Tuesday, July 28, 2009

...and We're Baacckkkk; Vaca Recap Part 1

It's been almost 2 years since we've gone on a week's vacation. It was so nice to get away from work, the house, the chores, the monotony of daily life. We journeyed to the far reaches of the Cape to beautiful Wellfleet. Our house was perfectly situated about a mile outside of town in one direction and a mile outside of the harbor the other way. The newly renovated house sat atop a woodsy, dirt road. Our first night there we spotted fireflies, foxes, and shooting stars.

When we arrived on Saturday, we all got into unpacking, organizing mode. Luckily my sister and I both married neat men who like orderliness as much as we do. As we unpacked the kitchen stuff, we quickly discovered that the spacious kitchen contained lots of drawers...7 of the 10 happened to be junk drawers. No joke, the single male homeowner had 10 junk drawers. Odd. Once we got settled in, the sun came out and we ventured out to Duck Harbor, a quiet bayside beach. The bayside beach was great for the kids and adults (me) who are scared of waves. Later that evening, Team Baldi, joined us for dinner.


The next morning started our tradition of walking or biking into town while the kids napped.
It just so happened that the library was holding their annual book sale that day. Cory and I had a major nerd-off there. They were collecting the money in a Phillie's Blunt box. Interesting choice.

Later that morning, Jess came down and we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach. She is another baby watcher/entertainer which is always helpful.

On Monday, Dave had to go back to the 'mainland' for work but we managed to push through without him. We took the kids for a walk around town then headed to the beach in the afternoon. While on a walkabout we came across a tee pee made of driftwood. Very cool.


I believe this was also the day that my sister christened me "Stick in the Mud." I cannot recall what prompted this (probably because I wouldn't dangle my baby over the banister or shoot fireworks out of my ass... these people are crazy). She wouldn't let it go of course, pantomiming her legs being stuck in mud, singing Muddy Waters... she was a real hoot.

On Tuesday, our mother and Cory's mother arrived. The weather was kind of dreary but we decided to take a walk down to the harbor for lunch. On the way home we got stuck in a torrential downpour. Luckily Cory's mom had the foresight to buy a puzzle in town so that entertained the masses. I love that 364 days a year you would never consider doing a puzzle but when on vacation it's fine. I quickly figured out that I suck at puzzles and that my mother-in-law and brother-in-law rock at puzzles. They were sick puzzle partners. Isabel got in on the action too.*

Tuesday night we took advantage of our babysitters and went out to the Wellfleet standby, the Beachcomber. After a couple of drinks we walked down to the beach. It was an ominous foggy night. I think I was commenting on how the ocean looked scary or something and my sister started in with the "stick in the mud" shit so I kicked my shoes off and ran towards the ocean, ready to dunk my toes. The water was surprisingly mild so I ventured a little further up to my ankles. Then out of nowhere, I spotted, through the pea soup fog, a wave higher than my head. I quickly turned to retreat but before I could escape it, it came crashing down on shore, soaking me up to my underwear. F-that. It doesn't pay to be adventurous.

When we got back to the house, I was about to go to bed, on account of being all wet and whatnot, but after more "stick in the mud" peer pressure, I was cajoled into staying awake to ring in my actual birthday. The clock struck 12 and I got my special birthday cupcake and family t-shirt**. We all stumbled to bed late into the wee hours. The next morning I came downstairs to birthday wishes and overheard talks about some kind of house-awakening fire alarm going off in the night.*** My sister and I had no recollection of any of the hullabaloo. Wow, guess we're not getting mother of the year awards this year.

More vacation tidbits tomorrow.

Here are just some other random notables:

The town and harbor were so quaint and New England-y. Your big doins' for the day involved going into town for the paper, then the beach. That's my kind of place and my kind of pace.


We ate like kings. Of course I took photos of all of our dinners. Yum. And when in Wellfleet you must consume as many oysters as you can. I didn't like raw oysters prior to vacation. I like them now but not as much as my fellow vacationers. I think they each consumed about 15 each in one sitting.

Everywhere I looked, there were natural pretties. From the vibrant blue and pink hydrangeas to the roadside rosebushes to the desert-like dunes. Gorgeous.



* I did jump on the puzzle wagon the last day. We finished it with 18 minutes to spare before check out. It was intense. Dave and Isabel totally reconnected while inserting that last puzzle piece. That's love.
** Cory bought this t-shirt for Isabel when she turned 30. It gets handed down the line. Beatrice will be wearing it in about 28 years.

*** It was just a short circuit.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you had an amazing vacation! What great pictures you took....I'm going to have you be my professional photographer!!!!

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