The Great Cape Escape: All Good Things

Wednesday, 7:10 p.m.

It was a chilly evening on the Cape, and the wind buffeted the southern-facing windows long into the night. But the release of the day — and of the routine — kept me burrowed under covers and soundly sleeping until morning.

I was awake before 7, just after daybreak, and enjoyed what would become a new routine for the next four days: yoga, fresh fruit for breakfast, a slow walk on the beach, a hot shower.

Then, I trekked out for a leisurely drive down Route 28 to Chatham, so I could spend the morning at the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. A great expanse of protected beach at the farthest point south on the elbow of the Cape, it offered a magical, solitary walk – making me feel so very far away from everything.

Later, in Chatham proper, near the lighthouse and a large expanse of the National Seashore, I walked for over an hour, down steep steps, across a flat beach and out to the shore that went on endlessly.

The day was gorgeous – 55 degrees with a wind coming in from the southwest. A perfect blue sky held mountains of clouds that moved slowly across the sky as I walked. Everything this day seemed to pass slowly, and I was glad for the pace.

I made my way back to the hotel, stopping for an obligatory Cape Cod sweatshirt, cookies at a local bakery, and lunch – a lobster roll and a whiskey sour – at The Skipper restaurant right next to the hotel.

A leisurely nap was followed by an hour’s walk down a very windy beach this evening. I’m in for the night now and camping out in the hotel with a copy of Thoreau’s Cape Cod, some homemade snacks and a lovely bottle of wine. All good things.

• • •

Photos ©2012, Jen Payne

About these ads