1. I FINALLY got to Cape Cod on Saturday. I bused down to Rachel in Cambridge and she drove (what an angel) the 2.5 hours to Provincetown (known as P-town) which is as far as you can drive into the Cape Cod area. It's off-season in the cape so all sorts of wonderful things result. We parked easily and for free, we could move around the sidewalks with ease, everything was on sale, stores weren't crowded, food was cheap and it was nice and cold :) So we ate lunch at this delightful place called the Purple Feather-it was entirely purple inside and once we sat down in our window seats we were bombarded with an entire wall devoted to breast and penis shaped cookies/cupcakes/baked goods. Too weird. Then we went wandering about/shopping and oh the things I bought! First we went into a tiny used book store that upon entering wallops you in the face with the musty/dusty/book smell of my dreams. After running about exclaiming over the amount of books I found a copy of Wuthering Heights that was in a box, bound in navy blue with gold embossed lettering for $4. Outstanding. Then when I went to buy it the guy was telling me how to clean the dust off of it and surely having overheard my adulations of joy earlier, stopped mid-sentence and said "or maybe you want to keep the dust for ambience" and I said "why you are quite right!"
Then we went to an antique store where I got a Sadler tea pot (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for $35-a STEAL! I blame Rachel because this is the exact transaction that went down:
Me-"oh look at that tea pot!" scamper over and caress it, check the price to dissaude myself as I was sure it would be crazy expensive. Seeing it was $45 started to persuade me then I told Rachel she needed to persuade me not to buy it.
Rachel-"well how much is it?" (upon hearing the price) "Oh get it!!"
So I did and the lady discounted it, probably because I was so excited and was the only person in the store. Then we went to some touristy stores and got sweatshirts that were crazy cheap and a store owner told us to a nearby beach to spot some whales. First walked along the dock-there is something just beautiful about a port aka fishing town in New England. Boats are everywhere, the buildings are all victorian architecture but with gray shingle siding and bright colored trim. It's all easy-breezy-sit on the dock and eat lobster and drink beer. Sigh.
Anyway we get to this beach and it is gorgeous. Now there were a huge line of cars facing the waterfront with people looking through binoculars so needless to say we did not see any whales but we did tromp around in the sand and I stepped into the water to experience the mythically frigid water. It's not a myth, that shit is cold. Then we climbed a mini-sand dune thing and gasped in awe at the sweet view. Finally we started our drive back taking the scenic highway this time and stopping at a seafood place for dinner on the way. All in all a fabulously wonderful perfect day.
2. On Sunday it was part two of Maple Syrup Weekend here in New Hampshire (who knew such a thing existed? most people apparently at least judging by the reactions I got from every native I told about it). Anyway my supervisor that lives near me called to see if I wanted to join her, her husband and daughter as they went to a few different Maple Syrup Farms to get samples and stuff. Naturally I said yes so they picked me up and we went and consummed more maple syrup than I have ever had in my life. This is due to the fact that I never had maple syrup till last year and didn't like how sweet it was but really all I needed was REAL maple syrup. Oh. My. God. It is so good I can hardly believe it. But what is even better is that they make it in something called a sugar shack aka a log cabin that has this giant metal trough-like thing in it full of boiling syrup with a huge wood-fire under it and letting off great giant streams of smoke. Basically it's awesome-it's all cozy and smells like campfire/maple syrup and they were playing country music and drinking coffee. My kind of place.
From there we went onto 3 other places. At all of them we got to try their different grades of maple syrup and get a tutorial on how it's made. We also got a variety of maple-themed foods all of which were shockingly delicious. They were maple popcorn, maple hotdogs (that's a hotdog boiled in syrup), maple candy and biscuits covered in maple butter. Oh yeah. I think I need to marry into a maple syrup making family.
To sum up-one of, if not the best weekend to date. It was cold and rainy (my kind of weather), I got to walk on a beach, eat fish, sip coffee in a sugar shack and eat real home made maple syrup. OH and we took a tractor ride that gave us a view of real honest to goodness mountains! New England: exceeding expectations on a daily basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment