Gone Fishin'

Sorry it's been a while I've been waiting on line for an Iphone. No, actually I was in Cape Cod for a week on my first vacation in quite a while. My father and his wife Susan purchased a house up on the Cape several months ago. It is our first ever official family vacation house that we own and not rent so it's very exciting. They have been working very hard to get it fixed up - new furniture, art on the walls, upgraded the bathrooms and fully stocked it. I've just been annoying people by referring to "My house on the Cape..." It's a great thing to drop into conversation- try it sometime- "The funniest thing happened when I was up at my house on the Cape last week..."
See? Isn't that cool? Go ahead and say it even if you don't actually own a house - I don't.

I was invited to come up a few weeks ago though. Dad and Susan were spending a few weeks up at the house before renting it out for parts of the popular summer season. I was going up for the last week to check it out, hang out with my Dad and drive back to Philadelphia with him.
The Cape is a bit hard to get to from Philadelphia if you don't want to spend seven hours in a car. That time can be extended quite a bit if you happen to run into traffic near New York, or Hartford, or Providence. I avoided this by taking a plane to Providence (Southwest Airlines - $29.00 one-way) and renting a car. The drive out to the Cape on a Tuesday morning only took a few hours (and went through a great town named "Sandwich" which somehow I didn't stop in)
I found the house with only one wrong turn.

If you think of Cape Cod as shaped like a man flexing a bicep then the house is "mid Cape"- kind of near the bend in the elbow- in a town called East Orleans. Cape Cod is kind of like the Jersey shore except the Cape has better weather, less people, more trees, flowers and wildlife and no casinos. Dad and Susan's house is beautiful- lushly landscaped and shingled just like a Cape house should be. Inside it's more modern- plenty of light and space and a great outdoor deck. There is not an ocean or bay view, as Dad pointed out on the Cape "A million dollar view is not just an expression...."

My first night up there Dad and I went to a Cape Cod League baseball game. It's a very famous Summer league where college players come to get more experience. The game was right in town- not at the high school field but the middle school field. Also, there were no stands- just a hillside to spread out a blanket or plop down a couple of chairs. The best think about the game was the small town feel about the whole operation. They were selling concessions at the top of the hill and guys were wandering around selling raffle tickets and taking donations ("Win an autographed baseball!) The baseball itself wasn't so great - our hometown Orleans Cardinals did not look great- but its early in the season. Dad and I had a great time making fun of the players and questioning the managers moves (ie: trying to steal home with two outs and your #4 hitter up? In the 1st inning) The other great thing about the game? Parking: Free Admission: Free.

I think the main reason Dad loves the Cape is the fishing. He has been a serious fisherman for close to forty years now. He and my brother have all kinds of equipment and go after all kinds of fish, fresh and saltwater varieties. They mostly "catch and release" leaving the fish to be caught again. Quite a few years ago it became clear that I didn't have the patience for fishing, mainly because you could spend many hours doing it and not catch anything or even see any fish. Then you can discuss what was wrong- did you have the wrong fly or lure? We're the fish not here or not hungry? I believe it was all of these things this time.

We went out with Dad's long time fishing buddy Dick and his wife Linda three or four times to different spots over three days, but there was nothing happening. We did see scant evidence of some fish, but nobody was even able to hook one the any time we went out. No "ones that got away" this time. Every place we went was even more beautiful then the next, so the effort was not totally in vain. I was told that we couldn't get to the really good fishing spot along the beach because some birds were nesting there and couldn't be disturbed. The state takes this bird conservation stuff very seriously- this upsets the fisherman, because they just want to annoy the fish, not the birds. Dick and Linda did dig up some clams and we acquired some lobsters from a guy in a boat who we met clandestinely on a bay beach, so we didn't go without seafood.

I'm looking forward to many vacations up on the Cape, sitting on the beach, not catching fish, taking pictures of lighthouses - and next time I'm definitely stopping in Sandwich.