When I made plans visit to Cape Cod, in my mind I always saw my goals than to have fun. . . Food and lobster. In the end we had a lot of fun and I had a lot of lobsters. Sorry, but we saw a 17-pound lobster tank in a preview, and ate it. We were set for the burial of many of his relatives.
For almost ten years, our friend Al Burrage of West Seattle asked us to join him at his home in West Dennis on Cape Cod. We werefinally able to travel to Massachusetts, and not surprisingly schedule, we loved it. Al rented his cottage, the support, during the "season", but visits to Cape Cod before the season and then again after the season's first prepare the cabin for the guests and then close the cottage for the winter.
The house is a house that has three bedrooms with a glassed-in porch and an outdoor shower and for getting rid of sand and salt before entering the house. The house has ancrushed shell driveway and sidewalk. Typical of Cape Cod real estate has a cedar pole fence at the front and on one side of the court. It's a new you painted aqua with brown shutters. One bedroom has two beds and two bedrooms with one double bed. The kitchen has a dishwasher, range, refrigerator and microwave. We can confirm that it is very convenient. The pillar of our center of operations, while we on Cape Cod every day, we venture to manufactureCities such as Boston, Woods Hole, Provincetown, and then return to the backbone.
While Al lives in West Dennis, he has ample opportunity to people to visit and explore, good places to go. Once we reached Al was kept constant litany of places we go and what we could do and should do. Even if we ignored him, he still made suggestions. We took him to most of them. . . and never a bad one.
One of the best places to find local products fair price, is at the localSecondhand. We scored big. Al bought a miniature brass cannon for $ 2.00, and Peg bought two framed handmade lace collar. She was thrilled. Al finally prevailed on a proposal and took Peg to Cuffy's of Cape Cod, the two of them brought with purchase of a few hundred dollars. . . or so it seemed. Finally, we had to buy another suitcase to include souvineer cart.
I managed to restrict souvineer shopping in the music-master, and the Christmas treeShops. Al loves bargains. For the women of my friends who bought me, Tee Pee Dreams Herbal Tea. I bought my golf buddies a Cape Cod golf ball each and a box of rattlesnake repellant, which contains some odd little bundles of aromatic herbs and spices. I'm not sure what they are doing, but I never saw a snake nearby. I have a box to the son of a friend on his way to a party in Seattle. He held a bundle of up to his nose. I warned him, do not let the police search. I do not knowthat he is not herbal teas, or the snake bites something repellent with local Indian heritage, but the gifts were in Massachusetts, purchased, which should count for something.
In general, every day started the same. I would rise earlier than Al and Peg. I would like to turn the coffee machine and make it sometimes for a drive or a walk. I would like to return to knock on the door and Al's, he would go in an instant and ready to go. I knew we'd probably have a big lunch and a big dinner, so breakfastI always wanted to light. . . But within reasonable bounds. My first breakfast in West Dennis has good friends, cafe, which only a few meters from the local post office.
I never like to eat at national chains. I prefer local institutions. You never know what you find. Al had not eaten in the restaurant under its old name, but never good friends. I saw on the menu, the so-called "grilled bread," and I asked the waiter, a young man named Tchigo (I hope that is correct,I'm not sure about the accent and all), what it was. The bread is homemade by his father, a chef in another restaurant on the purchase of the Good Friends where he is now chef and owner is was. It was excellent. A good juicy cut glass and then onto the grill until hot and aromatic. It is served with a dollop of butter. There are three kinds of grilled bread, apple, cinnamon-raisin, and cranberry. I ordered both the apple and cranberry. The bread was good without the butter. Itwas fine with the butter. It was good dunked in coffee. It was good, simply grilled. I shared the apple grilled bread with Al, but never offered the cranberry to him. I liked the cranberry. Sometimes they use in their French toast. I'll have to try, that's a different time.
I ate my last day at Good Friends in West Dennis from me. Again, I just wanted a bite. I ordered the corn beef hash expected something from a can. What I got was homemade cornedBeef and onions. I do not think there was even a potato with nowhere in sight. While I know that Wolfing it down, I almost gave me something Hashbrowns mixed in. As I entered, sat down and asked if I waited Tchigo my friend. It was a week since I have been there, and he remembered me and Al. Well, that's why I like small mom and pop, family-run cafes, if I can find them. Another meal or two to help and I behind the counter, my good friends and his dad Tchigo here havetheir good friends cafe. Very nice.
When we left the restaurant a couple of us went and asked the direction of Dennisport. Are met Al. I think this is funny, because as we drove around the cape we often consult the maps and to find our way. Driving is a constant state of confusion on the Cape. Later, when I made the restaurant a week from me, I saw a man parked his car and the hood. The indicator has shown that he was an American had been American prisoners (I guess in the worldWar II). I drove next to him and asked him if he needs help. He said he needed no help. He had replaced the engine belts and his wife complained that they were squeeking. The vet, with two hearing aids, she could not hear, so he had the hood open and his head down near the engine. We had a nice chat. If it's not my last day was, I would have asked him to tell me stories of his military career.
Al is one of the favorite places to stop at the music's masters. Owner LewTaylor has access to DVDs in abundance. He has only a few in stock but can order almost anything you need. To know how much I love classic TV and movies, Al wanted me to Lew needs. I was cautious. Al told me, a great guy he was. He told me, used as Lew, in order to be on the rodeo circuit. I did not care. I was thinking other things. I pulled into the driveway of the local library instead of the music master, because I saw that they had WiFi. Unfortunately they were closed. I was disappointed. Alsaid, let's go visit Lew. He is the board president for the library. . . Small towns. . . do not you just love 'em? We pulled into the parking lot of the music master. It was after closing hours. Lew and his wife Kathy, an expert seamstress, were still there.
Lew confessed that I was able to connect to the library parking lot with my laptop, but I did not bring my laptop, Cape Cod, I had hoped for a WiFi cafe. Lew said: "I do not think you will find at the Cape.We are kind of low-tech out here. "Peg and I consoled ourselves by some Celtic CDs, Lew had for sale. Peg bought three and listen to the car headed to Maura O'Connell (one of our favorites) when I talked to Lew about Celtic singers and groups . I went outside and looked for Al and Peg have a tree with long sleeves on them. None of us knew what it was.
Al went back to talk to Lew. He did not know what was the tree either. Later, Kathy called with the name, Catalpa. Wein no longer visible, Lew several times. Once, before he opened, after it closed again, and twice if he actually opened. He was always friendly and always helpful. I was looking for a song I had heard in the background in feature film, Saint Ralph. It was a Canadian actor, and I thought the singer was probably Celtic. Lew searched and gave me the message: Jack Ingram from Texas. The song was Goodnight Moon.
Al holds a car in West Dennis. He loves (and tolerated), the car, and if heLeaves for the season, he parked it between the trees, so someone wants to steal it would have a hard time dragging them away. I think Al's car is safe. The car has a few problems, rust, and is covered with pollen and mold. Peg has a ride with Al in his Mercedes, and compared it with one of my favorite cars from our past, my old 1955 Rambler. . . It was no compliment. Peg always referred to my '55 as "the dirty, ratty, stinky, loud little Rambe." You can take a bus from the Cape, but IThey recommend that you need a car to get all the benefits of the Cape 's take a miracle. We rented a car from Alamo at Logan (Airport Boston), exceeding one thousand miles on the odometer in just over a week.
As I mentioned earlier, I felt it was my job and goal to lobster, while in New England to eat. Al took me to the Swan River Seafood Restaurant and Fish Market. Your lobster fishermen fish daily fresh lobster on Cape Cod, you can eat in a restaurant or buy from the market, but also in theMarket, you could order your fresh seafood. For example, you could tell them what you wanted lobster and tell them if you wanted it cooked. You could then stop in and pick it up and take it home so you can enjoy lobster in your own kitchen or dining room. Swan River had a large selection of fresh seafood and they also offered cooked lobster meat. While we were there, it was at $ 29.95 per pound prices. This seemed a little expensive for me, but we went to a different market, and offeredboiled lobster for $ 5.00 per pound. I thought about the possibilities for several days and then we will return to Swan River on the way to lunch. I pointed out, the tail I wanted and did the same Peg. She took a smaller one. . . a much smaller one. I sat in my car and ate. Peg had two bites, a little something in common with Al and then took the rest of their lobster at home. This was the second best lobster I had in Massachusetts. It was large, tender and sweet. The snack will cost us about twenty dollars,but it was worth it.
The open character always appeared in the window, but they were only open when the owner of the green car was in the parking lot. The owners of Marathon Seafood (Peggy and Teddy Stoilas) are Greek, hence the name. Like many places on the Cape you order at the counter and then the food is brought to you. Since I had just eaten lobster tail I opted for the fried oysters. They were small, but it was a ton of them. Al chose his usuall ordered scallops and Peg Lamb.. . she likes lamb, and it is always best to order lamb at a Greek restaurant. If we would have been back in Tacoma, Peg would have taken the bones to make home brew. As it was, took the bones were quite clean. Teddy and Peggy had fallen friendly and happy.
I can generally see where I go. If I had a card I can get it. This philosophy does not lend itself to travel, there is confusion on Cape Cod. For example, the Town of Dennis is composed of five villages: NorthDennis, South Dennis, East Dennis, West Dennis and Dennisport. Towns and villages merge. We set off on an adventure one days to visit NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. We wanted to see the NOAA Aquarium. We knew where Woods Hole was. We could see Woods Hole on the map, but how NOAA on the ocean, we had to immerse themselves in nature to find Woods Hole. . . only to discover the aquarium is closed.
We enjoyed our tripof the country. We saw many rock faces, which reminds us from minute men and Lexington and Concord. We saw many shops and pubs. The road dipped and climbed through the countryside with lovely cool, lush green growth. The only disappointment was the long search.
Once we found Woods Hole, we still had trouble finding the aquarium. We landed after an arrow from the city of half a mile in a residential area. We went back and found the arrow again. It was on the building in which the aquariumwas! We peeked in the windows, and Peg went to the harbor behind the plant for a few pictures. It may never have occurred to us that an aquarium would be closed on Saturday. We should have visited the web site for details. We enjoyed the trip back and finished the evening with a movie.
I do not know how many times I ran for the sign that welcomes visitors to West Dennis. The sign promises $ 12.99 lobster Sundancer's. Every time I looked, I thought we should eat it.They have a deck that looks out onto the water. You have music several nights a week. They have a boat trip on the river in the afternoon. Oh, well. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. . . Adventure and leave for the next visit.
Al stated that we would eat in one evening. As Peg and I, he loves to cook. Al was a simple meal. I bought salad stuff, and some fresh green beans. We had boiled shrimp, scallops (for absolute perfection), seafood pie, clam stuffing, rice and whiteWine. We stuffed ourselves silly. We ended up with scallops and shrimp remains. There was food everywhere. Al looked around and said: "It looks like the food fairy visited my home and threw up." We drank a little wine. Two days later, Al was at five in the morning and the clock was a rice and scallops snack. . . then went back to bed. He did not with me this morning to breakfast from.
I loved the change in the morning on Cape Cod, the marshes and estuaries with the tideand the fog. I visited the same places, day after day and was never disappointed. I was rarely disappointed in our choices for meals. Al and Peg, I noticed you at a laundromat one morning and then again when she had finished folding the clothes. There are two shops in the vicinity, we have decided to visit us and tucked in by them was a small café. The waitress was cheerful and friendly. The food was excellent. I had a tuna Caesar salad. I asked if he speaks of a tuna fillet or simply out of the can. "TunaSalad from a can, "was my reply. It was hilarious. I could sandwich on my own one day. Al Ein Reuben had a" bulky "roll. He had to wonder about the bulky. Chewey and yet it was soft. The Corned beef and cheese poured. He managed to eat everything.
It's always hard to live up to high expectations. Al strongly recommended Captain Parker's Pub for dinner. He he gushed. We saved it for our last meal in Cape Cod The food was good, but the restuarant was loud,We were sitting at the door, and the waitress was abrupt. You also forgot to serve us the bread with the meal. On the positive side, but the food was good. I followed Al's advice and ordered the seafood pasta. The seafood includes lobster, shrimp and mussels in a cream sauce. I did not think the shells would work with the cream sauce, but they were very good. I had to walk to the service counter and a table dispenser to retrieve cheese. That annoyed me. Al's scallops weregreat. He knows what he wants. Peg ordered mussels which surprises me. Like me, they were wonderful with a nice broth. I had to catch the waitress, and when you ask for bread, so Peg can enjoy soaking up the broth with the bread. This is one of the joys of the order clams or steamed mussels. Porridge and bread are important requirements. The three of us shared an apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.
After finishing our meals in the pub Captain Parker, we went behind the car park on theZooAquarium. Peg sat on Flipper, to rest in the cool evening air. Our eight days on Cape Cod had exhausted us. Even if we cut our activities to almost nothing for the last day, we were all tired. I think we were all a little sad that it is almost over, as well.
We turned into the mainstay and packed our bags. I fell asleep about eleven. My alarm clock was set to 3.30. We left West Dennis around 4.15 clock and left the Cape in the pouring rain. Weleft Cape Cod, but our memories bring us back anytime.
I think Al was a bit lonely when he awoke to an empty house (I think it was a full fridge,) but, until yesterday morning. We did not even took our luggage at Sea-Tac, if we get a call from Al on Peg's cell phone. The flight to Alaska, everything went well. Excellent service from friendly people. . . just like most of our stay in West Dennis on Cape Cod
