Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

Got back yesterday afternoon from a much-deserved and long-awaited, though short, vacation. It was also a house-searching expedition, so it wasn't all R&R, as we did ALOT of driving, covering almost the entire Cape.

We now have a clearer understanding of which towns and which villages appeal to us. The next hurdle to overcome is the exorbitant prices for the type of property we would want.

I finally got to take some photos on Thursday, not having much of interest to capture from Sunday through Wednesday, except the lovely Surf Drive Beach, which we enjoyed for a bit on Sunday and Monday.

Sunday afternoon, after arriving at Shoreway Acres, in Falmouth (photos below), we walked to the beach (about 8 blocks there and back) but detoured a bit down the beach and through some of the neighborhood, getting ourselves a bit lost, but ended up exiting behind some shops on Main St.

Shoreway Acres is a quaint-looking inn that has rooms in the restored captain's houses or in the modern, motel units. Lots of lawn areas, gazebos, lawn swings and chairs, badminton, outdoor and heated (very heated! - we tried it once) indoor pool AND a complimentary FULL breakfast in the morning, not just the coffee and bagel many places offer. Really a good deal, in a pleasing setting, 1 block from Main St (Rte 28) and 8 blocks to the Nantucket Sound-facing ocean beach.







Now, Main St. in Falmouth is lovely. Quaint, clean, beautiful sea captain's homes around the square - just an all-around pleasing visual. What was NOT endearing was Rte. 28's traffic - non-stop, never-ending, even in September. What "was" nice was that traffic stops for pedestrians - they don't try and mow you down, as they do in NY!

Sunday night, we dined at a dock-side restaurant in Wood's Hole, but wasn't crazy about the food. As we walked along a narrow road back to our car, we had to wait while a drawbridge was lowered and the gates manually pushed open - neat!

Monday, we toured Bourne and Falmouth on the house/area hunt and ate at a local chain restaurant, and also walked the nearby Surf Drive Beach.

No swimming was going to occur with the non-Indian summer weather we had, but we knew we would only get to walk and sit on the beach. This is better than nothing as we haven't been anywhere near a beach in 10 years - too long a time.

Tuesday saw more hours of driving through Mashpee, Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennisport. We ate lunch at a different local chain restaurant.

We noticed right away that small eateries, at least in the Falmouth area, are not like what you get in Maine - fresh, simple seafood dishes at reasonable prices. It's a different ambience - in Maine, you can sit outside on or near a dock and watch the fishermen and their fisher kids working at the shore, tending their traps and boats, all the while eating chowdah, steamers and lobster.

Wednesday, hubby had a hankerin' to see P-Town, so we drove all the way from Falmouth to Provincetown, inched our way through the town, acknowledged that we saw it and promptly got back on Rte 6 to head back. We stopped in Wellfleet and had a great lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant. A great burger and fries that were, apparently double-fried - they were perfect. They were hubby's fries - my hips don't need any fries - but I couldn't help but steal a few of his.

Then we made our way to 6A and through the most beautiful areas - Yarmouthport (Yahhmithport), North Dennis (Dennisport is in the south) and the north part of Barnstable. The homes, the streets, everything - it's so picture perfect, but there was no time to stop and photograph - Rte 6A traffic is like 28's - busy. We lost count of all the homes we absolutely loved and would move into in a heartbeat, if only we had a couple mill loose change. I wouldn't know which one to choose. All antique homes - original Capes, Greek Revivals, Federals, so lovely.

Thursday, we went to Menauhant Beach (I hope I spelled that right), also in Falmouth, but to the east. It has 2 lovely white wood bridges (private) that are oft photographed in the travel and Chamber brochures. So, I took photos as well!







As I'm always noticing vegetation, here's some of some plants growing at the beach:





We also toured Dennis (again), Brewster and Harwich. We ate lunch at a busy little diner in Brewster. I had Blueberry pancakes (the menu said world's best or some such, but though they were good, I wouldn't say world's best). Hubby had an disappointing lobster salad roll-up and fries. The fries were dripping (not good) and the lobster salad was tasteless and only used chunks of celery as seasoning. Celery isn't his fav. Dinner later made up for it, tho.

We stopped in Dennis at the Howes St. Beach, which was lovely. Soft clean sand, no pebbles, only a few sparing larger rocks and few shells, so sitting and walking was pleasant, not painful. The Falmouth beaches were pebblier, which is fine until you want to stroll the length of the beach barefoot! Here's some shots of the Howes St. Beach:






and of a plant growing on this beach:



We then stopped at TJ Maxx before going back to our room. We haven't got a TJ Maxx here in Saugerties, and I always need slacks, as it's so hard to find any that fit my shape. I did manage to get a pair of stretch cotton, lower-rise chinos, and at $15 - perfect.

We walked the 1 block to Main St. in Falmouth and ate at The Quarterdeck Restaurant. Nice ambience, great food, prices weren't terrible at all, for the quality. I had put off having chowder for as long as I could, as it's always so rich, but I couldn't leave the Cape without having "any", so I had a cup of chowder and a crab cake and meslun greens with a cajun sauce, but it wasn't too spicy, as I don't like my food to bite me back! I didn't leave a crumb. nor a drop. Hubby finished his shrimp and scallop scampi, stuffed quahog and a couple beers, as well. We walked back and was greeted along the way by a raccoon, which we quickly shuffled past. Other than the moose that hubby saw on the highway going to the Cape, this was the only other ground-living wildlife we saw, so we were surprised to see it.

Then, Friday morning we packed and was on the road to home by 10:30 am.

As for our house hunt. I'd been researching Cape real estate online for many, many months (prior to this search was a year's search for a homestead on the coast of Virginia, followed by a trip there, but the area wasn't for us - we also tried Maine several years ago - also not for us) and had a folder filled with real estate printouts of houses to drive by, most of which were temporarily off the market for the summer, though a few were active listings. We've discovered that agents can be very creative with the photos, and no-one is going to put in a listing that a house faces a trailer park or an industrial park or is on such a busy road or sits 10' below road grade or is next to a motel, or, or...

We drove past 13 homes or so, would have been 1 more, but couldn't for the life of us find the road and I bought the tome that is a Rand McNally street map for the entire Cape. Only one house is even something we'd consider selling our place for, and it's at the high end of our range. As we've heard a few times already - best time to buy was 2 years ago - yup - but 2 years ago, our house was worth substantially less, as well. Isn't that the way it always goes!

So, we're back to work on our house and I'm preparing for a busy fall and winter knitting season.