Photography – A Prolific Potpourri…

My wife and I vacation twice a year. Once in the fall to celebrate our first date (October 2, 2010) & once the Spring to celebrate our marriage (May 4, 2013). Our vacations aren’t very long for two reasons, my wife isn’t allotted paid time off like I am (now at least, we met on the job when she worked from 2010-2018). So three day driving vacations are our thing. DAY 1 drive/eat dinner/relax, DAY 2 explore, Day 3 Explore/drive home. A particularly long drive through PA, NJ, NY, CT (the longest stretch), RI and ending in Massachusetts. I drove the entire 6.5 hours the first day, my wife and I split the drive back, she handled the night driving.

DAY 1: The Arrival at The Village Inn at Cape Cod. A lovely B&B run by Irish Expats Robin(concierge and hospitality) and his sister Claire (chef and hospitality).

Love the quirky door stops, Claire was kind enough to pose for a photo (Robin was handling a plumbing issue)

Dinner as suggested by Robin turned out to be the most expensive meal of our trip (I had a vacation spending budget of $600 and we pretty much spent $387 on food and a few souvenirs, the total cost aside from whatever the hell I will owe in tolls round trip thru 6 states was about $940 total this trip up north has been our most expensive jaunt so far.)

The things I bought for souvenirs, a few things from the Edward Gorey House and a used illustrated humor book from 1947 (used yet still cost me $24)

I essentially could make dinner reservations anywhere Thursday night but I foolishly went with the $$$ suggested place from Robin. When we arrived there seemed to be some kind of an error, I did make a reservation for two at 6:30pm, which I might add is late for us, I am thinking whoever took the reservations may have wrote 2 as in Oct 2 at 6:30, I didn’t ask what the issue was but I will say despite that and the cost, the food did not disappoint.

Lobster Bisque, New England Clam Chowder, Cod/shrimp/scallops with rice and green beans, fig and mascopone ravioli, six layer spiced carrot cake, ice cream filled profiteroles topped with chocolate ganache, the happy couple and the ambiance.

DAY 2: Starting with an amazing and delicious three course breakfast from Claire.

Fresh fruit with a ginger infused syrup, cranberry scones and a ham quiche with grilled tomatoes.

With some time to kill before our long day we hit a used book store down the street then came back to the B&B to read and relax in the backyard.

Beautiful garden and frog sculpture, those crazy turkeys, the most private place to sit taken from the back of the house, us reading and sitting in those chairs, the distance from the chairs to the back of the house.

First up on our agenda was a visit to the Edward Gorey House. (all indoor activities with the exception of dining you were required to wear a mask despite your vaccination status) I was really looking forward to this estate tour because the Gashleycrumb Tinies is my all time favorite book. It was hot outside that day, so I wore a tee-shirt but the AC was too high in the museum and I was cold, there was so much to look at (I am very visual) but the the docent spoke for an hour (I’m not a fan of guided tours, I was cold and slightly disappointed but my wife was really into the history and I didn’t want to be rude and go explore). Claire mentioned that she visited the house a decade ago when it was still in historical hoarder shape, Gorey was a hoarder of knick knacks and had over 26,000 books in the house. He lived with three cats on the second floor and invited any animals from nature to live in the first floor in winter including the likes of squirrels and raccoons. The man was an animal lover and all proceeds from the museum admission go to 17 animal organizations throughout Massachusetts.

The outside of the estate, a cat drawing looking out an upstairs window, a vampire bat mantle (because of his love of Dracula), his drawing pens/brushes and inks enclosed but they should’ve been displayed with artwork on his drawing table and not utilize the table to hold other items, a manuscript in progress on his typewriter, animation cels from the opening credits he designed for PBS Mystery, a few of the quirky knick knacks he hoarder, the fur coat he wore about town in all seasons with an assortment of shoes he wore as he aged.

After this tour it was lunchtime. We drove to Sandwich Massachusetts to eat Sandwiches and then tour the 100 acre Heritage Gardens and Museums (We stuck to the outside and didn’t tour the Car museum, Art Gallery or 1908 Carousel)

Lunch at Cafe Chew included a box of water to drink, I had a goat cheese, ham , salami and olive tapinade on a pretzel roll, my wife had cranberry walnut chicken salad on raisin bread, dessert was a cream puff for me and stuff lobster tail pastry for my wife at a local bakery then our trek through the gardens. Which included a windmill, steps to a fountain, beautiful flowers still in bloom, a hut, Lego birds, and a hedge maze we didn’t want to get lost in (the one time we did a corn maze we cut through the stalks to exit, couldn’t do that here they had metal fences,

For dinner we went cheap with way too thin crusted crappy New England pizza for my tastes, hurt the jaw to eat. It was supposed to be a mushroom and onion pie but I think they gave us diced tomatoes as well as opposed to any tomato sauce. It was okay, it was cheap. We ate it in the backyard at the B&B then spent some time in the drawing room playing a few rounds of Skip-Bo while listening to The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show on BBC Radio 6 on my phone.

Turned in for the night watching an episode of the Big Bang Theory from 2010 & the end of the original Halloween from 1978.

DAY 3: The morning started with another amazing and delicious breakfast by Claire.

Another 3 course, fresh fruit with a mint infused syrup, the most buttery blueberry muffins and spiced and peppered pancakes topped with sliced banana and a sprinkle of powdered sugar with a side of incredible sausages. Coffee & Tomato juice and the cutest bird syrup pour, it came out his mouth.

We checked out and headed to our final two destinations before the long drive home. First up we hit the incredibly beautiful Gray’s beach with a Marsh on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. We then hit up the super lame rip off Whydah Pirate Museum with kitschy Wax Dummies and essentially a no photo policy on the exhibit (turns out it was slave ship as well ugh) although getting a photo of the ships bell partially embedded in a rock and preserved.

Before heading home we ate our last meal in Massachusetts at Captain Parker’s Pub. My wife got a pastrami & grilled onion sandwich topped with beer cheese and I just had to try a hot buttered lobster roll both came with funky peeled thin fries. I didn’t get a shot of this (we used my phone for the GPS) but about 30 minutes close to home we saw a firework’s display, quite fitting because yesterday was October 2nd ❤