Tally

Just back from a week on Cape Cod, June 14-21. I think we picked the perfect time to go! There were no crowds, no problems with traffic (until the day we left, Sat June 21) and the weather was great! Before we left the forecast said highs of 65-70 and chance of rain, but it was a lot warmer than that (80-85?) and only sprinkled one morning.

We stayed at a house in Chatham I found on vrbo.com. We were planning to go the week of July 4th, but rental prices were crazy high, so we moved it back a few weeks and the rental price was about half of what it was for July 4th. Apparently schools in MA got out June 20 and that's when it suddenly gets expensive and crowded. I've rented houses and condos from vrbo many times, and this was the first time I found that it was standard to not include sheets and towels. The guy we rented from was nice enough to provide them, because we were flying from Colorado and no way would we bring them with us. Some vrbo's I looked at told me we could rent them (what a pain!).

I searched for a rent car for months ahead and the prices were ridiculously high. The week before we went I got one on priceline for $200 for the week from Avis. I had to pay in advance but I saved about $200 for a mid-size car.

Restaurants:
Moby Dick's in Wellfleet - YUM!!! Best crab cakes ever! Great lobster and clam chowder. Fabulous food in a very casual atmosphere. Casual as in my son wore his swimwear.
Cobie's in Brewster - Very casual, not as good as Moby Dick's IMO but still good. Great selection of ice cream and softserve in a zillion flavors.
Chatham Pier Fish Market - Just takeout and no tables around, but excellent fresh seafood. They had our fave lobster roll. YUM!

Tally

Beaches
Ridgevale Beach in Chatham was down the road from our house and a fun place to putter around. There were a zillion sea shells there! The first time we went there was no one collecting the $15 fee, no porta-pots, no one around. We went Friday morning and they had set up potties and someone was collecting the fee after 9:00. I think you could walk on for free, but $15 to park there.
Breakwater Beach on Cape Cod Bay - At low tide the ocean goes WAY out. Like half a mile or more. Way way way out. It was fun to walk way out and see what was there.
Skaket Beach on Cape Cod Bay - Same thing with low tide. We really liked this beach. As the tide went out it left lots of shallow channels and tidal pools. My 8 year old son had a blast playing there. I don't know how far the tide goes out but I walked as far as I could and could barely see the buildings on the beach. Nice soft sand without many rocks or muck. Great beach for kiddies. It was fun to watch the tide come and go.
Cape Cod National Seashore beaches - We went to Race Point by Provincetown, Marconi and Nauset Light beaches. They were about the same with long wide beaches and now and then some seals just off shore.

Other stuff we did... We took the Freedom Ferry from Harwich to Nantucket for a day. We didn't book ahead and just showed up in the morning, thinking that since nowhere had been crowded we'd probably be ok. We got to go, but I think it was close as the boat was full. I tend to get a bit green on ocean boats but it didn't bother me. We walked around the small town center, went to the Whaling Museum, old mill, oldest house and old jail. The ticket for the whaling museum was good for the other stuff as well. We LOVED the old mill. Had a great tour and learned a lot about it. Very cool. Oldest house was pretty neat, too.

Another day we went to Plymouth. I didn't care much for Plimouth Plantation but my kiddo liked it. It was cool to see the Mayflower 2 and Plymouth Rock. It was all touristy and a bit cheesy, but cool to see anyway.

That's it! It was a fun trip!

Tally

A couple of other things... We were surprised that you can drive most of the length of Cape Cod and not see the ocean. The vegetation is pretty dense and it's wider than I had imagined. I was a little disappointed that we didn't hear a lot of heavy accents. We hadn't really thought we'd have a beach vacation but the weather was great and we had a lot of fun at beaches!

emalloy

Sounds like a perfect beach vacation, and wonderful that the weather cooperated so you could really use the beach.

Thanks for the report.

SandyBrit

Tally:

Fun to read your report and your activities.

You were quite lucky to have the guy you rented from provide you with sheets and towels. We have rented them before. Would you be willing to share the link to the house that you rented?

Well done on your rental car. Prices out of Boston are very expensive.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Sandy

Tally

http://www.vrbo.com/501149
The guy that owns it, Chris, was super nice and helpful. The house is about half a mile from Ridgevale Beach.

SandyBrit

Tally:

Thank you for the quick response. Will save for future reference.

Sandy

jubilada

We always stop at Moby Dick's , which we love for lobster and wedge salad.
It is not at all a pain to rent sheets, by the way.

Tally

Renting sheets and towels, even kitchen and beach towels, just seems weird to me. That's just one more thing to deal with and one more expense. The house we rented came with all the standard stuff we expected, like dish and laundry soap, bathroom hand soap, garbage bags, cleaning supplies, toilet paper and paper towels, etc. We just had to buy groceries (of course). Is there any other part of the country where it's normal to bring your own sheets and towels? Just curious.

china_cat

i think in places where many of the tenants drive to the house, its not unusual. It's been true for us of places we rented in the Outer Banks as well as the Adirondacks, in addition to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard and Maine. Maybe its an East Coast thing? I used to think it was amazing when a rental came WITH sheets.

Ackislander

Glad you got to Nantucket! You were probably here for our one hot, humid day of the season ( or the last cold rainy one)!

When you walked from the Oldest House to the Old Gaol, you either walked right in front of my house or no more the a block away. Our friend CB lives next door to the Oldest House, and it is his chickens that run free there. He makes sure he only has historical breeds ;-)

Just a little addition to your memory bank.

Tally

Hey Ackislander! The day we were there it rained in the morning. Is it true that there are 20,000 houses on Nantucket and only 2000 are for full time residents? We had the best tour guide at the Old Mill, a guy named Tom. You probably know him, right? I'd love to go back and explore more.

Ackislander

I hear that 60-80% are owned by non- residents, but that is up from 60% a few years ago.

It is very hard for lower paid workers to find housing, though there are huge opportunities for people in many fields. Rental costs are about the same as Boston, food is about 20% more, and gas is just under $5 a gallon.

The good thing about the big houses is that they all pay taxes and use very few services, a real break for people who live here. We also get big breaks on ferries and so forth.

HappyTrvlr

As far as accents, head closer to Boston. You should have heard them in Plymouth. Many residents of the Cape are transplants from other areas. Schools in the east often get out this week, our kids did, and snow days extend the date.

Bostonblondie226

Next time make sure to visit Sundae School! Best Ice Cream Sundae in the Continental USA

jamierin

The Cape is one of my favourite places in the States by far. Thanks for the trip report.

starrs

Great trip report!

kendracb

You guys covered a lot of great ground . . . Nantucket and Chatham being our favorites . . . the fish pier is fabulous.

Curious to know your thoughts about VRBO . . . never used it . . . how do you think it compares with other rental pipelines you've used in the past?

Thanks for a great read!

Tally

I've used vrbo many times and it has always worked out really well. If I get any weird vibes from the owner when I'm asking about it, or if they have unreasonable payment and cancellation policies, I just look at others. There are usually so many available that I can find one that I'm totally comfortable with.

LindainOhio

Thanks for reporting. We have a wedding on Martha's Vineyard over Columbus weekend and are thinking that we might extend our trip a bit so I have been checking out area trip reports. We have to get our children to Logan on Sunday or we would just stay at the Menemsha Inn on MV.

kendra: We have used VRBO for years and years all over the US and have never had a problem. I have never heard of a rental without sheets though.