event. Perhaps it is because of all the recent celebrity deaths that Kim and I have been having strange dreams about death. Kim mentioned that Walter Cronkite has also just passed away.

The sun has come out and I may go for a brief walk before Kim and Fiona get back. I have written a lot today, and that should do for a while. There are so many more things that I want to get a chance to write, but they will wait. The traffic did not slow us down coming out to the Cape and the fresh air and relaxation have further removed things that may have been blocking my writing.

More soon.