Over Memorial weekend Derika surprised me with a last-minute trip to Cape Cod. I could not have been more excited, because when we looked at our summer calendar earlier in the month, we realized that we only had a handful of weekends open this summer to explore the east coast. We lived on the west coast for 7 years, and we probably drove Highway 1 at least four or five times. I love a good road trip…
- You get to stop at every random tourist attraction that tickles your fancy.
- You get to make some killer road trip mixes that you can sing along too at the top of your lungs.
- You get to load your car with the most amazing road trip snacks.
We left super early on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and we were in our car and on the road, with a NYC bagel and cream cheese in hand by 7am. We got lucky and didn’t hit any traffic and made it to the Cape by lunchtime. Derika rented us a place through Airbnb and we totally scored. (If you have not had a chance to check out Airbnb, make sure you do, because it will be one of the best travel decisions you have made). The place that we stayed in was centrally located on the Cape, so you could drive one direction and be in downtown Provincetown within an hour or drive an hour in the other direction and be in Woods Hole to hop the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. The place was adorable and super clean, the location made it great for day trips, the hosts kept the small fridge stocked with amazing breakfast goodies and the icing on the cake was that they had chickens!
Seriously, look at these lovely ladies! We were out and about during the day, so unfortunately we did not get to spend as much time with these girls as I would have liked. However, we did get an opportunity to get out and see what Cape Cod has to offer. I feel like we only scratched the surface and I would go back in a heartbeat to continue the adventure.
Here is my list of the TOP 5 THINGS that we did manage to get into…
Fun Thing #1
Go to Providence Town aka P-Town and have a mojito or three!
So we ended up going to P-town on both Friday afternoon and all day on Saturday. I have to be honest; we basically did some shopping (aka unintentional sunglass shopping…see photo below) and enjoyed numerous beverages on random patios throughout town. How can you blame us really, the weather was so gorgeous and there were many many many mojitos to try! My favorite place by far was the Patio American Grill, where they had a great sunshiny patio and a huge list of mojitos that we needed to sample our way through. After about three of their mojitos, you will be making ALL OF THE FRIENDS (see photo below)!
In addition to sipping ALL of the mojitos on the patio, we got sucked into the many sunglass stores on the cape. I don’t know how it happened, but we ended up leaving Cape Cod with 6 new pair of sunglasses by the end of the weekend. If you are wondering, it is very important to make sure that you sunglasses match your outfit… (I love how you can see my reflection in the lenses of these glasses). 😉
One thing that I forgot to mention is that it was Women’s Weekend the weekend that we were in P-town. We did not plan this, but I can’t say that I was disappointed. There were definitely some great events to attend and some epic people watching.
Fun Thing #2
Take a Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard!
Boom…we’re on a boat!
We got up on Sunday morning and headed to the Wood Hole Ferry terminal where we caught a 30-minute Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We arrived to a town called Vineyard Haven, but the food choices were lacking and the town was dry, so we jumped on a bus and headed to Oak Bluffs. Do this…just trust me. I was starting to get fangry (aka F-ing Hungry) so Derika ushered me to the closest restaurant with a patio called Nancy’s Restaurant. I had an amazing Greek wrap and Derika got the crab cakes, we recommend both. In regards to tasty beverages, we started out with their Mai Tai…basically a vacation in a glass.
We then ended our meal with their Dirty Banana.
What is a Dirty Banana you ask? Nancy’s is apparently famous for it…this drink is basically a mudslide made with frozen bananas, and it is epic and tastes like dessert. If sweet frosty beverages are your thing, then run to Nancy’s and order this drink! Also the view at this place is stellar, so you might need to get 2 dirty bananas. 😉
Fun Thing #3
Go to OFFSHORE Ale Company in Oak Bluffs.
This place brews their own beer and has a couple of other great local brews on tap. Grab a couple of local brews and a basket of peanuts and enjoy their small patio.
Fun Thing #4
Head to the Black Dog Outlet store in Oak Bluffs and get matching sweatshirts!
If you look closely when you are touring the island, you will notice images of a mysterious black dog that appears all over. You can read about the Black Dog story here, but to dress like a local head to this shop before you leave the island and stock up on your Black Dog paraphanalia.
We were unfortunately too full from our late lunch to catch another meal on Martha’s Vineyard, but that didn’t stop us from grabbing a slice at Porto Pizza in Vineyard Haven for the ferry line. With pizza in hand we caught the last ferry out of Martha’s Vineyard and we were back to our rental in time to chill out with some Bananagrams
We will definitely be back to the Cape to do some more exploring in the future, but for now I hope you enjoy some of my suggestions from above.
Happy traveling and enjoy my tips for drinking like a local!
Cheers,
