Favorite Spots on Cape Cod #CapeCod #MarthasVineyard #vacation

I’ve done a few posts on my favorite spots on Cape Cod, and I like to think I have a little expertise in this area, having lived here year-round for the last 18 years.  I covered some of these places in this post in 2014, and I dedicated an entire post to visiting Cuttyhunk in this post in 2015.

Whenever we get together with our best friends, we schedule crazy weeks of fun things to see and do, and usually get into some kind of trouble along the way (see Adventures in Ziplining and Three States inTen Days).  They just left after visiting for a week, and once again, we kept up an exhausting pace, rewarding ourselves with wine each evening.  While a few of the days were repeats of our favorite activities covered in the 2014 post, we hit a few new spots as well, so this post will cover the best of the new.

The Gingerbread Houses of Oak Bluffs -
it really does feel like being in a fairy tale

Instead of taking a day-trip to Nantucket this year, we journeyed to Martha’s Vineyard.  The ferry ride from Falmouth took only about 30 minutes, and we arrived in Oak Bluffs before 10:00 a.m. and strolled through town, making our way over to the “Gingerbread Houses”.  This grouping of brightly colored, elaborate cottages is really something to see.  Apparently the history behind these houses dates back to the late 1800s when Methodists meeting on the Vineyard each summer began building tiny houses instead of using tents. Then it grew into a friendly contest to outdo each other in terms of how ornate they could make each cottage.  They are adorable, and many of them have themes and names.  I love cats, so one of my personal favorites was the cat-themed cottage:

I have 2 black cats, so I loved this one.

A neighboring house has a cute
little clue to the famous lot.

We then picked up two rental jeeps to maximize our site-seeing and pretty much drove the perimeter of the island.  Near the East Chop Light House, we found the lot where the Brody house was located during the filming of Jaws.  The house itself has been completely reconstructed, and looks nothing like it did in the movie.  But a neighboring house provides a clue via a sign reading “Little Jaws”.

Menemsha is a scenic little fishing village that also provided local flavor for Jaws.  From there, we continued on to the clay cliffs of Aquinnah and Gay Head Light House.  We stopped to see South Beach and admire the huge waves before heading to Edgartown for shopping and dinner by the water.

Menemsha - Quint's boat left from here in Jaws.

The clay cliffs of Aquinnah & Gay Head Light.

Over a thousand acres of dunes takes the breath away.

Another day trip we’ve done before is Provincetown, but this time we did something new – a tour of the dunes with Art’s DunesTours.  It was truly unbelievable to see the acres of pristine sand dunes stretching out to the sea.  This area is part of the federally protected Cape Cod National Seashore, and only a few vehicles are allowed to drive back there; in stark contrast to the boisterous crowds of Commercial Street, we saw almost no people.  There are a few small shacks back there, most of which are federally owned and offered through a lottery to artists and writers…should I apply?  While the solitude amidst stunning wilderness might make it the perfect spot to write a new ghost story mixed with steamy romance, I’m afraid being that isolated might send me over the edge!  One other caveat: no plumbing or electricity.

The Popponesset Spit - it's never usually this crowded,
but 4th of July is a bit crazy - and fun!

We spent the actual 4^th on the Popponesset Spit, a long peninsula of beach accessible primarily by boat (a long walk can get you there too if you know where to park, but it’s very hard to find a spot).  This “spit” of land separates the bay from Nantucket Sound, and all types of boats tie up along the bay side and set up camp on the beach.  A large network of waterways offers kayakers plenty of areas to explore.  This is one of our favorite places on the Cape, and the Spit actually makes an appearance in HAUNTED SOULS.

If there’s a visit to Cape Cod in your future, check out some of these places!  And if there isn’t, you can still experience the area in both GULL HARBOR and HAUNTED SOULS – two steamy reunion romances mixed with spine-tingling ghost mysteries.  Happy summer and happy reading!