New England Trip

Cape Cod is a very crowded place.  You cannot drive anywhere without being in traffic.  All of the towns charge admission to their beaches (about $15).

The beaches were not very inviting as the temperature was about 87 and the humidity was about 99.  We went to a National Seashore beach (Marconi) and had to park about two blocks away.  After slogging though deep sand in the heat, we arrived at a beach that looked like Coney Island – large bodies just a few feet apart.  The water temperature was 59 so the only people in the water were a few surfers in wet suits.  The surf provided a ride of 15 feet or so.  We turned around and left – thinking that these folks ought to head south for a better beach.

We visited the Highland lighthouse in North Truro.  The lighthouse was commissioned in 1857 and used a “First Order” Fresnel lens with a kerosene light source.  It now has a 110-watt electric bulb behind a flat plastic magnifying lens which produces the same amount of light.  There are six little light bulbs that look like flashlight bulbs– if one burns out, another rotates into position.  The lighthouse had been moved back 450 feet from the edge of the sand cliff in 1996 because of erosion.

There is a golf course (Highland Links) on either side of the lighthouse.  The golf course is a 9-hole links style course that dates back to 1892.  When (if) it cools off, we plan on playing the course.

We then visited Provincetown at the northwestern tip of the Cape.  Provincetown is a quaint town with very narrow streets and small guesthouses.  It is packed with mostly male homosexuals.  There was the occasional lesbian and heterosexual couple.  According to the Provincetown website, it is now “Bear Week” when heavy-set hairy men are welcomed to display their “bearness.”

On the way back to our rule-bound campground in Brewster, we passed a number of “resorts” on the bay side of the cape.  Many of these resorts consisted of rows of identical “cabins” about 6 feet apart.  The cabins looked like some sort of military housing but smaller and more crowded.  There were no vacancies at any of these grim places.

Cape Cod may have been a very nice place to visit 50 years ago before it became so developed and crowded.  The pretty spots are now under lock and key.  After you pay to get into them, you are shoulder to shoulder with the other customers.

Our five-day stop here may be several days too long.

Two pictures follow.  The first shows the view from inside the Highland Light – with shadows from the windowpanes and light apparatus.  The second is a promotional picture of some “hirsute darlings” for the Provincetown Bear Week event that Steve downloaded from a website.