Summer Reads Blog Hop! #Rafflecopter #Giveaway - #KindleFire

Cape Cod is a unique and beautiful place, and I consider myself very fortunate to live here year round.  As you can imagine, the population here explodes in the summertime as visitors flock to enjoy the beaches, lakes, trails, and villages the Cape has to offer.  We usually host several groups of houseguests, and of course we have certain favorite spots we like to show them, and I often blog about our activities.  But many of these stunning and often historic places have also inspired scenes in two of my novels, so my post in the Summer Treats Blog Hop is dedicated to a few Cape Cod locations that are both fun to visit and also appear in either Haunted Souls or Gull Harbor.

While the Popponesset Spit is a popular place for locals,
it's not usually this crowded--this was the 4th of July.

The Popponesset Spit is a long peninsula of pristine beach primarily accessible 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 at the end of Haunted Souls.

Cahoon Hallow Beach in Wellfleet

The town of Gull Harbor is fictional, but I used Wellfleet as inspiration, and the characters visit the beaches Cape Cod National Seashore on several occasions.  I offer a little history in the book for readers, which I’ll add here as well.  President Kennedy created this area of protected land and seascape in 1961, and it covers 43,607 acres of beachfront, ponds, and woods.  One of our favorite beaches to visit within the CCNS is Cahoon Hollow in Wellfleet. 

There’s also a kettle pond near Claire’s house in Gull Harbor where some key scenes take place.  These are fresh water ponds formed over 15,000 years ago when melting glacial ice blocks produced large holes that filled with water.  The Wellfleet Kettle ponds are a bit of a secret compared to some of the other local attractions, and there are nearly twenty of them hidden in the sandy forests of Wellfleet and Truro. 

Snake Pond - a kettle pond in Sandwich

Another body of water that made it into one of my novels is Snake Pond, which is also a kettle pond. This popular beach is near the military base where Staff Sergeant Brett Leeds is stationed in Haunted Souls.

There’s a lot of history here on the Cape as well, and one summer I went on a “Haunted Historical Tour” of Barnstable Village which began and ended at the Old Jail.  I’d never even heard of the Old Jail, and it’s truly a historic gem.  It’s the oldest wooden jail house in the entire country, actually, and is thought to have been built in 1690, on orders from the Plymouth and MA Bay Colony Courts.  It was in use until the 1800s, and was moved around a bit, eventually attached to a barn.  It was rediscovered in 1968, detached from the barn, and moved next to the Coast Guard museum on 6A.

The structure itself is quite small, containing three cells which held large numbers of people sometimes.  According to our guide, conditions were rough and people had to take turns lying down to sleep when cells were crowded.  As you can imagine, many people died, and the site is considered actively haunted. 

The Old Jail at night

On our tour, we were shown photographs with shadowy figures taken by volunteers who work in the jail house.  A few of the volunteers shared their stories as well, and one claimed that a ghost had followed them home and engaged in some poltergeist-like activities.  Well, that got my attention right way, and my imagination started churning.  My sister had her little daughter with her, and I started to wonder what would happen if a young child with sensitive abilities took pity on a lost soul, and actually invited a ghost to come home with them.  The initial idea for Haunted Souls was born, and the Old Jail is in one of the very first scenes, along with some other historical sites.

Hope you enjoyed a summertime tour of a few of the Cape’s best spots!  And if you need a new beach read, grab a steamy—and spooky—second chance romance + ghost mystery, put up your feet, and come virtually visit the Cape!  Blurbs with links to all retailers can be found here:

HAUNTED SOULS

GULL HARBOR

Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a Kindle Fire donated by my fabulous publisher, and visit the other blogs participating in the hop for more Summer Treats and Reads—and prizes!  Blog hop links below the Rafflecopter.  Happy Summer!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

1.

Sorchias Wild Rose Summer Treats Post | Visit blog

2. RV Memory | Visit blog

3. Tricia Schneider | Visit blog

4. Anna Durands Spunk & Hunks | Visit blog

5. Judy Ann Davis Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog

6. Spicy Summer Treats with Mia Downing | Visit blog

7. Linda Nightingale. . . Wordsmith | Visit blog

8. Jana Richards - Journeys with Jana | Visit blog

9. Summer Memories of books well read @ Peggy jaeger. com | Visit blog

10. Summer on Cape Cod ~ Kathryn Knight books | Visit blog

11. Summer Fun at the Beach, with Katie OSullivan | Visit blog

12. I Believe Ill Go Canoeing - C. B. Clark | Visit blog

13. Summertime Love is Sweeter with. . . Frozen Mango? @ Kimberly Keyes blog |Visit blog

14. Wild Rose Summer Treats Blog Hop @ Brendas Blog | Visit blog

15. Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog

16. Midsummer Magic on the Isle of Skye! | Visit blog

17. My Guilty Summer Treats from Lori Sizemore | Visit blog

18. Wild Rose Press Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog

19. Hywela Lyns post for the WRP Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog

20. Wild Rose Press Summer Treats & Reads | Visit blog

21. Camping is a Recipe for Summer Treats and Reads | Visit blog

22. The Snarkology | Visit blog

23. Summer Survival Tips @ Nitty Gritty Romance | Visit blog

24. Wild Rose Press Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog

25. Nell Castle - Summer of the Sweat Lodge | Visit blog

26. Myth, Magic & Wonder Susan Edwards, Breathing Life into the Past | Visit blog

27. Romance with Spice, Sydney St. Claire | Visit blog

28. Author Kat de Falla | Visit blog

29. Anni Fife. Exciting new author of Steamy Romance with Irresistible Heroes | Visit blog

30. Summer Vacation, Victorian-Style, AND a Giveaway | Visit blog

31. Wildfires, Monsoons, and Mojitos - Author Susabelle Kelmer shares how she keeps cool in a climate that is on fire! | Visit blog

32. Casi McLeans recipe for Hot Reads and Cool Treats | Visit blog

33. Cool Summer Reads: Jeannie Halls Romantic Suspense Blog - Where Hearts Tremble From More Than Attraction | Visit blog

34. Summer treat - Adult Slushie | Visit blog

35. How to Rediscover the Magic of Bicycling | Visit blog

36. Charlottes Tips on How to Stay Cool in HOT New York City | Visit blog

37. Caryn McGill | Visit blog

38. Hywela Lyns Inrerplanetary Summer | Visit blog

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!